Romans 8:8-25
New Catholic Bible
8 Those who live according to the flesh can never be pleasing to God.
9 You, however, do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not possess the Spirit of Christ cannot belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though the body is dead as a result of sin, the Spirit is alive in you because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, then the one who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwells in you.[a]
12 Consequently, brethren, we are not debtors to the flesh and obliged to live according to the flesh. 13 If you do live according to the flesh, you will die. However, if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
14 [b]Those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery leading to fear; rather, you received the Spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry out, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our Spirit that we are children of God. 17 And if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, provided that we share his sufferings so that we may also share his glory.
18 The Future Glory That Shall Be Revealed.[c] I consider that the sufferings we presently endure are not worth comparing with the glory to be revealed in us. 19 Indeed, creation itself eagerly awaits the revelation of the children of God. 20 For creation was subjected to frustration, not of its own choice but by the will of the one who subjected it, in the hope 21 that creation itself will be freed from its slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
22 As we know, the entire creation has been groaning in labor pains until now— 23 and not only creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for our adoption as children, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in hope we were saved. Now to see something does not involve hope. For why should we hope for what we have already seen? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet see, then we wait for it with patience.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Romans 8:11 For the connection between the Resurrection of Christ and that of believers, see 1 Cor 6:14; 15:20, 23; 2 Cor 4:14; Phil 3:21; 1 Thes 4:14.
- Romans 8:14 Because of the Holy Spirit’s presence in them, Christians possess a new life as well as a new relationship with God. They have become adopted children of God and heirs through Christ, sharing both in his sufferings and in his glory.
- Romans 8:18 The exalting perspective of salvation is expanded to the dimensions of the universe. Paul takes up a Biblical idea: the cosmos is linked with the fate of humankind, cursed then redeemed. All creation prepares for the new world (v. 22). Paul beautifully sketches the proofs of this movement that is nearing its fulfillment:
(1) the presentiment of the universe whose Creator and Lord is Christ (vv. 19-22); (2) the firm hope of believers transformed through Baptism and urged to seize fully that which—even here below—the Spirit inaugurates in them (vv. 23-25); (3) the very prayer by which the Spirit inspires this grand aspiration (vv. 26-27); and finally (4) the will of God, whose love embraces believers in order to associate them with the risen and glorified Christ, so that they may be in the image of his Son, who is himself the perfect image of the Father (see Col 1:15) (vv. 28-30).
