Being a Son of God

The last time I told you about the revelation about my Father, my Abba-Dad and we looked at how this truth is found in the Old Covenant as well as in the New Covenant. As my understanding and experience of this intimacy with my Abba Dad grew, I began to look at what He called me—His son. Since I was familiar with Romans 8, I started meditating on it. Go with me to Romans 8:14-23:

Ø 14 For all who are abeing led by the Spirit of God, these are bsons of God. 15 For you ahave not received a spirit of slavery 1leading to fear again, but you bhave received 2a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “cAbba! Father!” 16 The Spirit Himself atestifies with our spirit that we are bchildren of God, 17 and if children, aheirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, bif indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time aare not worthy to be compared with the bglory that is to be revealed to us. 19 For the aanxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for bthe revealing of the csons of God. 20 For the creation awas subjected to bfutility, not willingly, but cbecause of Him who subjected it, 1in hope 21 that the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. 23 And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.

One day as I was reading this passage the Holy Spirit asked me a question. He said, “Why does it say “sons” in some verses (vs. 14,15,19,and 23) and “children” in other verses (vs.16,17,21)?” Now I don’t know if you have ever been asked a question by the Holy Spirit before, but I usually don’t know the answer to His questions. That was true in this case.

I responded that it was just 2 words meaning the same thing, i.e. sons = children. Then He spoke again and said “The Father has many children, but not many sons.” I sat there dumbfounded.

Obviously the Holy Spirit was not saying that God has only male children (i.e. sons and not daughters), so there must be something about this statement that I did not understand. So I began to look at the Greek words and I noticed that that are actually 2 different words used in this passage.

5207 huios (hwee·os) –sons (vs. 14,15,19,23)

5043 teknon (tek·non) –children (vs. 16,17,21)

The word that is used for children is “teknon” and shows birth into a family. It means we belong to the family. But the word that is used for sons is “huios” which stresses the dignity and character of the relationship or shows maturity. As children of God we want to please our Father and grow up to be sons (and daughters) of God so that others will see the image of the Father in us.

There are two ways to become a child in a family—natural birth and adoption. Though some may argue that an adopted child is not truly a child of the family, by law he is as much a part of the family as if he had been born naturally into the family. Even more than the law though, are the feelings of the parents.

´ Has anyone here adopted a child or know someone who has adopted a child?

If you ask a parent who has adopted a child, to them that child is just as much a part of their hearts as the other natural born children. They have taken him into their heart as well as into their home.

The first thing we must realize as children of God is that we are adopted children. To us that may seem like we are not fully accepted, but just as natural parents take adopted children into their hearts, so our Father takes us into His heart. When a person is born again, he is not born into a position of slavery. Rather, he receives the spirit of adoption (vs. 15); that is, he is placed in God’s family as a mature son/daughter.

There is a parallel passage to Romans 8 found in Galatians 3:26, 29, and 4:1-7:

Ø 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. . . . 29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

Ø 1 Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father. 3 So also we (the seed of Abraham-heirs according to the promise Gal 3:29), while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. 4 But when athe fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, bborn of a woman, born cunder 1the Law, 5 so that He might redeem those who were under 1the Law, that we might receive the adoption as asons. 6 Because you are sons, aGod has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “bAbba! Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and aif a son, then an heir 1through God.

Adoption as sons

Ø huiothesia (υἱοθεσία, 5206), from huios, “a son,” and thesis, “a placing,” akin to tithemi, “to place,” signifies the place and condition of a son given to one to whom it does not naturally belong. The word is used by the apostle Paul only.

The word adoption means “son-placing”—that is, the act of placing all believers as mature sons with all the privileges and responsibilities of sonship. W. E Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words says,

“Adoption” is a term involving the dignity of the relationship of believers as sons; it is not a putting into the family by spiritual birth, but a putting into the position of sons. . . . In Rom. 8:15, believers are said to have received “the Spirit of adoption,” that is, the Holy Spirit who, given as the Firstfruits of all that is to be theirs, produces in them the realization of sonship and the attitude belonging to sons.

