Rom 8:15,16 A Spirit of Adoption

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A Spirit of Adoption

Rom 8:15,16 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God

Those who belong to Christ don't live in fear of condemnation. For by God's grace there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, their sins having been atoned for by the blood Christ and thus their eternal security is not based on their works, but upon the work of Christ accomplished for them.

But while salvation could have stopped at justification, God went beyond that, adopting as children those who were formerly his enemies. In fact "adoption" is not a strong enough word in that what was accomplished was not simply a legal transfer of ownership, but a regeneration characteristic of new birth. For "to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God." John 1:12,13 and "Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" 1John 5:1a Consequently, "Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, <"Abba>, Father." Gal 4:6

The relationship with the Spirit is a basis of one's assurance of salvation. For "this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us." 1John 3:24b

The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources

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A chip off of the old block is someone whose character or personality resembles that of their parent and this is the essence of what it means to be a child of God. The Son is the image of the invisible God (Colossians 1:15) and the Son is the radiance of God's glory and the exact image of His nature (Hebrews 1:3), so he is what we can see when we look at the Father and he puts the nature of the Father on display, which is why he could say that he is the way, the truth, and the life, that no one comes to the Father but through him, that if we had known him, we would have known the Father also, and that anyone who has seen him as seen the Father (John 14:6-9). The purpose of a priest was to put the character of who the Father is on display, which is the model for Israel being a holy nation of priests and of adopted children of God, and of Gentiles who have been adopted into a royal priesthood and a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9-10), who have the role of being and a light and a blessing to the nations through testifying about who God is.

This is also is why OT Scriptures were given to teach us how to testify about who Christ is (John 5:39-40). In 1 John 2:6, those who are in Christ are obligated to walk in the same way he walked, so the fact that there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ does not remove our obligation to do good works. In 1 John 5:1, whoever believes in Jesus is born of God, in John 6:40, those who look on the Son and believe in Him will have eternal life, in Matthew 19:17, if we want to enter into eternal life, then obey the commandments, so obedience to God's commandments is what it looks like to believe in Jesus and be a child of God.