Romans 8:14-16 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. 15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
The new life in Christ that the Spirit brings also makes us the children of God. Not every human being is a child of God who inherits the eternal life God promises to those who trust in Jesus. All people are created by God but walk away into sin. Only those who come back are truly the children of God. Sadly, many people misunderstand this and base their ideas on false premises emerging from our “politically correct” and relativistic age. The opposite of v. 14 is that those who are not reborn of the Spirit are not God’s children. Being slaves to sin and the flesh brings fear. People are afraid of many things, especially death. People try to suppress this fear and ignore it to their detriment. People are also afraid to commit their lives to God because they have give up control and pride, which ensure and trap people to the deepest part of our beings. A form of slavery continues in the unyielded life because the old life has not been fully put to death. A slave obeys out of fear of penalty. A son lives in a special relationship of freedom and obeys out of love. When we yield our lives to God, we are adopted into his family through the work of the Spirit. This new relationship is marked by the ability to call God the intimate Aramaic word Abba. The Spirit gives assurance to us of this adoption through purifying our conscience from guilt and shame and growing fruit in us (Gal. 5:22-23). We can have inner assurance of eternal life because the Spirit is cleaning and clearing our consciences and helping us to walk in obedience.
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