Verse 5 tells us that the purpose for our redemption is “that we might receive the adoption as sons.” Look at verse 6—Paul says you ARE the sons of God, not that someday you will be the sons of God. This verse tells us that the Spirit of Adoption (Holy Spirit) places the Spirit of God’s Son (Jesus) in our hearts. It is because of this relationship of sonship that we cry out “Abba, Daddy.” This is the same thing we saw in Romans 8:15. Do you see the intimate relationship that is being pictured here? We—the sons of God—have the same love for the Father that Jesus (The Son of God) did. Why? Because we have the same Spirit in us that Jesus had.

Romans 8:14 tells us that those who are led by the Holy Spirit are the sons of God—not the children of God. How many want to be led by the Holy Spirit like Jesus was?

Ø Matt 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.

This verse clearly says the Holy Spirit was the One who led Jesus into the wilderness. Have you ever felt you were in the wilderness? How did you get there? Well, if you are a son of God you got there because you were led there by the Holy Spirit!

Now don’t stone me for saying that, but just think about it a moment. If we have the same Holy Spirit guiding us as guided the Son of God (Jesus), and He specifically led the Son of God into the wilderness, then why can’t He do the same today for the sons of God. In fact, I believe that is exactly what He does in our “wilderness” experiences. The problem is when we are in the wilderness we forget who led us there and then try to get out on our power—which never works.

While I’m on this subject, let me add one more point. Why did the Holy Spirit lead Jesus into the wilderness? “To be tempted by the devil.” When we are in the wilderness we face the temptation to do it our way (i.e. complain, get angry with God, quit serving God, stop praying, stop reading our Bible, stop going to church, etc), which is just exactly what the devil wants us to do. Maybe the enemy doesn’t directly tempt us, but he uses the weakness of our flesh to tempt us.

So what is the answer to victory in the wilderness? First, recognize and give praise to God that He put you there—the Holy Spirit guided you there because you are a son of God. Second, declare the truth of the Word of God that you are a son of God and have a relationship with One who gives you the power to be more than a conqueror (Rom 8:37). Recognize that as God’s son (take the “attitude” of a son—W. E. Vine) you have all of heaven behind you and a Daddy that fights for you—now take that you devil!

Romans 8:16 says that we have been given the Holy Spirit of God to bear witness or testify that we belong to the family of God—i.e. we are His children—not sons. Every believer is a child of God in that he is born into a family of which God is the Father.

There is another truth in this passage in Romans that is found in Romans 8:17. That is that we have an inheritance with Christ as children of God. Notice that our inheritance is tied to the fact that we belong to the family, not to the level of our maturity. This means that we don’t have to wait a certain amount of time before we can enter into our spiritual inheritance; it is ours the moment we are saved, and it belongs to all believers.

As children of God we are the benefactors of all the covenant blessings that God has for His children. Of course, the primary blessing is that of our salvation—which is what brings us into the family of God. Paul says, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

(Our inheritance consists of sound wisdom (Prov. 2:7), riches and righteousness (Prov. 8:18), and a kingdom which the Lord Jesus has appointed unto us (Luke 22:29). It is “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:4), a glorious inheritance which is “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Eph. 1:18). It is an eternal inheritance; “that . . . they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15). It is beyond our understanding and beyond words what exactly our inheritance is, but we know that it is all good!)

Now think with me for a moment about the difference between children and sons:

Children “teknon” Sons “huios”

Birth/Adoption (John 1:12) Adoption with full Relationship

Father Dad/Daddy (Intimacy)

Heirs in waiting Heirs in practice (now)

Inheritance upon age/death Inheritance now—Covenant/life

Disciplined Disciple (self-disciplined)

Independence Led by the Holy Spirit

Immaturity Maturity

There is only one problem with all this. Sometimes we don’t act like who we are—what the Bible declares we are—sons of God (Gal 4:6). We act like children, not sons. This was true of the Prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). He was a son, not a child, who had a right to his inheritance. But once he got that inheritance he wasted it due to his immaturity. He did not have the attitude of a son, but the attitude of a child.

