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Life in the Spirit

Romans 8:12-17

Good News Translation (GNT)

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12  So then, my friends, we have an obligation,
   but it is not to live as our human nature
   wants us to.
13  For if you live according to your human nature,
   you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you
   put to death your sinful actions, you will live.
14  Those who are led by God's Spirit are God's
   children.
15  For the Spirit that God has given you does not
   make you slaves and cause you to be afraid;
   instead, the Spirit makes you God's children,
   and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God,
   "Father! my Father!"
16  God's Spirit joins himself to our spirits to
   declare that we are God's children.
17  Since we are his children, we will possess the
   blessings he keeps for his people, and we will
   also possess with Christ what God has kept
   for him; for if we share Christ's suffering, we
   will also share his glory.

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Commentary taken from
'The Applied New Testament Commentary'
(Kingsway)

Life in the Spirit

     Romans 8:12-17

Our sinful nature has done nothing good for us; we don't owe it anything! Instead, we are obligated to Jesus, who paid the "debt" we owed because of our sin.

If we live according to the sinful nature, we shall receive God's judgment, eternal death.

We must first believe in Jesus, and through the help of the Holy Spirit, we must put to death the misdeeds of the body (sinful nature).

Only if we do this will we live - that is, be saved. Before we can have new spiritual life, our old sinful self must die. Before there can be resurrection, there must first be death.

It is not possible to live according to the Spirit and at the same time continue doing the misdeeds of the body. We need the help of the Holy Spirit.

We cannot do it without Him. And the Holy Spirit is always with us, ready to help us lead righteous lives. God is the Creator of all men, but He is the Father only of those who are led by the Spirit.

The Spirit makes us the free sons of God. He makes us adopted sons. Through the Spirit, we are able to call God "Abba," which means "Father"

The human spirit is the spiritual part of man. It is the part of us that the Holy Spirit makes alive when we believe in Jesus.

Some people call man's spirit his inner being, or conscience. We can say that man is made up of three parts: spirit, soul, and body (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

Through our human spirit, we experience the presence of God and the blessings of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Paul adds an important reminder. As co-heirs with Jesus, we share not only in His life and in His glory, but also in His sufferings.

If we are not willing to share in His sufferings, we shall not share in His glory.

Christians have two kinds of crosses. The first cross Jesus carried for us. The second cross we must carry for Him. If we want to be co-heirs with Christ and reign with Him, then we must carry this second cross.

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