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."
What the Believer Did Not Receive
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"
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.
New Birth and the Sense of 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
"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.
Who Actually Cries
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.
More Than a Legal Arrangement
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.
Doubt Is Not Humility
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."
Summary
- 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.