The Law of Moses not only condemned man (Rom 7:9-11), but it also enslaved him (Rom 7:14). The work of Christ removes this condemnation (Rom 8:1-4), replacing it with righteousness. And it also frees us so that, no longer slaves, we may become sons (Rom 8:15).

This section (vv.. 12-17) continues Paul's parable in Romans 6: Those who live their lives inclined toward the flesh (Rom 8:5,8) are pictured as slaves of Sin. Sin is personified as a mighty king who demands absolute obedience from his slaves, and in the end rewards them with nothing more than the 'wages' which they have earned, that is… death (Rom 6:16-23).

Now Paul continues: Christ has come into the 'slave market', and has redeemed us, or bought us out of that wretched place. This is the significance of the Greek "exagorazo", usually translated "redeem" (Gal 3:13; 4:5). Now, Paul says, we need no longer live lives of degradation and fear (Rom 8:15). Now we have become slaves of Christ, and slaves of righteousness (Rom 6:16,18,22).

This new life involves a form of service, but it is so much more than the old "slavery" to Sin. It involves becoming children of God, being held by bonds of love to a kind and generous Father (Rom 8:15,17).

Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation — but it is not to the sinful nature [flesh], to live according to it (v. 12).

Believers in Christ are obligated, not to the flesh or sin, but to the spirit of Christ and his teachings. Moreover, they are also obligated to destroy the "flesh" with its sins, wherever it crops up in their new lives.

For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live (v. 13).

Living one way brings death, while living another way brings life. More than natural death and natural life are intended here. We might paraphrase:

'If you live according to the sinful nature, you will certainly experience a spiritual death, but if you keep trying to put to death the sins in your own flesh, you will most certainly experience a spiritual life.'

Paul explains this "putting to death" of our flesh:

"Put to death, therefore, whatever belongs to your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires and greed, which is idolatry" (Col 3:5).

The Lord Jesus does not make believers righteous by miraculously killing their sinful natures. The believers themselves are asked to do this through the Spirit — that is, through acquiring and developing a spiritual mind.

Paul reminds believers that, if they do NOT continue to put to death their evil desires and evil works, then they will die. We must strive to live godly lives, not so that we will earn salvation, but so that we may remain safely in the place where Christ will save us!

The apostle Peter explains this in 2 Peter 1:

"His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

"For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness… knowledge… self-control… perseverance… godliness… brotherly kindness, and… love" (2Pet 1:3-7).

…those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God (v. 14).

Earlier Paul had talked about being "inclined toward the spirit" (v. 5), "the mind of the spirit" (v. 6), and the "indwelling" of the spirit — whether it is called the spirit of God or the spirit of Christ (vv. 9-11). All these seem to be synonymous with being "led by the Spirit". And again, we know we are talking about reading the Bible, thinking about spiritual things, and seeking to do those things in our lives.

We should not expect to be lifted up or swept away by some invisible power, nor even to be dragged along against our will. On the other hand, we cannot walk wherever we please. Instead, we should be "led" — meaning that someone else walks ahead, and we follow — like a servant led by his master, or a daughter led by her father.

There is a mystery in this partnership: We simply don't know how it works — nor can we see it working. But we understand that we must do our part, and trust in God to do the rest — however that might happen.

And we are assured — while we read and pray, and exercise ourselves toward personal righteousness — that, in ways we cannot know perfectly, the Lord works for good in and around and through us. How this happens, exactly, is another matter:

  • By providential means, such as the altering of situations and circumstances around us — the sorts of things that Robert Roberts outlines in his wonderful book, The Ways of Providence? Certainly.
  • By angelic visitation, even though we may never be sure that it happens (Heb 13:2)? Quite possibly.
  • By other, more direct means? Perhaps.

But here I suggest that we may fall into a trap if we try to guess when this is happening. The trap is, we might presume to rely upon something like 'God has told me!' And then we start to cross over the line, into an area of self-delusion. If we go to that place, then we might start believing that we are "inspired" by the Holy Spirit, and that we can do no wrong.

It could be dangerous to over-think how God works. The safest course may be:

  • recognize that "the Spirit" (of God, and/or of Christ) does act in partnership with us, and at the same time
  • acknowledge that we can never know how and when that Spirit is working.

