Adoption and Inheritance; Romans 8: 15b – 17. Tape 12.

Review of the basics of the Spiritual Life from Romans 6 – 8

1. We are all positionally transformed at the instant of salvation. We are regenerated and we are identified with Christ by virtue of the baptism of God the Holy Spirit. This is called positional truth. In terms of our eternal realities, these are our eternal possessions from the instant of salvation, we are placed in Christ by the baptism of the Holy Spirit and at that instant God does at least 40 different irreversible things in our lives. For e.g. we are reconciled to God, we are redeemed, we are regenerated, at the instant of faith alone in Christ alone God the Holy Spirit creates and imparts to us a human spirit and we have a new life in Christ, we are adopted into the family of God and we are part of the royal family of God. We are a new creation in Christ, we are freed from the power and dominion of the sin nature even though we still have its presence, we are given a new life in Christ and we are to live Paul says as we have studied in Romans 6:4 in that newness of life, we are sealed by means of God the Holy Spirit and we are indwelt by God the Holy Spirit.

We have a temporal relationship based upon our obedience to God's word. We call it being filled by means of God the Holy Spirit and it is roughly the same as walking by means of God the Holy Spirit. It is also called walking in the light in Ephesians chapter 5 so that when we sin we are said to be walking in darkness as we have seen in our study of Romans 8 we can walk according to the sin nature or we can walk according to the Holy Spirit. So whenever we sin we are out of fellowship, no longer abiding in Christ, no longer walking by the Spirit, we are walking according to the norms and standards of the sin nature and we are in carnality and under the control of the sin  nature. But no matter how hard things get there is always recovery and this is through 1 John 1:9 when we confess our sins. That means to simply admit or acknowledge our sins to God the Father and we instantly recover fellowship. Positional truth is the subject of Romans Chapter 6, this is our new position in Christ and because of that the power of the sin nature is broken.

2. We have genuine freedom in Christ. This is not freedom to do what ever we want but freedom to live outside the dominion and tyranny of the sin nature. Genuine freedom demands responsibility. We are not to be irresponsible and licentious but we are to walk as scripture commands. Believers are responsible to live on the basis of their new position in Christ. Everything that we have in Christ makes us spiritual aristocracy, spiritual royalty and that belongs to every single member of the church in this church age at the instant of salvation.

At phase 1 salvation (that instant in time when we trust Christ alone for our salvation), we are justified and we are freed from the penalty of sin. The power of the sin nature in terms of its tyranny is broken, so that during phase 2 which is the spiritual life we can grow or advance in our spiritual growth and as we do we are experientially freed from the power of sin, so that we can advance spiritually. Phase 3 is glorification when we are freed from the presence of the sin nature.

3. Our new position gives us a new master the Lord Jesus Christ. We are not independent of a master. Romans 6:18 says that we are now in bondage to righteousness and in bondage to the Lord Jesus Christ.
4. Man on his own either before salvation or after salvation, even with the law is incapable of doing the good, the intrinsic or divine good, that which measures up to the perfect righteousness of God. We can neither do good nor avoid evil. Paul says I can't do the good that I want to do and the evil that I don't want to do, I can't avoid it. Man on his own even with a regenerate nature and new human spirit, cannot do what God demands, it requires the aid and assistance of God the Holy Spirit, which means the Spiritual life is ALL GRACE! It doesn't have anything to do with man first gaining approbation with God. First we depend upon the cross, everything was given to us on the cross and we have the word of God which informs us how to grow. It is the word of God plus the Spirit of God that is what produces growth in the believer's life.
5. Only through a moment by moment dependence on the Holy Spirit can we advance to spiritual adulthood and spiritual maturity. This is called walking according to the Spirit in Romans chapter 8 and walking by means of the Spirit in Galatians 5:16ff
6. As we have arrived in Romans Chapter 8 where the subject shifts to the winner believer, the advancing successful believer, there are several comparisons that are made here. There are two type of believers in Romans Chapter 8:

The Successful Believer   The Failure Believer

Romans 8: 13, "...for if you are living according to the flesh..." This continues the contrast, the if clause here is a fist class condition (he is assuming it to be true), if assuming you are living according to the flesh, the automatic result is death. It is obvious he is not talking about eternal condemnation because in verse 12 he addresses this to brethren. "...So then, brethren, we..." first person plural pronoun indicating both the apostle Paul himself and his readers, "...we are under obligation..." unbelievers are not under obligation so he can only be addressing believers.