Sonship = Maturity. Abba, Dad desires to have many sons, so let us continually strive to grow into maturity as sons and daughters under the loving guidance and care of our Heavenly Father.

Adoption. Act of leaving one’s natural family and entering into the privileges and responsibilities of another. In the Bible, adoption is one of several family-related terms used to describe the process of salvation and its subsequent benefits. God is a father who graciously adopts believers in Christ into his spiritual family and grants them all the privileges of heirship. Salvation is much more than forgiveness of sins and deliverance from condemnation; it is also a position of great blessing. Believers are children of God.

Old Testament. Legal adoption was not prescribed in Jewish law or practiced by the Israelites. In fact, the term “adoption” does not occur in the Old Testament. While there are several possible allusions to adoption, such as Moses (Exod. 2:10), Genubath (1 Kings 11:20), and Esther (Esther 2:7), the incidents recorded take place in foreign societies (Egyptian and Persian) and there is no evidence that legal adoptions were enacted.

The adoption metaphor was not lost to Israel, however. God declares that he is the Father of the nation Israel, whom he loves as his child (Isa. 1:2; Hos. 11:1). He tells Pharaoh, “Israel is my firstborn son” (Exod. 4:22). More specifically, he says to David (and the Messiah), “You are my son; today I have become your Father” (Ps. 2:7); and of David’s descendant, “I will be his father, and he will be my son” (2 Sam. 7:14). Although not precisely adoption passages, the instances of declared sonship in the Old Testament provide a theological foundation for Israel’s designation as the children of God.

New Testament. The New Testament cultural environment was much different from that of the Old since elaborate laws and ceremonies for adoption were part of both Greek and Roman society. To people with this background, the adoption metaphor in the New Testament was particularly meaningful.

The Greek word for adoption (huiothesia) means to “place as a son” and is used only by Paul in the New Testament. Each of the five occurrences in his letters is to readers of a decidedly Roman background. In one instance Paul refers to the Old Testament idea of Israel’s special position as the children of God—“Theirs is the adoption as sons” (Rom. 9:4). The remaining four references describe how New Testament believers become children of God through his gracious choice. The full scope of God’s work of salvation—past, present, and future—is seen in adoption.

The believer’s adoption as a child of God was determined by God from eternity: God “predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:5). This adoption is not the result of any merit on the part of the believer, but solely the outworking of God’s love and grace (Eph. 1:5, 7).

The present reality of the believer’s adoption into the family of God is release from the slavery of sin and the law and a new position as a free heir of God. Entering into salvation brings the rights and privileges of free sonship: “For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’ ” (Rom. 8:15). Paul tells the Galatians that Christians were redeemed from the law so that they might receive adoption as sons. As a result the Holy Spirit comes into the believer’s heart crying, “Abba, Father” (Gal. 4:5). The intimacy of a relationship with God the Father in contrast to the ownership of slavery is a remarkable feature of salvation.

Like many aspects of salvation, there is an eschatological component of adoption. Believers “wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies” (Rom. 8:23). The full revelation of the believer’s adoption is freedom from the corruption present in the world. Being a member of God’s family includes the ultimate privilege of being like him (1 John 3:2) and being conformed to the glorious body of Christ (Phil. 3:21). This is part of the promised inheritance for all God’s children (Rom. 8:16–17).[i]

Prodigal son is a story that deals with the difference between immaturity and maturity in a family.

So what are the characteristics we can use to tell if we are showing the signs of son ship? Or how can we show that we are God’s sons and daughters? Here are a few:

1. Trust—No Fear

We see this characteristic in a little child, but it becomes much deeper as we mature. We not only learn to trust God with the little things such as food, clothing, and shelter; but with the big things like finances, careers, and health. We learn to trust our Heavenly Father without any fear and anxiety because we know He cares for us and has our best interest in mind.

