SERIES: The Book of Romans
The Family of God
Introduction: One of the most common characteristics of rebellious, delinquent children is the feeling that they aren’t loved or appreciated and that they don’t really belong in the family. This perception may well be faulty, but the very perception itself generally results in aberrant behavior. Dr. James Dobson, former Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Southern California and now President of Focus on the Family, writes about how critical this lack of self-worth is in society as a whole and then how especially critical it is for children.
In a real sense, the health of an entire society depends on the ease with which its individual members can gain personal acceptance. Thus, whenever the keys to self-esteem are seemingly out of reach for a large percentage of the people, as in twentieth-century America, then widespread “mental illness,” neuroticism, hatred, alcoholism, drug abuse, violence, and social disorder will certainly occur. Personal worth is not something human beings are free to take or leave. We must have it and when it is unattainable, everybody suffers.[i]
But Dr. Dobson addresses a different, but just as serious, problem later:
… I have observed that many children know intuitively that they are loved by their parents, but they do not believe they are held in high esteem by them. These seemingly contradictory attitudes are not so uncommon in human relationships. A wife can love her alcoholic husband, for example, yet disrespect him for what he has become. Thus, a child can conclude in his own mind, “Sure they love me because I’m their child–I can see that I’m important to them–but they are not proud of me as a person. I’m a disappointment to them. I’ve let them down. I didn’t turn out like they had hoped.”[ii]
In the book of Romans the Apostle Paul deals a lot with aberrant behavior, or, to use the biblical term for it, SIN—whether on the part of rank pagans, self-respecting humanists, or very religious people. In chapter 7 he even offers a very frank and honest discussion of the struggle with sin in the life of the believer. Now in Romans 8 Paul seems to sum up that entire discussion by suggesting that in order to experience victory over sin one must not only have a personal relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ; he must also have confidence and security in that relationship. Just as children who do not feel loved and do not feel that they belong have enormous emotional, social, and behavioral problems, so also people who doubt that their heavenly Father really loves them or that their place in God’s family is secure, have much greater difficulty with sin.
Interestingly, a lot of people strangely suppose the facts to be just the opposite. They fear that anyone who feels too secure in his relationship with God is bound to abuse that relationship through loose living. But the facts are just the contrary. That is why in our text today God tells us about several great ministries of the Holy Spirit, all of which assure us of our worth and value, and all of which remind true believers that they do indeed belong to God’s family.
It should be immediately apparent, however, that the term “family of God” is one that needs considerable exploration. Recent polls show that ninety-seven per cent of the American people believe in God, and I assume that the vast majority of those people believe themselves to be part of the family of God. However, if we pay any attention to the words of Jesus in the New Testament, we are forced to conclude that even some of the most religious people in the world are far from being children of God; in fact, Jesus actually calls them “children of the Devil.”
So let’s begin by considering the following proposition:
God has a spiritual family, but not everyone belongs to it.
Turn with me to the Gospel of John, chapter 8, verse 31, where a rather amazing dialogue takes place between Jesus and some of the most devout religious leaders of His day. In fact, these leaders, we are told in verse 31, are people who had, at least initially, expressed some level of belief in Jesus—at least until the exclusiveness of His claims became apparent.
To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?” (Skip down to verse 39).
Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are ready to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
“Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do the things Abraham did. As it is, you are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the things your own father does.”
“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested (implying that Jesus was). “The only Father we have is God himself.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and now am here. I have not come on my own; but he sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil.
(Verse 47) He who belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”
Now the only conclusion I can draw from this dialogue is that being religious, believing in God, or even a partial belief in Jesus, does not necessarily make one a part of the family of God.
This, of course, flies in the face of the dominant view of the liberal church today, which constantly talks about the universal fatherhood of God and the universal brotherhood of man. Certainly, there is a physical and psychological sense in which all human beings are brothers and sisters, having been created by one God in His image and likeness. In fact, this common heritage is the basis for the biblical demand that we treat one another with respect and civility. But spiritually God is not the Father of all men, nor are we all brothers and sisters. The terms “sons of God” or “family of God” as used in the Scriptures signify a spiritual family, in which people are tied to one another by a common faith, a common Lord, and a common commitment.
