https://youtu.be/BeUTTGZsEpY
In our verse-by-verse study of Roman last time we completed our Expanded Translation of Rom 8:14; "For as many as are being led by the Spirit of God, these are mature sons of God."
We noted that in the dispensation of the Church Age God only guides His children who are believers in Jesus Christ, His royal family, and maximum guidance is only given to the mature believer because guidance requires maximum truth in the heart of the believer's soul for recall and application under the filling and mentor ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
For the immature believer guidance mostly comes from God's discipline as a warning to get back to learning Bible doctrine and believers who are consistently functioning under OSN control of the soul are guided by the pressure that is created in the stages of divine discipline.
Paul describes this in Acts 26:14;
One of the results of maturity adjustment to God's justice is God's guidance through the filling of the Spirit making application of resident doctrine in the soul. This results in the believer becoming spiritually self-sustaining.
A self sustaining believer is independent and autonomous because he does not need any consulting from other believers so he does not get any misinformation about any given course of action or what decision should be made from other believers.
One of the worst things that can happen to a believer is to be dependant on other believers for guidance or counsel from God's Word of Truth.
Only the mature believer has enough doctrinal truth metabolized in the heart of their soul to be sufficiently spiritually self-sustaining enough to make his own correct decisions and have complete confidence about God's will n any situation or circumstance of life.
When it comes to knowing and doing God's will there is no substitute for being a mature believer. The mature believer does not use others as a crutch because he does not depend upon the advice of others.
Feeling the need to seek guidance from others is an indication of weakness from a lack of personal spiritual growth from the inculcation of doctrine by God the Holy Spirit under God's GASP system.
The mature believer does not seek guidance or counsel, however other believers often ask him to provide it.
Rom 8:15; "For you have not received the spirit of slavery again to fear." This begins with the explanatory use of the conjunctive particle "gar" (for) with the negative 'ou" (not) so we have "ou gar" (not for).
Then we have the aorist active indicative of the verb "lambano" (you receive). The constantive aorist tense gathers into one entirety all of the negative action. The active voice: the believer produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood describes action from the viewpoint of existing reality.
Then we have the accusative singular direct object from "pneuma" (spirit). Pneuma can refer to the Holy Spirit, the human spirit, breath, and is also used for a state of mind or attitude toward life and that is its meaning here: "you have not received an attitude toward life."
Next is the descriptive genitive singular from "douleia" (slavery). This refers to slavery to the old sin nature. The adverb "palin" (again) is used here to describe reverting back to a previous state or reverting back to a former manner of life. "
The previous activity is a mental attitude of slavery or dependence. Then the prepositional phrase "eis" (for) plus the accusative of "phobos" (fear) so we have "for you have not received again a life of slavery for the purpose of fear."
God did not design the believer's new life in Jesus Christ to be a life of slavery to fear. God has provided all of these spiritual assets for us so that we can be confident and hopeful not fearful, nor does He want us to be afraid of anything that comes at us from satan's evil world.
Assurance and confidence are characteristics of the normal Christian way of life. However, it isn't self-confidence. It is confidence in God's integrity and it is an assurance that is based on absolute confidence from God's immutable Word of Truth that has been metabolized and is resident in the thinking of the heart of the believer's soul.
The life of the unbeliever is going to be unstable. The more unstable the historical situation in the devil's world is the more unstable the unbeliever will be because the unbeliever is dependant on circumstances for happiness.
The life of slavery that is being described here is the marriage to the old sin nature at biological birth, but believers are divorced from the old sin nature through retroactive positional truth by being born again so believers are free from the life of slavery to circumstances in the devil's world.
In addition, the purpose of our life has changed. The purpose of our life as members of God's royal family is to glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. This can only be accomplished by receiving the real imputation of maximum blessing directly from God's justice to the judicial righteousness that God imputed to us at salvation.
Fear is incompatible with this purpose so it is not the attitude of members of God's royal family who understand God's plan. Fear and instability in a believer in Jesus Christ indicates a lack of the filling of the Spirit and failure to consistently assimilate God's Word of Truth that renovates their thinking.
"But you have received a spirit of adoption" the adversative conjunction "alla" (but) is a very strong adversative that sets up a mutually exclusive division between the two clauses that describe the mental attitudes of the first and the second marriage.
The first marriage to the old sin nature is characterized by fear but the spirit of adoption characterizes the second marriage to Christ. "But you have received" "received" is translated from the aorist active indicative of the same verb "lambano" (receive) that was used previously.
This time it is a constantive aorist tense that describes the instantaneous action that occurred instantly at salvation through the baptism of the Spirit and current positional truth that entered the believer into union with Jesus Christ.
The active voice: the believer produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood describes the situation as an absolute reality.
This is followed by the accusative singular direct object from "pneuma" (Spirit) that refers to God the Holy Spirit who is the source of the baptism of the Spirit at salvation.
Plus a descriptive genitive "huiothesia" (huio = from, thesia = to place as an adult son) that is translated "adoption" using the Roman custom of adoption at the time the NT was written as an example.
The Romans had a custom of legally adopting their own children or even someone else as their legal heir at the point of legal maturity.
This adoption does not refer to the adoption of a baby that was born to other parents like we do today. It refers to the Roman custom of adoption of mature adults to be legal heirs.
The "spirit of adoption" means that the believer recognizes that he is an heir of God the Father just like Jesus is.
In Scripture adoption means to be positionally and legally recognized by God the Father as an adult son at salvation. The Latin word "adoptia" that is transliterated into the English adopt is the exact equivalent of the Greek "huiothesia," that refers to the adoption a legally adult son.
The imputations at salvation explain to us that God the Father has a specific plan and purpose for the life of each and every individual believer in Jesus Christ. Each and every individual Church Age believer is adopted as adult son at the moment they believe in Jesus Christ.
Every Church Age believer is united with Christ and is a joint-heir with Christ, and each one of us was adopted into that union at the moment of salvation. Gal 3:26-29; This adoption by God the Father is irrevocable.
Rom 8:15; "By which we cry out, Abba, Father" here we have the preposition "en" (by) plus the instrumental singular from the relative pronoun "hos" (whom), correctly translated "by whom." Then we have the present active indicative of the verb "krazo" (shout) that means to shout out. "Cry out" is an old English term. It refers to a shout of victory or a shout of happiness.
This is the expression of great happiness when we finally realize that God has a perfect plan for us, and that is includes a specific day-by-day plan for our life, and that it perfectly provides everything we need, and that there are no accidents and all things work together for good for those who execute the plan that when followed results in maturity adjustment to God's justice and maximum direct blessing from God.
For the mature believer God always works everything out for the ultimate good. The shout "Abba" is actually (the Hebrew word is "Ab" but it is also the Hellenistic form of the Aramaic word for "Father."
When Paul figured out the concept of adoption in this verse, he shouted out "Abba" that is the Hebrew language and then he went back to the Greek language that he was writing in, and used the Greek word "Pater" (Father) with the article "ho" (the) making it monadic.
Paul was Jewish even though he was also a Roman citizen. He is recognizing for the first time as a mature believer the great detail of God's plan and he is using the Roman system in order to describe it.
Adoption has the connotation of great blessing. It means plan, purpose, power, blessing, and privilege and eventually glory. So here is the expression of this incredible plan, this relationship that we have with God. Gal 4:6; Doctrinal Truth in the stream of consciousness of the heart of the soul enables the believer to understand just how awesome God's plan it is.
Expanded Translation Rom 8:15; "For you have not received again a life of slavery for the purpose of fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we keep shouting, Abba, the Father."