Those of the Spirit Are Children of God
1There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who don’t walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. 3For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; 4that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. 5For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; 7because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be. 8Those who are in the flesh can’t please God. 9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. 10If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. 12So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God. 15For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; 17and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
After his resurrection, Jesus Christ showed himself to his disciples for forty days and spoke to them about the Holy Spirit whom God would send. He told them not to leave Jerusalem but to wait for the Holy Spirit the Father had promised, and to be ready to be baptized. After Christ ascended, the disciples gathered in one place on the day of Pentecost, as they had been commanded. Suddenly a sound like a rushing, mighty wind came from the sky, and they saw what looked like tongues of fire, parting and coming to rest on each one of them. When the Holy Spirit came upon them, the disciples, to everyone’s astonishment, received the power to proclaim the gospel in the languages of many nations. The crowd that saw it could not understand this work of the Holy Spirit and was thrown into confusion, and Peter explained in detail how the miracle had come about. He declared with conviction, “If you repent, you will be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and receive the Holy Spirit as a gift, and so you will be saved from this crooked generation.” These were the same disciples who had abandoned Jesus when he was persecuted and run for their lives. They could become this bold because the Holy Spirit had come upon them.
Jesus had told them that they would receive power when the Holy Spirit came upon them, and that they would be his witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the uttermost parts of the earth; and the disciples did become witnesses to Jesus. When the Spirit came, they received great power, like dynamite going off, and began to proclaim the gospel to people boldly and with confidence. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God, and those who receive him come to see the world within the will of God, which is why they can make every decision rightly. This is the wisdom that shows itself in those who are united with Christ. Nor did the Holy Spirit suddenly appear at Pentecost; he had been at work with God from the beginning. Genesis 1:2 records that when God created the heavens and the earth, God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
Consider just a few of the many events in the Old Testament in which the Holy Spirit was at work. When the Midianites, the Amalekites, and the children of the east crossed the Jordan and encamped in the valley of Jezreel, Yahweh’s Spirit, the Holy Spirit, came on Gideon. As a result, Gideon won the victory with three hundred men. When Moses laid his hands on Joshua, Joshua was filled with the spirit of wisdom, that is, the Holy Spirit, and the people who saw it listened to him and obeyed. The Holy Spirit has the power to give spiritual authority to those he fills. Isaiah 11:2 records that Yahweh’s Spirit would rest on Jesus, who was to be born from the stock of Jesse: the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Yahweh. It was a prophecy that the Holy Spirit would work together with Jesus. When people receive the Holy Spirit, they grow wise and discerning, rich in counsel and might, and they come to a faith that fears Yahweh. Sadly, though, even after receiving the Spirit, people have not broken free of the yoke of sin. The Spirit is guarding them, yet they do not believe it; they fear death and Satan and do not enjoy true freedom.
In the film The Shawshank Redemption, I saw a prisoner who had spent his whole life behind bars stamped for release and told he was free to go, only to become terrified of going out into the free world. When the prison gates opened, he was so afraid of freedom that he could hardly bring himself to walk through them. He wanted to go back inside, and when he could not, he pined for the prison he knew and ended his own life. People who enjoy their freedom can never understand such a choice, yet people like him had found a strange sense of security in obeying fixed rules under every restriction.
When people fail to enjoy the freedom they have been given like this, it is because that confined space has become familiar.
John 5:24
24“Most certainly I tell you, he who hears my word, and believes him who sent me, has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
Jesus took down the walls of death and told us to enjoy our freedom to the full, yet people cannot easily leave the place of sin. Like the prisoner who felt a strange relief after so long behind bars, they are afraid to leave the place of sin and be born again as new people. But think about it. However familiar a prison may be as a place to live, however much relief it may bring, it remains a world of darkness where freedom has been taken away. Only by getting out of a prison where none but sinners live can we enjoy true freedom and live a normal life.