Now obviously this is a rather exclusive view of God’s family that Jesus presents. It leaves out a great many people—many, in fact, who believe with all their heart that they are God’s children. I guess the question boils down to whether we are going to define the family of God as we please or as Jesus defined it. If we accept His definition then there is no way to dispute that God has a spiritual family, but not everyone belongs to it.
But who does belong to it? Well, Paul says in Galatians 3:26, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” The essential prerequisite for being a part of God’s family is receiving Jesus Christ by faith. That means recognizing that we can never get right with God on our own, but since Jesus, the perfect Son of God, died to pay the penalty for our sin, we can get right with God if we retain Jesus as our attorney, i.e., if we put our trust in Him and in Him alone.
But there’s another significant test of our spiritual paternity that is especially crucial in our struggle against sin, and that is the leading of the Holy Spirit. We read about it in Romans 8:12-17, our principal text for today:
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. {13} For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, {14} because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. {15} For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” {16} The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. {17} Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
One significant test of our spiritual paternity is the leading of the Holy Spirit. (12-14)
From time to time we read in the news of a “paternity suit,” in which a mother sues for support of her child on the grounds that a certain man is the father, though he denies it. The latest I read about last week concerned Arnold Schwarzenegger. It used to be virtually impossible to prove paternity, but now tests can be made of both the alleged father’s and the child’s genetic makeup, and the relationship can be established (or disproved) with nearly 100 percent accuracy. Paul offers us a paternity test today in Romans 8:14: “those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”
We saw last Sunday that the Holy Spirit the second person of the Trinity, comes to live permanently in the life of every believer. This happens at the moment of salvation and continues uninterrupted throughout one’s life. Verse 9 states flatly, “If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ (another name for the Holy Spirit), he does not belong to Christ.” Now in verse 14 he goes a step further and tells us that those who are “led” by the Holy Spirit are sons of God. This requires that we examine what it means to be led by God’s Spirit.
The Spirit’s leading is common to all believers. (15). “Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” It could even be translated, “All those, and only those, who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” Not only is the Spirit’s leading common to all true believers; it is continuous or constant.
The Spirit’s leading is continuous. The verb, “are led” in verse 14 is a present tense, and can be translated, “are being led.” This is not something that happens once in your life or even from time to time; rather it is always going on. It is true that we do not always sense the Spirit’s leading, nor do we always follow it, but He is continuously leading us, nevertheless. I believe the reason we have trouble accepting this is that many of us have the false notion that the Spirit’s leading is primarily a supernatural shortcut for making wise decisions in life. It is not.
The Spirit’s leading is not a supernatural shortcut for making wise decisions in life. You say, “But pastor, doesn’t the Holy Spirit lead me to the right life partner? Doesn’t He lead me to the right career or job? Doesn’t He lead certain people into the ministry or to the mission field? Isn’t that how the Holy Spirit leads God’s children?” And I suggest to you that the answer is, for the most part, “No, not if you mean that He gives supernatural guidance through voices, fleeces, prophetic words, or other non-natural means.”
Think with me about this now. You’re trying to decide where to send your son or daughter to college. You pray about it, you seek the Holy Spirit’s leading, and voila!, you have the answer! Right? Probably not. In fact, it rarely works that way. Most of the time we have to slug it out—reading the Scripture, praying, seeking godly counsel, examining all the circumstances, making lists of pros and cons, evaluating our motives, and then we make the best choice we can. Only in retrospect do we gain certainty that our decision was a wise one, and not always even then.
Oh, I’m not questioning whether the Holy Spirit can give supernatural guidance from time to time; clearly, He can and once in a while He does. But is that what we are to expect normally? I think not—anymore than we are to expect divine healing as a matter of course, though God certainly can and occasionally does heal someone supernaturally.
By the way, if you desire to read an excellent book on the subject of the leading of the Holy Spirit, I suggest Decision Making and the Will of God, by Garry Friesen and Robin Maxson. Garry is a professor at Multnomah Bible College and Robin is a Free Church pastor in Oregon. Or you can read the chapter on “God’s Wisdom and Ours” in J. I Packer’s Knowing God. It, too, is excellent.
