Understanding the Spirit of Adoption in Christ

Devotional

Day 1: Intimacy with God through the Spirit of Adoption

The spirit of adoption allows believers to cry out "Abba, Father," signifying an intimate and personal relationship with God as His children. This expression is not merely a repetition but a profound declaration of our sonship and closeness to God. The dual use of "Abba" in Aramaic and "Father" in Greek highlights the depth of this relationship, emphasizing both our identity as God's children and the intimate bond we share with Him. This connection is a gift from God, allowing us to approach Him with confidence and love. [01:18]

Galatians 4:6-7 (ESV): "And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God."

Reflection: In what ways can you deepen your relationship with God today, acknowledging Him as your "Abba, Father"?

Day 2: Assurance is a Gift, Not a Requirement

Assurance of salvation is not essential for salvation itself. One can be a Christian without having the spirit of adoption, as salvation is based on faith in Christ, not on our subjective assurance. This distinction is crucial because it prevents the exclusion of those who genuinely believe in Christ but may not have this assurance. The early church often experienced this assurance due to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but it is not a universal experience for all believers. Assurance is a gift from God, not a requirement for salvation. [02:50]

1 John 5:13 (ESV): "I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life."

Reflection: How can you find peace in your faith today, even if you don't feel assured of your salvation?

Day 3: The Gift of Assurance in the Early Church

The early church experienced great assurance due to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but this is not a universal experience for all believers throughout history. Assurance is a gift from God, not something we can take or claim by our own efforts. This understanding helps us avoid confusion from teachings that emphasize taking the Holy Spirit by faith without regard to feelings or experiences. True assurance comes from trusting in Christ's finished work, not from our subjective experiences. [10:53]

Acts 2:17-18 (ESV): "'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.'"

Reflection: Reflect on a time when you felt the presence of the Holy Spirit. How can you seek to experience God's Spirit in your life today?

Day 4: Receiving God's Gift Passively

Receiving the spirit of adoption is not about our activity or taking, but about receiving what God gives. It is a passive reception of God's gift, not something we can claim by our own efforts. This understanding helps us avoid the confusion that arises from teachings that emphasize taking the Holy Spirit by faith without regard to feelings or experiences. It is important to trust in God's timing and His provision, knowing that He gives good gifts to His children. [28:29]

James 1:17 (ESV): "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change."

Reflection: What is one area of your life where you need to trust God to provide, rather than trying to achieve it through your own efforts?

Day 5: Trusting in Christ's Finished Work

Teachings that emphasize taking the Holy Spirit by faith without regard to feelings can lead to confusion. True assurance comes from trusting in Christ's finished work, not from our subjective experiences. Our faith rests on the completed work of Jesus, and our assurance is rooted in His promises, not in our fluctuating emotions or experiences. This perspective encourages believers to focus on the certainty of Christ's sacrifice and resurrection as the foundation of their faith. [16:00]

Hebrews 10:22-23 (ESV): "Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful."

Reflection: How can you remind yourself today of the certainty of Christ's finished work and let it be the foundation of your faith?

Sermon Summary

In our exploration of Romans 8:15, we delve into the profound truth that as believers, we have not received a spirit of bondage leading to fear, but rather the spirit of adoption, allowing us to cry out "Abba, Father." This spirit of adoption is a testament to our status as children of God, offering us an intimate and personal relationship with Him. The repetition of "Abba" and "Father" in both Aramaic and Greek underscores the depth of this relationship, emphasizing both our sonship and the closeness we share with God.

However, it is crucial to understand that possessing the spirit of adoption is not essential for salvation. Many Protestant reformers, like Luther and Calvin, equated assurance of salvation with salvation itself, but this is not a necessary condition. One can be a Christian without having the assurance that comes from the spirit of adoption. This distinction is vital because it prevents us from excluding many who genuinely believe in Christ but may not have this assurance.

The early church, living in a time of great spiritual outpouring, often experienced this assurance, but it is not a universal experience for all believers throughout history. The spirit of adoption is a gift, not something we can take or claim by our own efforts. It is not about our activity or taking, but about receiving what God gives. This understanding helps us avoid the confusion that arises from teachings that emphasize taking the Holy Spirit by faith without regard to feelings or experiences.

In conclusion, while the spirit of adoption is a profound and desirable experience, it is not the measure of one's salvation. Our faith rests on the finished work of Christ, and our assurance comes from trusting in Him, not from our subjective experiences.