Verse 12, "...So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ..."

And then there is an appositional explanation. It starts with a gar in the Greek which means he is giving a reason or explanation for this statement.

Verse 13, "...for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live..."

Last time I pointed out that if the living here is eternal life then the way to get it is to put to death the deeds of the sin nature, and that's works! So the life here can not be eternal life in heaven, it must be something else? If the life is not eternal life in heaven, then the contrast, the 'death' in the passage that is contrast with the 'life,' cannot be eternal condemnation in the Lake of Fire! Therefore Paul is not talking about 'death' in terms of eternal condemnation or 'life' in terms of eternal salvation, he is talking about what happens in time in terms of experiencing temporal or carnal death eventually culminating in the divine discipline of the sin unto death or living the abundant life. So we either live according to the norms and standards of the sin nature which results in carnal death or if by the Spirit, walking by means of the Spirit, then you live. 

"...but if [living] by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live..." Putting to death is an active verb there, which means you the believer are engaged in doing something, you are engaged in saying 'no!' to the sin nature. You can't just say as a believer, 'well, it really doesn't matter, some how God's going to work it out, He paid for all the sins, so I can do what I want.' This addresses the volition of the believer and the fact that as a believer we need to be learning doctrine and it must mean something. It means that we apply it and we say no to the sin nature and we stay in fellowship and we avoid temptation. The only way you can do that is through the power of the Spirit. You can't do it by pulling up your moral spiritual bootstraps, apart from the Spirit. That is what Paul tried in Romans 7 and it was a failure. It has to be done by staying in the Spirit, walking according to the Spirit and walking by means of the Spirit under the filling of the Spirit. So you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live. It is talking about the advancing maturing believer who is moving towards this abundant life, that's the context. If you don't understand that you will misinterpret the next three verses.

Verse 14, "...For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God..."

We have a problem here. The problem is that it is standard for us to take a verse like this as equivalent to John's use of 'sons of God' in John 1:12.

John 1:12 states, "...But as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to be called the sons of God, {even} to those who believe in His name..."

There it recognises that sonship is a positional factor. As I stated earlier, at the instant of salvation we are adopted into the family of God and we are given a positional title 'sons of God,' that is a technical term that comes out of the Latin or Roman background. But that is not the way Paul is using the term here. In this passage, look down to verse 15.

Verse 15, "...For you have not received a spirit [attitude] of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a Spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" ..."

But he talking about a particular kind of son and verse 16 and 17 he shifts from talking about the huios the adult son, to teknosthe child of God, the infant, the baby. So he is not looking at this in terms of the position of adoption here as adulthood, he is looking at it experientially and we have seen that is the whole context of Romans 6 – 8 is the experience of the Christian life, not entering into the Christian life.

There are a couple of points we have to observe in the contrast between this passage and John 1:12.

1. At the instant of salvation every believer is regenerated and adopted into the royal family of God. That is a non experiential reality, you don't feel like it, you don't get a piece of paper that says you're now adopted but that is the reality. That is why you were sealed by the Spirit as a mark of ownership forever.
2. At the instant of salvation we are all spiritual babies/infants. Experientially we are infants, positionally we are sons.
3. Huios is the term for the adult son and this is our position but it is not our experience. That only comes through Spiritual growth.
4. In John 1:12 it is possible to understand the term there of 'being called the sons of God,' in terms of the ultimate purpose of our salvation. God saved us to be mature. He did not save us to be babies. John certainly emphasizes this in 1 John 2:28, the fact that there will be shame at the judgement seat of Christ to believers who are failures. We are saved to advance to maturity not to remain babies. It is possible to understand John 1:12 that we are 'called the sons of God,' because that is what we are to be.
5. There are several passages that indicate that sonship in the New Testament is a result of character development/transformation, not simply faith alone in Christ alone. But salvation, entering into the family of God, gaining eternal life in heaven is not by works. How do we handle this? If sonship is automatic at salvation, then these verses make it sound as if works accompany salvation or produce salvation.