The "Spirit" of God may be working in our lives — I stress the "may" — but God does not want us to stop using our own moral judgment when making choices in our lives. Our life in faith is a partnership. God will surely work with us, but only if we are working already!

The old expression — about having your head in the clouds but keeping your feet firmly planted on the ground — is a good one. It emphasizes the balance in a believer's life, between what the Lord God does for us and what we ought to do for ourselves — between faith and works, and perhaps also between "predestination" and free will (to be discussed later).

Verse 14 also mentions "sons of God", more properly sons and daughters, with special reference to their relationship with their divine parent.

In this chapter (Romans 8), we note that Jesus was the Son ("huios") of God (v. 3). Those who are guided by God's spirit become sons and daughters of God. God "gave up" His own Son, Jesus, for us all (v. 32), so that we might be revealed as His children also (v. 19).

Now we see the distinction more clearly, between slaves to "King Sin" (Rom 6, etc.) and children of God:

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father" (v. 15).

"Slaves" fear their owners. "Children" of a loving Father love Him in return, and trust Him implicitly.

The Greek word translated "adoption" here and in verse 23 means literally: "placed as a son/daughter/child". Paul is probably referring to Roman law, where it often happened that a rich or important man might select an employee or slave to be his legal "son", replacing even his own natural-born children, because he was more qualified to run a business or administer an estate. Such a "promotion" was accompanied, not just by a new legal status, but also by the cancellation of all debts, and a new right of inheritance.

A Parable

Let us close our eyes…

Now we imagine ourselves into the heart of a story. For a few minutes, we are going to travel through time. Let us imagine an "agora", a Middle Eastern market in the first century. Such a bazaar is the center of commerce. It is also the center of entertainment, news, opinions, and social interaction — in short, the center of life.

As always, somewhere in that busy agora is the slave-market, with its auction-block. Now we are standing there — and all around us there is brutality, callousness and fear — some of this we see, and some of this we feel now. Now we are afraid!

Here we see women auctioned off to be slaves to the ugliest passions of their owners. Here we see men doomed to lives of backbreaking, degrading labor, to satisfy the greed of their owners. Wasted lives, broken dreams, and families torn apart.

The slave-market is a parable of our own world. In this country and this century, we may think of ourselves as so much more civilized than this, but are we? In parts of Africa, young women are still kidnapped and forced into "marriages" entirely against their will. Young boys are still forced into service as foot soldiers for rebel forces. In other parts of the world, even the United States, young women are lured from their own homes with the promise of good jobs, only to find themselves forced into prostitution, with no escape.

Besides this, there are many forces — media, advertising, peer pressures — which act as "masters" to enslave the unsuspecting. Alcohol and drugs create new slaves every year. Our new technology, cell phones and the internet, can make employees 24/7 "slaves" to their bosses' demands.

In Charleston, South Carolina, there is a museum called "The Old Slave Market Museum". This was probably the most heavily-used slave market in America. Through its auction platform there passed generation after generation of Africans, each auctioned to the highest bidder.

These days the Old Slave Market is a tourist attraction, but some African-Americans speak of standing in that very place, with the strange thought:

'I feel like I've been here before!'

We should stand in the slave market of our imagination, and think the same thing:

"I've been here before. I've been sold and bought as a slave to Sin. And I thank God that, in my Lord Jesus Christ, I have been freed from that terrible bondage!"

Are your eyes still closed?

Into this slave market of our imagination comes a man, a stranger who is obviously different than all the others. Walking up to you, he speaks kindly but forcefully: "I have bought you. Come, follow me!"

Now you are following this extraordinary man through the streets and the crowds until you reach the house of his Father. There you are given a room far surpassing anything you have ever known before. And, then, you scarcely lay down to rest before the man is back again. He has brought water to wash your feet. He has brought healing oil to soothe the cruel wounds inflicted by your former master. He has brought you a new, clean garment to wear: 'Now you are a child in my Father's house.'

All your past life of fear and hate has been washed away, miraculously, and in its place is the joyful cry of true freedom, for the first time!

This is the change implied in the Greek word "huiothesis" (v. 15), a word very inadequately translated in the KJV as "adoption". The NIV and RSV (followed here) more correctly render it as "sonship".

