The Spirit's Witness

Romans – A Treatise
Chapter Eight
THE SPIRIT’S WITNESS

Scripture Reading: verses 14-17 (Darby translation)

FOR AS MANY AS ARE LED BY [THE] SPIRIT OF GOD, THESE ARE SONS OF GOD. 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. THE SPIRIT ITSELF BEARS WITNESS WITH OUR SPIRIT, THAT WE ARE CHILDREN OF GOD. AND IF CHILDREN, HEIRS ALSO: HEIRS OF GOD, AND CHRIST’S JOINT HEIRS; IF INDEED WE SUFFER WITH [HIM] THAT WE MAY ALSO BE GLORIFIED WITH [HIM].

It is hard to make any comment about such a majestic passage as this, yet we suggest the truths set forth herein should bring unquestioned assurance of salvation to every true believer – every child of God.

Going through the previous verses, we suggested that Paul indicated the striking line of demarkation between believers and unbelievers. Here we are given certain criteria whereby we may satisfy ourselves regarding what that line of demarkation might be.

Objectively, the striking truth is there are those in the flesh and those in the Spirit. In their unregenerate state, unbelievers are in the flesh and regulated by the dominating principle of fleshly lusts. On the other hand, looked at objectively, believers are in the Spirit; they are in Christ. Under the eye of God they are beyond the realm of judgment and a new dominating principle has entered their lives – the Holy Spirit.

This passage brings home what we shall call subjective truths, those relating to the indwelling power of the Spirit of God in the hearts of believers. Here the assertion is that as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. The range of truth in this verse is wide. It is the intimation that the living association the true believer has with the Lord Jesus is, from beginning to end, the fruit of the power and activity of the Holy Spirit. The new birth is the first act of the Spirit of God in the heart of a man. Without that divine operation it is impossible for anyone to either see or enter into the kingdom of God. This truth is set forth in John 3 and in Acts 2, the apostle Peter preaches the first Gospel sermon and reveals what we must do to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. As we have already seen, Romans 6 explains how we are raised to walk in newness of life – the new birth.

But the work of the Spirit of God in our hearts is not complete when the new birth takes place; it has only begun. The truth thereafter is that the regenerated person, the one who has been born again, is no longer dominated by fleshly lusts, but by the power of the Holy Spirit, who leads him onward, teaching him of the glories of his Savior and building him up in the faith. This dominating principle is not a tyranny as was the power of sin in the unregenerate life. It is called a “leading.” It is the tender hand of the Spirit of God guiding, leading us onward in a pathway toward which our newborn instincts are agreeable. As many, then, as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God.

When the Spirit of God first takes a hand in our life, His activity is to perform the operation of the new birth and thereby attach us to the Lord Jesus Christ. One who has never accepted the Lord, has no reason to believe in the new birth (see John 1:12-13). The way to make doubly sure we are born again is to humbly bow the knee to the Lord Jesus Christ, accepting His work for our redemption on Calvary as our only salvation, obeying the Gospel as revealed in Acts 2 and receiving Him as our only Savior. Therein the leading of the Spirit of God begins and, if the Spirit of God has any hand in our life at all, then we are one of God’s sons, destined to be conformed to the image of His Son according to this passage in Romans 8.

As many as are led by the Spirit of God are the sons of God, for ye have not received a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye have received a spirit of adoption or sonship whereby we cry, “Abba, Father.”¹ When we bow the knee before our God and Father, and address Him as the One who has loved us and manifested that love in the gift of His Son, we are doing something entirely unnatural to the fleshly man. The unregen-erate man runs away from God; not wanting to have anything to do with Him. “The god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glory of the gospel of Christ should shine in unto them.” The very fact, then, that we cry from the heart “Abba, Father;” the very fact that we have the sense in our soul that God loves us and that we look to Him for guidance, is the greatest proof on earth we are one of God’s sons. As we call God our Father from our heart, we are led by the Spirit of God, because it is only by His Spirit that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.

