Adopted Sons - Part 1 (Romans 8:14-16)
INTRODUCTION:
We have journeyed through the first 13 verses of Romans 8 so far. This morning we are going to begin to look at 3 more. In the three verses that we will begin to look at this morning Paul will use the idea of adoption to explain to us our close and permanent relationship to God the Father as His well-loved sons. As we move into this passage, I think that it would be good for us to understand the word adoption from the Roman perspective, because it is in this sense that Paul uses it.
Adoption in the Roman Empire in Paul’s day was not uncommon and sometimes an adopted son had greater privilege and status within the family than a natural born son. In the Roman family and according to Roman law the father’s authority and rule over his children was absolute. If a Roman father was disappointed with his biological son, whether it be the son’s character, or skill, or something else, then the father could look for a boy available for adoption who possessed the qualities that the father was looking for in his heir and the father would take the required steps to legally adopt the boy as his son. At the father’s death, the favored, adopted son could become the heir and inherit the father’s title and a major part of the estate and would become the one to carry on the family name. Because of the great importance and because of what an adopted son could inherit, the process of adoption in Roman society involved several legal procedures that had to be carried out fully. The first step was the complete severing of the boy’s legal and social ties to his biological family. The second step placed him into his new family permanently, taking on the new family’s name and all of his previous debts and obligations were done away with, as if they never existed, it was a totally new start. For the adoption to become legal it had to take place in the presence of seven reputable witnesses, who if need be, could testify to any challenge of the adoption after the father’s death. It is from this point of view that Paul speaks of us as the adopted sons of God the Father. Let’s pray and then look at our verses for this morning.
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles to Romans 8 again this morning. We will begin looking at verses 14-16. Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word.
Romans 8:14-16,
“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God,” (Romans 8:14–16, NASB95)[1]
SONS ARE LED BY THE SPIRIT (Romans 8:14)
Paul begins this passage again with the conjunction “for” that as I said previously could also be translated “because.” Paul does this to show that the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives is built off of the truth that he has already presented in this chapter. Because we are in the Spirit putting to death the deeds of the body we will live. Because we are allowing the Spirit to do this work in our lives Paul says this shows that we are being led by the Spirit, we have given Him control in our lives to use His power to get rid of sin that seeks to corrupt us and drag us back to the level we were at before Christ, to put us back in bondage to sin and death. But this cannot happen because our inner self has been transformed and the Holy Spirit is now in us and we battle the flesh and by the Spirit put to death the deeds of the body. Paul speaks of this battle between the flesh and the Spirit in Galatians 5:16-17 where he writes, “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” (Galatians 5:16–17, NASB95)[2] Paul goes on in Romans and says that all those who are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. In other words, when we allow the Spirit of God to control us, to put to death the deeds of the body, to overcome the desires of the flesh in our lives this shows that we are led by the Spirit which confirms or affirms to our spirit that we are the sons of God. This being led by the Spirit of God is an inner confirmation that we belong to God, that we are His sons. If you truly experience the leading of the Spirit of God in your life you can be certain that you are a child of God.
It is important for us to understand the grammar that Paul is using here in the Greek. When he writes, “are being led” in Greek this is what is called the present passive indicative which simply means that which already exists. The fact already exists that we are being led by the Spirit of God because He is putting to death by His power the deeds of the body, but what this does not mean is that this is an uninterrupted leading by the Spirit. Because if it was then the many admonitions in the Scriptures to walk in the Spirit or to be led by the Spirit would be meaningless. What Paul is saying here in this first verse is that for the one who has put their faith in Jesus Christ for salvation, this person’s life is basically distinguished or characterized by the Spirit’s leading, just as it is mainly distinguished or characterized by Christ’s righteousness. Why is this important to understand? Because a person who simply professes to be a Christian is not and cannot be led by the Spirit of God. Only the person who has come to God agreeing that they are a helpless sinner unable to please Him in anyway, but believes that Jesus Christ has paid the full penalty for his sin through His death, burial and resurrection, and believes that God will forgive him on the basis of his faith in Jesus Christ, only this person can be led by the Spirit of God.