Well, if the Spirit’s leading is constant but is not primarily a supernatural shortcut for making wise decisions in life, what is it?
The Spirit’s leading focuses primarily on holy living. The Holy Spirit’s principal ministry in our lives is to lead us into a lifestyle that is pleasing to God, empowering us to obey Him. Go back to the beginning of our text today and read again with me:
Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation—but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Within this context it is fairly clear that the Spirit’s work is to help us escape from a life of slavery to the sinful deeds that our bodies gravitate toward naturally. This goes along with the concept we found last Sunday in verse 9: “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.” I believe Dr. James Boice is probably correct when he suggests that the Holy Spirit leads believers primarily in three ways:
1. He renews our minds.
2. He stirs our heart (and emotions).
3. He directs our wills.[iii]
Let me talk about each of these very briefly. The first area in which the Holy Spirit works is the intellect, and He does this by renewing our minds. Listen to Romans 12:1,2:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Our minds are renewed primarily through the reading and study of the Bible. That is why God gave us His Word—to inform us, to enlighten our minds, and to redirect our thinking. A person who considers himself to be led by the Spirit apart from the Bible will soon fall into serious error, because his faith is not based on truth but rather on feelings. On the other hand, the person who reads the Bible apart from dependence upon the teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, will likewise be led astray—probably into dry and sterile truth that has no relationship to life. The Holy Spirit and the Word of God together lead to a renewed mind.
But the Holy Spirit leads secondly by stirring our hearts and emotions. It is one thing to have one’s mind renewed; it is another thing to love God with all one’s heart, soul, mind, and strength and one’s neighbor as oneself. This too is a work of God’s Spirit. Remember the fruit the Spirit produces in a person’s life, as listed in Gal. 5:22? “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” At least half of those beautiful pieces of fruit speak of the Spirit’s leading in respect to one’s heart and emotions. To take just one of them, I would suggest that if one does not have joy in one’s life, it is either because he is not a believer or because He is failing to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Finally, the Holy Spirit leads by directing our wills. We may have a renewed mind and know what is right; we may even love God in our heart and emotions; but it is still possible for us to do evil, because our wills have to be brought in line with our knowledge and emotions. This too is a work of the Holy Spirit.
I would summarize this point by saying that growth in personal holiness under the leading of the Holy Spirit is the evidence that one is indeed a member of the Family of God. If there is no such evidence, then the presumption must be that the child is illegitimate—outside the family. Thirdly, now, we come to the specific issue of entrance into God’s family.
Entrance into God’s spiritual family is by adoption, as well as by “birth.” (15)
You have always heard, if you have grown up in the evangelical church, that entrance into God’s family is by birth, i.e., by the new birth. Jesus told a ruler of the Jews, “I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.” (John 3:3) That is certainly true, and nothing here in Romans 8 contradicts that. However, Paul indicates that there is another analogy which emphasizes other facts about entrance into God’s family, and that is the analogy of adoption. Please look at verse 15: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” The word “sonship” in this verse is the technical Greek word for adoption; in fact, it is translated that way in most other English versions.
Adoption is the procedure by which a person is taken from one family that is unable or unwilling to provide the nurture he needs and is placed in another family. In the Roman society of Paul’s day adoption conferred upon a son a very special status. It was not easy then to adopt a child because natural fathers were considered to have absolute control over their families, even to the power of life and death. If a son was to be adopted, a very long and solemn procedure had to be followed. In the ceremony the natural father twice symbolically “sold” his son and twice he bought him back. Only after the third transaction was the ceremony considered final. And even then, a full legal case had to be presented before a Roman magistrate and seven witnesses before the adoption was completed.
But once it was done the adopted son was completely severed from his old family. In effect his old life was legally wiped out, and he was regarded as a new person entering into a new life with which the past had no connection. Furthermore, he gained all the rights and privileges of a natural son in his new family. Even if other sons were born later into the family, that did not affect his right to become the heir to his new father’s estate.
