https://youtu.be/0qesDN4nrvA
In our verse-by-verse study of Romans we are in Rom 8:15; our expanded translation so far is; "For you have not received again a life of slavery..."
We noted that "slavery" refers to the tyranny of old sin nature. The adverb "palin" (again and again) is used here to describe oscillating back and forth from a new state or manner of life to a former state or manner of life.
The new is a mental attitude of freedom and the former is a mental attitude of slavery or dependence. Then the prepositional phrase "eis" (to) plus the accusative of "phobos" (fear) so we have "for you have not received again a life of slavery to 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 anxious and 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 that is based in God's integrity and it is an assurance that is based on absolute confidence from God's immutable unfailing Word of Truth that has been metabolized and is resident in the thinking of the heart of the doctrinal 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 exclusively dependant on circumstances for happiness.
The life of slavery that is being described here is the marriage to the old sin nature that starts at biological birth, but believers are divorced from the old sin nature through retroactive positional truth when they are born again so believers are free from the life of slavery to the uncertain 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 under the teaching ministry of God the Holy Spirit.
"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 marriage to the sin nature and the second marriage to Jesus Christ.
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 verb "lambano" (receive) that was used in the first phrase of the verse.
It is a constantive aorist tense that describes the instantaneous action that occurred at the moment of salvation through the baptism of the Spirit and current positional truth that irrevocably 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 doctrinal 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 that was common 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 the heir reached 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 with the same status that Jesus has.
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 with Christ 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" (which). 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 an 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 the ultimate good for those who execute the plan that when followed results in maturity adjustment to God's justice and maximum direct blessing from God's justice.
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 so it refers exclusively to God the Father.
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 of inheritance to describe it.
Adoption has the connotation of great blessing. It means plan, purpose, power, blessing, 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 for every individual believer 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 which we keep shouting, Abba, the Father."
"Abba" is the customary Aramaic title for God. We see this word is in Mark 14:36; when our Lord Jesus Christ was contemplating His death on the cross the next day and He said to God the Father: "Abba, Father, all things are possible with you; remove this cup from me: yet not what I will, but what you will."
He says Your plan, Father, not mine. He recognized that the justice of God the Father had a plan to take all of the personal sins committed by the human race in human history and to impute them to Him on the cross for judgment.
When He said "Abba" to the Father, He made it clear to the Father that He understood the plan. Abba, then, is what the mature believer who has maximum personal love for God the Father says because he understands God the Father's plan from consistent daily intake of God's Word of truth that results in complete and total confidence in God at spiritual maturity,
The mature believer understands God's plan so he understands what must happen for him to fulfill God's will in his life in order to receive the great blessings that will come his way as a part of God's plan.
These direct blessings from God include spiritual blessings, material blessings, blessings by association, historical impact, and blessings of the imputation of undeserved sufferings in life.
If a believer is ever going to be related to reality God's Word of Truth must come into their life. It must be specifically related to their life, not just be an academic subject but as an integral part of their personal life.
Rom 8:16; "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit" - the nominative neuter singular subject "pneuma"(spirit) refers to God the Holy Spirit. The nominative neuter singular from "autos" (himself) is an intensive pronoun that refers to an individual so we say "himself."
The definite article "ho" also makes it monadic so it is a specific reference to God the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity. Plus the present active indicative from the compound verb "summartyreo" "sym" is the preposition "syn" (with); "martyro" (martyro) means to testify, to bear witness it also means to confirm or testify in support of someone or something).
"The Spirit himself confirms along with" is a good translation. This is a historical present tense that t the present time.
The active voice: the Holy Spirit produces the action of the verb, along with the doctrinal content of the human spirit that testifies doctrinal truth along with the Holy Spirit.
Paul is telling us that God the Holy Spirit plus the human spirit is inserting doctrinal truth into the believer's life because doctrinal truth does not only reside in the heart of the believer's soul but it also resides in the human spirit because the human spirit is how God the Holy Spirit teaches the heart of the human soul.
The Holy Spirit takes the doctrinal truth that resides in the human spirit and turns it into a reality factor. The instrumental of association from "pneuma" (spirit) is the human spirit is used again to refer to the location where doctrinal truth resides for insertion into reality as well as for building up the soul with God's Word of absolute Truth.
Next is the genitive possessive plural from the personal pronoun "hemeis" (our): "The Spirit himself testifies together with our spirit." This describes a mutual testimony that fulfills the principle of 'In the testimony of two or three witnesses a fact shall be established.'
We see here that reality is established by the testimony of God the Holy Spirit combined with the doctrinal content of the human spirit. This is the combination that is necessary for establishing reality as well as being the means of advance to spiritual maturity.
The filling ministry of God the Holy Spirit plus doctrinal truth resident in the believer's human spirit builds up the soul and sets God's Word of Truth up to be the believer's reality.
A believer cannot face reality properly unless they face it from the God's viewpoint. God's viewpoint demands the insertion of doctrinal truth into any given circumstance or situation.