8 There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do. By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 For to set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot. 8 Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
The Law of the Flesh is destroyed. The Law of the Spirit remains. Those who live according to the flesh are trapped to focus on the things of the flesh. Those who live by means of the Spirit are enslaved to the Spirit of God that dwells within them. Life is given to those who the Spirit raises to new life.
Many people use this text wrongly to tell people the Law is abandoned. But as we know the words of Christ, which tell us not one letter of the Law shall ever pass away even as heaven and earth may pass away. God has established this Law even for those free from the Law of the flesh. He calls his children to live in a proper manner.
Christ has instructed us both on how we fall short of holiness and on how we are to live out our new lives. Christ has put to death sin within us. Christ has put to death the condemnation of the Law by means of his own flesh. God has still set before us his design for our way of life. But he does this because he has redeemed us.
God provides you with righteousness. He provides you with instruction. Christ provides your mortal bodies with life eternal. Christ is Risen, and You shall arise.
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