Eternity Daily Bible Study: No. 538 Romans 1-8 - A Righteousness That Is By Faith Verses: Romans 8:14-17 Topic: Children of God Date: 10th November 2005 Romans 8:14-17 MKJV For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. (15) For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba, Father! (16) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. (17) And if we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; so that if we suffer with Him, we may also be glorified together. Paul takes the term 'son of God' with literal seriousness, for him we have been adopted into the very family of God and are joint-heirs with Christ, part of the family of the God-head, and even able to judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:2,3) in Hebrews 2 we are even considered as "brethren" - literal brothers of Jesus . There is no hint that the term "son of God' is "merely just an analogy". Not at all! The New Testament sees Christians as becoming immortal world-liberating beings full of eternal glory who will even rule with Christ and share His throne (Revelation 3:21). Grace takes us from the guttermost to the uttermost (Ephesians 2:4-7)! Now the one characteristic of sons of God, that Paul singles out is that they are "led by the Spirit of God". That is they are susceptible to spiritual influence, motivated by holiness, and obedient to the promptings of the Spirit within their conscience. They are tuned in to God and to His various communications with them. They are not led by mere men, or by politicians or generals or doctrines or by the ever-varying trends of the age. Instead they are led by the voice of righteousness and truth and by the word of the gospel. To be led by the Spirit is to be led into truth. The person led by the Spirit is attracted to beauty, truth, noble and higher thought, wisdom, righteousness, peace, and love. These voices provide the intuitive inner guidance of the saint and are the different drummers that the Spirit-led person hearkens to and marches in step with. To be led by the Spirit is deeply personal and intuitive. It is following a leader and hearkening to a certain calling. It is deep sense of inner direction and decision. It is not legalistic, nor is it a cobbling together of rules and practices and notions into a sort of life-code. Now the Scriptures are very important and we are to study them and know them as Christ studied them and knew them. But when Jesus came to life's situations He followed the Spirit, not a strict set of laws like the Pharisees did. Jesus was without sin, He was perfect, and He loved the Scriptures. Yet His life direction came from above, via the Spirit, through His spiritual perception of situations and His sense of what "the Father" was doing. The Bible has to be interpreted by the Spirit-filled believer with a sensitive and Spirit-led conscience. If the conscience is hardened and dead (as it was with the Pharisees) then the Bible simply becomes a weapon with which to condemn others and works death not life. The Bible is a Spirit-breathed book that needs to be spiritually discerned. Only the Spirit-led sons and daughters of God can read it rightly! Now the Spirit of God leads us out of fear and condemnation and into child-like intimacy and fellowship with God. For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption by which we cry, Abba, Father! Paul contrasts two "spirits" here, the "spirit of fear" and the "spirit of adoption". The spirit of fear operates on the assumption that God may punish us and even reject us unless we keep all His rules. In this scenario we are "in" but can be cast out at any time. The spirit of adoption operates in reverse, we are outside, not God's children and we are accepted in, chosen, taken on board, redeemed from our sin and messy lives. So on the one hand we have rules, fear and rejection and on the other hand we have grace, adoption and acceptance. Adoption is inclusion. God includes us in His circle, and brings us into His family of love. We can called God "Daddy" which is what "Abba" means. The term "Abba" is shocking and violates many people's ideas of reverence and repudiates all notions of a distant philosophical and impersonal God. This is intimacy with Deity and it is encouraged! The spirit of adoption tells us that we are children of God. This is God's never-ending message of love and it comes not in a book or on tablets of stone, or even through a prophet but is witnessed to the very deepest part of our inmost being! (16)The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. This tells us that we have a spirit "our spirit" and the Holy Spirit talks to it and imparts information. In Acts we see the phrase "the Holy Spirit said' referring to such internal communication from God. Paul outlines the mechanism in 1 Corinthians 2. 1 Corinthians 2:9-12 MKJV (9) But as it is written, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard," nor has it entered into the heart of man, "the things which God has prepared for those who love Him." (10) But God has revealed them to us by His Spirit; for the Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep things of God. (11) For who among men knows the things of a man except the spirit of man within him? So also no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. (12) But we have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit from God, so that we might know the things that are freely given to us by God. God reveals non-sensory spiritual data (which eye has not seen, nor ear heard) to us via the Spirit, and this Spirit searches out the deep things of God and reveals them to our spirit so that we might know the things freely given to us by God. One of these precious truths that is revealed to us is God's loving adoption of us as His sons and daughters in the Kingdom. Now adopted children have rights and share in any inheritance, so as adopted sons and daughters of God we are "heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ". We inherit the things that God has - such as immortality, glory, and eternal life. We become imperishable and holy, and or on a feather cushion. For we also inherit Christ's rejection by the world and persecution by the Devil. (17)And if we are children, then we are heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ; so that if we suffer with Him, we may also be glorified together. We are joined with Christ in both suffering and in glory and the one cannot be had without the other, even though we may fervently wish it otherwise. Blessings, John Edmiston (johned@aibi.ph) REFER OTHERS: If this devotional is a blessing to you, maybe you have a friend or family member that would like to start receiving this daily bible study. 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