¹⁷ Therefore if anyone is in Christ [that is, grafted in, joined to Him by faith in Him as Savior], he is a new creature [reborn and renewed by the Holy Spirit]; the old things [the previous moral and spiritual condition] have passed away. Behold, new things have come [because spiritual awakening brings a new life].

²⁴ And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the ^[a]sinful nature together with its passions and appetites.