Romans 8:14-15

 

 

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8:14 For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  (NASB: Lockman)

Greek: hosoi gar pneumati theou agontai, (3PPPI) houtoi huioi theou eisin. (3PPAI
Amplified: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
NLT: For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. (
NLT - Tyndale House)
Phillips: All who follow the leading of God's Spirit are God's own sons. (
Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest: For as many as are being constantly led by God’s Spirit, these are sons of God. (
Erdmans
Young's Literal: for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God;

ROMANS ROAD
to RIGHTEOUSNESS
Romans
1
:18-3:20
Romans
3:21-5:21
Romans
6:1-8:39
Romans
9:1-11:36
Romans
12:1-16:27
SIN SALVATION SANCTIFICATION SOVEREIGNTY SERVICE
NEED
FOR
SALVATION
WAY
OF
SALVATION
LIFE
OF
SALVATION
SCOPE
OF
SALVATION
SERVICE
OF
SALVATION
God's Holiness
In
Condemning
Sin
God's Grace
In
Justifying
Sinners
God's Power
In
Sanctifying
Believers
God's Sovereignty
In
Saving
Jew and Gentile
Gods Glory
The
Object of
Service
Deadliness
of Sin
Design
of Grace
Demonstration of Salvation
Power Given Promises Fulfilled Paths Pursued
Righteousness
Needed
Righteousness
Credited
Righteousness
Demonstrated
Righteousness
Restored to Israel
Righteousness
Applied
God's Righteousness
IN LAW
God's Righteousness
IMPUTED
God's Righteousness
OBEYED
God's Righteousness
IN ELECTION
God's Righteousness
DISPLAYED
Slaves to Sin Slaves to God Slaves Serving God
Doctrine Duty
Life by Faith Service by Faith

Modified from Irving L. Jensen's excellent work "Jensen's Survey of the NT"

FOR ALL WHO ARE (continuously) BEING LED BY THE SPIRIT OF GOD: osoi gar pneumati theou agontai (3PPPI):  (5,9; Ps 143:10; Pr 8:20; Isa 48:16,17; Gal 4:6; 5:16,18,22-25; Eph 5:9)

The relation of the Spirit to the sons of God is presented as being much like that of a shepherd to his sheep. They are "led" by him as their guide and protector. In Ga3:24 the law is pictured as having a responsibility to "lead" men to Christ. Once this goal is achieved, the law must hand over the guiding role to the Spirit, who guides into the truth (Jn16:13) and, as in the present passage, into holiness. Unlike sin, which may at first only gently seduce, then deceitfully begin to drive as a hard taskmaster, the Spirit relies on persuasion rather than force. In fact, Paul goes to some pains to avoid misunderstanding on this very point, assuring us that the Spirit's leadership does not involve a new bondage that is no improvement over the old in which fear ruled the life (probably a fear of the consequences of sin and a fear of death, as in Heb2:15).

The result of this "being led" is that the Spirit is progressively sanctifying God's elect, setting them apart more & more from the world and more & more unto God for His purposes and His glory (2Th 2:13). There is the initial setting apart (sanctification the act ~ justification ~ past tense salvation) (Acts 20:32 26:18 Heb10:10) and then the progressive continuous process of setting apart (sanctification the process ~ present tense salvation) (Heb10:14)

THESE ARE SONS OF GOD: houtoi huioi theou eisin (3PPAI): (17
; 2Cor 6:18; Gal 3:26; Eph 1:5; 1 Jn 3:1; Rev 21:7)

Sons is the Greek word huios used in [Ga4:5] of a mature child of God in a legal standing as against a child of God (teknon) in his minority (Ga4:1-3). God is the Father of all in the sense that he created all and his love and providential care are extended to all (see Mt5:45). But not all are His children. Jesus said to the unbelieving Jews of his day, "You belong to your father, the devil" (Jn8:44). People become children of God through faith in God's unique Son (Jn1:12,13), and being led by God's Spirit is the hallmark of this relationship.

