But *ye* are not in flesh but in Spirit, if indeed God's Spirit dwell in you; but if any one has not [the] Spirit of Christ *he* is not of him
Paul has just said that those "in the flesh cannot please God." Now he describes what a Christian is. The verse states a settled position and then gives a test. The dividing line is the Spirit living in a person.
To be "in the flesh" is the natural state of every child of Adam. One writer sets it against the Christian's place:
To be in flesh is hopeless ruin. Its mind is opposed to God, and it will not submit to His law at all. This is the sad condition of all the sons of fallen Adam. It is not, however, the standing of the Christian. The beginning of our chapter says he is in Christ, and therefore outside every possible condemnation. So here it says, "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you." So the indwelling of the Holy Spirit is the witness and proof that we are "in Spirit," and so not in flesh.
The verse's closing clause leaves no third category:
The part of the verse that says, "Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him," is an aside. You are either a Christian with the Spirit and of Christ, or a natural man without the Spirit and not of Christ.
Being "in the Spirit" is not a mood that rises and falls. It is the condition on earth that matches the believer's place in Christ:
He indwells us so that He may control us. He gives us the capacity to walk in newness of life and to serve in newness of spirit. He produces in us a state that matches our standing outside ourselves. If "in Christ Jesus" expresses our standing, "in the Spirit" expresses our state.
Notice what the condition is not. It is not "if you are sincere," nor even "if you are born again":
Here man's natural condition stands in contrast with the full Christian condition. There is no middle condition in view. The contrast is not between the natural man and a man born again. It is between the natural man and what is true of a Christian — someone in whom the Holy Spirit lives. Old Testament saints were born again by the Spirit as truly as New Testament saints. But this passage is not speaking of them.
The words "dwell in you" point to a Person: "it plainly refers to the Spirit personally... He is distinct from the person He dwells in" (J. N. Darby).
The verse names the same Spirit twice, but with different titles, and the shift carries meaning:
There is only one and the same Spirit, yet the change in the descriptive title is significant. Christ is the One from whom we derive our origin spiritually, the One to whom we belong. If we truly are His, we have His Spirit. So we should be Christlike in our spirits, clearly enough for everyone to see that Christ is in us.
The Spirit carries three titles in these verses:
Three characteristic names are given here to the Holy Spirit. First, the Spirit of God (v. 9), in contrast with the flesh. Second, the Spirit of Christ, as the forming power of the new man. Third, the Spirit of Him who raised up Christ from among the dead, because He is in us the pledge of our resurrection.
Older versions end the verse, "he is none of His." The Spirit is an owner's mark, and where the mark is missing the claim fails:
So, among those owning Christ we can say, "If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." The seal of the Spirit is Christ's mark upon His own. So among those professing to be His, if the mark is not there, it is a false profession.
Commentators differ over how sharply the warning lands. Some read it as an outright exclusion. Others soften the tone: "'None of his' alarms people; it is simply that he is not yet His, any more than the prodigal son was in a son's place until he reached his father" (J. N. Darby).
If the Spirit's presence is the test, doubting His presence is serious:
Understand this as clearly as possible: this indwelling is not because of anything in us, either at the beginning or at any stage of the Christian life. From first to last, the Spirit dwells with us because of the unchanging value of the work of Christ. Stop dishonouring the value of that work by doubting the presence of this Holy Person. Your feelings and your faithfulness have nothing to do with this basic fact.
- Two places. There is no middle ground — in the flesh without the Spirit, or in the Spirit and Christ's.
- One test. The condition is not sincerity or even new birth, but "if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you."
- The mark. The Spirit is Christ's mark of ownership. Where the mark is missing, the profession is empty.
- Likeness. The mark is the Spirit of Christ. So the one who has Him should look like Christ, clearly enough for others to see.
- Certainty. He dwells in us because of the unchanging value of Christ's work. Feelings and failures never settle the question.
but if Christ be in you, the body is dead on account of sin, but the Spirit life on account of righteousness.
Earlier in the letter the believer stands in Christ; here Christ is in the believer. Two results follow — one about the body, one about the Spirit — and each has a cause: sin in the first, righteousness in the second.
Being "in Christ" describes where God has placed the believer. This verse states the matching truth from the other side:
We have already seen that the ground and title of the believer's blessing is his being in Christ. Here we have the counterpart of that truth. A Christian is not simply a man who has Christian ideas and notions, as people say, but one in whom Christ is; who lives — yet not he, but Christ lives in him.
The reason is sin. When the body acts on its own will, nothing else comes out of it:
"If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin." The body can only produce sin. Now, because of Christ, the Christian counts it as dead. If it acts in its own will, there is nothing but sin. The body is only an instrument of righteousness so far as it is dead.