We are not speaking about the fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of men, which is a popular religious theory. That is not the subject here in Romans 8. To call God our Father after this order means we must come to Him in and through the Lord Jesus Christ. In John 14:6, the Lord Jesus says: “I am the way, the truth and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.” This is not the over-all fatherhood of God in His kindliness toward all His creatures. This is definitely knowing God as “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ” and therefore “our God and Father.” When the Lord Jesus arose from the dead He said to Mary, “Go tell my brethren that I ascend unto My Father, and your Father; and to My God, and your God.” This is the relationship which has been won for redeemed sinners by the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. In other words, the order of apprehension in the human soul is this: First of all there is the presentation of the Gospel: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life.” “Go ye into the world and preach the gospel. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved.” “Be it known unto you, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.” “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.”

This is the steppingstone of this grand stairway that leads into the presence of God our Father. First of all, with a contrite heart, we believe in Christ, accepting Him as our Savior. We repent of our sins. We confess His name. We are baptised for the remission of our sins, accepting His shed blood for our atonement. When we do that, the Spirit of God indwells the heart and He conducts us in affection and power. His first activity is to help us call Jesus “Lord.” No one can call Jesus Lord except by the Holy Spirit. So we bow to the authority of the Lord Jesus and to His Word. Then the Holy Spirit leads us further; to know God as our Father and, just as He loves His beloved Son, so He loves us in Him. It is in that way the Spirit of God bears witness with our spirit that we are one of His children. This is not an emotional thrill, it is not feeling of any kind. It is part of the revelation of God set forth in His Word. We don’t have to feel it. We have to believe it.

Footnote:
¹ “For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” “The spirit of adoption” is doubtless another expression referring to the Holy Spirit, so-called here because of the appropriate contrast with the “spirit of bondage” which marked their lives in the service of Satan. Christians are sometimes called “bondslaves” to Christ; but here their status is compared to that of children adopted by a loving father. The point of the admonition forbids fear. If God’s children will love Him and be faithful to Him, there is absolutely nothing that they need to fear. The first fruits of the indwelling Spirit are love, joy, and peace; and it is unbecoming of a child of God to manifest a spirit of bondage and fear. After all, he is God’s CHILD. As a child of God, the Christian should live a life of joyful anticipation of those eternal benefits which are so emphatically promised in the Word of God. “Abba, Father” – “Abba” is the Aramaic equivalent of “Father;” and thus the expression literally means “Father, Father.” In his book, Ellicott’s Commentary on the Holy Bible, p. 236, W. Sanday explained the repetition as: “one of endearment and entreaty, taken from the natural impulse of children to repeat a beloved name in different forms.” In his book, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Romans, p. 164, C.K. Barrett impressed with the profound implications of this verse, as follows: “That it occurs twice (the expression “Abba, Father”) in Paul’s Greek writings is a striking fact, which may be due to the impression made by Jesus’ direct and unconventional approach to the Father. It corresponds exactly to the opening of the Lord’s Prayer in the Lucan form (Luke 11:2), and Paul’s reference here may be to the use of this prayer in Christian worship. The very fact that you can address God as Abba proves that the Spirit is at work among you, and that you are Gods’ children.” Taking Barrett’s discerning thought a little further, the proof that God’s Spirit is actually working in people does not depend upon some outlandish manifestation but upon simple things like the willingness to address God as Father in prayer, the willingness to sing His praises in public assemblies, the willingness to attend public worship and to maintain public identification with God’s children in the church. It is dearly in such ways as these, and in countless so-called ordinary ways, that the proof of the indwelling Spirit is manifested in Christians. Such prosaic things as daily prayer and regular worship tend to be despised; but in this verse the Spirit Himself reveals that these things are actually the sine qua non of walking in the Spirit, and that they prove the Spirit’s indwelling presence, only with this provision, that such conduct is truly the result of the Spirit’s influence and not merely the exercise of the person’s own will through selfish and social considerations.