Sunday School Notes: Romans 8:12-17–Children of God
12 Therefore, 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 are going to die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the practices of the flesh, you will live. 14 For as many are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery again unto fear, but you received a Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. 17 And if children, also heirs–heirs of God, and fellow-heirs with Christ, if indeed we are fellow-sufferers, so that we may be fellows in glorification.
As you can see, I’ve managed to tie in this week’s Sunday School Notes with the letter of the day for the A-to-Z Blogging Challenge (C)! I’m not sure if I can make that work every week, but it was certainly a perfect fit for the subject of this week’s passage.
The indwelling Spirit, who is promised to every believer, does more than just make us alive in Christ. He seals our adoption, and this theme of adoption–being children of God–was the topic of our passage this past Sunday. The fact that God doesn’t just redeem us, but that he takes us in as one of His own, is an incredible truth. The status that we have as part of God’s family is not something to take lightly. Indeed, the honor and privilege bestowed upon every believer in Christ is more than we could possibly have imagined.
Paul begins the passage by speaking of the Roman church’s “obligation”–that it is no longer to the flesh such that they continue to live “in the flesh.” As those who now have the Spirit of God, Christians should no longer live the kind of lives they lived before. This would especially apply to the Gentiles, who would have no doubt indulged to some extent in immoral pagan practices; however, the Jews would certainly not be exempt from this admonition.
There is, admittedly, discomfort over the word “obligation.” It sounds as if God, having saved us and given us so much grace, now binds us to a set of rules and regulations that we have to obey to please Him. Haven’t we been set free from that bondage to law? Yes, we have. But the Greek word Paul uses, opheiletês, literally means a debtor, or one under an obligation. And like it or not, we have to deal with it. I think the key to understanding how we can be debtors, but under grace, is in the following verses. Paul says that by the Spirit we put to death the practices of the flesh, and that sons of God are those who are led by the Spirit of God. Clearly, the Spirit of God, and having the indwelling Spirit of God plays a vital role in our fulfilling this “obligation” we have to God.
In John 14:15-18, Jesus says to his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see him or know him, but you will know him because he abides with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” In this wonderful promise, Jesus says that love for him is expressed through obedience to his commands. But they will not be left alone to try to follow after Christ–the Spirit of truth will come to be with and in them. And I think this idea is behind what Paul is saying here.
As sons of God, we are expected to behave accordingly. But as those who have been converted, whose hearts now desire to please God, and are indwelt by the empowering Spirit of God, that obligation is not a burden. Indeed, it is a goal we seek to achieve. We know what God’s holy standards are, and it is our greatest pleasure to strive for those. This striving does not save. We are redeemed. There is nothing that will ever change our position before God. We are His; we have been bought with a price. That’s our justification, and it’s secure. But our sanctification, our daily being conformed into the image of Christ, that’s an on-going process in which we gladly participate, and which we often fail to achieve. However, we understand out of our love for God and appreciation for all He has done for us, that this is what we ought to do. And even in our failure, the Spirit teaches us, and we repent and move on, still positionally redeemed and righteous, even though we are still working on becoming what we are before God because of Christ.
In verse 15, Paul tells us that we haven’t received a spirit of slavery “again unto fear.” Prior to Christ, we were under God’s wrath, and our disobedience to His commands and our slavery to sin brought us further condemnation. For the Jews, there was a certain fear of the Lord’s displeasure at their lawless behavior. In Christ, there is no longer that fear, because we have not received a spirit of slavery, but the Spirit of adoption. We are God’s children, so there is no longer that fear of retribution. Our sin has been paid for in Christ.
We discussed what adoption meant in Graeco-Roman society. For a child to become adopted into someone’s family, it meant that they receive all the rights and privileges of that family. There was also an added bonus, since the adopted child was chosen to be a part of the family. This meant there was an added security that he or she would never be disowned. And that is our position with God. We are His adopted children, if we are in Christ, and as a result, He will never disown us. And in return, we cry out “Abba Father!” Notice two things about this. First, we use the same intimate reference to God that Jesus used: Abba. And second, the verb Paul uses, krazô, means to “cry out” as an emotional response. This is not an intellectual thing; this is the cry of our hearts, filled with passion and zeal for the one who has saved us and who calls us His own.