Some take "dead" to mean the body is still mortal and must die, since sin brought death in. Others read it as a reckoning the believer makes. One writer preferred the second reading:
"Mortal" hardly fits with this. The other sense makes "the body is dead" depend on what goes before. If Christ is in you, the body is dead — that is, reckoned dead according to Romans 6 — because sin is its character if it is alive in flesh. And the spirit is life, because righteousness is the will of God and in us the fruit of the Spirit.
The first view also has support. One writer takes the phrase to mean the believer is still mortal in an unchanged body, though he is heir to immortality. So far he differs from other people only in what he knows and hopes.
If sin could be rooted out of a person's nature, this half of the verse would collapse:
This does not mean that sin is rooted out, or the evil nature improved… If the doctrine of perfection in the flesh were true, the body could neither be dead nor could it die. Death came in by sin. We see the effect of sin in the body — death itself.
The second half names righteousness as the reason life is there at all. God had to have a just basis before He could give life:
On the ground of the righteous claims of God being met at the cross, God has a righteous basis on which to communicate life, and this is a necessity if a man is to know and enjoy justification, and the stirrings and actions of new and divine life are to be pleasing to God.
That righteousness is not something the believer supplies. It is settled first, and the Spirit then indwells on that footing:
I must not look to the body for the display of life or righteousness. For now it is still linked with sin and death. But the Spirit of God dwells within me, on the only righteous basis — the death of Christ. Life is linked with Him. God has secured righteousness for me first, so the Spirit, who is life, is free to act.
Righteousness is the ground of this life. It is also what the life produces:
The old man in us is as dead, stripped of will, for I judge it. But the Spirit is life, already showing the fruits of righteousness in us, to the praise of the glory of God.
Holding the body dead is not a theory. It decides what gets fed and what gets refused:
The body is dead. So treat it as dead. Neglect its lusts and deny its desires. Use it, do not serve it. Govern it, do not obey it. Bring it into subjection and yield it to God.
Some have used this verse to argue that the believer has only the Spirit now, and no eternal life yet. One writer answered:
It is a foolish and evil twisting of Romans 8:10 to shut out our having eternal life in the Son now, on the plea that without it "the Spirit is life." Even verse 2 had joined Christ with the Spirit, just like the verse they twist into the opposite. For what does "the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus" mean, if not that? What God joined together, let no man dare to separate.
- Counterpart — "In Christ" is the believer's standing. "Christ in you" is its inward side. A Christian is not a man with Christian notions, but a man in whom Christ lives.
- Cause: sin — Left to its own will, the body yields nothing but sin. So the believer counts it dead, and only then does it serve righteousness.
- Cause: righteousness — God secured righteousness first, through the death of Christ. On that basis the Spirit, who is life, lives in the believer.
- Consequence — The righteousness that grounds this life also shows up as its fruit. The believer governs the body instead of obeying it.
- Guard — Commentators differ over whether "dead" means mortal or reckoned dead. They agree on this: sin is not rooted out of our nature, and eternal life is the believer's now.
But if the Spirit of him that has raised up Jesus from among [the] dead dwell in you, he that has raised up Christ from among [the] dead shall quicken your mortal bodies also on account of his Spirit which dwells in you.
This verse turns the Spirit who lives in the believer into a promise about the believer's body. The question is what God will do with the dying body He lives in — and why the Spirit's presence settles it.
The verse gives the Spirit a new title, drawn from God raising Jesus from the dead. The names also change between the two halves of the verse.
God, the God of resurrection, raised up His Son Jesus from the dead. That same Spirit carried Him through this unclean world to the glory of God, and He was never stained by it. That Spirit was the guarantee that death could not hold Him... Now that same power lives in believers, because we have received the Spirit from the risen Christ. And since that is so, He who raised up Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies by that same Spirit. When only God and His Son are in view, the wording is "Him who raised up Jesus." When others are included, it is "He who raised up Christ." Jesus is His own personal name. Christ is the title of the last Adam, the Head of the family He has redeemed.
Some readers take the word "if" as a challenge to reach a higher level of spiritual life. It tests something simpler than that, and it also rules out healing.
There are two things to say in reply. First, there is an "if" in the verse. But it is not "if we claim the fullness of the Spirit." It is "if the Spirit dwells in us" — and He does, if we are believers at all. Second, the question is not healing but the giving of life from God. Once the mortal body is made alive, it is no longer mortal. This has clearly not yet happened to any believer living on earth. If Paul's mortal body had been quickened, for instance, the executioner's axe could never have killed him. He would still be walking among us!