Ø  Matthew 5:44 – 45a, ""But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven..." There sonship is conditioned on loving your enemies and praying for those who persecute you. There are different facets of sonship; there is the positional reality of our adoption and then there is the experience of our growth and advance to sonship.

Ø  Matthew 5:9, "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God..." once again it looks as if being called a son of God is dependant on doing something but that would be works salvation, so there is a sense in which becoming an adult son is experiential growth not just positional reality.

Ø   Revelation 21:7, "...He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son..." So it looks form that passage like sonship is conditioned upon overcoming , but what about the passages that make it seem like I'm a son at salvation? We have to distinguish between positional realities and temporal realities.

NASB:

Verse 15, "...For you have not received a spirit [attitude] of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" ..."

Now we have to stop a minute and take a look at the translation because it is a little bit confusing. It starts off with the explanatory article called gar which always gives you a reason or a cause and what we have here is very interesting structurally. In the English notice that verses, 13, 14 and 15 all begin with 'for.' That tells Paul is building up a series of explanations. Now last time I pointed out that starting from verse 9 – 11, you have a series of 'but ifs.' He is building a contrast there, that's why he is using those conditional clauses with the conjunction of contrast. But he is doing something different in 13 through 15; he is building explanations, staying on the same subject of the believer and building one explanation on another. Now here he says in verse 15.

 Verse 15, "...For you have not received a spirit [attitude] of slavery..."

What is a spirit of slavery? Now the word spirit here is the Greek word pneuma. This word has a variety of meanings, it can mean wind, breath, spirit [human] and it can even stand for the soul in some places as the spirit and soul are united together in the regenerated believer, sometimes to emphasize one aspect or the other, sometimes it is simply referred to immaterial part of man in contrast to the material part of man and in other passages it refers to angels or demons. The word spirit can also mean a disposition or a state of mind, or a mental attitude in other words. So if someone has a spirit of bitterness that means that they are characterised by an attitude of bitterness, if they have a spirit of anger that means that they are characterised by an attitude of anger. Here Paul is talking about that attitude that comes on the believer who is failing to recognise what he has in Christ. So that he is no longer relying on his positional reality of Romans 6 and he is choosing to sin and put himself back under the dominion to the sin nature. Now that was broken by the cross, broken by baptism of God the Holy Spirit but each time you sin, you by your volition are saying, 'ok I am going to put myself back under the tyranny of my sin nature.'

Verse 15, "...For you have not received [at salvation] a spirit [attitude] of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" ..."

Fear seems to be the core emotion produced by the sin nature. Beneath everything else, beneath arrogance, beneath bitterness, beneath everything else is fear. What is the first thing that happened when God appeared in the garden with Adam and Eve, they were afraid. John addresses this in 1 John 4:17 ff,  "...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..." What is the relationship of fear and love? Most people would say that the opposite of love is hatred, and the opposite of fear is peace. But what the scripture points out is the core underlying emotions that are produced by the sin nature, fear is a lack of security, it is man suddenly realising that he is a creature and that he really can't solve his problems on his own and he is confronted with God. The fear in the sense of a healthy respect and awe that Isaiah had instantly when he fell on his face when he saw the Holiness of God, in that sense it is not the sinful emotion of fear of the Lord that is the positive awe and respect of God and realising that he is a creature (creator – creature distinction).

But when you are in carnality, it is a fear that eats up the soul and destroys and the only solution is becoming mature and advancing in the spiritual life to that point that we have that kind of love that Jesus commanded as the new commandment in John 13: 33 – 34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."

