Rom 8:21 | KingComments | STEP | . Being led by the Spirit is quite different from planning your life according to some law. If your rule of life is a law, then you’re nothing but a slave to it. A slave doesn’t have a tender and intimate relationship with his master. He must simply do what he is told. In the back of the mind, there is always the fear of doing something wrong. The Spirit, that is, the new life you have received, has nothing to do with slavery and fear. The Spirit you have received is a Spirit of adoption. There’s the difference. Through this you can address God as Father. You cry out: “Abba, Father!” This indicates a trusting and friendly relationship. You know the Father as Someone Who is very close to you and to Whom you have been brought very close. He loves you and you trust Him completely. You have been brought into a family relationship with Him. You have become His child. . The Holy Spirit dwelling in you testifies with your spirit, that is, the new life you have received, that you are a child of God. You are a child of your parents because you have been born out of them. This is a completed, irreversible fact. Nothing can change this. Similarly, you’re a child of God because you have been born of God. Nothing can change this either. Hence it can be said that once a child of God, always a child of God. In a child the features of the parents are visible. Likewise, God’s features find their expression in a child of God. In Philippians 2 you can read about this, but there it addresses more your responsibility ( ). Here in Romans 8, it speaks more of your privileges. This chapter is full of them. . If you’re a child, then you’re an heir as well. An heir is someone who receives property from someone else. God is the Owner of all creation. He will give His property to you when you are glorified with Christ. Christ is the Heir and you are a fellow heir with Him. Whatever you receive, it is always in connection with Him. This includes suffering. If you suffer with Him, it proves you possess the new life. Here it is the kind of suffering our Lord Jesus knew when on earth. He suffered in this creation when He saw what sin had done and how it was doing its devastating work. . You will suffer in the same way if you see the consequences of sin around you. What misuse man makes of what God has created! He uses everything for his own glory and satisfaction. Don’t you long for the moment when the inheritance, the creation, will again be in the hands of its rightful Owner? Paul did. He was looking forward to the future glory he was going to see. The suffering he had to bear was nothing compared with the future glory. For us, this is an encouraging lesson. The more this glorious future becomes a reality to you, the more you will be able to bear the unpleasant things you experience as a believer. . What does the “revealing of the sons of God” mean? This means a moment is coming when all the sons of God, all the believers, will visibly appear in this creation to reign over it together with the Lord Jesus. As a result of man’s mismanagement, creation fails to yield as much as God put in it. Despite all the attempts of man to reach a fair distribution of creation’s riches, the chaos is constantly increasing. Man trusts in his abilities, but forgets he is fallen in sin. He has dragged creation along with him in his fall. So, creation has been made subject to vanity, not of its will, but by the conscious sin of man. . And yet, there is hope for creation. It will be set free. Currently the curse rests on creation like a slave’s yoke. You can see this by the corruption that attaches itself to everything. The corruption of the creation means that creation has been pulled downward to a lower state. She no longer has the glorious state of Eden. This pulling down is because of the corruption that entered creation along with sin. But the moment is close when the children of God will be in glory. When the Lord Jesus takes them away, they will really be free and out of the reach of the corruption in creation. And soon afterward, the creation itself will be set free. Do you also look forward to this? Now read Romans 8:15-21 again. Reflection: Can you say what Paul says in ?

‏ Romans 8:21

Children and Heirs of God

Rom 8:15. Being led by the Spirit is quite different from planning your life according to some law. If your rule of life is a law, then you’re nothing but a slave to it. A slave doesn’t have a tender and intimate relationship with his master. He must simply do what he is told. In the back of the mind, there is always the fear of doing something wrong.

The Spirit, that is, the new life you have received, has nothing to do with slavery and fear. The Spirit you have received is a Spirit of adoption. There’s the difference. Through this you can address God as Father. You cry out: “Abba, Father!” This indicates a trusting and friendly relationship. You know the Father as Someone Who is very close to you and to Whom you have been brought very close. He loves you and you trust Him completely. You have been brought into a family relationship with Him. You have become His child.

Rom 8:16. The Holy Spirit dwelling in you testifies with your spirit, that is, the new life you have received, that you are a child of God. You are a child of your parents because you have been born out of them. This is a completed, irreversible fact. Nothing can change this. Similarly, you’re a child of God because you have been born of God. Nothing can change this either. Hence it can be said that once a child of God, always a child of God. In a child the features of the parents are visible. Likewise, God’s features find their expression in a child of God. In Philippians 2 you can read about this, but there it addresses more your responsibility (Phil 2:14-16). Here in Romans 8, it speaks more of your privileges. This chapter is full of them.

Rom 8:17. If you’re a child, then you’re an heir as well. An heir is someone who receives property from someone else. God is the Owner of all creation. He will give His property to you when you are glorified with Christ. Christ is the Heir and you are a fellow heir with Him. Whatever you receive, it is always in connection with Him. This includes suffering. If you suffer with Him, it proves you possess the new life. Here it is the kind of suffering our Lord Jesus knew when on earth. He suffered in this creation when He saw what sin had done and how it was doing its devastating work.

Rom 8:18. You will suffer in the same way if you see the consequences of sin around you. What misuse man makes of what God has created! He uses everything for his own glory and satisfaction. Don’t you long for the moment when the inheritance, the creation, will again be in the hands of its rightful Owner? Paul did. He was looking forward to the future glory he was going to see. The suffering he had to bear was nothing compared with the future glory. For us, this is an encouraging lesson. The more this glorious future becomes a reality to you, the more you will be able to bear the unpleasant things you experience as a believer.

Rom 8:19-20. What does the “revealing of the sons of God” mean? This means a moment is coming when all the sons of God, all the believers, will visibly appear in this creation to reign over it together with the Lord Jesus. As a result of man’s mismanagement, creation fails to yield as much as God put in it. Despite all the attempts of man to reach a fair distribution of creation’s riches, the chaos is constantly increasing. Man trusts in his abilities, but forgets he is fallen in sin. He has dragged creation along with him in his fall. So, creation has been made subject to vanity, not of its will, but by the conscious sin of man.

Rom 8:21. And yet, there is hope for creation. It will be set free. Currently the curse rests on creation like a slave’s yoke. You can see this by the corruption that attaches itself to everything. The corruption of the creation means that creation has been pulled downward to a lower state. She no longer has the glorious state of Eden. This pulling down is because of the corruption that entered creation along with sin. But the moment is close when the children of God will be in glory. When the Lord Jesus takes them away, they will really be free and out of the reach of the corruption in creation. And soon afterward, the creation itself will be set free. Do you also look forward to this?

Now read Romans 8:15-21 again.

Reflection: Can you say what Paul says in Rom 8:18?