Notice the word "mortal." The promise is made about the failing body you have now, and that is what makes it remarkable.
Even this mortal body will be made alive — not a new body created and handed to me, but this same mortal body changed. This is not simply a fresh creation. It is the most glorious proof of God's love and grace toward us. The mortal body will be raised because of His Spirit who dwells in us. The Holy One who lives in us now will never give up His claim on the body He lives in.
Commentators differ over the last phrase. Some read "by His Spirit." Others read "because of His Spirit," which makes the Spirit's presence the reason God acts, not just the means.
A day is coming when a change will take place. To that we are here pointed. In view of that day the Spirit receives a new title: "the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead." If that Spirit dwells in us, He who raised up Christ from the dead will also give life to our mortal bodies — because of His Spirit who dwells in us, not merely by Him. The body belongs to God. That of the Christian is precious to Him, since it is now a temple of the Holy Spirit. Because of that God will quicken it.
The promise is future, and it covers two groups of believers.
Verse 11 calls our bodies "mortal bodies." They must die; the seeds of death are in them from the start. At the coming of the Lord they will live again. The God who raised up Christ from the dead will do this by His Spirit... He lives in us in this character, and He is the pledge of the life to come. That life reaches some of us by resurrection of the body. It reaches others by the change God works in the bodies of believers who are still alive at the Lord's coming.
Earlier in the letter a man cries out for rescue from "this body of death." This verse is where that cry finally gets its full answer.
There is a third title: "the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead." It is always the same Spirit, but with different results. Here my resurrection is the outcome of the Holy Spirit living in me. The body itself is set free... The cry, "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" is fully answered. First we are set free in spiritual power. Then we are given objects that belong to that new life and suit it. Finally we are set free in a body of glory.
The date is fixed and the outcome is certain, so present weakness loses its power to discourage you.
It is a settled and secure prospect, and faith can wait for it in quiet joy. So there is no need to be discouraged by the presence of sin in our mortal bodies. We should expect it until that blessed day. Still, it is our privilege to live above it, by the power of the Spirit who dwells in us.
- Resident — The Spirit does not visit; He moves in. That is true of every believer, not of an advanced few.
- Reason — His presence is the ground of the promise. The body He lives in is God's temple, and God will not leave His temple in death.
- Same body — What is raised is this mortal frame, changed — not a fresh creation handed to you in its place.
- Set date — The promise is future, at the Lord's coming. Those who have died will rise; those still living will be changed.
- Result — The cry "Who will deliver me from this body of death?" is answered all the way through: soul now, body then.
So then, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to flesh;
Paul has just shown that the Spirit of God lives in the believer. Now he draws the practical conclusion in the language of money owed: what did we ever owe the flesh, and who holds the debt now?
The verse opens by pointing back. The cross and the indwelling Spirit are what leave the flesh with no claim.
The conclusion to be drawn from all that we have just been considering is that the flesh has no claim upon us whatever. It has been judged in the Cross. It is opposed to God, and can never be reconciled to Him. We are not "in the flesh." The Spirit lives in us, and we are "in the Spirit." So we are in no way debtors to the flesh, that we should live after it.
Weigh up what the flesh has given us, and the account runs one way only.
"So then, brothers, we are debtors" — this is clear, for everything shows that we are dependent creatures, and the cross of Christ above all else. But if debtors, it is certainly "not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh." The flesh has been nothing but a thief, robbing and destroying. Do we owe it more than the dreadful toll it has already taken? No! Our debt is to the One who has redeemed us from the oppressor who wasted us... If I feed the flesh it is sure to be strong; if I do not feed it, it will soon become inactive.
Commentators point out what this verse does not go on to say.
The structure of the wording is unusual, but I believe it is admirably wise. The sentence looks unfinished and sounds as if another clause were needed to complete it... Used to the schools and forms of man, one waits for some statement to be added, such as that we are debtors to the Spirit or to Christ the Lord. This the inspired writer avoids saying. He knows how prone we are to legalism, and would cut off the excuse first. He would keep us in liberty, the full liberty with which Christ set us free.
Dropping the second half is not a loosening of Christian duty. It changes what drives that duty.
The Apostle says, "we are debtors not to the flesh", but he does not say we are debtors to the Spirit. That would put us under a higher law — one even more impossible to keep than the law of Moses. It is not that we are not responsible to live after the Spirit, but that this responsibility is not carried out by legal obligation. It is carried out by the power of the new affections which the Spirit imparts.
Freedom is not a soft doctrine. It tests what a person really is.
