A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Romans 8
Romans 8 is the eighth chapter of Paul's letter to the Romans and the high point of the entire letter. The 39-verse chapter describes the life of believers in the Spirit and ends with one of the most quoted declarations in the Bible.
The chapter opens with the famous line: "Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Through Jesus, the law of the Spirit of life has set believers free from the law of sin and death. What the law could not do, weakened as it was by the flesh, God has done by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.
The chapter then contrasts life according to the flesh with life according to the Spirit. Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; those who live according to the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. The mind governed by the flesh is death; the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace.
Paul then describes the believer's identity. The Spirit of God lives in them. They are God's children, and the Spirit they have received does not make them slaves to fear; instead, they have received the Spirit of adoption, by which they cry "Abba, Father." If they are children, then they are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.
The chapter then turns to suffering. Present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed. All creation has been groaning, waiting for the children of God to be revealed. The Spirit helps in weakness and intercedes through wordless groans.
The closing section contains some of the most quoted verses in the Bible. We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him. Nothing can separate believers from the love of God: not trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword. The chapter closes with Paul declaring: "Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord."
Verse 1. Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
Verse 2. For in Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set you free from the law of sin and death.
Verse 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 likeness of sinful man, as an offering for sin. He thus condemned sin in the flesh,
Verse 4. so that the righteous standard of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Verse 5. 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.
Verse 6. The mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace,
Verse 7. because the mind of the flesh is hostile to God: It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
Verse 8. Those controlled by the flesh cannot please God.
Verse 9. You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
Verse 10. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.
Verse 11. And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.
Verse 12. Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it.
Verse 13. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
Verse 14. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Verse 15. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
Verse 16. The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Verse 17. And if we are children, then we are heirs: heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ—if indeed we suffer with Him, so that we may also be glorified with Him.
Verse 18. I consider that our present sufferings are not comparable to the glory that will be revealed in us.
Verse 19. The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God.
Verse 20. For the creation was subjected to futility, not by its own will, but because of the One who subjected it, in hope
Verse 21. that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
Verse 22. We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.
Verse 23. Not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.
Verse 24. For in this hope we were saved; but hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he can already see?
Verse 25. But if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently.
Verse 26. In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.
Verse 27. And He who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
Verse 28. And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
Verse 29. For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
Verse 30. And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified.
Verse 31. What then shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
Verse 32. He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?
Verse 33. Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
Verse 34. Who is there to condemn us? For Christ Jesus, who died, and more than that was raised to life, is at the right hand of God—and He is interceding for us.
Verse 35. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or distress or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?
Verse 36. As it is written: “For Your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.”
Verse 37. No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.
Verse 38. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor principalities, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,
Verse 39. neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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