Perhaps you can see, then, why God uses the symbol of adoption to describe how we become part of His family, for virtually every step of Roman adoption has meaning when we compare it to our spiritual adoption into God’s family. Let’s consider several facts about spiritual adoption.
The Holy Spirit is God’s adoption agent. You will notice in verse 15 that the term “spirit”is used twice, once capitalized and once not. As you may know capital letters were not used in Greek, so it is a matter of interpretation as to whether they should be used in English. I think both times it should be capitalized because I think both times it is referring to the Holy Spirit, not the human spirit. What Paul is saying is this: “When we received the Holy Spirit, we did not receive a Spirit whose goal was to enslave us, but rather a Spirit whose job it was to adopt us into God’s family.”
Adoption is a permanent action with its commencement at salvation. As far as I know, it is impossible to unadopt a child. It certainly was so in ancient Rome. A person could disown and give up for adoption a natural child, but they could never do so with an adopted child. The same is true with our Heavenly Father. And after all, why should an omniscient God ever need to consider disowning one of His spiritual children? He knew us thoroughly and completely before He ever chose us. There are no skeletons to come tumbling out of our closets that He was unaware of before He adopted us. The verb “received” in verse 15 is in a tense in Greek that almost certainly looks back at our conversion. Spiritual adoption begins at conversion and is permanent.
Adoption is a legal action with experiential results. As we have stated, adoption is a legal action which conveys upon the adoptee a new status with all the rights and privileges of a natural child. Sometimes, however, an adopted child, particularly if he has spent time in foster homes, may not feel like he’s a bona fide member of the family. That’s when aberrant behavior, rebelliousness, and delinquency set in.
So, when the Holy Spirit brings about our adoption into God’s family, He also goes beyond the legal and does something experiential for us. He helps us substitute the old feelings of fear with a quiet confidence that things are “all right” between us and God. That old spirit of slavery leading to fear is what we all experienced before we received Christ. There was a bondage to sin and a paralyzing fear of condemnation. But there is no need for that now, because in place of that fear the Holy Spirit implants in our hearts a sense of security like that of a favorite son, to the point that we are able to cry, out, “Abba, Father.”
This kind of familiar reference to God was a radical departure for Jesus and His disciples, for no Old Testament Jew ever addressed God directly as “my Father.” The great personal name for God, Yahweh, was viewed as so holy that Jews were not even allowed to pronounce it. God was considered to be too transcendent to be directly addressed, his name too holy to be on human lips.
But all this was completely overturned by Jesus. He always called God “Father,” and when He did so, He did not use the normal word for father. He used the Aramaic word “abba,” a term of security and intimacy, as opposed to the formal way most religious people addressed Him, or, even worse, the way many non-Christians address Him: “the Man Upstairs” or “the Big Guy in the Sky.”
The early church fathers unanimously testified that abba was the address of small children to their fathers. It literally means daddy or papa. To a Jewish mind a prayer addressing God as papa would not only have been improper; it would have been irreverent to the highest degree. Yet this is what Jesus said in his prayers, and it is how He encouraged His disciples to think of God.
Adoption also has a future aspect. In verse 15 adoption is something we have received; in verse 23 (which we will examine more closely next Lord’s Day) it is something we eagerly wait for: The explanation is simple. The fulfillment and culmination of our position as adopted children will not be experienced until the resurrection.
Now there’s one more truth about God’s family I would like to share his morning:
One’s place in God’s family is confirmed by the witness of the Holy Spirit.
Let me ask you a very straightforward question: “How do you know if you are a child of God?” In answer you might say, “I know I’m a child of God because the Word of God states that ‘as many as received Christ to them God gave the right to become children of God,’ and I have received Christ.” If that’s your answer, you’ve certainly started at the right place. The authoritative, infallible Word of God is the foundation of all our faith and practice.
