There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 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. For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God's law; indeed, it cannot. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Romans 8:1-8).
Having corrected mistaken impressions about the law and how the gospel relates to it (chs. 6–7), Paul explains how there is “now no condemnation” for believers “in Christ Jesus” (v. 1). Christians are “set free” from sin’s guilt and power by the work of the Holy Spirit as he imparts spiritual life (v. 2). Neither the law nor human obedience could confer this life. Only the Son by his coming could, and did (v. 3).
By Christ’s finished work, what the law calls for—living in harmony with God and his will—can actually take place through the work of God’s Spirit (v. 4). But we all face a stark either/or: either we are oriented toward “the flesh” (the human inclination to sin), which leads to death; or the Spirit reorients us, so that our present possession and final destiny are “life and peace” (vv. 5–6). Without the Spirit, we “cannot please God” (vv. 7–8).
Gospel Transformation Bible
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