Romans 8:15

Romans 8:15

Romans 8:15 says, "For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." When we receive Christ, we also receive the Spirit of God. This spirit is not a spirit of bondage, and it is not a spirit of fear. The reason that it is not a spirit of bondage is because when we accept Christ, we are set free: free from sin, free from the law, free from guilt. If there is anything that you used to be bound to in a negative sense, now you are free from it as far as God is concerned. Therefore, when He gave us His Spirit, He gave us a spirit of freedom, and not a spirit of bondage. The concept of what you owe and what you are bound to do, is no longer in effect. Jesus said, "You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free." If you are in Christ, you have a complete and marvelous freedom that He has given you. You never have to be in bondage to anything or anyone again.

We do not have the spirit of bondage and we do not need to fear. One of the benefits of becoming a believer is that we can now live a life without fear. Faith and fear just do not go together. Humans are often plagued by fear. Just about everything under the sun has been feared at one time or another by humans. There is the fear of death, the fear of heights, the fear of crowds, the fear of loneliness, the fear of poverty, the fear of darkness, and a million other fears. Franklin Roosevelt is credited with saying that we have nothing to fear but fear itself. Jesus often rebuked the disciples when they feared, and He said to them, "O ye of little faith." If you fear something, what you need is a renewal of faith and a strengthening of faith. You need a closer contact with the Spirit, because God has not given us a spirit of fear.

But He has given us the Spirit of adoption. Of course, adoption is a means by which someone enters into a family. There are two ways to become someone’s child: by birth or by adoption. But there is only one way to become God’s child: by adoption. You cannot become a member of God’s family through human lineage or human birth: it must be by adoption. An interesting point about all of this is the fact that a human family that was put together by the process of adoption is more like God’s family than a human family that is put together by the process of birth. God’s family is created by the process of spiritual adoption, and is made up of people from all races and all nationalities.

We have received the spirit of adoption whereby we look to God and say "Father". When Jesus taught the disciples to pray, He told them to say, "Our Father who art in heaven..." There are no orphans in the family of God, because we all have Him for a father. And He is the best father of all to have. The ideal father would show love and kindness, would be a source of wisdom and guidance, and would always offer protection and provision. You may have not known the care of a human father, but you have lost nothing if you now have a relationship with God the Father.

Romans 8:16 says, "The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God." There is one final and conclusive test by which you can determine if you are or if you are not a child of God. If you are a child a God, the Spirit will bear witness inside of your soul and your mind. He will give you the capacity to regard God as your Father. No one else can tell you if you are saved or not. You must determine for yourself; and if you are saved, the Spirit of God within you will give you assurance. If you do not have the Spirit of God within you, then you certainly will not have the assurance that He can give, and you will not regard yourself as a child of God. You must have a spiritual birth. As Jesus said, "You must be born again."

With God as our Father, and the best of all possible fathers, we not only have His care and provision for us in this life, but we also have His plans and preparation for us in the next life. Anyone who cares for their children and has the means to do so, will provide an inheritance for them. Once we become God’s children, we become His heirs. Romans 8:17 says, "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together." We will inherit the wonders and the glories of the Kingdom of Heaven. Jesus told His disciples, "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am you may be also."

The inheritance is partly conditional. We are saved from hell and the condemnation of our sins by grace alone; but there are rewards that will be given based upon faithfulness of service. The foundation is Christ. If you have Christ, then you have salvation. But the works that you do after salvation will determine what is built upon that foundation. You will end up in heaven irrespective of your works, but your works will determine either the rewards that you gain or the rewards that you lose when you enter heaven. First Corinthians 3:11-15 says, "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is. If any man’s work abide which he has built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire."

We will all be saved entirely by the mercy of God and the grace of God. It is only because He forgives us of our sins that we have the hope of heaven. But once we are saved, it should become our desire to one day hear from Him, "Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your Lord." Probably the greatest stumbling block in front of many believers that keeps them from being all that they could be in this world, is the fear of suffering.

We are called to suffer in a similar way that Christ suffered. He was rejected by the majority of people, by the governmental authorities, and by the religious leaders. Jesus said, "The servant is not greater than his Lord." We should not fear the opinions of others. The only one that we are told to fear in the Bible is God, and that fear is a reverential respect. When Jesus taught His parable about the seed, which is the Word of God, He said that the Word of God would not take root in the hearts of some people because of the fear of persecution.

We should not fear because God will take care of us. We should not fear because the poor souls will perish unless they hear and believe. And we should not fear because it is a privilege to suffer for His sake. You never know: you may be the instrument that God uses to increase the faith of many, and throughout eternity you will be thankful that God gave you courage instead of fear because "they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever."

One day God will turn sorrow into joy and crying into laughter. It will happen just like Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted... Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven." Romans 8:18 says, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us."