Fear and anxiety are an indication of either doubting that we are children of God—i.e. whether we belong to His family—or it is a distrusting of God’s power, His watchful care for us, or His goodness. How obvious it is that this is contrary to God’s Word! Therefore we must let go of every worry and allow the Lord to care for everything.

Ø 1 Peter 5:7 (NIV) Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

Ø Psalm 37:5 (NLT) Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust Him, and He will help you.

Vs. 14 says literally the Spirit of God leads His sons. Thus it is the Holy Spirit who goes before us and we follow after Him. As we follow Him, we are learning to Trust God—no matter where He takes us. Just like when the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the wilderness—not to harm Him, but to cleanse Him.

2. Bearing the image.

How often do we say a child looks like their parents? As children we show the image of our parents in our eyes, hair color, complexion, etc. In fact, as we get older and look at pictures of our family, it is often said that we are the “spitting image” of out parents.

But as sons/daughters, we show that we are the image of our parents in more than our looks. We show it in our speech, mannerisms, and actions. We imitate what we have been taught and desire to grow up to be just like our parents. Maybe we learn the same job as our father did, or go to the same school he did, or even talk like he does.

The Lord also creates His children according to His image (cf. Col. 3:10; Eph. 4:24). He makes us as partakers of His divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4), and “followers of God, as dear children” (Eph. 5:1). As a believer we can know that though we were once children of darkness, we are now children of light. We can have the eyes of our understanding enlightened (Eph 1:18) by the Holy Spirit. Our hearts can be united with the will of God and it is our delight and desire only to do His will in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Our speech can be that of our Father—the Words recorded in His Holy Word—that we speak just as His Son, Jesus would. We are being conformed to the image of Christ as we allow the Holy Spirit to work in us (Rom 8:29).

Although we may be born into the family (as children), we may not show the evidence of our likeness to the Father by our conduct or character (as a son) due to a lack of maturity.

3. Honor—Worship

As we grow up we learn to respect and honor our father and mother. We are also taught respect for all authority (e.g. teachers, policemen, etc), because this leads to a peaceful society. Our earthly parents are not perfect, but we still respect them because of who they are. When we loose respect for our parents we are headed down a slippery slope that leads to destruction.

A recent TV program was called Brat Camp. They took 9 teenagers who were in serious trouble and through a series of exercises and living in the desert in the winter taught them to have self-confidence and respect for others. Most of them had lost their respect for their parents and were into drugs and a very destructive lifestyle. Now we may not agree with everything they did in the show, but we can support the fact that they taught these kids to cherish and honor their parents.

As sons/daughters of God we should have a strong desire to honor and worship our Heavenly Father with a humble heart. We should continually meditate and acknowledge the awesomeness and the great glory of our Heavenly Father. We should show that respect for Him to others through our lifestyle as well as our words.

Ø Malachi 1:6 (NIV) “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?” says the LORD Almighty.”

4. Obedience—Submission to Discipline

One of the toughest lessons we learn as children is to be obedient. Because of our fallen natures we are born with the seeds of rebellion and as soon as we are old enough to walk, we begin to express our disobedience. Of course, our loving parents train us to be obedient and teach us that there are consequences for disobedience. We learn that when we disobey we are subject to discipline.

Now as a parent, I never enjoyed administering discipline (i.e. the paddle), but I did use it to teach my children right from wrong. We lovingly called our paddle, the “Pow-Pow” and I can promise you that my children knew that when Dad got out the Pow-Pow it was going to hurt. As our children become more mature, the discipline changed to time out, taking away privileges, etc. However, we must never lose sight of the purpose for the discipline—to teach right from wrong.

Obeying God as our Father is just as important to our spiritual growth as obedience to our parents was to our physical growth.

Ø 1 Peter 1:14-16 (NIV) 14 As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” a

We must show our humility, meekness, moderation, love, fear, and obedience toward God, as well as our patient submission to His disciplining hand—so that men, seeing our light, may glorify our God.

