Daily Thoughts from Romans: Adopted! (8:9-17)

Daily Thoughts from Romans: Adopted!

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.

So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.  (Romans 8:9-17 ESV)

If we have the Holy Spirit living in us, that is, if we do belong to Christ, then we are no longer “in the flesh,” that is, no longer held in bondage to sin but are slaves to righteousness.  He is producing life in us who were once dead spiritually.  We’re not perfect, we’re persevering in truth and growth.  The Holy Spirit is giving life to our mortal bodies, and it is manifesting itself in growing righteousness.

We are now obligated to a new way of life, the way of the Spirit.  By His work in us, if we put to death the deeds of the old way of life, we live spiritually.  And that is what a true believer is doing.  Being led by the Spirit in this way is the evidence that we are sons of God.  Sons are not slaves, they are free.

Once we were in slavery to fear, the fear of death and punishment, but now we have received the Spirit who gives testimony in us that we are God’s sons, adopted into His family, making Him our spiritual Papa.  That means His inheritance comes to us, all of us together, and that we are fellow heirs with Jesus Christ, God’s greatest Son.  We inherit what he inherited.  He had to suffer and so will we, at the hands of unbelievers, but then we will be received into glory and made glorious like him.

Do you feel assured that you are God’s adopted son/daughter?  Have you seen the evidence in yourself of the Spirit at work within you?  Have you sensed His internal witness that God is your papa?

When I was a child, my minister father brought home a 12-year-old boy named Roger, whose parents had died from a drug overdose. There was no one to care for Roger, so my folks decided they’d just raise him as if he were one of their own sons.  At first it was quite difficult for Roger to adjust to his new home—an environment free of heroine-addicted adults! Every day, several times a day, I heard my parents saying to Roger:

“No, no. That’s not how we behave in this family.”

“No, no. You don’t have to scream or fight or hurt other people to get what you want.”

“No, no, Roger, we expect you to show respect in this family.” And in time Roger began to change.

Now, did Roger have to make all those changes in order to become a part of the family? No. He was made a part of the family simply by the grace of my father. But did he then have to do a lot of hard work because he was in the family? You bet he did. It was tough for him to change, and he had to work at it. But he was motivated by gratitude for the incredible love he had received.

Do you have a lot of hard work to do now that the Spirit has adopted you into God’s family? Certainly. But not in order to become a son or a daughter of the heavenly Father. No, you make those changes because you are a son or daughter. And every time you start to revert back to the old addictions to sin, the Holy Spirit will say to you, “No, no. That’s not how we act in this family.” [Craig Barnes, author and pastor of National Presbyterian Church, Washington, D.C.; from sermon “The Blessed Trinity”]