START WITH SCRIPTURE:
Romans 8:12-17
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OBSERVE:
This passage explores the dynamic nature of God in relationship with human beings.
Paul begins with a reminder of human nature — that:
For if you live after the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
This conflict between flesh and Spirit requires some unpacking.
The flesh is the corrupt and corruptible aspect of human character. Paul is not a dualist who believes that the material world is by nature evil and the spiritual realm alone is good. Rather, the flesh is the craving, selfish heart turned in upon itself. Just a few sentences prior to our passage, Paul writes that:
For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace (Romans 8:5-6).
So what he’s exploring here is how the Spirit moves the believer from death to life; from slaves of their fleshly nature to children of God. The answer, he believes, is to:
put to death the deeds of the body.
The dilemma is that the sinner cannot do that for him/herself. The execution of sin can only be accomplished vicariously through Christ:
For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free from the law of sin and of death. For what the law couldn’t do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit (Romans 8:2-4).
And how do human beings appropriate what God has done for them by Christ’s vicarious death on their behalf? This is where the entire dynamic nature of God is revealed in relationship within God and with human beings.
God’s Spirit testifies with the spirits of those who have been adopted by God for the sake of his Son, and the Spirit declares that they are no longer slaves of sin and death, but now are children of God. Now these children of God can also declare that God is their Father — their Abba. Some scholars believe that this Aramaic word is intended to express an intimacy between Father and child, like the child calling God “Daddy!”
So, once these children of God are “adopted” into the family of God, they now enjoy all of the privileges of an heir. In fact, they are co-heirs with Christ:
The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
APPLY:
These few verses pack a huge wallop! They tell us about our status as children of God and much, much more — that God is for us in ways that we can’t even begin to comprehend.
What becomes increasingly clear is that the doctrine of the Trinity is far more than a theological construct, or an abstract notion. The Triune God certainly exists within a unity that is experienced as diversity, One God in Three Persons. But it is also very true that each Person of the Triune God is dynamically involved in the salvation and restoration not only of human beings but of creation itself!
God the Father sends forth his only begotten Son, the Second Person of the Trinity, as the perfect Man who lives the perfect, sin-free life. This God-Man condescends to our level as humbly as is possible — being made man, and even becoming sin on the cross for our sake (2 Corinthians 5:21); and then re-ascends to the very highest place, even at the right hand of the Father. And because he has identified with our fleshly nature, he has restored God’s image in us and raised us up with him. We are adopted as his own brothers and sisters, and therefore become heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
That means that whatever Christ inherits, we inherit. This is also illustrated in Ephesians 2:4-7:
But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
In other words, whatever Christ inherits we inherit — eternal life, a throne alongside him, and the incomparable riches of grace! Incredible!
And how is all of this activated? Obviously, we are taught deeply by Paul, again and again:
for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8).
But we know this because of the Spirit of God, the Third Person of the Trinity:
- The Holy Spirit puts to death the sinful nature in us, which we experience through repentance.
- The Holy Spirit breathes the gift of faith.
- The Holy Spirit enables us to be adopted as children of God.
- The Holy Spirit whispers in our spirits that we are children of God and are made bold enough to cry out “Abba, Father.”
The one thing that may give us pause is that one phrase included in this passage:
if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him.
We certainly like the first part! But the second part, about sharing in his sufferings? Ouch. Not so much.
Maybe Dietrich Bonhoeffer can help us understand this a little better:
To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ . . . The cross means sharing the suffering of Christ to the last and to the fullest. Only a man (or woman) totally committed to discipleship can experience the meaning of the cross. . . Jesus says that every Christian has his (or her) own cross waiting for him, a cross destined and appointed by God. Each must endure his allotted share of suffering and rejection. But each has a different share: some God deems worthy of the highest form of suffering, and gives them the grace of martyrdom, while others he does not allow to be tempted above what they are able to bear. But it is one and the same cross in every case (The Cost of Discipleship, pp. 78,79).
When we identify so fully with the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ our Lord by placing our faith in him completely, then we vicariously suffer with him and are raised with him. As Paul says in Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
And only God can accomplish that in us!
RESPOND:
Years ago, I happened to preach on this doctrine that all Christians are adopted into the family of God because of our faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only “natural” child of the Father, based on our understanding of the Trinity. He is the “only begotten Son of the Father.”
But because of what he has done in his life, death and resurrection, Jesus has introduced us to the Father as his adopted brothers and sisters. Whatever he gets from the Father, we also will get, because the Father shows no partiality between his children.
After I had finished the sermon, and said the benediction, a woman who was visiting the church that Sunday made a bee-line to me. At first I thought I was in trouble. But she told me that she was visiting with a family member, and she had her two adopted daughters with her.
These girls, as adopted children sometimes do, had been going through an identity crisis. They wondered about their biological parents, and why they hadn’t been kept by them. And somehow the sermon had spoken right to their feelings.
Some years later, I came across a testimonial from a retired pastor who said that he and his wife had a few kids of their own by birth, and a few by adoption, “but we can’t remember which is which.”
Father, I thank you that I have been adopted into your holy family for the sake of Jesus your Son. For all that he has endured for me in order to accomplish this, I am truly humbled and amazed; empower me, through your Holy Spirit, to live as your child in this world. Amen.
PHOTOS: “Hold me Daddy” by Matthew Miller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0 Generic license. Matthew Miller says this about his pencil drawing “Hold me Daddy”: “This picture was inspired by a little girl being held by her dad in front of me at church. She just looked so content and safe in her daddy's arms that began thinking of my heavenly Father.”
SOAR Lectionary Bible Study 