New Life

Intro

Illustration

The New Life (8:14-39)

Paul’s theme for the rest of this monumental chapter is this new life and the sonship and security it implies.

The Emphasis on Sonship (8:14-27)

It is a basic truth of the gospel that a person must be born again before he can be viewed as a child of God (John 1:11-13; 3:3-8; 1 Peter 1:23-25; 1 John 3:9; 4:7; 5:1, 4, 18).

It is one thing, however, to be born into God’s family through the miracle of regeneration, it is something else to become an adult son.

Paul does not speak much about conversion in terms of a new birth, but he does speak at length on the subject of spiritual sonship and maturity.

Paul discusses first the question of our (1) adoption into the family of God.

The idea of legal adoption into a family is more a Roman than a Jewish or Greek concept.

The Romans seem to have associated adoption with full civil status.

It is the Holy Spirit who places the believer as an adult son in the family of God.

There are three thoughts associated with this truth.

Those so adopted are led by the Spirit, for Paul says, "As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God" (v. 14).

One evidence of sonship in the divine family is cooperation on the part of the believer with the guiding and leading ministry of the Spirit of God.

There can be no doubt that God delights to guide His children.

In Old Testament times He provided Israel with a fiery, cloudy pillar to lead them through the trackless wilderness.

Their leading was clear, continuous and conspicuous, for even the smallest child could see when and where the cloudy pillar moved.

The principles of guidance for the believer today are different, but they are nonetheless clear.

Many believers lack a clear sense of divine leading in their lives.

Probably the greatest hindrance to a continual sense of divine leading is a lack of a daily quiet time with God.

How can God speak to us if we do not meditate on His Word?

The second major hindrance is the refusal to follow once the Spirit’s leading is revealed.

Sons of God cooperate with the Spirit’s leading.

Those adopted as sons into the family of God are not only led by the Spirit, they are loved by the Father. "For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (vv. 15-16).

The cry, "Abba, Father," is very interesting. W. E. Vine tells us that "’Abba’ is the cry of an infant, the simple, helpless utterance of unreasoning trust, the effect of feeling, rather than knowledge.

It is an Aramaic word (cf. English ’papa’).

It was a form of address forbidden among the Jews to be used by a slave to the head of the family.

’Father’ (Greek and Latin pater) is not a translation of ’Abba.’

It is another mode of address. It is relationship intelligently realized by the one who utters it, a word of filial confidence, communion and obedience, answering to, and expressing, the enjoyment of the complacent love of God the Father. The two expressions together indicate the love and intelligent trust of the child."

In Gethsemane the Lord Jesus used this identical expression, "Abba, Father" (Mark 14:36).

Through the miracle of regeneration, we have been brought into the closest intimacy with our heavenly Father, the kind of intimacy Jesus Himself enjoyed.

The "witness of the Spirit" in this connection is significant.

This function of the Spirit of God is mentioned three times in the New Testament.

He witnesses to us (Heb. 10:15), in us (1 John 5:10), and with us (Rom. 8:16).

Fact, faith, and feelings are successively in view in these three references. Here, of course, it is feeling, for the witness of the Spirit of God with our spirits gives rise to the joyful cry, "Abba, Father." Furthermore, those adopted into the family are lifted by the Son. "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be glorified together" (v. 17).

The "if" here is similar to the "if" in verse 9, the hypothesis being assumed to be an actual fact, no doubt being thrown upon the supposition.

Such scriptures as 2 Thessalonians 1:10; 1 Corinthians 15:23; Colossians 3:4; and 1 John 3:2 confirm the truth that all believers will be "glorified together" with Christ.

The condition for enjoying the inheritance is suffering "with Christ," not mere suffering.

Paul, it would seem, takes for granted that this condition will be realized.

Significantly, the only other place in the New Testament where the expression "suffer with" is found is in 1 Corinthians 12:26: "And whether one member suffer, all the members suffer with it."

The context in 1 Corinthians has to do with the oneness of the body of Christ. Suffering in a body is not a matter of choice but something necessitated by the relationship one member of a body has with every other member.

Since Christ is the head of this body, it follows that the things that pain the head will pain the members.

Adoption into the family of God, then, involves being lifted by Christ so that we can share both His sufferings and His glory, His heartache and His heritage, His cross and His crown.

Since adoption into the family of God is a priceless privilege, it involves a process of discipline.

God must fit us for our high and holy calling. So Paul next discusses our (2) adaption for the family of God.

First there is adoption; then there is assimilation.

And since adaption can be a painful process, "groaning" is mentioned three times in the immediate context.

Illustration

Picture a wealthy, cultured gentleman adopting a boy from the slums of a great city and putting this boy into his family. After the adoption comes the adaption. The lad would be totally unfit for his new family so would be put into the hands of tutors to be taught how to speak and how to behave in polite society. The process would be irksome to him, and it might take years before he is fitted for his lofty destiny. But his benefactor, in the interests of the boy himself, would patiently pursue the boy’s discipline and education even though progress might at times be slow. This is exactly what God is doing with us in this age.

Adaption for the family of God is of wide significance.

Paul speaks of the groaning of the creation (vv. 18-22) as being inextricably bound up with the process—"For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now" (v. 22).

The fall of man involved all of creation, at least so far as this planet is concerned. The vegetable world was involved since the temptation centered around a tree; the brute creation was involved since the temptation was introduced by a serpent; and, of course, the human creation was involved since the temptation was presented to man. The curse which followed the fall involved all.