But someone might suggest other ways to know whether one is a child of God. For example, how about a changed life? Jesus said, “By their fruits you will know them” (Matt. 7:20). I would suppose that means that we ought to be able to know ourselves the same way. Are we more like Jesus today than we were two years ago? Or how about love for one another? Jesus said, “By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love, one for another.” (John 13:35)
But there is still another evidence of membership in the Family of God beyond all these, which Paul addresses here in verse 16: “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” Now let me observe right at the outset that this witness of the Holy Spirit cannot be put in a test-tube. While the witness of the Scriptures, the witness of a changed life, and the witness of loving one another are all somewhat quantifiable, measurable and observable, the witness of the Holy Spirit is very personal, even mystical. No one else is privy to this witness—it’s just you and the Holy Spirit. You can claim you have it and there’s no way anyone can argue with you. Oh, if your beliefs or lifestyle consistently contradict God’s commandments, then others might rightly assume that you are lying or fooling yourself. But ultimately the witness of the Spirit is not open to public scrutiny. There are several things we can say about it, however.
This witness provides a settled assurance that we belong to the family of God. “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.” I have enjoyed this witness of the Spirit for over 35 years now. I made a profession of faith before that and may well have been a Christian, but it was as a teenager that I gained a settled assurance that I was a child of God. Never since have I had to wrestle with that issue. I’ve gone through some periods of rebellion and just plain worldliness, but not once did the witness of the Spirit leave me. In fact, it was the continuous witness of the Spirit which brought me back to the Lord each time I strayed. I was like the runaway child who, when his money is gone, and he finds himself hungry and abused by people who care nothing about his welfare, finally remembers that he’s a son and calls his parents and asks if he can come home. Always the answer is “yes.”
This witness provides a settled assurance that our inheritance is secure. Verse 17 says,“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ.” One of the most devastating things a human being can experience is to find himself or herself disinherited when the parents’ will is read. Sometimes it is not so much the money as it is the feeling of abandonment and rejection that hurts the most. But friends, we need never fear that we will be disinherited by our heavenly Father. The Holy Spirit witnesses to us that we are His heirs. But it would appear that even this concept needed to be strengthened, so he adds that as God’s heirs we are “co-heirs with Christ.” There is no doubt about Jesus’ inheritance—He will be clothed with the glory that was His before the worlds were created. This means that in some way we will not only see His glory but share in it too. The glory is His, of course, by right, but it will be ours by grace.
Conclusion: I would like to add two concluding observations, and for this I return to the concept we opened with:
1. A child’s behavior is largely dictated by his perception of whether he “belongs” in his family. If the child is not secure in his parents’ love, he will show it in his behavior, in his attitudes, in his achievements. What a burden this places on us as parents, not only to love our children, but also to communicate our love to them! God has certainly set a fine example for us. Which brings us to the second observation:
2. A Christian’s victory over sin in his life is likewise largely related to his assurance of “belonging” to God’s family. What greater evidence do we need? The Holy Spirit indwells every believer permanently; He leads us; He has adopted us, enabling us to replace fear with a warm, personal relationship with Almighty God; and He witnesses with our spirit as to the reality of our status as God’s children. The next time you are tempted by the world, the flesh or the Devil to doubt your place in the Family, ask yourself a simple question, “Who lives inside of me? Whose child am I? What would my Father think if I as His child succumbed to this temptation to question His love?”
It’s quite possible, of course, that there are some here today who would have to admit they don’t really know whether they are part of God’s family. You haven’t experienced the witness of the Spirit, nor even sensed His indwelling or leading. You don’t know whether you’ve been adopted or not. But you can know. The Scriptures tell us that when Jesus died on the cross, He provided for our sins to be forgiven, cleansed, pardoned, blotted out as a thick cloud, removed as far as the east is from the west, remembered against us no more, and cast behind God’s back.
He also gave us the power to become children of God. Have you accepted that incomparable opportunity?
DATE: April 23, 1995
Tags:
Family of God
Holy Spirit
Leading of the Holy Spirit
Adoption
Assurance
[i] James Dobson, Hide or Seek, 12-13.
[ii] Dobson, 50.
[iii] James Montgomery Boice, Romans, Vol. 2, The Reign of Grace, Romans 5-8, 834-5.