Ø Phil. 2:15 “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world”

We must submit ourselves as a child to the chastisement of the Lord as being the chastisement of our Father. The Lord deals with us as His children when we misbehave and do not keep His commandments. He will punish us with the rod of afflictions. If we rise up against this punishment, murmur and complain, or say “I am not a child of God, God is not my Father, because God hurts me; if He were my Father, He would have compassion on me; He would deliver me from this punishment”— then we are saying that we know best and we are not being submissive to His discipline. Instead it is best that we be quiet, and humbly submit and say, I will “Humble myself therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt me in due time” (1 Pet. 5:6).

Ø Hebrews 12:5-10 (NIV) 5 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, 6 because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” a 7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8 If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness.”

5. Love the family of God

Brothers and sisters may fight and speak badly about each other, but no one outside the family dare do so. Those are fighting words! We will stick up for a family member, even when they done wrong or are the black sheep of the family.

How much more should we as sons/daughters support those who are in the body of Christ? Not just our church, but the whole family of God. I think this is one of the saddest things I see in the church (universal), that we do not love and support one another (e.g. Baptists fight against Methodists, etc.). Yet we are all part of the same family. We should live as sons/daughters of God in mutual love and peace, so that men may see that the Spirit dwelling in us differs from the one dwelling in them.

Ø John 13:34-35 (NIV) “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

As God loves us with an infinite, eternal, and absolute love, His love grows in us as His sons/daughters.

Ø 1 John 4:19 “We love Him, because He first loved us”

Our love of God is a real and dependable mark of son ship.

Ø 1 Cor. 8:3 “But if any man love God, the same is known of Him”

Paul was strongly motivated by the love of God.

Ø 2 Cor. 5:14 “For the love of Christ constraineth us”

Ø Gal. 5:6 Yes, anyone who has faith will manifest this love. “...faith which worketh by love”

Now, please don’t feel condemned if as you examine yourself in the light of these characteristics you find yourself lacking in some of them. There is a process that we must go through to become sons/daughters. It begins with our spiritual birth as children and ends with our going home to heaven. In between that time we are changing and growing day by day in ways that sometimes we can’t see. But the Father knows exactly what He is doing to help us to grow into maturity as His sons/daughters.

Ø Philippians 1:6 (NIV) 6 being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

There is one more truth in this passage in Romans that is found in Romans 8:17. That is that we have an inheritance with Christ as children of God. Notice that our inheritance is tied to the fact that we belong to the family, not to the level of our maturity. This means that we do not have to wait a certain amount of time before we can enter into our spiritual inheritance; it is ours the moment we are saved, and it applies to all believers, men and women, boys and girls.

As children of God we are the benefactors of all the covenant blessings that God has for His children. Of course, the primary blessing is that of our salvation—which is what brings us into the family of God. Paul says, “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him” (1 Cor. 2:9).

Our inheritance consists of sound wisdom (Prov. 2:7), riches and righteousness (Prov. 8:18), and a kingdom which the Lord Jesus has appointed unto us (Luke 22:29). It is “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you” (1 Pet. 1:4), a glorious inheritance which is “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints” (Eph. 1:18). It is an eternal inheritance; “that...they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance” (Heb. 9:15). It is beyond our understanding and beyond words what exactly our inheritance is, but we know that it is all good!

So as let us continually strive to grow into maturity as sons and daughters under the loving guidance and care of our Heavenly Father.

ADOPTION

huiothesia (υἱοθεσία, 5206), from huios, “a son,” and thesis, “a placing,” akin to tithemi, “to place,” signifies the place and condition of a son given to one to whom it does not naturally belong. The word is used by the apostle Paul only.