Now Paul says here, "...For you have not received [at salvation] a spirit [attitude/disposition] of slavery [to the sin nature] leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit [attitude/disposition] of adoption as sons by which we cry out, "Abba! Father!" ..."

This is your positional reality. You are adopted as a son that is your reality. In the Roman culture of the day the inheritance by primogenitor went to the eldest son. So every believer, male or female is considered in that specific privileged position of an heir in the Royal Family of God. It is a technical term and it means that we have all the privileges and rights that are granted to the eldest son in a Roman society and that applies to everyone in the body of Christ because with the baptism of the Holy Spirit there is no longer Jew nor Greek, male nor female, bond or slave and what that means is that under the Jewish economy, in the Mosaic Law that if you were a women you could not go into the inner part of the tabernacle or the temple at all, you were restricted. If you were a Gentile you were restricted, if you were a slave you were restricted. But in the church age no one is restricted; sex, economic status and slavery status are no longer issues for access to God. Every believer is a priest, a royal priest in the Royal Family of God and has the same equal access to God and the same privileges and that is all part of our sonship.

So when we look at Romans 8:15 there is a contrast between the attitude of slavery (the attitude of the failure believer who keeps putting himself under the dominion of his own sin nature) and the one who recognises his position in Christ as spiritual aristocracy and is now going to use that position to advance to spiritual maturity.

The Doctrine of Adoption [38:40]

This is quite a cultural difference for us. What we have to realise is that the Bible must always be interpreted in the time in which it was written. We can't look at these terms like 'sons of God,' 'adoption' and other things for a western civilisation frame of reference. We have to understand the culture and historical context with which this was used. So this is borrowed from both Roman and Greek culture. We are going to look at the doctrine under two different categories. Firstly, the historical background and secondly, its doctrinal significance.

Historical Background

The practice of adoption is used in the Bible to illustrate the new position of the believer in his relationship to God. Adoption in the ancient world is different from modern adoption in that in modern adoption you are taking a child that is not born to a family naturally and you are bringing them into the family and making them a legal member of that family. But in the ancient world you could even adopt your own natural son. Adoption in the ancient world, especially in Roman culture had to do with adult privileges and inheritance.

So in terms of historical background we need to look at two different practices because both play a role in understanding what Paul is saying. The Greek practice of adoption and the Roman practice of adoption.

1.  The Greek practice of adoption

In Greece the practice emphasized family relationship. A man during his life or by will after his death could adopt any male citizen into the privileges of his own family. So he might die and his will might state that he wanted John Smith from down the street to be adopted into his family and become his legal heir. But there was always a condition placed upon that adoption and that was that the adopted son had to accept the legal responsibilities and the religious duties of a real son. It wasn't just that he was designated as such by the will but he has to use his volition and accept the responsibilities, the obligation that went with that. Now I use that term obligation because Paul uses it in Romans 8:12, "... So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ..." we do have an obligation as believers, a responsibility because we have been bought with a price, we are not our own, we are owned by the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are in His family. Paul has more of the Greek idea in mind when he talks about certain aspects and sometimes the Roman idea and blends the two together. When Paul emphasises the familiar aspects of our adoption including inheritance he has this Greek custom in mind, the son must accept that responsibility and live out those responsibilities and those duties. I think it is here that Paul is using this in Romans 8 because he is emphasizing the reality of our adoption as positional truth and then in Romans 8 the application, we have to accept that responsibility to live as sons.