Liberty is, indeed, the very emphasis of the passage. Christ has set the believer free from the law of sin and death. So he is no longer a debtor to the flesh, even in this present life. He lives to God in the liberty of redemption. This claim of liberty is life and joy to the spiritual man. But where Christianity is only a name and not a power, it is the searching edge of the word of holiness, discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart... A Christian may abound much in practical holiness, or he may be very feeble and defective in this respect. But if he is alive to God at all, he cannot at the same time be alive in the flesh.
The danger is not that we deny this, but that we keep paying anyway. One writer finds the picture in Israel's history, under Eglon, king of Moab.
The Moabites had no real claim on Israel, and yet Eglon had set up his throne in the city of the palm trees... From that place of power he ruled Israel and made them pay him tribute. So what God alone had a right to claim was going to the king of Moab. How true a picture this is of the state of thousands of Christians. The flesh has no right to rule us, for "we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh." We owe no debt to that evil principle within us which would make self everything and shut Christ out. We have every right to ignore its demands and to walk in the Spirit. And yet Christians often give time, thought and strength to the flesh, just as Israel gave Eglon what God alone could claim.
- Debt cancelled. The cross judged the flesh, so it holds no claim over the believer at all.
- Debt reviewed. The flesh only ever robbed us; feed it and it grows strong, starve it and it grows quiet.
- Debt not transferred. Paul never says we are debtors to the Spirit. That would set up a higher law we could not keep.
- Debt replaced by liberty. The new affections the Spirit gives now carry us, not a sense of obligation.
- Debt still being paid. The real danger is handing time, thought and strength to a creditor who has no right to a penny.
for if ye live according to flesh, ye are about to die; but if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live
Romans 8:13 sets two ways of living side by side, and attaches an outcome to each. Why does it still speak of dying, and what work does it leave a believer to do?
One writer explains why the apostle does not call us debtors to the Spirit:
It is indeed our duty to live after the Spirit. But if we said that we are debtors, that would put man under a higher law. Keeping that law would then be even more impossible for him. The Spirit was the strength to live. That strength comes through the affections He imparts, not through an obligation to have them. If we live after the flesh, we are going to die; but if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body, we shall live. The evil is there, but strength is there to overcome it.
The two halves of the verse are not worded the same way. One writer draws out the difference:
If men live according to the flesh, they are on the way to death. It does not say that they will die. God's grace is always free to come in. But if it comes in, it takes one off the road to death. The verse does not speak as if sin were of no consequence. On the other hand, if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, it does not say you are on the way to life, because there is no uncertainty about the result, but "you will live."
How heavy is the word "die"? One writer takes it at full weight:
If I see a man going on with the world, I say, That ends in death; and if I walk after the flesh I shall die. God's Word is very plain about this. "If you live according to the flesh you will die," and I take that in its strongest meaning — you will be eternally lost. The end of that road is the lake of fire, and the end of the other road is the presence of God.
Another writer asks what such a life proves about the person living it:
A person who is living after the flesh will die. He therefore cannot have the real thing. This passage is not a warning against having a thing and somehow perishing, but against having the signs of the thing and then perishing.
The verse names the target with care. It assumes the old nature is still there, still ready to act:
If our old nature were not still left ready to act, we should not need to put to death the deeds of the body. It is not putting the body to death, but the deeds of the body. The great thing to see is that it is through the Spirit.
One writer explains why this killing has to go on and on:
As to our members that are on the earth, Scripture never says they are crucified. The old mortal body and its members, prone to evil, are still present, and we have to subdue them. Mortification is the process of bringing them under control… To mortify is to put to death. We cannot put to death what is already dead. Mortification, then, is a perpetual killing, if one may say so, of the members and of their deeds.
The phrase "by the Spirit" rules out the obvious substitute:
It is not by resolution. Do you understand now? Do you understand the difference between the Spirit of God and resolution? Resolution is the work of your own will. The Spirit of God is God's will… The Spirit in you is master of the flesh.
This work is expected only from people who have the Spirit. That changes who should feel the warning:
Putting the deeds of the body to death is the result of the Spirit's energy. He is the Spirit who produces the fruits of life in a person, when nothing hinders the gracious working of His love. This is expected only from believers in whom the Spirit lives. So there is nothing in verse 13 that need chill the confidence of the poor, weak-spirited, self-judging Christian in the least. Those who judge themselves most are the ones this warning touches least.
- Debt — The apostle never calls us debtors to the Spirit. He is our strength to live, not a higher law demanding what we cannot produce.
- Road — Living after the flesh sets a direction. It puts a person on the way to death, and only grace takes anyone off that road.
- Target — The killing aims at the deeds of the body, never at the body itself. The work never finishes in this life.
- Power — Resolution is your own will; the Spirit is God's will, and only He is master of the flesh in you.