The OT often comments that God “led” Israel thru the wilderness (Ex 15:13 Dt 3:2 Ps 77:20 78:52 106:9 136:16 Jer 2:6,17 Hos 11:4 Am 2:10; for the new exodus, see Isa 48:20,21; Je23:7,8) and called Israel his “sons” or “children” when he redeemed them from Egypt (Ex 4:22 Dt 14:1 32:5, 18-20 Ps 29:1 Isa1;2, 4 43:6 45:11 63:8 Jer 3:19, 22 Hos 1:10 11:1, 10). In both devotional and historical language, God’s leading was sometimes associated with his Spirit (Neh 9:20 Ps 143:10 Isa 63:14).

How Slow I Wake!
Sweet will of God! How slow I wake
To hear your quiet word
That tells my inner man to go,
Uproot, depart, to leave my ways.
But I arise. I stand to find
Your Perfect way. And ah,
My heart, long trembling, now is still.
Sweet Spirit, Guide, I go to do Your will.

 

Wayne Barber: explains that...

Paul repeats this truth in Gal 5:16-18 "But 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. But if you are LED BY THE SPIRIT, you are NOT UNDER THE LAW." This is the clearest picture of what Paul is trying to say in Ro8:14. You say I want to put to death the deeds of body…Sin is controlling my life. How do I do it? You put yourself in the presence of God, the Spirit Who lives within you. You get into His Word. And you let Him rule & reign - you do whatever He says. Wayne tells about the little sign he had in his study "YES, LORD." And that settles it. It's yea, but…So the Lord speaks and He says "Wayne…don't watch that program." And Wayne says "Yes, but…" Look out. Our answer needs to be "Yes" to the Spirit leading us. Just say "Yes" to what the Spirit of God says to your heart and you develop that SENSITIVITY as you walk with Him.

 

8:15  For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba ! Father !"  (NASB: Lockman)
Greek: ou gar elabete (2PAAI) pneuma douleias palin eis phobon, alla elabete (2PAAI) pneuma huiothesias, en o krazomen, (1PPAI) Abba o pater; 
Amplified: For [the Spirit which] you have now received [is] not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption [the Spirit producing sonship] in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba (Father)! Father! (Amplified Bible - Lockman)
NLT: So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children, adopted into his family--calling him "Father, dear Father." (
NLT - Tyndale House)
Phillips: Nor are you meant to relapse into the old slavish attitude of fear - you have been adopted into the very family circle of God and you can say with a full heart, "Father, my Father".  (
Phillips: Touchstone)
Wuest: For you did not receive a spirit of slavery again with resulting fear, but you received the Spirit who places you as adult sons, by whom we cry out with deep emotion, Abba, [namely] Father.  (
Erdmans
Young's Literal: for ye did not receive a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye did receive a spirit of adoption in which we cry, 'Abba -- Father.'

FOR YOU HAVE NOT RECEIVED A SPIRIT OF SLAVERY LEADING TO FEAR AGAIN: ou gar elabete (2PAAI) pneuma douleias palin eis phobon: (Ex20:19; Nu17:12; Lu8:28,37; Jn 16:8; Ac2:37; 16:29; 1 Co2:12; 2 Ti1:7; Heb2:15; 12:18-24; Ja2:19; 1 Jn4:18)

Paul has been discussing the FLESH, so this must have reference to those who are IN THE FLESH, ie, unbelievers, who are enslaved to SIN & the LAW & receive the wages of SIN ~ DEATH.

That is, “The Holy Spirit, whom you have received, does not produce a slavish and anxious state of mind, such as those experience who are under the law, but he produces the filial feelings of affection, reverence, and confidence and enables us, out of the fullness of our hearts, to call God our Father.”

No matter how cleverly they may manage to mask or deny the reality of it, sinful men are continually subject to fear because they continually live in sin and are therefore continually under God’s judgment— that is, they were governed by a slavish and anxious apprehension of such punishment (ultimately fear of eternal death). Slavery to SIN brings slavery to fear, and one of the gracious works of the Holy Spirit is to deliver God’s children from both. All unconverted men, whether Jews or Gentiles, are in this state of enslavement to their fear because they are all under the LAW or the slavery of a legal system & the Law kills (Ro7:11).