Paul says, "The creature [creation] was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope" (v. 20).

The word "vanity" occurs in the New Testament only here, in Ephesians 4:17, and in 2 Peter 2:18. It means "disappointing misery" in this passage in Romans. The same Greek word is used frequently in the Septuagint to translate the Hebrew for "vanity" in Ecclesiastes. It describes something which does not measure up to that for which it was intended. So creation groans.

Clearly there was a time when the whole creation neither groaned nor travailed in pain.

Dr. L. Merson Davies points out that the third chapter of Genesis underlines three structures as typifying the general curse upon nature. He says that these "are all peculiarly representative of abortion and internecine strife." The serpent, for example, is deprived of limbs and made to glide upon its belly; thorns are aborted branches and leaves, and the unpleasant character of thistles results from an aborted state of the calyx.

Paul tells us that "the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God" (v. 19), or as Phillips renders it, "the whole creation is on tiptoe to see the wonderful sight of the sons of God coming into their own."

Brighter days indeed lie ahead for the whole creation (Isa. 11:6-9; 65:25; Rev. 22:3), for the time is coming when the curse will be removed and creation will be restored to its pristine splendor.

As Paul says, "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (v. 18).

He has a similar passage in his second letter to the Corinthians, "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" (2 Cor. 4:17).

What Paul called "light affliction" would overwhelm most modern Christians (1 Cor. 11:23-33). We shall have to wait to see what is involved in that "eternal weight of glory," for it is certain that it would crush us now.

Paul next speaks of the groaning of the Christian and points out that the Christian groans because he has not yet received his glorified body. "And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it" (vv. 23- 25 ).

The idea that we are saved by hope is a startling one at first glance since we normally think of salvation as being by faith rather than by hope.

The reference, of course, has nothing to do with the salvation of the soul but with the redemption of the body and is linked with what Paul elsewhere calls "that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ" (Titus 2:13).

Christians tend to link "hope" with uncertainty and regard it therefore as a somewhat anemic word.

It is most unsatisfactory to ask a person if he is saved and to receive the reply, "I hope so;" for in that case, hope usurps the place of faith.

But hope comes into her own in its proper context. Suppose a mother were to tell her disobedient son that he would be spanked when his father arrived home from work. Suppose too, someone were to ask the boy sometime during the day, "Do you think you will be punished when your father gets home?" The boy might say, "I believe I will," but he is not likely to say, "I hope I will!" Hope not only has to do with the future, but it has to do with something pleasant in the future.

At this stage of our experience, we groan because of the limitations of the body and temptations from the flesh.

The day is coming, however, when we shall have this body of humiliation changed "that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself" (Phil. 3:21).

This is part of our redemption; and although we are still hoping for it, it is as certain as the resurrection of Christ.

The groaning of creation and the groaning of the Christian, however, are comparatively easy to understand when placed alongside the mysterious groaning Paul mentions next—the groaning of the Comforter. "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God" (vv. 26-27).

We have an Advocate with the Father in heaven in the Person of the Lord Jesus (1 John 2:1), and we have One within our hearts as well who can lay bare before the eye of God the deepest needs of our souls.

Most of us feel particularly helpless in the matter of prayer.

We stand appalled at times before the deep antipathy of our own hearts to prayer.

Perfunctorily enough we say our prayers, but seldom do we ever really pray. There is not much merit in saying prayers; even an unsaved person can do that. Only a Spirit-taught believer can really pray. It is because the ministry of prayer is a purely spiritual ministry that we stand in such deep need of the Holy Spirit to help our infirmities in this matter.

The word for "helpeth" in this passage occurs elsewhere in the New Testament only in Luke 10:40 where its use is most enlightening.

It is found in the story of Martha and Mary when the Lord Jesus was the guest in their home. Mary was found at the Master’s feet. But Martha could be heard banging the pots and pans around in the kitchen. Evidently her irritation was growing. Why should she have to slave at the sink while Mary sat on the rug in the living room?

Suddenly she burst out, "Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me."

That is the very idea behind the use of the word in Romans 8.

What we need in prayer is help—the practical, down-to-earth, everyday kind of help that Martha needed in the kitchen. The very name "Comforter," used by the Lord Jesus when promising a new dispensation of the Holy Spirit, means literally, "one called alongside to help."

The kind of help He gives is the help a doctor gives when he is called alongside the sick bed; the kind of help a fireman gives when he is called alongside a burning building; the kind of help a lawyer gives when he is called alongside to undertake our case. What a Helper!

This help expresses itself in "groanings which cannot be uttered" or as J. B. Phillips translates it, "his Spirit within us is actually praying for us in those agonizing longings which never find words."

The word for "groanings" here is, found only here and in Acts 7:34 where Stephen used it in his defense before the Sanhedrin.

Stephen had been describing the call of Moses and recalling the words God had used on that occasion: "I have seen, I have seen the affliction of my people which is in Egypt, and I have heard their groaning..." How suggestive! The burden of the oppressed Israelites could only find expression in groans. The Holy Spirit, in expressing His burden for our spiritual state, groans with the same type of groans. Oh, the things in our lives which must grieve the Holy Spirit of God!

It cannot be doubted that the prayers of the Holy Spirit are effective.

Paul states three very good reasons why they must be.

First, God knows and searches our hearts as only He can.

Second, He knows the Spirit’s mind: "knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit."

Third, He prays according to the will of God.

One day this groaning will give place to glory as we, who have been adopted into the family, are finally fully adapted for that family and receive our glorified bodies and enter into God’s new creation.