TONIGHT’S TEXT
Romans 8:12-17 NRSV Updated Edition
12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are obligated, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh — 13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. 15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba![l] Father!” 16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness[m] with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
GOING DEEPER
1. The CONTEXT … A summary, as per The Enduring Word Commentary …
A. Life in the Spirit contrasted with life in the flesh.
1. No condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. (Rom.8:1)
2. The contrast between life in the Spirit and life in the flesh. (Rom.8:2-4)
3. The futility of trying to please God in the flesh. (Rom.8:5-8)
4. Christians are empowered to live in the Spirit. (Rom.8:9-11)
Back to our text for tonight …
As we begin our unpacking of this passage, I want to note something that William Barclay said in his commentary on Romans 8 …
“This is a very difficult passage because it is so highly compressed, and because, all through it, Paul is making allusions to things which he has already said … Two words keep occurring again and again in this chapter, flesh (sarx) and spirit (pneuma). We will not understand the passage at all unless we understand the way in which Paul is using these words.”
Sarx literally means flesh. The most cursory reading of Paul’s letters will show how often he uses the word, and how he uses it in a sense that is all his own. Broadly speaking, he uses it in three different ways.
(1) … literally … as in reference to physical circumcision (Rom. 2:28).
(2) … in looking at things from the human point of view.
(3) … in a way that is all his own … not using flesh simply in the sense of the body, as we say flesh and blood … but as reference to human nature in all its weakness and … in its vulnerability to sin. He means that part of man which gives sin its bridgehead. He means sinful human nature, apart from Christ, everything that attaches a man to the world instead of to God. To live according to the flesh is to live a life dominated by the dictates and desires of sinful human nature instead of a life dominated by the dictates and the love of God. The flesh is the lower side of man’s nature.
When he gives a list of the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, he includes the bodily and the sexual sins; but he also includes idolatry, hatred, wrath, strife, heresies, envy, murder. The flesh to him was not a physical thing but spiritual. It was human nature in all its sin and weakness; it was all that man is without God and without Christ.
The IMMEDIATE CONTEXT …
Romans 8:1-11 Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 2 For the law of the Spirit[a] of life in Christ Jesus has set you[b] free from the law of sin and of death. 3 For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin,[c] he condemned sin in the flesh, 4 so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit[e] set their minds on the things of the Spirit. 6 To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. 7 For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law — indeed, it cannot, 8 and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, then the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness.
11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus[j] from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through[k] his Spirit that dwells in you.
NET … 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.
12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are obligated, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh —
- NET 12 So then,[m] brothers and sisters,[n] we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh
- NLT 12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters,[e] you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.
- Our debt is to the Spirit, not to the flesh.
- The flesh (again, in the narrow sense of sinful flesh in rebellion against God) gave us nothing good. So we have no obligation to oblige or pamper it. Our debt is to the Lord, not to the flesh. (Guzik)
13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
- NET 13 (for if you live according to the flesh, you will[o] die),[p] but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body you will live.
- NLT 13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature,[f] you will live.
- living after the flesh ends in death. We need the reminder because we are often deceived into thinking that the flesh offers us life.
- When we put to death the deeds of the body (force the sinful flesh to submit to the Spirit), we must do it by the Spirit. Otherwise we will become like the Pharisees and spiritually proud.
- Paul tells us that not only are we saved by the work of the Spirit, but we also must walk by the Spirit if we want to grow and pursue holiness in the Lord.
- We cannot be like some among the Galatians who thought they could begin in the Spirit but then find spiritual perfection through the flesh (Galatians 3:3). (Guzik)
14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
- NET 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are[q] the sons of God.
- NLT 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children[g] of God.
15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba![l] Father!”
- NET 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear,[r] but you received the Spirit of adoption,[s] by whom[t] we cry, “Abba,[u] Father.”
- NLT 15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.[h] Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”[i]
- It is only fitting that the sons of God should be led by the Spirit of God.
- However, we should not think that being led by the Spirit is a pre-condition to being a son of God. Instead, we become sons first and then the Spirit of God leads us.
- Paul didn’t say, “As many as go to church, these are the sons of God.” He didn’t say, “As many as read their Bibles, these are the sons of God.” He didn’t say, “As many as are patriotic Americans, these are the sons of God.” He didn’t say, “As many as take communion, these are the sons of God.” In this text, the test for sonship is whether or not a person is led by the Spirit of God.
How does the Holy Spirit lead us?
- We are led by guidance. … by drawing. … by governing authority. … as we cooperate with the leading.
- “It does not say, ‘As many as are driven by the Spirit of God.’ No, the devil is a driver, and when he enters either into men or into hogs he drives them furiously. Remember how the whole herd ran violently down a steep place into the sea. Whenever you see a man fanatical and wild, whatever spirit is in him it is not the Spirit of Christ.” (Spurgeon)
Where does the Holy Spirit lead us?
- He leads us to repentance. … to think little of self and much of Jesus. … into truth. … into love. … into holiness. … into usefulness. (Guzik)
- Living as a child of God means an intimate, joyful relationship with God, not like the bondage and fear demonstrated by the law. A child of God can have a relationship with God so close that they may cry out, Abba, Father! (Daddy!)
- It is easy for us to think of Jesus relating to the Father with this joyful confidence, but we may think we are disqualified for it. However, remember that we are in Christ – we have the privilege of relating to the Father even as Jesus Christ does.
- “In the Roman world of the first century AD 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.” (Bruce)
- Under Roman adoption, the life and standing of the adopted child changed completely. The adopted son lost all rights in his old family and gained all new rights in his new family; the old life of the adopted son was completely wiped out, with all debts being canceled, with nothing from his past counting against him any more.