2. The Roman practice of adoption

The Roman system of adoption was much more severe and demanding and put a heavy emphasis on the authority of the Father over the son. It was the law of the patria potestas, a son is little better than a slave until adulthood. That is the background for understanding many of the factors in Galatians chapter 4 on adoption. The Roman custom emphasised the authority of the father and it was designed to protect the aristocracy of Rome and preserve the inheritance. So if the natural son grew up and he was incompetent and was irresponsible then the father could choose another heir, another son and adopt him and then pass on the family name and fortune to this adopted heir, thus preserving the family linage and the family property. The procedure of adoption began with a ceremony, there was a purchase called redemption, it was a symbolic purchase where the new son, there was a purchase price paid and the adopted son was paid for his freedom. So he is redeemed from bondage, just as the believer is redeemed from bondage to the slave market of sin. Once he accepts that purchase, then he comes under the authority of his new father. He moves from the authority of his natural father to the authority of his new father. Just like the believer shifts from being under the authority of the kingdom of Satan, to the authority of God. That is what happens, we transfer authorities at salvation. We don't become our own boss. In Roman adoption inheritance is emphasized more than blood relationship and the point is the preservation of property. In the first fourteen years of the Roman system the son is put under the slave called a paidagogos and that is the emphasis in Galatians 4 and the paidagogos is responsible (for the son), ...bring him home and discipline him and that is used by Paul as the role of the Mosaic Law for the immature believer in terms of looking at it as a time line of history. That the human race is immature before the cross and more complete after the cross. So once the cross comes then the believer is moved from slavery to the law to freedom. Now the point of all this is to preserve inheritance and to pass it on. So God has an inheritance for us.

What is the Doctrinal Significance?

The doctrinal significance is that the believer now has the position of being a son of God. He now has that position and we are to decide whether or not we are to live up to those responsibilities. That's the background for understanding Romans 8:14. "...For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God..." This is not talking about every believer. This is talking about the advancing believer who is willing to follow the leadership of the Holy Spirit. The immature believer or the failure believer who is in carnality the whole time isn't learning doctrine, isn't applying doctrine, isn't putting to death the deeds of the flesh, that's the immature believer that is the contrast. The one who is putting to death the deeds of the flesh will live. This is the one who is being led by the Spirit, the Greek word there is ago which implies volition on the part of the person who is following, the Holy Spirit is out in front and the person following makes decisions to follow. It is not like the verb that is used in 1 Peter 1: 20 – 21 were it talks about the prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, that is like the wind pushing the sail boat along a lake or out in the ocean, there is no volition involved there. They were just moved along by the super attending guiding force of God the Holy Spirit in inspiration. It is a different word, ago involves that our volition is clearly involved; we have to decide whether or not we are going to follow, whether or not we are going to walk by means of the Holy Spirit. So it is those who are willing to be led and to follow and to walk by means of the Spirit that are sons of God. So these are the two sonship's. The sonship of positional relationship and the sonship of those who advance to sonship and it is only the adult sons that are going to be qualified to have an inheritance in the Kingdom of God and to rule and reign. So sonship is the result of maturity, we are not to just fold up our hands and remain immature. That is the point here is that we have to reach adulthood because that is God's goal for us.

Verse 15, introduces the concept of adoption again, and then it is tied by the time we get to verse 16 and 17 to inheritance. When we come to 8:16, "...The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God..." the only point I want to make there is that this is our human spirit, this is none verbal communication and it is restricted to assurance of salvation. Just as the Holy Spirit convicts the unbeliever of his unbelief and unrighteousness and judgement in John 16, this is the same kind of term, it is symmartyreo which is a legal court room term, just as elegcho in John 16:8 and is simply a term that the Holy Spirit is confirming to us non verbally.

When you get to Romans 8:16 and 17 the problem is punctuation in the English Bible. In the original Greek there is no punctuation, you don't have commas or semicolons, or quotation marks, and everything is done through syntax. That is why it is so important to understand the original Greek. It is also important to understand theology because sometimes even the syntax isn't that clear.

NASB – verses 17

"... and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him..."

That links heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ with the conjunction Kai as if they are synonymous and then you have a comma after Christ and then a first class conditional clause, 'if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.' The way that is punctuated means that verse is saying you can not be an heir of God or a joint heir with Christ unless you suffer with Christ. That's how that is punctuated, that's what that means! In other words, inheritance which is part of your salvation package at some level, is dependant upon (in that translation) suffering with Christ. Once again that is a works oriented salvation. Now that verse can be repunctuated by simply moving the commas.

