Romans 8:15 For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba… I. WHAT IS MEANT BY "THE SPIRIT OF BONDAGE"? 1. A distressing apprehension of danger, arising from the conviction of sin, which is one of the first effects of the law upon the conscience. 2. A sense of our lost and undone condition. A sense of sin is generally attended with a sight of wrath, and a conviction of the worth of the soul; and where the one is deeply felt, the other is greatly feared. Hence the anxious inquiries of the Philippian jailor, and of the multitudes under Peter's sermon. 3. Apprehensions respecting present judgments. Unpardoned guilt fills the mind with continual terrors (Job 15:20-24). 4. An habitual fear of death. 5. The expectation of future punishment. 6. The conviction of utter inability to extricate himself out of his present situation. II. Inquire IN WHAT RESPECTS BELIEVERS ARE DELIVERED FROM THIS, SO AS NOT TO BE AGAIN IN FEAR. Though believers are not wholly exempt from a spirit of bondage — 1. They seldom feel it in the same degree, nor do they feel it for long. 2. It does not arise from the same source as before, and therefore is not of the same nature. The terror which a sinner feels is from God, but that which a believer often experiences is the work of Satan, taking advantage of a constitutional melancholy, or of some adverse dispensation. 3. They are relieved and sustained by the hopes and promises of the gospel. 4. This servile spirit — (1) Is by no means adapted to the present dispensation, and therefore believers cannot be said to have received it, as forming any part of their real or proper character (2 Timothy 1:7). (2) Is also highly injurious to the practical part of religion. The more we walk in the light of God's countenance, the more readily shall we run in the way of His commandments. III. WHAT IS THAT "SPIRIT OF ADOPTION" WHICH BELIEVERS HAVE RECEIVED. 1. The Spirit of adoption is distinct from adoption itself, and is not essential to its existence. 2. Of those who enjoy the Spirit of adoption, some have more of it, and others less. 3. The same saints do not at all times enjoy the same measure of this Spirit, but differ as much from themselves as they do from one another. 4. Wherever this Spirit is received, it must be considered as the fruit of sovereign grace. 5. It more especially consists in the Holy Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. The Spirit is not only a witness to Christ without us, but to Christ within us; and therefore when our conscience bears us witness in the Holy Ghost, it is to be acquiesced in as a faithful and unerring report; for if conscience itself be as good as a thousand witnesses, how much more when its decisions are made under the influences of the Spirit of God. 6. The Holy Spirit in becoming a Spirit of adoption, imparts to the adopted a temper suited to that relation. IV. THE BLESSED EFFECT ARISING FROM OUR HAVING RECEIVED THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION: Hereby we cry, "Abba, Father." Prayer is the very breath of a child of God; the first effort of Divine grace in the heart. The cry of "Abba, Father," now proceeds from the fulness of his heart, and this includes in it the following particulars — 1. Familiarity and holy boldness at a throne of grace. 2. A comfortable persuasion of the love of God towards us. 3. Reverence and honour (Malachi 1:6). 4. Trust and confidence in God, as our Father and our Friend, 5. Great earnestness and importunity (2 Kings 2:12). (B. Beddome, M.A.) Parallel Verses KJV: For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. |
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