For this study I have substituted
the term “soul” for the term “flesh.” We have been made in the likeness of God.
That likeness is spirit. We are a 3-part being. We are a spirit; we have a
soul; and we live in a body. The soul is made up of our mind; will; and
emotions. It is from our soul that we are declaring our independence as disciples
in Christ. It is the soul that gives us trouble, in fact it is the soul
that needs to be "saved." Until we are born of the spirit we are not
really alive. God is spirit and they that worship Him must worship in spirit
and in truth. The Spirit does not sin. we are the temples of the Holy Ghost.
Where God is there is no sin. We have no sin in the spirit.
Romans 8 (AMP)
1 THEREFORE, [there is] now no
condemnation (no adjudging guilty of wrong) for those who are in Christ
Jesus, who live [and] walk not after the dictates of the soul, but
after the dictates of the Spirit. [John 3:18.]
2 For the law of the Spirit of life
[which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has freed me from the law
of sin and of death.
3 For God has done what the Law
could not do, [its power] being weakened by the soul [the entire nature
of man without the Holy Spirit]. Sending His own Son in the guise of sinful soul
and as an offering for sin, [God] condemned sin in the soul [subdued,
overcame, deprived it of its power over all who accept that sacrifice], [Lev 7:37 .]
4 So that the righteous and just
requirement of the Law might be fully met in us who live and move not in the
ways of the soul but in the ways of the Spirit [our lives governed not
by the standards and according to the dictates of the soul, but
controlled by the Holy Spirit].
5 For those who are according to
the soul and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on
and pursue those things which gratify the soul, but those who are
according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set
their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit.
6 Now the mind of the soul
[which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that
comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter]. But the
mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and
forever].
7[That is] because the mind of the soul
[with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not
submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot.
8 So then those who are living the
life of the soul [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal
nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him.
9 But you are not living the life
of the soul, you are living the life of the Spirit, if the [Holy] Spirit
of God [really] dwells within you [directs and controls you]. But if anyone
does not possess the [Holy] Spirit of Christ, he is none of His [he does not
belong to Christ, is not truly a child of God]. [Rom 8:14 .]
10 But if Christ lives in you,
[then although] your [natural] body is dead by reason of sin and guilt, the
spirit is alive because of [the] righteousness [that He imputes to you].
11 And if the Spirit of Him Who
raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, [then] He Who raised up Christ
Jesus from the dead will also restore to life your mortal (short-lived,
perishable) bodies through His Spirit Who dwells in you.
12 So then, brethren, we are
debtors, but not to the soul [we are not obligated to our carnal
nature], to live [a life ruled by the standards set up by the dictates] of the soul.
13 For if you live according to
[the dictates of] the soul, you will surely die. But if through the
power of the [Holy] Spirit you are [habitually] putting to death (making
extinct, deadening) the [evil] deeds prompted by the body, you shall [really
and genuinely] live forever.
14 For all who are led by the
Spirit of God are sons of God.
15 For [the Spirit which] you have
now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to
fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing
sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father!
16 The Spirit Himself [thus]
testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of
God.
17 And if we are [His] children,
then we are [His] heirs also: heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ
[sharing His inheritance with Him]; only we must share His suffering if we are
to share His glory.
18[But what of that?] For I
consider that the sufferings of this present time (this present life) are not
worth being compared with the glory that is about to be revealed to us and in
us and for us and conferred on us!
19 For [even the whole] creation
(all nature) waits expectantly and longs earnestly for God's sons to be made
known [waits for the revealing, the disclosing of their sonship].
20 For the creation (nature) was
subjected to frailty (to futility, condemned to frustration), not because of
some intentional fault on its part, but by the will of Him Who so subjected it
— [yet] with the hope [Eccl 1:2.]
21 That nature (creation) itself
will be set free from its bondage to decay and corruption [and gain an
entrance] into the glorious freedom of God's children.
22 We know that the whole creation
[of irrational creatures] has been moaning together in the pains of labor until
now. [Jer 12:4,11.]
23 And not only the creation, but
we ourselves too, who have and enjoy the firstfruits of the [Holy] Spirit [a
foretaste of the blissful things to come] groan inwardly as we wait for the
redemption of our bodies [from sensuality and the grave, which will reveal] our
adoption (our manifestation as God's sons).
24 For in [this] hope we were
saved. But hope [the object of] which is seen is not hope. For how can one hope
for what he already sees?
25 But if we hope for what is still
unseen by us, we wait for it with patience and composure.
26 So too the [Holy] Spirit comes
to our aid and bears us up in our weakness; for we do not know what prayer to
offer nor how to offer it worthily as we ought, but the Spirit Himself goes to
meet our supplication and pleads in our behalf with unspeakable yearnings and
groanings too deep for utterance.
27 And He Who searches the hearts
of men knows what is in the mind of the [Holy] Spirit [what His intent is],
because the Spirit intercedes and pleads [before God] in behalf of the saints
according to and in harmony with God's will. [Ps 139:1,2.]
28 We are assured and know that
[God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting
into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to
[His] design and purpose.
29 For those whom He foreknew [of
whom He was aware and loved beforehand], He also destined from the beginning
[foreordaining them] to be molded into the image of His Son [and share inwardly
His likeness], that He might become the firstborn among many brethren.
30 And those whom He thus
foreordained, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified
(acquitted, made righteous, putting them into right standing with Himself). And
those whom He justified, He also glorified [raising them to a heavenly dignity
and condition or state of being].
31 What then shall we say to [all]
this? If God is for us, who [can be] against us? [Who can be our foe, if God is
on our side?] [Ps 118:6.]
32 He who did not withhold or spare
[even] His own Son but gave Him up for us all, will He not also with Him freely
and graciously give us all [other] things?
33 Who shall bring any charge
against God's elect [when it is] God Who justifies [that is, Who puts us in
right relation to Himself? Who shall come forward and accuse or impeach those
whom God has chosen? Will God, Who acquits us?]
34 Who is there to condemn [us]?
Will Christ Jesus (the Messiah), Who died, or rather Who was raised from the
dead, Who is at the right hand of God actually pleading as He intercedes for
us?
35 Who shall ever separate us from
Christ's love? Shall suffering and affliction and tribulation? Or calamity and
distress? Or persecution or hunger or destitution or peril or sword?
36 Even as it is written, For Thy
sake we are put to death all the day long; we are regarded and counted as sheep
for the slaughter. [Ps 44:22.]
37 Yet amid all these things we are
more than conquerors and gain a surpassing victory through Him Who loved us.
38 For I am persuaded beyond doubt
(am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor
things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers,
39 Nor height nor depth, nor
anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God
which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
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Reference:
Translation retrieved from http://www.biblegateway.com/
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Amplified Bible (AMP)—Copyright ©
1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
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