Adopted of the Father

Beginning with today’s passage and continuing through tomorrow’s (8:14–17), Paul presents yet another reason we can rest assured that we will not face condemnation (8:1)—the Holy Spirit’s work has brought us into an incredible new standing with God.

As the apostle began to show in the verses we examined yesterday, it is right and proper for us to yield ourselves to God because of all He has done for us. We have an obligation to live as He commands. But we must not think of ourselves merely as slaves who have been removed from a particularly harsh bondage to one that is less severe. When God delivered us from slavery to sin (6:17–18), we “did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear.” Instead, incredibly, God went into sin’s slave market and selected wretched rebels against His rule to adopt as His sons and daughters. We have “received the Spirit of adoption”! As sinners, we were children of Adam (5:18). Now we have become the children of God. And because God the Father gives to all His children the gift of the Holy Spirit to guide them and enable them in their battle for righteousness, we can rest assured that the leading of the Spirit in our lives is proof positive that we are truly beloved children of God. As Paul says, “as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”

This is Paul’s first mention of the doctrine of adoption, of the idea that God’s people are His children. It represents a wonderful new way of understanding what God has done for us and who He is. Dr. James M. Boice writes: “When we speak of salvation as justification, we are thinking of God as Judge. That is a remote and somewhat grim relationship. When we think of regeneration, we are thinking of God as Creator. That, too, is remote. But when we think of adoption, we are thinking of God as our Father, which denotes a far closer relationship.” This concept gives us an image of God and His work on our behalf that is infused with love for us. Indeed, so close is our new relationship to Him that we can even approach Him using the intimate term Daddy (the meaning of the Aramaic word Abba). This is the word Jesus Himself used when He addressed God, for He was utterly confident of God’s love for Him. So should we be. And it should be our desire, as it was Jesus’, to please our loving Father above all else.