Romans 8:14-16: "Adopted by God"

Paul continues to authenticate the believer who lives by the Spirit. This short section is a beautiful passage that confirms our adoption by God as eternal sons and daughters through the evidence of the Holy Spirit.

Paul begins with, "For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God". Paul again reaffirms the fact that those who live their lives according to the Spirit, this is evidence that you are now a child of God. It is important to note the tense that is used in "being led". MacArthur writes, "Are being led translates the present passive indicative of ago, indicating that which already exists. The phrase are being led does not, however, indicate uninterrupted leading by the Spirit". The Spirit is constantly leading us in a way that will lead to our sanctification and ultimately glorification. However, as still having the temporary sinful nature, we do not always listen to it. So it can be understood that the Spirit is constantly working on us, however, we do not always give it control of our lives.

MacArthur writes, "Our finite minds cannot comprehend how the Spirit leads a believer, just as we cannot fully understand any of the supernatural work of God. We do, however, know that our heavenly Father does not force His will on His children. He seeks our willing obedience, which, by definition, cannot be coerced". Proverbs 3:5-6 says, "Trust in the Lord with all you heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight". This is the Spirit lead life. It is when we put off the old mind set that was on the flesh and avail our hearts and minds to what God has for us. Prov. 3:6 says, "in all your ways acknowledge Him". If we truly sat down and acknowledged the truth about God and sought His infinite wisdom through His Word and through prayer, it could be easy to say we would always make the right decision. Unfortunately, we too often rely on our own strength and our own so-called wisdom to get us through. The more we are "led by the Spirit of God", the more our lives will line up with God's desires. David understood this reliance on the Spirit as he cried out in Ps. 143:10, "Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God; let Thy good Spirit lead me on level ground". Paul in I Cor. 2:14-16, also speaks of the Spirit of God's work in our life, "A natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. But he who is spiritual appraises all things, yet he himself is appraised by no man. For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he should instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ". The Spirit allows us to comprehend and understand the things of God, because we "have the mind of Christ". Before salvation, our minds were "set on the flesh". We saw everything through the fallen, fallible minds we were born with. However, when God opened our eyes to His truth and imparted His Spirit to us at conversion, we were then given the ability to understand His Word and see the world through the "mind of Christ". It is the Spirit that opens our eyes and minds to the deep truths of Scripture, and through this shape our thinking and actions.

Not only does the Spirit open our eyes to the truth, but He enables us to be obedient to it as well. We all remember Paul explaining our condition before Christ: In Rom. 3:10-11, "There is none righteous not even one. There is none who understands, there is no one who seeks for God". In Rom. 6:17, "But thanks be to God though you were slaves of sin", in Rom. 6:20, "For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness". In Eph. 2:1-3, "And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest". A pretty bleak picture of what we were before we were given the Spirit of God. Paul now exclaims in Gal. 5:16-17, "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". Paul also tells us that we are now "to walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:4), and, "But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness" (Rom. 6:17-18). The Spirit gives us a new life that allows us to be obedient to the will of God. How precious is our adoption that we might now be able to understand God and be empowered to obey it.

We now get to see the wonderful reward of being adopted by God. We now have access to the all-powerful God of this universe and can call Him father. The word adoption defined by Merriam Webster dictionary states, "to take by choice into a relationship; to take voluntarily (a child of other parents) as one's own child". The second we are saved by grace, we are immediately adopted into the family of God. MacArthur writes, "The term adoption is filled with the ideas of love, grace, compassion, and intimate relationship. It is the action by which a husband and wife decide to take a boy or girl who is not their physical offspring into their family as their own child. When that action is taken by the proper legal means, the adopted child attains all the rights and privileges of a member of the family". Not only this but Paul says, "For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again". When we are adopted into the family of God, we are no longer slaves to our sin, we are no longer in bondage to the fear that gripped us before we came to God. In I John 4:18, "there is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love". Now that we are at peace with God, He gives us the assurance of our adoption through the Holy Spirit, and we no longer should fear anything as we can now call the God of the universe our Father. Paul in fact says, "we cry out, 'Abba!Father!'". According to MacArthur's commentary, "Abba is an informal Aramaic term for Father, connoting intimacy, tenderness, dependence, and complete lack of fear or anxiety. Modern English equivalents would be Daddy, or Papa. When Jesus was agonizing in the Garden of Gethsemane He was about to take upon Himself the sins of the world, He used that name of endearment, praying, 'Abba! Father! All things are possible for Thee; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what Thou wilt' (Mark 14:36)". How wonderful to know that we have the almighty God as our loving and caring Father, who has adopted us before the foundation of the world. Ephesians 1:3-5 says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. in love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will". Before we were even born God in His perfect knowledge and will chose us as adopted sons and daughters.

Lastly, Paul gives us comfort and assurance of our adoption as evidenced through the Holy Spirit, "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God". We can be assured of our faith through the workings of the Holy Spirit in our lives. As we grow in our desire for the Lord, our hatred of sin, our love for Scripture, our desire to encourage those in the faith and witness to the ungodly, we can know that it is the Spirit working in us, for none of these desires come from ourselves. MacArthur writes, "the indwelling Holy Spirit Himself is constantly present to provide inner testimony to our divine adoption. He certainly does that through the inner work of illumination and sanctification, as well as through the longing for communion with God". John writes in I John 3:19-21, "We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things. Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God".

Let us constantly be reminded of God's wonderful adoption of us. Let us remember that if we have the Spirit of God, we were chosen before the foundation of the world, based on nothing we had done. Remember that is is only because of Christ and His sacrifice that we are able to be adopted by God. Let us meditate on what the wonderful truths we have in our adoption, as MacArthur writes, "When we are saved, our old sinful life is completely cancelled in God's eyes, and we have no more reason to fear sin or death, because Christ has conquered those two great enemies on our behalf. In Him we are given a new divine nature and become a true child, with all the attendant blessings, privileges, and inheritance. And until we see our Lord face-to-face, His own Holy Spirit will be a ceaseless witness to the authenticity of our adoption into the family of God".