Two further points about being “sons of God.” First, according to John 1:12-13, this is not something we do of our own volition, but something that God alone bestows. Contrary to popular opinion, every single person on the face of the earth is not a child of God. Only those who have been adopted by God, who have been given that right by God Himself can claim that title. And that only comes through saving faith in Jesus Christ.
Second, the phrase “son of God” or “sons of God” is used in the Old Testament to refer to Israel. God looked upon Israel, His people, as His children, and His son. It seems that Paul is now applying that designation to all Christians. And the terms by which we become sons of God are now the same for Jew and Gentile: having the Spirit of God, which happens by means of faith in Christ. To the Jewish Christians in that church, pridefully lording their Jewish heritage over their Gentile brethren, this would be a blow. The basis upon which they can claim to be God’s children is not national heritage, but by adoption through the Spirit, as a result of the work of Christ. And this applies to both Jew and Gentile.
We know we are God’s children because “the Spirit bears witness with our spirit” that this is the case. Sure, we can look for all kinds of evidence of our salvation, but ultimately there should be an inner confidence that is born of the Spirit. I know there are many who go through periods of doubt about their salvation. This verse may give them little comfort, because if the Spirit of God is not testifying to their spirit that they are children of God, perhaps they don’t have the Spirit of God! As rational as this sounds, such a person should bear in mind that the fact they are concerned about their spiritual condition is a good indication that they do indeed have the Spirit of God. All that remains is then to rest on God’s promises (such as we have been studying these past few weeks), and ask that the Spirit of God would grant that peace and assurance.
In verse 17, Paul tells us that if we are children, we are heirs–of God and fellow-heirs with Christ. The structure of this clause in the Greek is actually one that is usually translated “on the one hand x, but on the other hand y.” In this case, we could say, “on the one hand, heirs of God, but on the other, fellow-heirs with Christ.” Without torturing the translation too much, I think the point is that being heirs with God is great in itself, but it’s more than that. Not only are we heirs of God, inheritors of all the rights and privileges of being His children, but we are fellow-heirs with Christ. We are not son number 2,308,494,392, and thus we take our rightful place on the totem pole. It’s not like a royal family, where there is a line of succession, and we are added to the end of that line, where achieving first place is just not ever going to happen. Consider the British Royal Family. Right now, Queen Elizabeth’s oldest son Charles is the heir to the throne. Charles has two brothers, Andrew and Edward. When Charles was childless, Andrew was next in line after him. But as soon as William and Harry were born, William took the place of succession after Charles. Now William is married, his children will be next in line. So Harry’s chance of becoming king gets less the more children are added. And Andrew and Edward may as well forget it.
This is not how our adoption works. We are not heirs of God, stuck onto the end of the succession line. No, we are co-heirs with Christ, the firstborn. We have the same rights and privileges as God’s beloved Son. This would be like Charles adopting a son and giving him all the same privileges as his oldest son William! What an amazing gift this is to us–totally undeserved, but nevertheless, a precious promise of our gracious Father thanks to the work of His Son on our behalf.
Finally, we are not only fellow-heirs with Christ, but we are fellow-sufferers, so we might be “fellows in glorification.” My translation tries to represent the underlying Greek, which uses a similar pattern for each of the terms (sugklêronomoi, “fellow-heirs,” sumpaschô, “to suffer together,” sundoxazô, “to share glory with”). The intimate connection between us and Christ doesn’t end with being heirs with him. We also partake in his suffering, through persecution (whatever form that may take), and other trials we may go through in this life on account of our identification with him. But this will result in our being glorified with him. We will partake of the same glorification. This doesn’t mean we will be restored to a divine glory as Christ was (see John 17:5), but this is a promise of glorification on that final day, when we will be in with Christ forever. This theme of suffering, particularly in relation to the sufferings of Paul and the Roman church, will continue into the next passage.
For further study, compare this passage with Galatians 4:1-7.
