Because God has shown you such mercy, brothers and sisters, I ask you to offer up your bodies to God while you are still alive. That will be a sacrifice that is holy and pleasing to God. It’s the right kind of worship to offer God.
That’s why the good news was preached even to people who are now dead. Even though they were judged in their bodies for what they did while they lived on earth, they were told the good news so that they could live in the spirit the way God wants.
We know that our old self was nailed to the cross with him. That happened so that our bodies that were so used to sinning wouldn’t control us anymore. Now we’re not slaves of sin any longer.
Follow my example. I try to please everyone in every way. I’m not looking out for what’s good for me. I’m looking out for the interests of others, so that they might be saved.
When you were baptized, you were buried together with Christ, and you were raised to life with him by believing in the work that God did when he raised Jesus from the dead.
So let me tell you—and I’m speaking for the Lord as I warn you: You must not live the way the Gentiles do any longer. They’re not able to think things through correctly.
He has given us the power to serve under a new covenant. It’s not based on the written Law of Moses; it comes from the Holy Spirit. The written Law kills, but the Spirit gives life.
“Truly I tell you, whoever who hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life. They will not be judged, because they have crossed over from death into life.