Romans 8:1-8

1: Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
2: For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death.
3: For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh,
4: so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.
5: For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.
6: For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace,
7: because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so,
8: and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

*** 

After describing the struggle in the flesh to resist sin, Paul began to describe how believers can overcome through Jesus and please God, even while living in these bodies on earth. He said the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. There is a new law in Christ! What the old law couldn’t do, Jesus did by offering Himself for us. That means when we walk according to the Spirit instead of the flesh, we are fulfilling the law of God and there is no condemnation for us.

Paul explained how to do it—not to set your mind on the things of the flesh, but on the things of the Spirit of God. You’ll never be able to please God while following the flesh, but you can while following the Spirit. What you set your mind on, what you think about, what and who you listen to, the goals you aim toward, all affect you. Make the decision to set your mind on the things of the Spirit. Do it daily. Do it hourly. Keep your thoughts and plans bathed in the Spirit of God, and life and peace will be the outcome.

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