so that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. This life that I live now, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave his life for me.

And those who belong to Christ Jesus have put to death their human nature with all its passions and desires.

As for me, however, I will boast only about the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; for by means of his cross the world is dead to me, and I am dead to the world.

So get rid of your old self, which made you live as you used to---the old self that was being destroyed by its deceitful desires.

You must put to death, then, the earthly desires at work in you, such as sexual immorality, indecency, lust, evil passions, and greed (for greed is a form of idolatry).

Do not lie to one another, for you have put off the old self with its habits

and have put on the new self. This is the new being which God, its Creator, is constantly renewing in his own image, in order to bring you to a full knowledge of himself.

What an unhappy man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is taking me to death?

What the Law could not do, because human nature was weak, God did. He condemned sin in human nature by sending his own Son, who came with a nature like our sinful nature, to do away with sin.

For if you live according to your human nature, you are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death your sinful actions, you will live.

In union with Christ you were circumcised, not with the circumcision that is made by human beings, but with the circumcision made by Christ, which consists of being freed from the power of this sinful self.

For when you were baptized, you were buried with Christ, and in baptism you were also raised with Christ through your faith in the active power of God, who raised him from death.

Sin must no longer rule in your mortal bodies, so that you obey the desires of your natural self.

But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life.

Thanks be to God, who does this through our Lord Jesus Christ! This, then, is my condition: on my own I can serve God's law only with my mind, while my human nature serves the law of sin.

God did this so that the righteous demands of the Law might be fully satisfied in us who live according to the Spirit, and not according to human nature.

So Naaman said, "If you won't accept my gift, then let me have two mule-loads of earth to take home with me, because from now on I will not offer sacrifices or burnt offerings to any god except the LORD.

LORD our God, we have been ruled by others, but you alone are our LORD.

Jesus said to them, "I am telling you the truth: everyone who sins is a slave of sin.

If the Son sets you free, then you will be really free.