Paul reminded Timothy that our heavenly Father “has not given us a spirit of timidity [or, fear], but of power and love and discipline” (2Ti1:7). John assures us that “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” (1Jn4:18).

BUT YOU HAVE RECEIVED A SPIRIT OF ADOPTION AS SONS (Ga4:5 Ep1:5 not slaves Ga4:7): alla elabete (2PAAI) pneuma huiothesias: (16; Is56:5; Je3:19; 1 Co2:12; Ga4:5-7; Ep1:5,11-14)

Warren Wiersbe comments that...

To live in the flesh or under law (and to put yourself under law is to move toward living in the flesh) leads to bondage; but the Spirit leads us into a glorious life of liberty in Christ. Liberty to the believer never means freedom to do as he or she pleases, for that is the worst kind of slavery! Rather, Christian liberty in the Spirit is freedom from law and the flesh so that we can please God and become what He wants us to become. “Adoption” in the NT does not mean what it typically means today, the taking of a child into a family to be a legal member of the family. The literal meaning of the Greek word is “son-placing” —the taking of a minor (whether in the family or outside) and making him or her the rightful heir. Every believer is a child of God by birth and an heir of God through adoption. In fact, we are joint-heirs with Christ, so that He cannot receive His inheritance in glory until we are there to share it with Him. Thank God, the believer has no obligation to the flesh, to feed it, pamper it, obey it. Instead, we must “put to death” (mortify) the deeds of the flesh by the power of the Spirit (see notes Romans 8:13, see Colossians 3:9ff) and allow the Spirit to direct our daily lives. (Wiersbe, W. W. Wiersbe's Expository Outlines on the New Testament. Wheaton, Ill.: Victor Books)

"Adoption" (huiothesia ) bears a relationship to justification in that it is declarative and forensic (inasmuch as it is a legal term). Adoption bestows an objective standing, as justification does; like justification, it is a pronouncement that is not repeated. It has permanent validity. Like justification, adoption rests on the loving purpose and grace of God (Ep 1:5). Though the term is used of Israel in relation to God (9:4 Ho 11:1), it is doubtful that adoption was practiced in OT days. Much more likely is the conclusion that Paul was drawing on the background of Roman law both here and in [Gal 4:5]. The readers of both Epistles would be familiar with adoption in their own society

Huiothesia is not so much a word of relationship as of position. In regeneration a Christian receives the nature of a child of God; in adoption he receives the position of a son of God. Every Christian obtains the place of a child and the right to be called a son the moment he believes (Ga3:25,26 4:6 1Jn3:1,2). The indwelling Spirit gives the realization of this in the Christian's present experience (Ga4:6) but the full manifestation of his sonship awaits the resurrection, change, and translation of saints, "the redemption of the body" (Ro8:23 Ep1:14 1Th4:14-17 1Jn3:2).

Marvin Vincent quotes a Mr. Merivale,

“The process of legal adoption by which the chosen heir became entitled not only to the reversion of the property but to the civil status, to the burdens as well as the rights of the adopter—became, as it were, his other self, one with him … this too is a Roman principle, peculiar at this time to the Romans, unknown, I believe, to the Greeks, unknown, to all appearance, to the Jews...We have but a faint conception of the force with which such an illustration would speak to one familiar with the Roman practice; how it would serve to impress upon him the assurance that the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father.”

F. F. Bruce says that...

The term “adoption” may smack somewhat of artificiality in our ears; but in the first century A.D. an adopted son was a son deliberately chosen by his adoptive father to perpetuate his name and inherit his estate; he was no whit inferior in status to a son born in the ordinary course of nature and might well enjoy the father’s affection more fully and reproduce the father’s character more worthily.

BY WHICH WE CRY OUT ABBA! FATHER: en o krazomen (1PPAI) abba o pater: (Mark 14:36; Luke 11:2; 22:42; John 20:17)

Refers to a loud cry or vociferation, expressing deep emotion. The sign of a child of God is that he knows the Father. That is always a sign that you belong to the family -- you know the father.

