Romans 8.15a-The Christian Has Been Adopted 'Roman Style' Into The Family Of God
Wenstrom Bible Ministries
Pastor-Teacher Bill Wenstrom
Sunday November 16, 2008
Romans: Romans 8:15a-The Christian Has Been Adopted “Roman Style” Into The Royal Family Of God
Lesson # 259
Please turn in your Bibles to Romans 8:1.
This morning we will continue with our study of the book of Romans by noting Romans 8:15a, and in this passage, Paul teaches that the Christian has been adopted “Romans style” into the royal family of God.
Romans 8:1-4, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”
Romans 8:5, “For those who are according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit.”
Romans 8:6-8, “For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
Romans 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.”
Romans 8:10, “If Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness.”
Romans 8:11, “But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.”
Romans 8:12-13, “So then, brethren, we are under obligation, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh -- for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
Romans 8:14, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
Romans 8:15, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’”
Paul is teaching in Romans 8:15 that Christians are led by God the Holy Spirit because they have not received the Spirit who brings about slavery leading to fear again but rather they have received the Spirit who brings about their adoption as sons into the royal family of God.
“A spirit of slavery” is composed of the noun pneuma (pneuma), “a spirit” and the noun douleia (douleiva), “of slavery.”
The noun pneuma appears twice in Romans 8:15, appearing in the expression “a spirit of bondage” (pneuma douleias) and “a spirit of adoption” (pneuma huiothesias).
The word is translated “spirit” since the translators interpret the word as either referring to an attitude, disposition or mentality (Compare 1 Corinthians 4:21 and 2 Timothy 1:7).
Therefore, if we interpret pneuma as referring to an attitude, disposition or mentality in both instances where the word is used, this would mean that Paul is teaching in Romans 8:15 that the Christian has not received a mentality or spirit of bondage but rather a mentality or spirit produced by adoption.
There are also some who interpret the second pneuma as referring to the Spirit and the first referring to a mentality or attitude.
Therefore, this would mean that Paul is teaching in Romans 8:15 that the Christian has not received a mentality or attitude of slavery but rather the Spirit who effects the Christian’s adoption into the family of God.
However, there are several reasons why both of these interpretations are incorrect and that the word in both instances is a reference to the Holy Spirit.
In Romans 8:1-27, Paul is teaching regarding the Spirit’s work on behalf of the Christian as related to his sanctification.
Also there is a clear connection that Paul is making between the believer’s sonship and the Holy Spirit in Romans 8:14 and 23 (Compare Galatians 4:4-7).
Some contend that the expression “a spirit of bondage” in Romans 8:15 refers to the Spirit’s role in relation to the Law in convicting people of sin in the Old Testament dispensation.
However, nowhere in Romans does he teach that the Spirit is related to bringing the Christian into bondage to the Law or sin but Paul teaches that the Spirit sets the Christian free from sin and the Law (Romans 8:2).
Also, in Galatians 4:4-7, slavery is tied to being under the Law.
In Romans 7:5-6, Paul contrasts the “letter” of the Law with the Spirit and teaches that the Spirit has freed the Christian from the bondage and condemnation of the Law as a result of the presence of the indwelling Adamic sin nature.
Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 3:6-18 teaches that the Spirit gives life but the letter of the Law kills.
Therefore, it would appear that the noun pneuma in the expression “a spirit of slavery” in Romans 8:15 does not refer to the Spirit since the Scriptures do not teach that He is related to bringing the believer under any type of bondage to the Law or sin.
However, in the expression “a spirit of bondage” the noun pneuma does refer to the Spirit since it is used in a rhetorical sense and is used in a hypothetical sense in contrast to the expression “the Spirit of adoption.”
This means that he is teaching that the Spirit the Christians in Rome have received is not a “Spirit of bondage” or a Spirit who effects or brings about slavery but a Spirit, who effects or brings about their adoption as sons of God.
So he is not implying that the Spirit effects or brings into bondage to the Law or sin but rather He effects or brings about their adoptions as sons of God.
Therefore, in Romans 8:15, Paul uses pneuma twice with reference to the Holy Spirit in order to teach two things regarding His work on behalf of the Christian.
