Instructions for Christian Living

¹⁷ So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer^(A) live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking.^(B)

⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God;^(A) it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.

¹² But you have behaved more wickedly than your ancestors.^(A) See how all of you are following the stubbornness of your evil hearts^(B) instead of obeying me.

² in which you used to live^(A) when you followed the ways of this world^(B) and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air,^(C) the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.^{(D) 3} All of us also lived among them at one time,^(E) gratifying the cravings of our flesh^[a](F) and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath.