Limitless Word
But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
Romans 8:9 · World English Bible · underlined terms are tappable
Parallel translations
  • KJV But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
  • BSB You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
  • NKJV But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.
  • NASB However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.
  • NLT But you are not controlled by your sinful nature. You are controlled by the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Believers are in the Spirit, not the flesh, because God's Spirit dwells in them; anyone without Christ's Spirit does not belong to Him. The indwelling Spirit marks who truly belongs to Christ.

Overview

Paul assures believers that they are no longer in the flesh but in the Spirit, evidenced by the Spirit's indwelling. The Spirit is called both the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ, underscoring His full deity and the unity of the Trinity. To lack this Spirit is to be outside of Christ altogether, making the Spirit's presence the mark of genuine faith.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 29

  • Gal 4:6And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, “Abba, Father!”
  • 1 Cor 3:16Don’t you know that you are a temple of God, and that God’s Spirit lives in you?
  • 2 Tim 1:14That good thing which was committed to you, guard through the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.
  • 1 Cor 6:19Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
  • John 14:17the Spirit of truth, whom the world can’t receive; for it doesn’t see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you.
  • Rom 8:11But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
  • Gal 5:24Those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.
  • Eph 1:13in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation — in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit,
  • Rom 8:2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death.
  • John 3:6That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
  • Ezek 36:26–27I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
  • Eph 2:22in whom you also are built together for a habitation of God in the Spirit.
  • 1 Jn 4:13By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
  • 1 Jn 4:4You are of God, little children, and have overcome them; because greater is he who is in you than he who is in the world.
  • Phil 1:19For I know that this will turn out to my salvation, through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,
  • Ezek 11:19I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them a heart of flesh;
  • 1 Jn 3:24He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.
  • John 17:9–10I pray for them. I don’t pray for the world, but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours.
  • Luke 11:13If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”
  • 2 Cor 6:16What agreement has a temple of God with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
  • 1 Cor 15:23But each in his own order: Christ the first fruits, then those who are Christ’s, at his coming.
  • John 3:34For he whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for God gives the Spirit without measure.
  • Eph 1:17–18that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him;
  • Jude 1:19–21These are they who cause divisions, and are sensual, not having the Spirit.
  • 1 Pet 1:11searching for who or what kind of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them, pointed to, when he predicted the sufferings of Christ, and the glories that would follow them.
  • 1 Cor 3:21–23Therefore let no one boast in men. For all things are yours,
  • 2 Cor 10:7Do you look at things only as they appear in front of your face? If anyone trusts in himself that he is Christ’s, let him consider this again with himself, that, even as he is Christ’s, so also we are Christ’s.
  • Rev 13:8All who dwell on the earth will worship him, everyone whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been killed.
  • Rev 20:15If anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (6)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Romans videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Romans 8:9YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on RomansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.

How Romans 8:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.