Our assurance that we are children of God is seen in the fact that we are being led by the Spirit of God. We can simply ask ourselves if we have ever sensed God’s leading or guidance in our life and if we have then we can know that we are the sons of God.
We can even be sure of this, be certain of our salvation even when we are not as quick to respond or as obedient to His leading as we should be. Does this mean that doubts will never arise, that we will never have some doubts about our salvation? No, those doubts will come especially if fail to be in God’s Word regularly, or if we neglect God by failing to spend time in prayer with Him, or we fail to fellowship with other believers, or become careless in our obedience to God, this will surely cause some doubts to arise because you have ignored God and neglected the things of God. But even the obedient person can have doubts arise in their mind when they are going through a time of pain, or sorrow, or failure or disappointment. Satan loves to take these difficulties in our lives to plant seed of doubt in our minds. Remember he is the accuser of God’s people.
Our Father in heaven, however, wants us to always know that we are secure in Him, that we belong to Him at all times. So, if we are putting to death the deeds of the body, we know that this is not possible to do in the flesh, but that it must be done in the power of the Holy Spirit. When we experience this victory in our lives over sin, and see its desires and practices weakening, we can be certain that we are God’s children. When we begin to understand biblical truth that had no meaning to us before, when our consciences are convicted because of sin, and when we are sorrowful when we sin knowing that we have grieved the Spirit of God, this also is assurance that we are sons of God, because only the indwelling Holy Spirit can impart such understanding, conviction and godly sorrow. God does not force His will on those who belong to Him. God wants us to obey Him willingly, He never forces or coerces us into obedience. But when we surrender to Him and submit to His will then He supernaturally transforms and redirects our will into conformity with His own will. This surrender and submission are so clearly seen in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart And do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5–6, NASB95)[3] Trusting, not leaning on our own understanding, acknowledging God in all our ways, that is willingly surrendering and submitting, and the result is that we are led by the Spirit of God.
THE SPIRIT’S MINISTRY OF ILLUMINATION
God’s Word is impossible to be fully understood by the unbeliever, but for the believer even though we still have finite and sin-stained minds, the Spirit of God illumines God’s Word for us, this simply means that He clarifies God’s Word and gives us understanding into what is written. As we read God’s Word and meditate on it and pray over it the indwelling Holy Spirit interprets it for us. This illumination begins when we are convicted of sin which results in our salvation and then it continues through the rest of our lives.
When Jesus was having the last supper with the disciples in the upper room before His arrest, He told them in John 14:25-26, “These things I have spoken to you while abiding with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.” (John 14:25–26, NASB95)[4] This promise made to the disciples by Jesus in the last few hours that He was with them had great meaning for them, they would become Christ’s witnesses to His truth after He ascended back to heaven. The Holy Spirit would teach them all things and bring to their remembrance everything that Jesus said to them. But this promise was not just for the disciples, but applies to all believers since Pentecost, because since that time all believers are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, whose ministry to us includes making understandable to us divine truth given to us in Scripture that would otherwise be beyond our comprehension.
Paul several times in his letters prayed that the Holy Spirit would illumine the minds of his readers to the truth of the Scriptures. In Ephesians 3:16-19 He prayed, “that He [God] would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3:16–19, NASB95)[5] He told the Colossians believers in Colossians 1:9, “For this reason also, since the day we heard of it, we have not ceased to pray for you and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,” (Colossians 1:9, NASB95)[6] I believe that 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 best explains the illuminating work of the Spirit, Paul writes, “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ‘For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?’ But we have the mind of Christ.” (1 Corinthians 2:14–16, ESV)[7] In other words, not even believers could understand God’s Word if we did not have the mind of Christ imparted to us by the illuminating work of the Spirit within us. This is the first major way in which the Holy Spirit leads all believers.
