Romans 8:1-9:33

ISV^{(i) 1} The Spirit Gives LifeTherefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in union with the Messiah Jesus. ² For the Spirit’s law of life in the Messiah Jesus has set me free from the Law of sin and death. ³ For what the Law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the flesh, God did. By sending his own Son in the form of humanity, he condemned sin by being incarnate, ⁴ so that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not live according to human nature but according to the Spirit.
⁵ For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. ⁶ To focus our minds on the human nature leads to death, but to focus our minds on the Spirit leads to life and peace. ⁷ That is why the mind that focuses on human nature is hostile toward God. It refuses to submit to the authority of God’s Law because it is powerless to do so. ⁸ Indeed, those who are under the control of human nature cannot please God.
⁹ You, however, are not under the control of the human nature but under the control of the Spirit, since God’s Spirit lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of the Messiah, he does not belong to him. ¹⁰ But if the Messiah is in you, your bodies are dead due to sin, but the spirit is alive due to righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, then the one who raised the Messiah from the dead will also make your mortal bodies alive by his Spirit who lives in you.
¹² Consequently, brothers, we are not—with respect to human nature, that is—under an obligation to live according to human nature. ¹³ For if you live according to human nature, you are going to die, but if by the Spirit you continuously put to death the activities of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by God’s Spirit are God’s children. ¹⁵ For you have not received a spirit of slavery that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ Now if we are children, we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with the Messiah—if, in fact, we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
¹⁸ God’s Spirit Helps UsFor I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed to us. ¹⁹ For the creation is eagerly awaiting the revelation of God’s children, ²⁰ because the creation has become subject to futility, though not by anything it did. The one who subjected it did so in the certainty ²¹ that the creation itself would also be set free from corrupting bondage in order to share the glorious freedom of God’s children. ²² For we know that all the rest of creation has been groaning with the pains of childbirth up to the present time. ²³ However, not only the creation, but we who have the first fruits of the Spirit also groan inwardly as we eagerly await our adoption, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴ For we were saved with this hope in mind. Now a hope that can be observed is not really hope, for who hopes for what can be seen? ²⁵ But if we hope for what we do not yet observe, we eagerly wait for it with patience.
²⁶ In the same way, the Spirit also helps us in our weakness, since we do not know how to pray as we should. But the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words, ²⁷ and the one who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, for the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to God’s will. ²⁸ And we know that for those who love God, that is, for those who are called according to his purpose, all things are working together for good.
²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that the Son might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined, he also called; and those whom he called, he also justified; and those whom he justified he also glorified.
³¹ Nothing Can Separate Us from God’s LoveWhat, then, can we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can be against us? ³² The one who did not spare his own Son, but offered him as a sacrifice for all of us, surely will give us all things, along with his Son, won’t he? ³³ Who will accuse God’s elect? It is God who justifies! ³⁴ Who is the one to condemn? It is the Messiah Jesus who is interceding on our behalf. He died, and more importantly, has been raised and is seated at the right hand of God.
³⁵ Who will separate us from the Messiah’s love? Can trouble, distress, persecution, hunger, nakedness, danger, or a violent death do this? ³⁶ As it is written, “For your sake we are being put to death all day long. We are thought of as sheep headed for slaughter.”
³⁷ In all these things we are triumphantly victorious due to the one who loved us. ³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor anything above, nor anything below, nor anything else in all creation can separate us from the love of God that is ours in union with the Messiah Jesus, our Lord.
^{9 1} Paul’s Concern for the Jewish PeopleI am telling the truth because I belong to the Messiah—I am not lying, and my conscience confirms it by means of the Holy Spirit. ² I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart, ³ for I could wish that I myself were condemned and cut off from the Messiah for the sake of my brothers, my own people, ⁴ who are Israelis. To them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises. ⁵ To the Israelis belong the patriarchs, and from them, the Messiah descended, who is God over all, the one who is forever blessed. Amen.
⁶ Now it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all Israelis truly belong to Israel, ⁷ and not all of Abraham’s descendants are his true descendants. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that descendants will be named for you.” ⁸ That is, it is not merely the children born through natural descent who were regarded as God’s children, but it is the children born through the promise who were regarded as descendants. ⁹ For this is the language of the promise: “At this time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” ¹⁰ Not only that, but Rebecca became pregnant by our ancestor Isaac. ¹¹ Yet before their children had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s plan of election might continue to operate ¹² according to his calling and not by actions), Rebecca was told, “The older child will serve the younger one.” ¹³ So it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
¹⁴ What can we say, then? God is not unrighteous, is he? Of course not! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses, “I will be merciful to the person I want to be merciful to, and I will be kind to the person I want to be kind to.” ¹⁶ Therefore, God’s choice does not depend on a person’s will or effort, but on God himself, who shows mercy. ¹⁷ For the Scripture says about Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for this very purpose, to demonstrate my power through you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”
¹⁸ Therefore, God has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.
¹⁹ God Chose People who are Not JewishYou may ask me, “Then why does God still find fault with anybody? For who can resist his will?” ²⁰ On the contrary, who are you—mere man that you are—to talk back to God? Can an object that was molded say to the one who molded it, “Why did you make me like this?” ²¹ A potter has the right to do what he wants to with his clay, doesn’t he? He can make something for a special occasion or something for ordinary use from the same lump of clay.
²² Now if God wants to demonstrate his wrath and reveal his power, can’t he be extremely patient with the objects of his wrath that are made for destruction? ²³ Can’t he also reveal his glorious riches to the objects of his mercy that he has prepared ahead of time for glory— ²⁴ including us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but from the gentiles as well? ²⁵ As the Scripture says in Hosea, “Those who are not my people I will call my people, and the one who was not loved I will call my loved one. ²⁶ In the very place where it was told them, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called children of the living God.”
²⁷ Isaiah also calls out concerning Israel, “Although the descendants of Israel are as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore, only a few will be saved. ²⁸ For the Lord will carry out his plan decisively, bringing it to completion on the earth.”
²⁹ It is just as Isaiah predicted: “If the Lord of the Heavenly Armies had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom and would have been compared to Gomorrah.”
³⁰ What can we say, then? Gentiles, who were not pursuing righteousness, have attained righteousness, a righteousness that comes through faith. ³¹ But Israel, who pursued righteousness based on the Law, did not achieve the Law. ³² Why not? Because they did not pursue it on the basis of faith, but as if it were based on achievements. They stumbled over the stone that causes people to stumble. ³³ As it is written, “Look! I am placing a stone in Zion over which people will stumble— a large rock that will make them fall— and the one who believes in him will never be ashamed.”