The "sonship" and inheritance described by Paul is based upon the Roman law. Jewish law did not permit daughters to inherit along with sons, and the firstborn son received double. But under Roman law, sons and daughters all inherited equally, and adopted sons and daughters were treated exactly the same as the others. Paul refers to this in Galatians 3:

"For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise" (vv.. 27-29).

The two words in Romans 8:16, Abba and Father, point to two ways of addressing our heavenly Father. "Abba" is the Aramaic word, much like the Hebrew. It expresses the love and trust that a little child feels for a loving father, an intimate and tender affection. The Greek "pater" or Father, on the other hand, is a more formal expression. It signifies respect and a mature appreciation of the family relationship, which grown offspring might use.

The first word is Aramaic and the second is Greek, the two words together also suggest that this God, the Father of the Lord Jesus, is and will be a God of both Jews and Gentiles — who are "all one in Christ".

"We cry, 'Abba, Father!' (v. 15) suggests the anguished cries of Jesus:

  • first in Gethsemane: "My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will" (Matt 26:39).
  • and then, not so much later, from the cross: "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Psa 22; Matt 27:46; etc.).

The anguished cries of Jesus in his last day of terrible suffering reminds us also of Romans 8. In verses 31-33, Paul writes:

"If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all — how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies."

There is an assurance almost beyond expression in these words, for those of us — perhaps all of us, really — who have wrestled with fear.

The question is: What do we have to fear? God is our Father, and He stands firmly on our side! He is for us! He loved us so much that He deliberately offered His own Son on our behalf.

Will the One who has already gone so far in love for us turn back now? Will He bring charges against us at a judgment seat, when He has already taken steps — painful, sacrificial steps — to remove our condemnation (v. 1), and to declare us righteous (v. 33)? To ask such questions is to know the answers.

The Eternal Father will not turn His back on His children, who cry to him, in the name of affection and deepest respect, "Abba, Father"!

The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children (v. 16).

Is there a problem here?

Should this be "the Spirit himself" (NIV, NET, and others), or "the Spirit itself" (KJV)? We might quickly say, "itself" of course! — because we know that the "Spirit" is the impersonal power of God.

However, in my opinion, there is more to the verse than this, and it is not far-fetched to consider that Paul may intend "the Spirit" here to be very personal — because it points to Christ.

There are other instances of Christ being clearly referred to as "the Spirit":

  • When Paul wrote what "the Spirit clearly says" about a latter-day apostasy (1Tim 4:1-3), he probably had in mind Christ's great prophecy on the Mount of Olives (Matt 24:4,5,10-12,24).
  • The messages to the seven ecclesias in Asia are sent from Christ, obviously (Rev 2:1,8). But the messages are also described as "what the Spirit says to the churches" (Rev 2:7,11,17,29, etc).
  • Paul refers to Christ, after his resurrection and glorification, as a "quickening (i.e., life-giving) spirit" (1Cor 15:45).

So, why did Paul not simply say 'Christ' instead of resorting to the phrase 'the Spirit himself'?

Maybe because the "spirit" or teaching of God is shown most perfectly in His Son Jesus Christ, and thus God's "spirit" is Christ. Therefore Christ is, in a sort of Bible shorthand, "the Spirit himself". (We may return to these ideas when we get to verse 26 in a couple of days.)

This "spirit" (of Christ), we are told, testifies with our "spirit" — that is, the "spirit" of Christ's followers — and both "spirits" agree with one another.

The first witness, Christ himself, testified in Gethsemane and on the cross.

Ever since then, other witnesses — the believers in Christ — have continued to testify, in their prayers (and their Bible readings, lives, conversations), that — like Christ himself — they are all God's dear children. Like Christ, they all trust in God, hope in His promises, and look forward to His ultimate deliverance of all of them from the power of sin and death.

Finally, verse 17, paraphrased: IF we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. IF we share in his sufferings, then we will also share in his glory.

When we see how Jesus suffered for our salvation, we rejoice in that salvation, and we look forward to a future glory. But we soon come to realize one other thing: The expectation of a future salvation carries with it the additional expectation of suffering now. We hope to discuss this tomorrow.