Romans 8:14–16

This word translated "led" has many uses, but the main idea running through them all is "to take care of." The Spirit takes care of us by leading us into right paths. Having such a guide shows that we are "sons of God." A young prince is always in the care of a tutor. The tutor knows how the prince ought to behave in his position. He must act at all times as the son of a king. In the same way the Spirit lives in our hearts, instructing us in the conduct that suits us because we are "sons of God."

The influence of the Holy Spirit shows itself in these things. But what is on the apostle's mind is not the influence of the Spirit only. It is the Spirit Himself. What is on the mind of the writer he answers is a state of soul. In Romans 8:16 the apostle says, "it is the same Spirit," or "the Spirit itself." And again, "the Spirit helps," "the Spirit makes intercession," the Spirit "dwells" in us.

"For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God." Here we begin to hear of our relationship, in contrast with the place of servants or slaves, which Israel had under law. It also opens the way for the Spirit to appear as a Person who acts, rather than only as what marks out our new nature and standing over against the flesh.

Being led by the Spirit is a favour common to all Christians. It is the principle on which God now deals in grace with His people. Outside the circle where God lives by His Spirit, Satan leads men. Under the law His people were in bondage, kept under a guardian. Now, as a Christian privilege, the Spirit leads: "But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law" (Galatians 5:18).

There is a further lesson here: we may be led by the Spirit. He is not only our power for keeping the flesh in check, for putting our members to death (Col. 3). He also enables us to walk, and so is our power for progress in the divine path. We must hold on to these teachings firmly. From them we learn that we have no natural resource of our own. We depend entirely on the power of the Holy Spirit for the fight and for the walk, as for every activity of the divine life.

I do not doubt this: if we walk with God and look to Him, the Spirit will put in our hearts the special things He wishes us to do. Only it is important that we keep the word of God in memory. It will then guard us against all our own imaginations. Otherwise the Christian who lacks humility will do his own will, and will often take it for the Holy Spirit.

We are told we have not received "the spirit of the world," which we know is taken up only with the things of earth, of time, and of the senses — things that death shuts in on every side (1 Cor. 2:12). Nor have we received "the spirit of fear," that spirit of dread and torment that always broods over painful doubts and gloomy fears about what is coming (2 Tim. 1:7). Nor have we received "the spirit of bondage again to fear," tied to keeping rules and religious ceremonies, which can never free anyone from the fear of death (Rom. 8:15).

They were Gentiles, and they were never put into the spiritual condition of believers in Old Testament times — above all of those under law, who through fear of death were held in bondage their whole life long. The gospel brought the Jewish believers out of that bondage. It met the Gentile just as fully, though he had never known the discipline of the law... The one as much as the other received a spirit of adoption or sonship.

Believing souls could not take up and enjoy their relationship to the Father until the Holy Spirit came at Pentecost. To be born again is one thing: a change God's power works through the word. To know that God is our Father is another thing, and we can enjoy it only through the gift of the indwelling Spirit.

Under the law we never find in Scripture that a Jew said "Abba" to God. Israel was connected with God as Father in a national way only. God had called Israel a son, but it was collective, it was national. No one then could ever say "Abba, Father" to God. But now, because Christ's work is finished, we have this liberty — a liberty that gives free access to the immediate presence of God... "Abba" simply means "Daddy." The Lord Himself said it only once, when He was in distress in the garden of Gethsemane.

The Spirit of the Son of God is sent into the heart of the believer, not to make him a son, but because he is already such (Gal. 4:6)... The cry, Abba, Father, is our own; but the Spirit of the Son produces it. We cry Abba, because we know Him this way; but the power of that knowledge is the indwelling presence of the Son.

You remember Pharaoh's daughter adopted Moses — an Israelite adopted into the royal family of Egypt! She could not, however, put into Moses a spirit of adoption, so when he became a man he broke it all off. Now, in His rich grace, God has done more than adopt us as His sons, with all the rights, dignity, and glory that go with it, as the royal family of heaven. He gave us the very "spirit of adoption," so that we are truly joined to His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ — not merely given a position.

There is no such thing recognised in Scripture as a Christian doubting he is saved. And it is a completely false claim to humility. If my Father forgives me, and I doubt His forgiveness, I am not trusting Him... There is no such thing in Scripture as a Christian without the Spirit of adoption, crying "Abba, Father."

We are sons, and by the Spirit we cry, "Abba, Father," conscious of being so. The Holy Spirit Himself (here we have Him clearly as a distinct Person) "bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." It is a clear, definite testimony of the Spirit who dwells in us that we are such. It is not a matter of proving it by the word through examining ourselves — that is a false, unscriptural and harmful procedure. It is the testimony of the Holy Spirit Himself dwelling in us, which He bears to us as living in us.

This rules out all self-deception. Someone might copy others in calling God Father, but the Spirit also produces the inward consciousness of the relationship. It is important to notice that it does not say, bears witness to our spirit. If that were the wording, we might be waiting for some distinct testimony at a given moment to assure us that we were now God's children. The apostle says, "with our spirit." The indwelling Spirit produces in us feelings and affections that suit the relationship God has brought us into, and He leads us into the enjoyment of it. The child of God now knows the Father. He does not doubt that he is a child, because he carries within himself the assured consciousness of his relationship.

This passage, which causes no difficulty in experience, causes one when it is a question of saying what it means. If I separate the witness of the Spirit of God from my spirit, I am left with no witness at all. If I receive the witness of the Spirit, then I have two: I have the certainty in my own spirit that I am a child of God, and I have besides the witness of that Spirit who works in us as the Spirit of adoption. It is the Spirit of God in us who gives our spirit the strength to say that we are children of God.

How is this witness borne to our sonship? The very fact of His presence within us testifies to it. By His presence He also forms within us affections suited to our relationship. He gives us desires after the enjoyment of the Father's love. He enables us in the holy intimacy of our filial place to cry, Abba, Father. He confirms to our souls the word we have trusted... No, it is not an audible testimony. Our spirit alone discerns and grasps it. But that makes it no less real — it makes it all the more real, because it is a living secret between ourselves and God.

Remember that the strength and clearness of His testimony will depend on conditions... When we are led, walking in simple, loving obedience and dependence, our spirit will discern His testimony to our sonship most clearly. But if we walk in a way that grieves Him, we shall listen in vain for His testimony, because we shall have grieved Him into silence.

He does not leave the child's feeble voice alone. We are often tempted to doubt the testimony of our own renewed hearts, because it is often very feeble. Sometimes it is only the cry of a child. But the Spirit joins His mighty testimony to the feebleness of ours. He bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God, and gives His value to both testimonies. Can we then doubt?

To understand this well, remember that all saints from Adam onward have been children of God. Until the cross of Christ, they did not have the position of sons of God. The Greek words in verse 14 and verse 16 are clearly different. The word in verse 16 implies birth. The word in verse 14 refers to the dignity of the position of the adopted... But the gift of the Spirit is a witness to us — within us — bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God. Old Testament saints did not have this witness. We enjoy the relationship of children today in the same measure that we pay attention to the witness of the Spirit.