5People who live according to what their self-directed nature desires think about and are concerned about what their self-directed nature desires. But people who live according to what God's Spirit desires think about and are concerned about what God's Spirit desires.
6Those people who PRS think about and are concerned about what their self-directed nature desires will not live eternally (OR, will be separated from God). But those people who think about and are concerned about what God's Spirit desires will live eternally and have inner peace.
7Let me explain this. To the extent that people PRS think about and are concerned about what their self-directed nature desires, they are acting contrary to God. They do not obey the laws of God. In fact, they are not even able to obey his laws.
8The people who let their self-directed nature control them cannot do what pleases God.
9But we do not have to let our self-directed nature control us. Instead, we can let God's Spirit control us, because he lives within us. If people do not have living in them the Spirit who comes from Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
10But since Christ is living in you/us by his Spirit, although your/our bodies are certain to die because you/we sin, your/our spirits are alive because God has erased the record of your/our sins.
11God caused Jesus to live again after he died. And because his Spirit lives in you/us, God will also make your/our bodies, which now are sure to die, live again after you/we die. God, who caused Christ to live again after he died, will make you/us live again by causing his Spirit, who lives within you/us, to do it.
12Therefore, my fellow believers, we must live as the Spirit directs us. What we do not have to do is to live as our self-directed nature guides us.
13If you live the way your self-directed nature directs, you will surely not live eternally (OR, will surely be eternally separated from God). But if by the power of God's Spirit you quit doing the sinful things that your bodies desire MET, you will live eternally.
14We who are guided by the Spirit of God {allow the Spirit of God to guide us} are God's children.
15You have showed that this is true, because you received from God a Spirit that is not one that makes you fear God again. You are not like slaves who fear their masters MET. On the contrary, we have received a Spirit by whose work in our hearts God has adopted us. The Spirit now enables us to cry out to God, “ You(sg) are my Father DOU!”
16The Spirit himself confirms what our spirits say, that we are God's children.
17Because we are God's children, we also will some day receive/inherit eternal blessings/privileges. We will receive/inherit them from God, and we will also receive/inherit them just like Christ has inherited them. But we must suffer for doing good as Christ did, in order to receive splendor as he did.
18I consider that what we suffer during the present time is not worth paying attention to, because the future splendor/glory that will be revealed {that God will reveal} to us is so great.
19The things that God has created are very eagerly waiting for the time PRS, DOU when God will reveal who his true children are.
20God caused the things that he created to be unable to achieve what he had purposed. That was not because they wanted to be unable to do that. On the contrary, God made them that way because he wanted them to keep confidently expecting
21that the things that he created will be freed {that he will free the things that he created} from their sure decay MET. He will free them in order that he can give them the same glory that belongs to his children.
22We know that until now it is as though all things that God created have been groaning together, and they long for that glory, just like a mother having the pains before bearing a child groans and longs for her baby's birth MET.
23Not only do those things groan, but we ourselves also groan inwardly. We who have God's Spirit, who is like a partial gift MET we have received as we wait for the future glory, groan inwardly. We groan while we wait eagerly for the time when we will receive our full rights as God's adopted children. That will include his freeing our bodies from the things that hinder us on earth. He will do this by giving us new bodies.
24Ever since we were saved {since God saved us}, we have continued to confidently expect that future glory. If we had what we waited for, we would not need to wait for it any longer, because those who have something, certainly do not continue to wait for it! RHQ
Romans 8
Romans 8:5-24