Key Takeaways

1. The spirit of adoption allows us to cry "Abba, Father," signifying our intimate relationship with God as His children. This cry is not just a repetition but an expression of deep, personal connection and sonship. [01:18]
2. Assurance of salvation is not essential for salvation itself. One can be a Christian without having the spirit of adoption, as salvation is based on faith in Christ, not on our subjective assurance. [02:50]
3. The early church experienced great assurance due to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, but this is not a universal experience for all believers. Assurance is a gift from God, not a requirement for salvation. [10:53]
4. Receiving the spirit of adoption is not about our activity or taking, but about receiving what God gives. It is a passive reception of God's gift, not something we can claim by our own efforts. [28:29]
5. Teachings that emphasize taking the Holy Spirit by faith without regard to feelings can lead to confusion. True assurance comes from trusting in Christ's finished work, not from our subjective experiences. [16:00]
** [16:00]

Youtube Chapters

[00:00] - Welcome
[00:10] - Introduction to Romans 8:15
[00:36] - Spirit of Adoption vs. Spirit of Bondage
[01:18] - Crying "Abba, Father"
[02:13] - Assurance and Salvation
[03:09] - Protestant Reformers' View
[04:09] - Assurance Not Essential
[05:16] - Misconceptions About Assurance
[06:24] - Depth of Crying "Abba, Father"
[07:32] - Assurance in Early Church
[08:39] - Spirit of Adoption as a Gift
[10:21] - Assurance in New Testament Times
[12:35] - Receiving the Spirit of Adoption
[14:07] - Misunderstandings in Evangelical Circles
[16:00] - Confusion About Taking by Faith
[28:29] - Active vs. Passive Reception
[51:52] - Conclusion and Prayer

Sermon Clips

It seems to me to be essential that we should remind ourselves again very clearly that this is not essential to salvation. Now you'll notice how I'm putting it: to have the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father, I am saying, is not essential to salvation. You can be a Christian and know nothing about the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father. [00:02:36]

The Protestant reformers tended to teach, I mean by that Luther and Calvin in particular, but others also, that assurance of salvation was a necessity to salvation. They did not draw a distinction between salvation itself and the assurance of salvation. So they tended to teach that the man was not saved unless he knew he was saved, unless he had the assurance. [00:03:06]

If we are going to say that everyone who is a child of God must have the spirit of adoption whereby he cries Abba Father in the sense that we were indicating last week, well then I think you see immediately what happens. It means that we are saying at once that a very large number of people we've always regarded as Christians are not Christian at all. [00:04:03]

The compilers of the famous Westminster Confession of Faith saw that this was not so and that it was certainly causing a great number of truly Christian people to be in trouble. They drew a distinction between being saved and knowing that you're saved. They said that you can be saved and yet lack assurance, that assurance is not essential to salvation. [00:07:36]

The early Christians, if not all, had full assurance, and for this reason: the New Testament times were times when the Holy Spirit had been poured forth in usual profusion. You see what you read in the second chapter of Acts, and that seems to have been repeated wherever the gospel first went. There was a mighty authentication of the truth. [00:10:53]

Receiving the spirit of adoption is not about our activity or taking, but about receiving what God gives. It is a passive reception of God's gift, not something we can claim by our own efforts. This understanding helps us avoid the confusion that arises from teachings that emphasize taking the Holy Spirit by faith without regard to feelings or experiences. [00:28:29]

There is a teaching which misunderstanding a text like this and many others put before us, the teaching which goes under the name of "take it by faith." Now you're familiar with this teaching. It says, as you took your justification by faith, take your sanctification by faith in the same way. Take the Holy Spirit, the baptism of the Spirit by faith in the same way. [00:14:07]

The Holy Spirit is a person, and he is God, the third person, and you and I cannot take the spirit like this, just as breathing in whenever we like and whenever we choose. What we are taught is that we have to be subject to the spirit, we have to surrender to the spirit, and we have to be very careful not to grieve or to quench the spirit. [00:28:09]

The trouble arises over this word "receive." That seems to me to be the heart of the problem because they interpret the word receiving in terms of an activity on our part, upon our taking. Now I've got to go into this. It's going to be a little bit technical, but it's got to be done because this matter is to me one of the most urgent in evangelical thinking at the present time. [00:28:49]

The word "received" is used in our translation to translate several different words. Now, there are many words used in the Greek, but they're all used and translated here as "received." Here's a very interesting discovery which you will make at once: you will find that all the words that are used in the Greek which are translated as "received," except the one that is used here, are always words that carry an active sense, not a passive sense. [00:29:39]

The word that is used in our text, Romans 8:15, is a different word, not one of the words we've been looking at. Now, if you turn up the two best lexicons on this, Grimm-Thayer or the one I was quoting the other night, Arndt-Gingrich, you will find that they both agree in saying this: that this word is used in two main senses. One of them is a more active sense, and the other is a more passive sense. [00:35:58]

The important method before us is the exact connotation of this word "receive." You have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you have received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry Abba Father. Is this something that I can take whenever I like, as long as I believe? I just take it, and though I may feel nothing, say I've got it, I've got the spirit of adoption. [00:51:52]

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