Romans 8:3-4
3For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; 4that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
The law lets us live a proper human life, but because no one can keep the whole law perfectly, no one can be accepted by God as righteous. In the Old Testament, whenever people sinned they brought an animal and laid their sin on it, and through its blood they received a temporary forgiveness; but the blood of animals cannot achieve the holy righteousness God desires. Offering an animal for every sin was no more than postponing, again and again, the execution of a condemned prisoner; offering animals did not change the fact that the sinner was still under sentence of death. To pardon us, therefore, Jesus condemned sin in his own body, became the sacrifice, and caused us to be forgiven by God. Because human effort cannot achieve righteousness, the demand of the law is precisely this: believe in the holy Jesus Christ, who atoned for our sins. Because the Holy Spirit knows what the law demands, he helps God’s people serve Christ wholeheartedly, and he has caused them to be justified. Since fallen people cannot keep the good commandments God gave, Jesus, who had no sin, made atonement in their place. Only by bearing the fruit of righteousness with the Spirit’s help, after our sins are forgiven, can we become God’s people, who enjoy true freedom.
Paul fought such a fierce spiritual battle because he had come to understand that without Christ no one can be rid of sin, and without the Holy Spirit no one can live as one of God’s people. As he watched the law of sin and the law of God at war within him, he saw more deeply that no one can be born again without the Spirit’s help. So he said that those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, and those who live according to the Spirit on the things of the Spirit; what we do now, in other words, shows in the end which spirit we are following. Whatever spirit governs a person will shape their choices, form their values, and come to rule their life. People believe they have judged and acted wisely, confident in their own wisdom and knowledge, but look deeper and every one of those judgments turns out to be under the sway of the spirit that rules them now. That is why we must reveal the will of God through the word, through prayer, and through a good life, so that we may be led by the Holy Spirit.
Romans 8:6
6For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace;
The mind of the flesh takes its orders from the world and from evil spirits; it cannot help acting in hostility toward God. When people are dragged along by the flesh, whether they mean to be or not, the road they travel can only lead into darkness, the way of death. Such people are self-centered, and for that reason, instead of humility, gentleness, and peace, they meet everything with hostility and hot temper, and falsehood and hypocrisy take root in them, so they cannot give themselves to God. Sadly, they know that such behavior will carry them away from God, and they know it is sin; yet by instinct they find greater pleasure in chasing desire and pleasure, and they refuse to turn back. Within a person, the mind of the flesh and the mind of the Spirit stand opposed. When the flesh and the Spirit clash, each of us must decide whether to choose the mind of the Spirit, by the word and by good and righteous living, or the mind of the flesh, which feeds lust and greed; and that decision rests entirely on our own will. If you are a Christian who believes in God, you must boldly cast off the mind of the flesh, which is hostile to God. Remember the love that forgave the sins of utterly corrupt human beings and took them into God’s arms; if you never forget it and always give thanks for it, you can keep a humble faith.
Romans 8:9
9But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his.
In verse 9 Paul says that anyone who doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ is not his, and that those who do not walk with the Holy Spirit can never know Christ. The Holy Spirit teaches us the word and brings it to our remembrance. He enables us to bear witness to God’s work, opens our eyes to the word and to our sin, and leads us in the way of truth, helping us to proclaim the gospel. He also sets the direction of gospel ministry for those who preach it, and he intercedes for them. Because the Holy Spirit has the attributes of a person, he works so that God’s people will not betray God but will live in the truth. That is why Jesus said it would be to our advantage when the Spirit came. To walk with the Holy Spirit is to walk with Christ, since God, the Holy Spirit, and Christ are the triune God. The word “Trinity” does not appear in the Bible, yet in the scene of Jesus’ baptism we can see the triune God: God the Father speaking, Jesus being baptized, and the Holy Spirit descending like a dove. These three persons are one God, of one substance, equal in power and glory. In the early church there was no doctrinal definition of the Trinity. When disagreements arose over the three persons, the question went through a series of church councils, and the doctrine of the Trinity was established at the Council of Constantinople in 381. At the Council of Chalcedon in 451, the doctrine of the Trinity took its place as the orthodox faith.
Romans 8:10-11
10If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness. 11But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.
Jesus said that whoever hears his word and believes him who sent him has eternal life, and doesn’t come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. He also said that eternal life is to know the only true God and Jesus Christ, whom he sent. And Paul says that if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead, the Holy Spirit, dwells in us, then our mortal bodies too will be given life through his Spirit. Here the work of the triune God is set out in detail, and we can see that the three persons act together in every age and at every hour. The holy Spirit of God is with us, then, but our flesh belongs to the world, and as the consequence of sin it cannot escape death. So Paul earnestly urges us to rely on the Holy Spirit, for only then can we live.
