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.
If the Spirit of God truly does live in you, you’re not ruled by your desires—you’re ruled by the Spirit. Anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ doesn’t belong to Christ.
I don’t ever want to brag about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Through that cross, the world has been crucified to me and I have been crucified to the world.
Dear friends, in this world you’re outsiders who are living away from their land. So don’t give in to your wrong desires, which fight against your soul.
You’re judging only by how things look on the surface. If someone is confident that they belong to Christ, they should consider again that we belong to Christ just as much as they do.
But this will happen in a particular order. Christ is the first of those who rise from the dead. When he comes back, those who belong to him will be raised.
Some of you are saying, “Food is meant for the stomach, and the stomach is meant for food, and God will destroy both of them.” But you can’t say the same thing about the body and sexual sins. The body is meant for the Lord, and the Lord is meant for the body.
I’ve been crucified with Christ. I’m not the one living anymore. Christ is living in me. I do continue to live in this body, but I do that by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
In Christ, you have received a circumcision that has not been done by human hands. Your circumcision has been done by Christ, and he has put away the person you used to be when wrong desires ruled over you.