Corrected translation– verses 17

"... and if children heirs also, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him..."

That means there is an heir-ship with God that is common to every believer that is part of your package at salvation. Then there is an additional inheritance that comes as a result of maturing and willingness to suffer for your faith and grow and mature through that suffering as you advance to spiritual adulthood. Once you understand that it really makes it clear what is going on in another passage.

2 Timothy 2:11 – 13

It is a trustworthy statement:

For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;

If we endure, we will also reign with Him;

If we deny Him, He also will deny us;

If we are faithless, He remains faithful;

For He cannot deny Himself.

Here we have a doctrine put to poetry in these three verses and it is a very controversial problem passage. But once you understand that there are different categories of inheritance and that believers who advance to the second category have the privilege of reigning with Christ and those who are failures are going to enter into heaven yet as through fire, (1 Cor 3:15) then it makes all the difference. These are all first class conditions.

2 Timothy 2:11 – 13

It is a trustworthy statement:

For if we died with Him, we will also live with Him;

This is positional death, identification with Christ in His death, burial and resurrection (Romans 6:1 -4), if you are identified with Christ in His death burial and resurrection at the instant of salvation then you will live with Him. This is eternal life in heaven for ever and ever. 

If we endure, we will also reign with Him;

This puts a condition on reigning and that's endurance, but not every believer is going to endure. Not every believer is going to persevere, some will fall away, they will not all abide, they are that third branch in John 15 that is gathered up and taken to judgement.

If we deny Him, He also will deny us;

Now some take that second clause as meaning that there is a loss of salvation. That there are those who endure and they will reign (and every believer will reign) and those who deny him, well, they will be denied. But that is not what it is saying because it turns around in verse 13 and says 'if we are faithless...'

If we are faithless, He remains faithful;

If we are faithless, that is a believer who turns his back on his faith. For He remains faithful for He cannot deny Himself.

For He cannot deny Himself.

Verse 12 is the issue. Verse 12 is focussing on the advancing believer. "If we endure, we will also reign with Him;" that is rewards and that is position in the kingdom. If we deny Him He will deny us rewards and position in the kingdom. That's loss of rewards, the believer who denies Christ, denies His authority in his life and does not advance to maturity but goes out and lives as he wills, will lose rewards at the judgement seat of Christ, instead of having 'gold, silver and precious gems,' he will have wood, hay and straw and so Christ will deny him at that point, not in terms of salvation but in terms of rewards. He will lose everything and enter into heaven yet as through fire. But the faithfulness of the Lord in saving us is verse 13. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; Even if we are faithless and all we ever do is put our faith and trust in Jesus Christ and then 10 mins later decide, 'well that was a stupid decision,' we are still saved, He remains faithful because He said 'all you have to do is believe.' One moment in time you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you are saved you can never lose it. He is faithful to His word and He can not deny Himself.

So the issue is what kind of believer do you want to be?

Ø  There are those who are failures and there are those who are successful and it depends on your volition. It depends on renovating your soul by the truth of Gods word.

Ø  It depends on your volition and your priorities because Gods grace is sufficient for any situation, any problem and any difficulty in life.

Ø  The issue is whether or not you are going to make learning God's word the priority.

Ø  That is the only way you are going to learn the assets, that's the only way you are going to learn the skills, the spiritual problem solving devices and the spiritual skills necessary to advance and mature in the spiritual life.

Father, we do thank you for your Grace, your goodness that you have provided everything for us in the battle of spiritual warfare, in the battle of warfare with our own sin nature and in the battle with worldly cosmic thinking. That this is all based on Grace, you have given us everything and all we have to do is learn how to use it, take the time to devote ourselves to understanding these spiritual principles, submit ourselves to your authority, being filled with the spirit, walking by the spirit, abiding in Christ and advancing to maturity. We pray that you would challenge us with the things that we have learned that we might realise that we have been saved for a purpose and that is to live in newness of life, to advance to maturity as adult sons that you might be glorified, we pray this in Jesus name, Amen.