Heirs of God

Romans 8:15-17

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

This is a direct connection to what Paul ended the last passage on—that we are no longer just slaves or debtors. When it comes to those who are in Jesus Christ, we are sons and daughters, heirs of the King. The reason we are not just slaves even though we are bound to the Spirit, Paul explains, is because we have not received a spirit of slavery because this would bind us to the actions we do and, in essence, to fear. Instead, we have a Spirit of adoption. Paul shows here what this spirit of adoption is; instead of being afraid we cry out for the Father, and He hears us. The Holy Spirit, again, shows us that we are children of God with a knowledge in our head and also an understanding directly to our Spirit. This testament is that we are children of God and as children that means we are also heirs and since Jesus is the Son of God then heirs with Christ. Here is the main caveat Paul wants to show, though. We are only heirs with outward proof of sharing with Jesus’ sacrifice which unlocks the inheritance of being glorified with him also.

What this means for those in Christ is a call to not fear—fear is for those under the cruel task master of the flesh—instead of fear we have someone who we can make our requests to and that is because He is our Father not by blood, obviously, but by adoption because of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. Paul gives this picture of crying Abba! Father! To me this is like crying, “Help me, Dad!” We do not need to worry in fear because we are not in control, God is in control. We see the Holy Spirit is that conduit which connects us to God. He is the one that shows we are Children of God. At the same time, there is a call to action for us as Christians not to be lazy sons and daughters and to show we are going to receive the inheritance that Christ gets, which is everlasting life in heaven, by sharing with His suffering. Being a Christian is never about what we do, but being a Christian means there is physical suffering because we are no greater than our master and if He suffered then we will too. This passage shows we should delight in it because we can have confidence we will be glorified with Jesus.

For those who do not have Jesus this shows the answer to all of your fears and anxiety—coming to Jesus. You can see that Jesus not only enables us to live in the Spirit but also to have a new inheritance with God. God is there willing to call those who will believe, sons and daughters of God adopted into His family. This will expel the worries of life and replace them with a mindset that we have a Father to go to who will help us through any problem. This is important to note, though, it is only for those in Christ, for those who have made that step to say they will follow Him and who have received the Holy Spirit. This is available to everyone right now! That commitment will cost a lot—it will involve suffering like Christ suffered—this is not something that can be taken lightly or understood completely until someone has made that commitment. As Jesus said, one must be born again to understand this and all the mysteries of the kingdom (John 3).