Studies in Romans

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, California · Jun 3, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 34, No. 23.

Studies in Romans

The Adopted Sons of God.

THE studies in Romans contained in the late issues of this paper have dwelt upon those portions of the book that show how we are delivered from the bondage to the fleshly lusts and sins of our fallen natures; thus is the foundation laid for the verses that follow, and which show God's plan of adopting us as sons and daughters into His own family.

"For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him."

"For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward. For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the Son of God. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of Him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body." Rom. 8: 14-23.

"As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God." God offers His Spirit to us freely. His design is that His Spirit shall be our leader. The Spirit connects us with heaven so that we may feed on the word of God in such a manner as to bring all the affections and lusts of the flesh into complete subjection. We may be absolutely led and kept by the mighty power of the Spirit of God.

In previous studies we have found that the Father above has made the plan by which we may receive as a gift from Him the righteousness of His own Son to take the place of all the sins of all our past lives. And having thus taken care of our past by imputing to us the righteousness of His own life, He provides for our keeping that righteousness thru the power of the indwelling of His Spirit. Then comes the crowning climax of the

Adoption as Sons.

"For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." While in the life of sin, we were under the bondage to sin. But having renounced our lives of wicked deeds, and having accepted the perfect life of Christ instead, we are now delivered from that bondage; we are free men and women in Christ; we are the adopted children of the most high God. In the delights of this newly found relationship

we stand in His gifted robes of righteousness, exclaiming Father! Father! He has taken us from our sins and degradations, fitted us to stand in His presence, and then adopted us into His own family! We are His sons, and He is our own Father!

"The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified with Him." The Spirit beareth witness that we are "children of God." And not only are we children, but our Father has an estate and we are heirs because we are children. And this is not all. We, the adopted children, are made to be "joint-heirs with Christ," the only-begotten Son. What an inestimable gift is thus bestowed upon the adopted children of our Father in heaven! How marvelously is the infinite love and unselfish fatherly kindness of the Lord thus manifested!

In that wonderful prayer of Christ, recorded in the seventeenth of John, it is prayed, "That they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and loveest them, even as Thou lovedst Me." This prayer was offered just before the Lord was led to the judgment-hall to be condemned and crucified. He pleads with His Father to make it manifest to the world that the believer in Christ is loved by the Father the same as He loves His own Son. What more could Heaven do to show to mankind the interest and heart devotion that are given to our salvation! We are "joint-heirs with Christ," and occupy the same place in the affections of the Father as does His only-begotten Son.

Having manifested such love toward us as this, how appropriate is the statement that "the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to us-ward."

"The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now." For "the creation was subjected to vanity." It was thrown into the bondage of corruption by reason of the sins of mankind and of the fallen angels. The divinely ordained course of nature has been broken in upon by the rebellion of sin. "The whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain;" things are out of joint; disturbances in sun, and moon, and star, and storms and upheavals on earth, all show that creation is made to suffer; matters are not right, else such things would not occur.

But soon all this must be changed. "The earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God." "And it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as He is pure." 1 John 3:2, 3. T.