- Certainty — One side is a road; the other is a result. Those in whom the Spirit works "will live," and the warning weighs least on those quickest to judge themselves.
for as many as are led by [the] Spirit of God, *these* are sons of God.
Paul has just spoken of putting the deeds of the body to death by the Spirit. Now he names the mark of everyone in God's family: a Leader lives inside them and guides them day by day.
What does "led" mean here? One writer explains the word with a picture from a royal household:
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."
Some reduce this leading to a state of soul — faith and holiness stirred up in our affections and our life. One writer answers that the verse is about the Spirit Himself. Look at what the rest of the chapter says He does:
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.
The word "sons" is deliberate. It sets the Christian's relationship against the position Israel held under the law:
"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.
Commentators differ over how "sons" relates to "children," which appears two verses later. Some hold that "son" means a higher, more mature place in the family. Kelly disagrees. He says "son" is the less close of the two words. It marks a public place given by adoption, always set against the place of a slave. "Child" speaks of being truly born into the family.
Is this leading only for advanced Christians? One writer says it belongs to all of them, and sets it against what came before:
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).
Verse 13 and verse 14 belong together. One writer asks where the power for a Christian walk comes from:
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.
How far may we expect this leading to reach into ordinary choices? One answer joins real expectation to two safeguards — humility, and Scripture:
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.
- Led. The word carries the idea of taking care — a tutor training a king's son to behave like one.
- Leader. What leads is a divine Person living in us, not a mood or a stirring of our own affections.
- Sons. This leading marks a family relationship, not the slave's place Israel held under law.
- Power. The same Spirit who checks the flesh also carries us forward; our own willpower has no share in it.
- Path. Expect real guidance in daily choices. Humility and the written Word keep it honest.
For ye have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye have received a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
Paul has just said that those led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Now he says what that Spirit is not: not a spirit that drives a person back into dread, but the Spirit by which a guilty sinner comes to call God "Father."
One writer lines up three things Scripture says believers have not received:
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).
The word "again" points back to a real condition that people once lived in. It marks off the position of those under law from the position of the believer now.
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.
Being given new life and knowing God as Father are treated here as two different things, the second waiting on the coming of the Spirit at Pentecost.
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.
"Abba" is not a formal title. It is the word of a household, and commentators note that it had never before been used of God by a worshipper in Israel.
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.
Paul writes "we cry," yet elsewhere the Spirit is said to cry. Both are true at once, and the order matters: the Spirit is not sent to create the relationship but because the relationship already exists.
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.
Human adoption can change a person's status and nothing more. One writer makes the point from the story of Moses:
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.
If this verse rules fear out, then living in dread of God is not modesty.
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."
- Not again. The believer's Spirit is not the spirit of the world, not a spirit of dread, and not the old bondage that left the fear of death in place.
- Not national. Israel's sonship was collective. No one under law called God "Abba" — the word a child uses at home.
- Not automatic. New birth is one thing. The settled knowledge that God is our Father comes through the indwelling Spirit.
- Not manufactured. The cry is truly ours, yet the Spirit produces it. He is sent because we are sons, not to make us sons.
- Not doubtful. Fear is ruled out, so doubting the Father's forgiveness is not humility. It is distrust.
The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are children of God.
This verse follows the cry "Abba! Father!" and answers a question every honest believer asks: how do I know the relationship is real? The answer sits in two phrases: the Spirit Himself, and with our spirit.
The subject of the sentence is a Person. One writer marks Him out plainly, and rules out a common way of chasing assurance.
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.
The small preposition decides how assurance works. It rules out waiting for a voice or a moment.
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.
"With" implies a second voice alongside the first. Separate the two and nothing is left to lean on.
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.
This witness is quiet and private, yet real.
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.
How clearly you hear it is not fixed. It depends on how you walk.
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.
The word "with" means two voices, not one. That matters most when your own voice is weak.
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?
The word in verse 16 is not the word used in verse 14.
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.
- Witness, not verdict. The Spirit does not hand down a ruling from outside. He testifies with your spirit from inside. Assurance is a shared voice, never a solo one.
- Witness, not audit. Certainty does not come from examining yourself for evidence. One writer calls that method harmful. It comes from the Person who lives in you.
- Witness, not noise. You will hear no voice. The Spirit forms the affections of a child, and that quiet awareness is the testimony. Grieve Him and you will listen in vain.
- Witness, not strength. Where your own sense of relationship is only a child's feeble cry, He adds His testimony to it and lends it His weight.
- Witness to birth. The Spirit confirms family: you are children, born of God. Old Testament saints held that relationship without this inward witness of it.