¹²  So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh.¹³  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.¹⁴  For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵  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!” ¹⁶  The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷  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.

Paul is introducing us to another of the great metaphors in which he describes the new relationship of the Christian to God. He speaks of the Christian being adopted into the family of God.

Adoption is a beautiful thing to behold. I have looked around at most congregations and seen families that have adopted children from other countries and think about where those kids would be if they had not been adopted into a loving family.

They had no family to love them or provide for their needs. They had no caring dad or mom to listen to their problems or put their arms around them and assure them that things would be all right.

Depending on their circumstances, some of them were malnourished and sick. They had no instruction even about basic matters in life such as hygiene, let alone spiritual instruction.

Then one day a couple with love and kindness in their eyes chose them and went through all of the legal and financial matters necessary to bring that needy child into their home. For the first time in their lives, those kids heard prayers and felt kisses before drifting off to sleep.

When they awoke frightened or sick in the night, they had the comfort of loving parents to calm their fears or nurse them back to health. They had nutritious meals and nice clothing.

They learned what it was like to be a part of a loving, caring family where God is worshiped, His Word is read, and needs are brought before His gracious throne in prayer.

It was Paul’s picture that when a man/woman became a Christian they entered into the very family of God. He did nothing to deserve it; God, the great Father, in his amazing love and mercy, has taken the lost, helpless, poverty-stricken, debt-laden sinner and adopted him into his own family, so that the debts are cancelled and the glory inherited.

I’m reminded of a story I heard long ago (tell of man watching a family across the street…noticed there was suddenly two instead of one boy playing…after many weeks, had the opportunity…”One of us is adopted, but I don’t remember which one”)

We have two grandsons who were adopted out of orphanages in China…but “I don’t remember which of my six grandsons they are.”  We now have a niece with four children…one a three-year old girl just this week adopted from India (but I don’t remember which one).

The Bible uses adoption as a picture of what God has done for us. Spiritually, we were dirty, diseased, impoverished street urchins, with no one to care for us.

He cleaned us up, removed our rags, clothed us in the righteousness of Christ, fed us with the nourishing truth of His Word, and guided us in His paths of righteousness and wisdom.

He brought us into His family, where we have brothers and sisters to share our burdens and our joys. And He made us His heirs, so that throughout eternity we will enjoy the unfathomable riches of Christ.

Paul says that God’s Spirit witnesses with our spirit that we really are his children.

Romans 8:17 is transitional: First (8:14) he says that all who are being led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God. We saw that in the context this does not refer to the Spirit’s leading us in matters of guidance about life’s choices, but rather to the Spirit’s leading us to kill our sin.

If the Holy Spirit is prompting and enabling you to fight against and kill your sin, it’s an evidence that should assure you that you are a child of God.

The next step is that if you are a child of God, then you are an heir. Then he goes higher—you are an heir of God Himself and a joint-heir with Christ.

Finally, we will be glorified with Him. Every grace we receive should lead us to seek after something higher still. We should never be complacent or think that we have arrived spiritually. We should seek to be filled more and more with all the fullness of God.

With that as an introduction, let’s explore some of the riches of our text. I’m convinced that Paul does not just want us to think about these things intellectually and walk away saying, “That’s interesting!”

Rather, he wants us to feel emotionally the wonderful grace and love of being an adopted child of God and all of the glorious riches that God has stored up for us in eternity so that we can joyfully persevere in our present sufferings. He is saying,

8:14-15 Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For . . . you received the Spirit of sonship.^NIV The Jews already considered themselves to be “sons of God” because of their heritage; but Paul explains that sons of God has new meaning. True sons of God are those who are led by the Spirit of God as evidenced in their lifestyle. Believers not only have the Spirit (8:9); they are also led by the Spirit.

Paul uses adoption or “sonship” to illustrate the believer’s new relationship with God and his or her privileges as part of God’s family.

In Roman culture, the adopted person lost all rights in his old family and gained all the rights of a legitimate child in his new family. He became a full heir to his new family.

Likewise, when a person becomes a Christian, he or she gains all the privileges and responsibilities of a child in God’s family. One of these outstanding privileges is being led by the Spirit (Galatians 4:5-6).

You did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship.^NIV This slavery to fear most likely refers to life under the law, obedience that was concerned for scrupulous exactness with a constant fear of failure.

Paul implies that the absence of fear is an important indicator of the Spirit’s presence: “God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7 niv).

By whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”^NKJV We are not slaves who must cower in fear before their master.

We are adopted sons who can call God our Father. Abba is from the Aramaic and is still a term used by Hebrew children to address their father (see Galatians 4:6).

Jesus used the expression when he prayed to his Father (see Mark 14:36). “Abba” is a term of informal intimacy and respect spoken by children to their fathers.

The equivalent expression in our language is “Daddy” or “Papa.” Calling God “Daddy” indicates that we have an intimate relationship with him.

8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.^NKJV The Holy Spirit within makes all the difference for believers.

This does not come about because of direct intervention of God in some intuitive, experiential way.

     In its context, it’s supposing that in the midst of trials and hardships, we might have doubts. The Spirit speaks to our inner self to remove those doubts!

We can only be children of God by being obedient to His will (1 John 4:1-3; 5:1-3; 2 John 7-9).