The combined use of the Aramaic ("Abba") & Greek means something like "dear Father", "Daddy" "Papa." In NT times adopted sons enjoyed the same privileges as natural-born sons. So, instead of cowering in slave-like fear, Christians can approach God in an intimate way calling Him Abba, Father.

God the Father of Believers—God is the Father of all who believe in Christ in a special sense not shared by unbelievers. God is called their Father, first of all, because they have a new standing before Him. While unbelievers are the offspring of God because He created them (Acts 17:28, 29), they do not have the standing of sons. Their standing is rather as condemned sinners before God the Judge (John 3:18; Rev. 20:11). When we believe in Christ as Savior, our estate is wonderfully changed from grim condemnation to privileged sonship. This new standing grants to all believers the legal right and spiritual privileges of divine sonship: “heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom. 8:17). God is the Father of believers also in the sense that He gives them new life (John 3:3). This relationship then is a family one involving many of the same realities that exist between an earthly father and child: birth of the child (John 3:3); partaking of the father’s nature (2 Pet. 1:4); the father’s care for the child (Matt. 6:32, 33; 7:9–11); and the father’s discipline of the child (Heb. 12:6–8). Furthermore, this new Father-child relationship carries with it new brothers and sisters (Heb. 13:1). To obtain God as Father is not a result of one’s own merit but a result of Christ’s. The one who believes in Christ as Savior enters into the blessed Father-child relationship with God solely on the grounds of Christ’s sonship (Rom. 8:17; Heb. 2:17). It is the grand privilege and calling of those who know God as Father to graciously invite unbelievers to meet God as Father and not as Judge.
 

Wayne Barber explains that...

The family tree of Adam had nothing but sinners and the destiny of them all was eternal separation from God. But we have a brand new family tree and it begins from the Cross where Christ died. When you are IN CHRIST, you look back at the Cross and then you turn and look ahead and all you can see is eternal life and living with Him - what a marvelous family God has birthed us into. He took us out of the family of Adam and placed us into the family of God, in Christ. Do you know beyond a shadow of doubt that you are a part of the family of God? This new relationship involves a NEW DISPOSITION. Paul says we have NOT (ou = absolute negative = no possibility) received a spirit of slavery. Now "spirit" here is with a "small s" and some people take this to be "demonic" or "demons". No way! The word here means DISPOSITION or MINDSET or TEMPERAMENT. For example in Ro11:8 Paul says God gave Israel a "spirit of stupor" speaking of an attitude or a disposition, something so deep on the inside of you that it translates outside of you.

In Adam we were subject to FEAR (phobos), and phobos is a word used for lost people. What do they fear? They say they don't fear God but we know this is a façade and that there is a sense in which all men do fear God. Why? Because they fear death and if you fear death you fear God because you know there is something on the other side of death that you don't understand. Heb2:14 "Since then the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil 15 and might deliver those who through FEAR OF DEATH were subject to slavery all their lives." Death is the end of everything that they hope for & want. In Christ we are no longer slaves out of fear but out of love. There is a new kind of fear that manifest itself in reverential awe and devotion. Now you are a child of God and a child does not fear his parent (usually this is true). There is a new disposition toward God we never had before. We can trust Him. The phrase "adoption as sons" is one word in Greek (huios = sons) and (tithemi = to place). Son's are noted earlier means fully grown & mature son with full privileges in the family. All of these privileges and all of this sonship are IN JESUS CHRIST. Never separate PRIVILEGE or POSITION from the Lord Jesus Christ - we are NOTHING apart from Him. When we surrender to Him out of a love relationship we enjoy the Son's privileges to the fullest! Abba is Aramaic and comes from the first word that a little child ever says…like our English "Da Da". The disposition of fear of punishment is gone and replaced by a reverential awe. And now our spirit can cry out "Abba…Father…I need help. Daddy…I'm going through a difficult time." A beautiful picture for the son of God. This ought to affect your attitude to whatever the Lord is allowing to go on in your life. You are a child of God and He is control of everything that you are experiencing…and you can cry out to Him and run to Him and He is always there.

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