After/Future/New
Before/Past/Old
....so that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (Roms 6 v6)
Living in the Spirit of Adoption
Romans chapter 8 verses 9-17
But you are not controlled by your sinful nature [the realm of
the flesh]. You are controlled by [in the realm of] the Spirit if
you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that
those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do
not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so
even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit
gives you life because you have been made right with God.
11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in
you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he
will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living
within you.
12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters*, you have no
obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.
9
For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the
power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful
nature, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God
are children [sons] of God.
15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful
slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted
you as his own children [Gk: you have received a spirit of adoption].
Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our
spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are
his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we
are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we
must also share his suffering.
13
So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves.
Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own
children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with
our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are
his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are
heirs of God’s glory.
15
The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you
live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought
about your adoption to sonship.[c] And by him we cry, ‘Abba,[d]
Father.’ 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are
God’s children.
15
....but you have received a spirit of adoption.
c. The Greek word for “adoption to sonship “ is a term referring to the full
legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture...
The Greek literally means “you received a spirit of sonship.”
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his
Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem
those under the law, that we might receive adoption to
sonship.[a] 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit
of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out,
‘Abba,[b] Father.’ 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s
child; and since you are his child, God has made you also
an heir. Galatians 4
4
Tom Smail wrote in 1980:
Within the charismatic renewal today, there is a good deal more
talk about spiritual gifts than exercise of them; more discussion
about the power of the Spirit than actual experience of it. One of
the main reasons for that is most people just do not have the
confidence that God has accepted them and loves them just as
they are as his children, and therefore will not let them be led
astray by what is worldly or demonic but will give them all that he
has promised – his robe, his ring and his shoes.
This confidence will not be created by repeated acts of laying on
hands, but only by an awareness of the Spirits cry of Abba at the
creative and motivating centres of our lives. This is what releases
from the paralysing fear of God and people that grips so many –
and it is not a technique that we can master but a sovereign work
of the Spirit which must liberate us. (from ‘Forgotten Father’)