We are in Romans 8 where Paul is teaching us how we can have the good life, the transformed life, because there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (cf. Romans 8:1). We have been set free from the law of sin and death and have been enabled to obey Christ. We noticed in our last lesson that the first step is a change in the mind. We must change the way we think. We must change what we value in life. Paul said that those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh. Those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit (cf. Romans 8:5). The struggle with sin reveals that there are areas in our lives that we value more than the things of God. Now the apostle Paul is going to further motivate this change of thinking in our lives by showing us what we have in Christ. Open your copies of God’s word to Romans 8 and we are going to spend our time in verses 12-17.
Our Obligation (Romans 8:12-13)
Listen to how Paul moves us into the next part of his teaching in Romans 8:12. “So then, brothers, we are debtors…” Since God has done what the law could not do by sending own Son, we are debtors. Since God has sent his Son so that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, we are therefore under obligation. This is an important picture to firmly fix in our minds. Because of what God has done for us, we are debtors. We are under obligation. What is our debt? What is our obligation? Paul says that our obligation is to not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. Paul says that we are debtors and we are not debtors to sin. We are not debtors to the flesh. We are not under obligation to live according to our fleshly or worldly desires. Please hear the hopeful words of Paul. You do not have to live according to your desires. You do not have to sin. You are not in debt to your flesh. Your worldly passions do not have to win. You do not owe your desires so that you have to satisfy them. Later in this letter, the apostle Paul will write to these Christians to put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires (cf. Romans 13:14).
Then Paul reminds us about why this effort is so important. We cannot live under obligation to our flesh because if we do we will die. Death is the outcome of living for ourselves. Death is the outcome of doing what sounds good to us without regard for the will of the Lord. We live in a world that tells us that we are under obligation to our flesh. We wave the banner that says that we must do what feels good and sounds good to us. We enslave our bodies to all kinds of sins and addictions and then we excuse ourselves as if we had no choice in the matter. We are not under obligation to the flesh. We can resist the flesh. We are not slaves to our desires when we are in Christ. If we allow ourselves to obey our desires then we will die. The people of God do not obey the flesh. The people of God do not give into the flesh but control the desires of the flesh. One of the reasons we came to Christ is so that we would be saved from wrath and death. So we are not obligated to live to the flesh.
What should we do? Look at the rest of verse 13. Paul says we will live if by the Spirit we put to death the deeds of the body. Do not let your flesh control you. Let the Spirit of God control you. Let God’s will control you. We looked at this point in the last lesson and we need to make the point here again. The picture is that we value who God is and what he has done for us so highly that it changes the way we think and what we desire so that we will change our decisions and actions. In this, sin will no longer rule over us and own us. Sin will not live in us any longer. Instead, the Spirit will live in us. The Spirit will rule over us and own our lives. God is not an occasional inhabitant with us. God is with us and rules us completely, not from time to time. Paul is telling us that if we value God the way we ought, then we are going to go to war against sin. We are going to put to death the deeds of the flesh. We are not obligated to obey the flesh. We are obligated to go to war against those desires and deeds of the flesh. This is an consistent and important teaching of Paul in so many of this letters.
Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. On account of these the wrath of God is coming. (Colossians 3:5-6 ESV)
But that is not the way you learned Christ!— assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:20-24 ESV)
If we have learned Christ, then we are going to go to war and put to death the worldly and earthly things in our lives. We are going to put to death the things that we used to do in our former way of life. This battle is the proof of who we are. Notice what Paul says about who we are in the following verses.
Our Identity (Romans 8:14)
In Romans 8:14 Paul describes our identity. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. Please notice what it means to be led by the Spirit in this context. Paul says that being led by the Spirit means that we will put to death the deeds of the body. Being led by the Spirit means that we are going to war against sin. Those who are going to war against sin and putting to death the deeds of the body are led by the Spirit. Paul does not describe being led by the Spirit as the Spirit whispering in your ear or in your mind guidance for every day decisions. I hope we see this. It is easy to seize the phrase, “led by the Spirit” and then start making our own definitions and explanations for this. Being led by the Spirit does not mean that God will show me where to park my car or what food to eat for breakfast. Being led by the Spirit means that God rules my life, not my flesh. Then Paul says that if God rules your life, then you are sons of God.