Suffering is an inevitable part of life and especially the Christian life. You should expect that sufferings will come your way, because they will. Jesus tried to prepare His disciples for suffering. He said to them, "In the world you shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world." When Peter wrote his epistle, he tried to prepare believers for sufferings that would surely come their way. He wrote, "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you."

There are several things that we can understand about sufferings that will help us when they happen to us. As we walk through this world, as believers we ask for God’s will to be done. He hears our prayers and He is accomplishing His will. The all-powerful and mighty God controls all things, and the things that seem to be the worse will one day be proven to have a good purpose by the power of God to use all things and direct the outcome of all things. You must believe that, in order to keep the faith and in order to survive the worse of sufferings that may come your way.

The scriptures tell us in all things to give thanks. Sufferings are a chance to put that admonition into action. Sufferings can result in good. A believer can grow in Christian character through the means of applying his faith to the sufferings that come his way. Earlier in the book of Romans we were told that tribulation works patience. Look at all the good that resulted from the sufferings that Christ endured. We will be in heaven only because of His sufferings.

In this passage in Romans, Paul reminds us that we will be rewarded for any sufferings that we experience as a result of our relationship with Christ; and he reminds us that sufferings are only temporary because they will one day be replaced by the eternal bliss and happiness of the Kingdom of God. Paul points out in the next few verses how we are united with all of creation in a life that can be plagued by suffering and death. Suffering is not limited to believers. It is universal. Therefore, if you are going to suffer, you might as well suffer in the will of God. Some people resist serving God, because they think that serving God will cause them sufferings. But it is better to suffer in the will of God and one day be rewarded for it, than to live in pleasure for a season and one day suffer eternal separation from God.

Paul wrote in Romans 8:19-22, "For the earnest expectation of the creature waits for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who has subjected the same in hope. Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now."

Most of the animals in the world must struggle to survive. Their lives are usually short and violent. They must eat or be eaten. They live in fear and an inability to understand the horrible things that happen to them. They cannot call a doctor or 911 when things go wrong. They suffer and die. "The whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now." We have something in common with the rest of the animal world. We are bound with them because our lives follow a similar pattern: we are born, we suffer, we live a few short years, and then we die.

But things will not always be this way. There is an event that is scheduled by God that will change the pattern. Paul calls it in Romans 8:19 "the manifestation of the sons of God." In verse 21 he calls it the glorious liberty of the sons of God. The way things are now; believers often seem to be insignificant in the world. The prayers and the goals and the desires of believers often seem inconsequential to those who lust for the power and money and fame of the world. After all, the scriptures do say that not many wise, not many mighty, not many noble are called. Actually, most of the greatest people on the earth are unknown to the world, but they are known to God because they are His children, and one day they will be manifested as to who they are. They will inherit the earth. They will judge the world with God. Those who now seem so insignificant will be manifested as the sons of God. When that day comes, all of nature will be transformed, and the suffering and death will finally end. All the ancient promises about the millennium will be fulfilled: the lion shall lie down with the lamb, and the child shall play at the serpent’s den, and the world shall know death nevermore.

Romans 8:23 says, "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." Salvation is a spiritual experience. We come to know God by the Spirit, and not by any physical or material means. The down payment of this great salvation, the first thing that He has given to us, is the Spirit that He has put within us. God is a giver who keeps on giving; and one of the things that He will yet give us is a new body. This body that gets sick and old and dies, will be replaced with a new body that will not get sick, will not get old, and will not die. This is one of the great benefits of being a believer in Jesus: not only will our souls be saved, but our bodies will be also. We have much to look forward to. Life is good for the believer, because our life will not end with death. Death will be swallowed up by victory.

Romans 8:24 says, "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man sees, what does he yet hope for?" Hope and faith are tied very closely together. If you have faith, you will have hope. Faith is confidence that what God has said is true. You can have faith in God even though you do not see Him because your faith is in the promises of God. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." You can believe the promise of everlasting life and forgiveness of sins without being able to see God or hear His voice. That is faith.

Hope is a positive attitude about the future. Hope is knowing that good things are going to happen; even though they have not happened yet, and even though we cannot see any evidence that they will happen. We know that the good things will happen; because they have been promised by someone who has planned the future and who always keeps His promises. For example, if you were to only go by the things that you see, you would conclude that every physical body dies and then turns to dust, and then no one ever sees them again. You would have no hope about a resurrected body, and no hope about being with God forever. You would be in a hopeless situation. Life must be miserable indeed for those who have no hope beyond the grave. Death must terrify them, and the loss of a loved one must crush them miserably. It is much better to have the hope of the resurrection that is in Jesus.

Remember that Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the life. He that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die."

Romans 8:25 says, "But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." On any given day it will be a worthy and noble goal for you to occupy your thoughts with the idea that you are simply patiently waiting for Christ to fulfill the promise of the day of the manifestation of the sons of God and the day of the redemption of the body. There is nothing for you to do: He will do it in His own time. You are now given the assurance and the privilege that you can hope for it and wait for it.

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