Thursday, January 19, 2023

Romans 8:14-17


14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, "Abba, Father." 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. ~ Romans 8:14-17

Romans 8 chronicles the activity of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer in Christ, resulting in the believer's sanctification which is the changing of his mind, will, and emotions. This process will never come to its completion until the believer is delivered from the presence of sin. 

In Romans 8:1-4, the Holy Spirit reminds the believer that he is not condemned, especially since he still sins after being "born again." In Romans 8:5-8, the Holy Spirit teaches the believer to think like God thinks. In Romans 8:9-13, the Holy Spirit enables the believer to live the life that the Lord Jesus died to give him. And, in today's passage we learn that the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are "the children of God."

In v.14-15 of today's passage we read, "14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'"

Today's passage teaches us that we are adopted children of God if we have placed our faith in the finished word of the Lord Jesus Christ. For the first time in this letter to the Romans Paul used the phrase "children of God." He used it in the context of explaining adoption which was a unique practice in the Roman culture of that day. The Greek word translated "adoption" occurs only five times in the New Testament and it literally means: "the place and condition of a son given to one to whom it does not naturally belong."

Once sin entered the world all mankind was separated from God. We, at that point were made to be illegitimate children by sin. And since we were made illegitimate, God had to do something special to buy us back. And the way He did it, well, that was special. He adopted us through His Son to be in His family forever. Adoption, in the Roman world at that time, included the deliberate choosing of one who was not the biological child of the adoptive father. It was done in order to perpetuate the father's name. The adopted child was in no way inferior in status to a biological child born unto the father. By using this word translated "adoption," God was emphasizing the fact that He chose us to be in his family, not we Him. And, now that we have been included in His family, we can be assured that we will spend eternity with the Father, even though we struggle yet with sin.  

When we were born again, the Spirit of God came into our spirit, and we no longer should fear the wrath of God, even though we still sin. When we were adopted into the family of God, God deliberately included us in His family. When we were born into Adam's family, we are all children of Adam by natural birth. We belonged to the human family, and we inherited Adam's nature of sin with all of its defects, problems, and the evil that made us children of disobedience. By nature we were not part of God's family. 

Now, God has taken us out of our natural state in Adam, and, by the person of the Spirit, has made us legally sons of God, and we are part of his family. We are in His family by adoption so that we might never take it for granted, especially when we fail in this process of sanctification. It is only by the grace of God that we have come into His family. And, now, we actually share the nature of God because we have been born of His Spirit. This is why in v.16 we read, "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children."

In v.17 of today's passage we read, "Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."

As believers in Christ we are co-heirs with Him. This means 
everything the Lord Jesus Christ has by divine right, we have received by divine grace. All that He has accomplished, His perfect life here on earth and death and resurrection, even His suffering and its results, have been applied to our account before God. To share in His sufferings is to have identified with His accomplishments while He was on this earth, especially His accomplishments while He hung on the cross. It was on that cross that He procured our salvation. And, as a result, we are co-heirs with Him. And, we are in the family of God for eternity.