Paul is trying to groove into our hearts and minds who we are. We are sons of God. We are children of God. We possess an important identity in Christ. Identity changes how we live. What you think about yourself absolutely affects what you do. Being called sons of the Most High God is completely transformational. We need to know who we are and live in accordance with who we are. For example, over the past few administrations, our presidents have had children who lived with them in the White House. Do you think the children of the president live differently while their father is in the White House? Do you think they do the same things like they did before their fathers were president? Can you imagine the children wanting to jump on their bicycles, ride to a 7-11, and get a slurpee? No, because they have been given special access and special privileges that change the way they live. In the same way, we must see who we are. We are sons of God. The children of God hate sin and fight against it.
Our Adoption (Romans 8:15)
But it is not only that we are sons of God, but that an adoption took place to make this possible. You see this picture in Romans 8:15. We did not receive the spirit of slavery. We have received the Spirit of adoption as sons. I love the image of adoption. Adoption requires a choice. When you are adopted, that means your parents wanted you and paid a great expense to make you belong as children. Adoption is not free. Adoption requires a choice. God chose us and paid the price of his Son’s blood to cause us to belong to him as his children.
But notice the implications of this adoption that Paul makes in verse 15. The first implication is that we did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear. This adoption is not so that we will continue to be enslaved to sin and living in fear of the judgment to come. We do not live this way. We have been set free from the fear of the wrath of God because we have been adopted as his children when we live by the Spirit and not by the flesh. But there is another implication made in verse 15 since we have been adopted. Paul says we cry, “Abba! Father!” What is significant about this? Why is this a big deal for the Christian? There is only one person in the scriptures to say these words to God. In Mark 14:36 we read Jesus saying these words to God in his prayer while in anguish in Gethsemane. Jesus prayed to God and said to him, “Abba, Father.” Now the apostle Paul says that we are sons of God. We are not secondary sons of God or honorary sons of God. We are sons of God who through this adoption are able to cry out to God, “Abba, Father!” This adoption allows us unprecedented access. Friends, to be able to call the Almighty Creator God in heaven “our Father” is shocking. Further, this term suggests to us that we are able to have the intimate and personal relationship with God as sons just as Jesus was able to have that relationship with his Father as the Son.
Now think about how the people of Israel ruined this relationship. Israel was called God’s firstborn son (cf. Exodus 4:22-23; Hosea 11:1) and sons of the Lord God (cf. Deuteronomy 14:1). Moses told Israel that God was their Father (cf. Deuteronomy 32:5-6; Jeremiah 31:9; Isaiah 63:16). But what did Israel do? They fell back to the spirit of slavery. They wanted to go back to Egypt. They want to go back to their former way of living. So they were removed their position as God’s children and experienced his wrath and judgment. We have not received a spirit of slavery to return to in fear. We have been adopted and can come to the Father like Jesus did. We have gone from slavery into a family relationship with our God.
Our Confirmation of Status (Romans 8:16-17)
Finally, we have confirmation of our status as children of God. The Spirit testifies with our spirit that we are children of God. This is not about trying to put hope into our feelings because our feelings can change on a regular basis. Our hope is in the fruit of the changed life that the Spirit has accomplished. This is what chapter 8 has been speaking about. Our changed life is not for nothing but God sees the changed life, bearing witness that we are children of God. Now listen to the hope that we have. If we are children of God, then we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.
What is the point? The point is that if we set our minds on the things of the Spirit, then we will live according to the Spirit. If we live according to the Spirit, then we are children of God. If we are children of God, then we have access and an unhindered relationship with God as our Father. We do not fall back into slavery but move forward as God’s children. If we are children of God, then we are heirs of God. We have legally been adopted into God’s family, guaranteeing us all the benefits that come as being a natural child. You are being urged to live according to who you are. You have been adopted through the gospel. You are a debtor, not to the flesh, but to God, to whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” If you are a child, then you are an heir to the inheritance. We have some thing greater than being children of a president of the United States. We are children of the Almighty God and have the blessings and riches of all that comes from being children of the Eternal King. Live your life as the adopted children of the King.