In Rom. 8:15, believers are said to have received “the Spirit of adoption,” that is, the Holy Spirit who, given as the Firstfruits of all that is to be theirs, produces in them the realization of sonship and the attitude belonging to sons. In Gal. 4:5 they are said to receive “the adoption of sons,” i.e., sonship bestowed in distinction from a relationship consequent merely upon birth; here two contrasts are presented, (1) between the sonship of the believer and the unoriginated sonship of Christ, (2) between the freedom enjoyed by the believer and bondage, whether of Gentile natural condition, or of Israel under the Law. In Eph. 1:5 they are said to have been foreordained unto “adoption as sons” through Jesus Christ, rv; the kjv, “adoption of children” is a mistranslation and misleading. God does not “adopt” believers as children; they are begotten as such by His Holy Spirit through faith. “Adoption” is a term involving the dignity of the relationship of believers as sons; it is not a putting into the family by spiritual birth, but a putting into the position of sons. In Rom. 8:23 the “adoption” of the believer is set forth as still future, as it there includes the redemption of the body, when the living will be changed and those who have fallen asleep will be raised. In Rom. 9:4 “adoption” is spoken of as belonging to Israel, in accordance with the statement in Exod. 4:12, “Israel is My Son.” Cf. Hos. 11:1. Israel was brought into a special relation with God, a collective relationship, not enjoyed by other nations, Deut. 14:1; Jer. 31:9, etc.¶ [ii]

----

a Gal 5:18

b Hos 1:10; Matt 5:9; John 1:12; Rom 8:16, 19; 9:8, 26; 2 Cor 6:18; Gal 3:26; 1 John 3:1; Rev 21:7

a 2 Tim 1:7; Heb 2:15

1 Lit for fear again

b Rom 8:23; Gal 4:5f

2 Or the Spirit

c Mark 14:36; Gal 4:6

a Acts 5:32

b Hos 1:10; Matt 5:9; John 1:12; Rom 8:14, 19; 9:8, 26; 2 Cor 6:18; Gal 3:26; 1 John 3:1; Rev 21:7

a Acts 20:32; Gal 3:29; 4:7; Eph 3:6; Titus 3:7; Heb 1:14; Rev 21:7

b 2 Cor 1:5, 7; Phil 3:10; Col 1:24; 2 Tim 2:12; 1 Pet 4:13

a 2 Cor 4:17; 1 Pet 4:13

b Col 3:4; Titus 2:13; 1 Pet 1:5; 5:1

a Phil 1:20

b Rom 8:18; 1 Cor 1:7f; Col 3:4; 1 Pet 1:7, 13; 1 John 3:2

c Hos 1:10; Matt 5:9; John 1:12; Rom 8:14, 16; 9:8, 26; 2 Cor 6:18; Gal 3:26; 1 John 3:1; Rev 21:7

a Gen 3:17–19

b Ps 39:5f; Eccl 1:2

c Gen 3:17; 5:29

1 Or in hope; because the creation

Rom 5:3

Rom 8:16; 2 Cor 1:22

2 Cor 5:2, 4

Rom 8:15, 19, 25; Gal 5:5

Rom 4:13; 1 Cor 3:23

Lit are Christ’s

Lit seed

Or rudimentary teachings or principles

Gal 2:4; 4:8f, 24f

a Mark 1:15

b John 1:14; Rom 1:3; 8:3; Phil 2:7

c Luke 2:21f, 27

1 Or law

a Rom 8:14; Gal 3:26

a Acts 16:7; Rom 5:5; 8:9, 16; 2 Cor 3:17

b Mark 14:36; Rom 8:15

a Rom 8:17

1 I.e. through the gracious act of

Heb 4:15; James 1:14

[i]Elwell, W. A., & Elwell, W. A. (1997, c1996). Evangelical dictionary of biblical theology (electronic ed.). Baker reference library; Logos Library System. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

a Lev. 11:44,45; 19:2; 20:7

a Prov. 3:11,12

¶ Indicates that all the NT occurrences of the Greek word under consideration are mentioned under the heading or sub-heading.

[ii]Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W. (1996). Vine's complete expository dictionary of Old and New Testament words (2:13-14). Nashville: T. Nelson.