First of all, the Spirit in contrast to the sin nature does not enslave the Christian and does not condemn him like the Law.
The second is that He effects the Christian’s adoption into the royal family of God.
He does not make the Christian a slave like the sin nature did prior to justification, or condemn him like the Law but rather He makes the Christian a son of God.
This interpretation is supported by the fact that Paul is speaking of the Spirit’s work in relation to the Christian’s sanctification in Romans 8:1-27.
The rhetorical use of pneuma in the expression “a spirit of bondage” is used in a hypothetical sense in contrast to the concept taught in the expression “the Spirit of adoption.”
Paul does this in order to emphasize with his Christian readers in Rome that they have a familial and legal relationship with God so that they would be assured of their eternal salvation and that God is for them and not against them.
Paul uses the adoption metaphor and slavery metaphor together in order to appeal to the frame of reference of his readers since both slavery and adoption were institutions in the Roman Empire in the first century when he penned this epistle.
Romans 8:15, “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’”
“Leading to fear again” indicates that the Spirit will not lead them back into slavery to the sin nature, spiritual death or the condemnation of the Law, which results in fear of being judged by God but rather, the Spirit’s work freed them from these things and enables them to experience this deliverance from these things (2 Cor. 3:17).
“A spirit of adoption as sons” is composed of the noun pneuma (pneuma), “a spirit” and the noun huiothesia (ui(oqesiva) (hwee-oth-es-ee-ah), “of adoption.”
In Romans 8:15, the noun huiothesia means, “placing as a son” and refers to both the Greek and Roman legal institution of adoption.
Roman adoption was the process by which a person was transferred from his natural father’s power into that of his adoptive father.
Roman style adoption was the custom of selectivity, selecting some to fulfill or take over the family estates and guarantee that the next generation will be as efficient as the last generation in Roman life.
Under Roman law the adopted son had the same status and privileges as the real son and the real Son is our Lord Jesus Christ.
Roman style adoption served a useful purpose both socially and politically.
For example, a childless individual could adopt and ensure the continuation of the estates of the family, bequeathing not just property to the heir, but the family as well, for the new member accepted the name and rank of the adoptive father.
Politically, adoption could be used to great advantage as a means of improving one’s prospects by becoming adopted into a higher-class family moving from the Plebeian to the Patrician class.
An example of Roman style adoption was the Emperor Augustus who, as Octavius, was adopted by the testament of his uncle Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., taking the full name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus.
Adoption by testament, of course, was the naming of an heir through a will. As the adopted son of Gaius Julius Caesar, Octavius received not only the name and property of Caesar when he was assassinated in 44 B.C. but he received all the other benefits or social considerations as Caesar’s adopted son.
The moment the Christian was declared justified through faith alone in Christ alone, he was adopted Roman style into the royal family of God through the Baptism of the Spirit thus making him an heir of God and spiritual aristocracy.
The New Testament Scriptures teach that the church has been adopted into the royal family of God as adult sons thus conferring upon them all the privileges and responsibilities that go along with this new relationship with God.
The apostle Paul used the Roman style adoption analogy in his epistles to communicate to members of the churches throughout the Roman Empire their new relationship with God the Father that was acquired at the moment of faith in Christ.
The church age believer has been removed from the cosmic system as a child of the devil and has been placed as an adult son into the royal family of God, of which the Lord Jesus Christ is the Head (Colossians 1:13).
One of the purposes of the incarnation of the Son of God was that we might receive the adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4-7).
Galatians 4:4-7, “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.”
The Spirit makes this adoption real to the Christian’s experience (Gal. 4:6) and the filling of the Spirit enables the believer to experience his adoption (Ephesians 5:18).
The full manifestation of this adoption takes place at the rapture of the church (Rom. 8:23; Eph. 1:14; 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 1 Jn. 3:2).
The adoption of the church age believer means: (1) Privileges as an adult son of God (2) Responsibility to grow to spiritual maturity.
Ephesians 1:3-5, “Worthy of praise and glorification is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the One who has blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in the Person of Christ. When He elected us to privilege in Him before the foundation of the world for the purpose of being holy and blameless before Him. By means of divine love He has predestined us for the purpose of adoption for Himself according to grace purpose of His will.”