1 Corinthians 15:42
42So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable.
1 Thessalonians 4:14
14For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep in Jesus.
Thanks be to God, he has promised to raise our bodies just as he raised Jesus, which has given us a great hope. This finite world is not the end. There is eternal life, and when Jesus Christ returns, our perishable bodies will be made new as glorious bodies.
Romans 8:12
12So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh.
Paul teaches that those who have gained new life through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ must not throw away God’s grace and live according to the flesh. So you must fight against yourself every day to stay faithful. Let us look briefly at the love of God that Paul has proclaimed so far. When God gave the law, he wanted the Israelites, who had lived as slaves in Egypt, to live as befits the people of God. But they did not grasp what the law demanded as God intended it; they tried to keep it by works, and when they went down the road of death, God sent his Son to save them. Through the death of Jesus, God has given sinners the opportunity to have their relationship with him restored, and now we must choose between the Holy Spirit and the spirit of Satan. If you know the love of God, the sacrifice of Christ, and the grace of the Holy Spirit, the choice will not be hard. God the Father planned salvation, God the Son accomplished it, and God the Holy Spirit worked to bring it all to pass in people’s lives. That this same Spirit now dwells in us and sets us free from the power of sin and death is a truly astonishing blessing. Having received such miraculous love, if people still make excuses every time they sin and cannot give up their evil habits and pleasures, they are not fit to enter heaven. The Holy Spirit, knowing our weakness, groans and prays in our place; Christ conquered death for us; God bore the pain of demanding of his own Son a sacrifice that was his alone to bear. If we have received all this grace and still cannot put to death the deeds of the body, it will be hard for us to become citizens of heaven.
Romans 8:14
14For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.
Paul puts it with great precision: those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. Whoever is led by the Holy Spirit and lives according to God’s will is a child of God. The Jews claimed that they alone were God’s children, but Paul said that those who are led by the Holy Spirit and serve Christ are the children of God. Of course, we too once followed the desires of the flesh and lived doing whatever our hearts wanted; we were by nature children of wrath. But we have been called, and we have become Christians who live according to God’s will. God will honor the faith of those who rely on the Holy Spirit so as not to stray from the truth, and he will help them live as citizens of his kingdom.
Romans 8:15
15For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
From now on, in faith, we serve God as our Father and have entered a new relationship as his adopted children. We have left behind the idea of being bondservants and received the Spirit of adoption; joined to God as children to a father, we enjoy the privilege of becoming part of his family. We are no longer bondservants but children. A bondservant cannot know all of the master’s plans and purposes, but a son or daughter knows the father’s plans and purposes and can work alongside him, and must therefore share in the responsibility as well. One of these privileges is being led by the Holy Spirit.
A bondservant receives only the master’s orders and so cannot see the whole. But the adopted child who can call God Father has been assured of a place in the family and can receive the father’s inheritance. Here the Holy Spirit helps us, showing us the Father’s will and plans in detail so that we and God may live well together as a family. The Spirit testifies to the world that we are children of God and is at work to bring us into God’s inheritance; if God’s people hold fast to their faith, then, they will be able to lead many more souls into the Kingdom of God.
Romans 8:17
17and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
Because the children of God have become joint heirs with Christ, they can inherit the Kingdom of Heaven. Because we are now children of a God who hates sin, we must recognize that the spirit of temptation is Satan and drive him off without hesitation. Those who have set their hope on the Lord must purify themselves, even as God is pure, and be holy as God is holy. The world may threaten as though it will last forever, but those of God’s people who know that it is a realm of darkness with Satan as its master can win the spiritual battle. If we live after the flesh, we must die; but if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, we will live. We who have received the Spirit of adoption, therefore, must never give in to the lusts of the flesh, so that we may please God. We enjoy the privilege of inheriting heaven with Christ, but we also bear the responsibility of overcoming suffering and persecution so that our faith is not taken from us. If we endure in faith, we will reign with Jesus Christ when he returns; but we must know that if we deny the Lord, he also will deny us. If you live as a workman who doesn’t need to be ashamed, properly handling the word of truth, God will make you share in his glory. May you live as God’s treasured people who, as his children should, hold fast to the faith, offering the Lord a faith that is holy, humble, and pure.