16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness[m] with our spirit that we are children of God,
- NET 16 The Spirit himself bears witness to[v] our spirit that we are God’s children.
- NLT 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children.
- Plainly put, Paul says that those who are God’s children, born again by the Spirit of God, know their status because the Holy Spirit testifies to our spirit that this is so.
- This is not to say that there are not those who wrongly think or assume they are God’s children apart from the Spirit’s testimony. There are also Christians whose heads are so foggy from spiritual attack that they begin to believe the lie that they are not God’s children after all. Nevertheless the witness of the Spirit is still there.
- We are children of God: We don’t have to wonder if we are really Christians or not. God’s children know who they are.
- Jewish law stated that at the mouth of two or three witnesses everything had to be established (Deuteronomy 17:6). There are two witnesses to our salvation: our own witness and the witness of the Spirit. (Guzik)
17 and if children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.
- NET 17 And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)[w] — if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him.
- NLT 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.
- Because we are in Christ, we have the privilege of relating to the Father as Jesus does. Therefore, we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
- Being a child of God also means having an inheritance. In Luke 18:18 the rich young ruler asked Jesus, “what must I do to inherit?” But the rich young ruler missed the point because inheritance is not a matter of doing, it is a matter of being – of being in the right family.
- If indeed we suffer with Him: Because we are in Christ, we are also called to share in His suffering. God’s children are not immune from trials and suffering.
- If indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together: In fact, our sharing in present suffering is a condition of our future glorification. As far as God is concerned, it is all part of the same package of sonship, no matter how much our flesh may want to have the inheritance and the glory without the suffering. (Guzik)
From Barclay’s Commentary …
ENTRY INTO THE FAMILY OF GOD
So then, brothers, a duty is laid upon us — and that duty is not to our own sinful human nature, to live according to the principles of that same nature; for, if you live according to the principles of sinful human nature, you are on the way to death; but if by the spirit you kill the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are guided by the Spirit of God, these, and only these, are the children of God. For you did not receive a state whose dominating condition is slavery so that you might relapse into fear; but you received a state whose dominating characteristic is adoption, in which we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. If we are children then we are also heirs; and if we are the heirs of God then we are joint-heirs with Christ. If we suffer with him we shall also be glorified with him.
Paul is introducing us to another of the great metaphors in which he describes the new relationship of the Christian to God. He speaks of the Christian being adopted into the family of God. It is only when we understand how serious and complicated a step Roman adoption was that we really under stand the depth of meaning in this passage.
Roman adoption was always rendered more serious and more difficult by the Roman patria potestas. This was the father’s power over his family; it was the power of absolute disposal and control, and in the early days was actually the power of life and death. In regard to his father, a Roman son never came of age. No matter how old he was, he was still under the patria potestas, in the absolute possession and under the absolute control, of his father. Obviously this made adoption into another family a very difficult and serious step. In adoption a person had to pass from one patria potestas to another.
There were two steps.
- The first was known as mancipatio, and was carried out by a symbolic sale, in which copper and scales were symbolically used. Three times the symbolism of sale was carried out. Twice the father symbolically sold his son, and twice he bought him back; but the third time he did not buy him back and thus the patria potestas was held to be broken.
- There followed a ceremony called vindicatio. The adopting father went to the praetor, one of the Roman magistrates, and presented a legal case for the transference of the person to be adopted into his patria potestas. When all this was completed, the adoption was complete. Clearly this was a serious and an impressive step.
But it is the consequences of adoption which are most significant for the picture that is in Paul’s mind. There were four main ones:
(i) The adopted person lost all rights in his old family and gained all the rights of a legitimate son in his new family. In the most binding legal way, he got a new father.
(ii) It followed that he became heir to his new father’s estate. Even if other sons were afterwards born, it did not affect his rights. He was inalienably co-heir with them.
(iii) In law, the old life of the adopted person was completely wiped out; for instance, all debts were cancelled. He was regarded as a new person entering into a new life with which the past had nothing to do.
(iv) In the eyes of the law he was absolutely the son of his new father. Roman history provides an outstanding case of how completely this was held to be true. The Emperor Claudius adopted Nero in order that he might succeed him on the throne; they were not in any sense blood relations. Claudius already had a daughter, Octavia. To cement the alliance, Nero wished to marry her. Nero and Octavia were in no sense blood relations; yet, in the eyes of the law, they were brother and sister; and before they could marry, the Roman senate had to pass special legislation.
That is what Paul is thinking of. He uses still another picture from Roman adoption.
He says that God’s spirit witnesses with our spirit that we really are his children. The adoption ceremony was carried out in the presence of seven witnesses. Now, suppose the adopting father died and there was some dispute about the right of the adopted son to inherit, one or more of the seven witnesses stepped forward and swore that the adoption was genuine. Thus the right of the adopted person was guaranteed and he entered into his inheritance.
So, Paul is saying, it is the Holy Spirit himself who is the witness to our adoption into the family of God.
We see then that every step of Roman adoption was meaningful in the mind of Paul when he transferred the picture to our adoption into the family of God. Once we were in the absolute control of our own sinful human nature; but God, in his mercy, has brought us into his absolute possession. The old life has no more rights over us; God has an absolute right. The past is cancelled and its debts are wiped out; we begin a new life with God and become heirs of all his riches. If that is so, we become joint-heirs with Jesus Christ, God’s own Son. That which Christ inherits, we also inherit. If Christ had to suffer, we also inherit that suffering; but if Christ was raised to life and glory, we also inherit that life and glory.
It was Paul’s picture that when a man became a Christian he entered into the very family of God. He did nothing to deserve it; God, the great Father, in his amazing love and mercy, has taken the lost, helpless, poverty-stricken, debt-laden sinner and adopted him into his own family, so that the debts are cancelled and the glory inherited.