The Holy Spirit not only adopts us as God’s children, but he also assures us of our family status (see Galatians 4:6).

The Spirit within changes our obedience to God from slavery to a relationship where God is both our Master and our loving Father.

The Scriptures indicate that believers can expect inward confirmation of the faith by the Spirit. Our very capacity and desire to approach God as our Father is itself evidence of the Spirit’s witness with our spirit that we are children of God. We are motivated by the Spirit.

8:17 We are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.^{NIV 17}  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.

Have you ever daydreamed about what it might be like to be an heir of a wealthy family, like the Rockefeller’s or the Kennedy’s or the Getty’s? From what I’ve read, many of those heirs are not happy people. They fight and take each other to court, trying to grab or protect their portion of the inheritance.

The Jews were convinced that they were the Lord’s inheritance, and that as such they would inherit the Promised Land.

Paul explains that God’s promise includes all who believe in Christ—both Jews and Gentiles. Because we are God’s children, we are his heirs.

And we are co-heirs with Christ, the Son of God. Heirs of what? The Jews thought it was to be the Promised Land—instead, it is another “land,” God’s kingdom.

We are heirs of God only because of Christ’s suffering on our behalf. As believers, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.^NRSV

We will enjoy our future inheritance if our relationship with Christ is genuine enough so that we will face suffering for his sake. History has demonstrated that hatred for Christ has often resulted in terrible persecution of his co-heirs. The early Christians who died in the arena shared in Christ’s suffering because of their connection with Christ.

There was no personally redemptive value in their suffering, except that on occasion, the suffering of one believer was the seed that bloomed with faith in another person. Jesus said, “Remember the words I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” (John 15:20 niv). For more on this theme, see 2 Timothy 2:12; 3:12; 1 Peter 4:13.

The basis of our assurance of being children of God is not subjective emotionalism. It is the objective criteria of habitually keeping the commandments of the Lord.

The Spirit is the seal or pledge of our inheritance as adopted children of God (Eph. 1:13-14).

In a wonderful chapter in Knowing God, J. I. Packer says (p. 187) that adoption is the highest privilege that the gospel offers, even higher than the blessing of justification, because it brings us into a richer relationship with God as our loving Father.

It’s at the root of glorifying the Father, as people see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven. It’s at the heart of pleasing the Father, who sees our hearts, rather than being hypocrites who practice our righteousness before men.

This truth was taught in the Old Testament. When Israel conquered the land of Canaan, it was divided up among the various tribes. But the priestly tribe of Levi got no land, because “the Lord is their inheritance, as He promised them” (Deut. 18:2; Josh. 13:33).

Do you suppose that any of the Levites looked with envy at the other tribes and their fertile pastures and grumbled, “Where’s my inheritance?” And when they were told, “The Lord God of Israel is your inheritance,” they complained, “Bummer, I’d rather have some land!” I hope not!

If God Himself is our inheritance, then our salvation is secure because He is eternal and unchangeable and His promises never fail.

Hebrews 1:2 declares, “In these last days [God] has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.”

Our inheritance is secure because there is absolutely no doubt that Jesus will inherit all that the Father has ordained to give Him.

It is certain that Jesus will inherit all that the Father has promised to Him. And since we are fellow heirs with Christ, our inheritance is secure. Our right to the riches of heaven is not because of anything in us, but because we are in Christ.

Packer elaborates on how adoption gives us the deepest insights into five other matters:

(1) It shows us the greatness of God’s grace and love

(2) the glory of the Christian hope

(3) the ministry of the Holy Spirit

(4) the meaning and motives of what the Puritans called “gospel holiness”

(5) the clue we need to see our way through the problem of assurance.

Does the doctrine of God’s gracious adoption of you as His child make your heart well up with thanksgiving and joy as you realize what the Father has done for you? Meditate on that truth every day and it will give you strength to resist sin and grace to endure trials.

If by God’s grace through faith in Christ you are a child of God, then it follows:

But, what does our inheritance look like?

Our inheritance includes the unfathomable riches of Christ.

Ephesians 2:7, Paul says, “So that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

These riches include our being heirs of the world. In Romans 4:13, Paul said, “For the promise to Abraham or to his descendants (lit., “seed”) that he would be heir of the world was not through the Law, but through the righteousness of faith.”

Abraham did not inherit the world in his lifetime. The only piece of real estate he owned was the burial cave of Machpelah. But God has promised a new city whose architect and builder is God (Heb. 11:10).

Abraham was looking for that heavenly city (Heb. 11:16), and since we are fellow heirs with Christ, who is the seed of Abraham, we will inherit the new heavens and earth with Him.

But these wonderful truths raise a question: If we are God’s beloved children, then why does He allow us to suffer?

As an earthly parent, I did everything that I could to protect my children from suffering and to alleviate their pain, whether physical or emotional.

If God is an all-powerful and all-loving Father, then why doesn’t He do the same with His children?

While many books have been written to deal with that issue, Paul here and through the rest of the chapter shows that our suffering is not at odds with God’s love for us as His children.

Just as our Savior had to suffer first and then enter His glory (Luke 24:26), so too, our path to glory goes through the valley of suffering. More to come next week…