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I. ITS NATURE.

1. Paul draws a distinction between God's Spirit and our spirit; it is not our spiritual life that bears this testimony, but the Spirit of God. There are those who conceive that a feeling suddenly rises in the Christian, which is a conviction of his election, and that this is the witness of the Holy Spirit. Hence men have waited for it with anxiety. Of course a sudden emotion may come, but to rely on any emotion is to rely upon our own spirit bearing witness with itself. Man is not saved by feeling that he is saved. Nor has he the witness of sonship by feeling that he is a son of God; but by the Spirit of God apprehending and quickening his soul.

2. The apostle is speaking of continued evidence. If men imagine that certain ecstatic spiritual emotions are proofs of the witness of sonship, the witness is fitful and transient; for the inner life is as full of changes as an April day, and if a man founds his assurance on this, he will to-day believe in his sonship, and to-morrow utterly doubt it. Paul, in the former part of this chapter, has spoken of being freed from condemnation; of being spiritually minded; of being led by the Spirit; all these are continued facts of Christian life, therefore the witness of the Spirit is equally continued.

3. The ground on which Paul bases the evidence of sonship is that of a Divine Spirit, greater than the emotions of our souls, consciously acting upon us. But how do we know this? When we feel conscious not so much of possessing a life, as of a life possessing us.

(1) This distinction holds through all the higher forms of human life. The man who proclaims the truth he holds is never the highest kind of preacher; he who speaks because the truth possesses him leaves an impress on the ages. The true artist is not the man who depicts his own ideas, but he who is tilled by a mighty inspiration which compels him to paint the forms of beauty which he sees glowing around him.

(2) Passing to the moral life, we find the same distinction. He who does right because he may give pleasure, and fears to do wrong because it is painful, is never, in the highest sense, a moral man at all; but he only is such who does right because filled with a life grander than his own.

(3) So in spiritual life. When we are led by a Spirit of life greater than our own, we know that the Divine Spirit is acting upon us. That is a witness of sonship founded on the rock of God's eternal truthfulness.

4. The manner in which this evidence rises in the soul. Observe how the text is woven into the chapter. Paul speaks of the action of God's Spirit as —

(1) Deliverance from the carnal (ver. 13). Here, then, is the witness — when the old affections are being uprooted and a deep desire is created after perfect purity.

(2) The spirit of prayer (ver. 26).

(3) The spirit of aspiration (ver. 23). The feeling that here there is no rest — the whole life becoming one prayer for more light, greater power, deeper love; not, mark, the cry for happiness, but the cry — "Nearer, my God, to Thee."

II. ITS NECESSITY.

1. To enable us to enter into perfect communion with God. Till we can feel His power possessing us — till we can see His smile behind every sorrow, we shall fear Him.

2. To realise our spiritual inheritance. You know the feeling of sadness which comes when gazing at night into immensity — the thought that this short life will soon be over, and we shall be swept away and forgotten. Then how grandly comes the witness to our sonship, saying, "Thou cast down? Look up into immensity, it is all thine, fear not, thou art a child of the Infinite."

3. In order to comprehend the glory of suffering. Mark the connection in Paul's words between the sufferings of this life and the glory to be revealed hereafter, as if he had said, "As the suffering is great, so also shall be the glory." None but the man who has the "witness of the Spirit" is able to look through the sorrow to the blessedness hereafter.

III. ITS ATTAINMENT. In order to acquire this witness, carry into action every spiritual power you possess — translate every emotion into life. Remember you have to "work together with God." Take care that you "grieve not the Holy Spirit." Feel that every point gained in spiritual life is a point to be maintained. Take care that when you are brought nearer to God by suffering, you do not allow yourself to fall back; if you do, the light of the Spirit will fade. "If then ye live in the Spirit, walk in the Spirit."

(E. L. Hull, B.A.)

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KJV: The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:

WEB: The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God;