1. Those who belong to Christ Jesus are no longer under God's sentence.
2. I am now controlled by the law of the Holy Spirit. That law gives me life because of what Christ Jesus has done. It has set me free from the law of sin that brings death.
3. The written law was made weak by our sinful nature. But God did what the written law could not do. He made his Son to be like those who have a sinful nature. He sent him to be an offering for sin. In that way, he judged sin in his Son's human body.
4. Now we can do everything the law requires. Our sinful nature no longer controls the way we live. The Holy Spirit now controls the way we live.
5. Don't live under the control of your sinful nature. If you do, you will think about what your sinful nature wants. Live under the control of the Holy Spirit. If you do, you will think about what the Spirit wants.
6. The way a sinful person thinks leads to death. But the mind controlled by the Spirit brings life and peace.
7. The sinful mind is at war with God. It does not obey God's law. It can't.
8. Those who are controlled by their sinful nature can't please God.
9. But your sinful nature does not control you. The Holy Spirit controls you. The Spirit of God lives in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Christ.
10. Christ lives in you. So your body is dead because of sin. But your spirit is alive because you have been made right with God.
11. The Spirit of the One who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you. So the God who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your bodies, which are going to die. He will do this by the power of his Spirit, who lives in you.
12. Brothers and sisters, we have a duty. Our duty is not to live under the control of our sinful nature.
13. If you live under the control of your sinful nature, you will die. But by the power of the Holy Spirit you can put to death the sins your body commits. Then you will live.
14. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
15. You didn't receive a spirit that makes you a slave to fear once again. Instead you received the Holy Spirit, who makes you God's child. By the Spirit's power we call God "Abba." Abba means Father.
16. The Spirit himself joins with our spirits. Together they give witness that we are God's children.
17. As his children, we will receive all that he has for us. We will share what Christ receives. But we must share in his sufferings if we want to share in his glory.
18. What we are suffering now is nothing compared with the glory that will be shown in us.