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Romans 8:4-6
New Catholic Bible
Romans 8:4-6
New Catholic Bible
4 so that the righteous requirements of the Law[a] might be fulfilled in us who live not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
Animated by the Spirit and Rendered Children of God.[b] 5 Those who live according to the flesh fix their attention on the things of the flesh, while those who live according to the Spirit set their thoughts on spiritual things. 6 The desires of the flesh result in death, but the desires of the Spirit result in life and peace.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Romans 8:4 Righteous requirements of the Law: although the Law is not a means of salvation, it still plays a role in the life of a believer as a moral guide, obeyed out of love for God and by the power of the Holy Spirit. This marks the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy of the New Covenant (Jer 31:33ff).
- Romans 8:5 What is the Christian life in its deepest reality? Paul thinks of all that the Holy Spirit inaugurates in the existence of the believer. He is the Spirit of the Father and of Christ, dwells in every Christian, and is a source of spiritual life for each. We can look upon him as the soul of the Church. He is the power of a progressive transformation, which culminates in the resurrection of the body. In a privileged moment—that of prayer—believers grasp their new state as children of God. Thus, believers escape from the flesh, i.e., an orientation to and a realization of a life without future and without accomplishment (see Gal 5:16-25).