THE SPIRIT’S MINISTRY OF SANCTIFICATION
Another way in which the Holy Spirit ministers to or leads believers is in His work of their sanctification. Not only does the Holy Spirit make God’s Word understandable to us, but He also supernaturally assists us in obeying it. This process of sanctification produced by the Holy Spirit is another confirmation that we are the sons of God, this is another assurance of our salvation. As a sinner saved by grace, I know that I cannot please the Lord in my own power or by my own righteousness because I have none of my own. But I also know that when I seek to be obedient to the Lord’s will as it has been illumined to me by the Spirit in the Lord’s commands and principles in His Word, that the Holy Spirit will bless the obedience to do the Lord’s work in ways far beyond what my own abilities could have accomplished or produced. It is not so much the work that pleases the Father but our obedience to Him and our dependence on Him to accomplish the work that brings joy to the Father. It is through our faithful obedience that we then experience the working of the Spirit in leading us and bringing about our sanctification. When we consider this it makes Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:8-10 more understandable when he writes, “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.” (Ephesians 2:8–10, NASB95)[8] The good works were prepared before hand so that we would walk in them. How are we to walk in them? In faithful obedience to the leading of the Holy Spirit which leads to our sanctification. Through our obedience the Holy Spirit works in us to conform us to the image of Jesus Christ. I do not claim to know or understand exactly how God does this work of sanctification in us. God’s Word tells us that this happens and we experience at times the Holy Spirit carrying out those spiritual works prepared for us and we know that those works are not accomplished by our own efforts or power, but that it is a supernatural act of God’s Spirit within us. The Spirit produces His fruit in us and we often do not see this until after we bear the fruit in our lives, then we realize that this was the sanctifying work of the Spirit of God in our lives to produce this fruit that we might bear it as we are faithful to His leading in our lives. Even though we are not fully aware of the Holy Spirit’s work in us at all times, He is carrying out His sanctifying work in us at all times. Life in the Spirit is only possible because the Spirit has given us life and sustains our spiritual life. The Holy Spirit is our life. This work of sanctification is another major ministry of the Holy Spirit to us and it is a life-long process that will be fulfilled when we go home to be with the Lord, then we will be completely conformed to His image, we will be like Him because we will see Him just as He is.
“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” (Romans 8:14, NASB95)[9] Sons of God are those who submit to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and this leading is seen, if in nothing else, in the illuminating and sanctifying ministries of the Holy Spirit in our lives, and this to the glory of our heavenly Father.
CONCLUSION:
We looked at one verse, I am keeping my promise that we are going to be in this chapter for a while. Keep in mind what I said about Roman adoption, Lord willing we will get into that more fully next week.
Are you being led by the Spirit of God? Have you ever experienced God’s hand guiding you? If you can answer “Yes” to either of those questions, then rest assured that you are a child of God. Our obligation or our responsibility in all of this is to surrender and submit to the Holy Spirit’s leading in our life. Our responsibility is not to the flesh or even to the battle with the flesh, but as we faithfully submit to the Holy Spirit He will by His power put to death the deeds of the flesh, He will open our minds to the truth of the Scriptures by making them understandable to us, and He will produce His fruit in us in the process of sanctifying us. Paul reminds us in Galatians 5:22-25 of the fruit of the Spirit and the importance of submitting to the Holy Spirit. He writes, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit.” (Galatians 5:22–25, NASB95)[10] Living by the Spirit speaks of what our life is characterized by, the Spirit living in us giving us life and sustaining our spiritual life; walking by the Spirit speaks of our obedience in surrendering and submitting to the Holy Spirit’s leading and guiding us to do God’s will in our lives. Do not only live by the Spirit but walk by the Spirit as well.
[1]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[2]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[3]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[4]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[5]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[6]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[7]The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016.
[8]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[9]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.
[10]New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update. La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995.