The Work of the Spirit:Adoption Romans 8:12-17

Overview

This sermon on Romans 8:12-17 explores the Holy Spirit's role in sanctification through adoption. It emphasizes the believer’s release from slavery to sin, identity as God’s child, inheritance alongside Christ, and the importance of suffering as confirmation of adoption. Adoption is presented as a critical link in the believer’s transformation—moving from merely being declared righteous to actually living righteously through the Spirit’s work.

The Doctrine of Adoption

• Adoption addresses believers' need for a new family status, just as justification meets the need for a new legal standing.
• Through adoption, believers gain both the rights of children (privileges and access) and the nature of children (character transformation).
• The Westminster Confession (Chapter 12) describes adoption: the justified are brought into God's family, receive His name, enjoy liberties, and have bold access to the throne of grace.
• Believers experience God’s protection, provision, discipline, and receive the spirit of adoption, enabling them to approach Him as Father.
• Adoption seals believers as heirs, securing the promises of everlasting salvation until the day of redemption.
• John Frame notes that while justification provides a legal status, adoption gives believers a family status—regeneration makes them children in nature, and adoption gives them the rights of children.

Freedom from Slavery to Sin

• Romans 8:12-13 presents believers as debtors to the Spirit, not the flesh. Living according to the flesh leads to death, but living by the Spirit grants life.
• The Holy Spirit enables believers to put to death the deeds of the flesh—a key aspect of true sanctification.
• The ability to overcome sin is not mere behavior modification (changing for external reasons), but a Spirit-empowered internal transformation.
  • Non-believers can modify behavior through external motivation, but only believers possess the Spirit’s power to put sinful desires to death.
  • Behavioral change in the world may mask sin, but does not free from its slavery.
• Sanctification is an active partnership: believers must work to put sin to death, but it is the Spirit's power that frees them and makes it possible.
• Believers are no longer slaves; they are called to actively live in the freedom the Spirit provides, rejecting the mindset and bondage of their old nature.

Children of God vs. Enemies

• All people are born as enemies of God, by nature children of wrath (Ephesians 2:1-3).
• The idea of God’s universal fatherhood and the universal brotherhood of humanity is not supported biblically; true brotherhood exists only among the redeemed.
  • John 1:12-13: Christ gives the right to become children of God—this right must be received, which implies not all are inherently God’s children.
  • Only those who come to Christ in repentance and faith become members of God’s family.
  • Believers receive the spirit of adoption, enabling them to cry “Abba, Father,” expressing a deep, intimate, and passionate relationship with God.
  • Galatians 4:4-6 reinforces that believers receive adoption through redemption and God's Spirit, leading to this intimate cry.
• Love for God produces both devotion to Him and opposition to evil. The Spirit fosters not just formal connection with God, but real, affectionate relationship.
• 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 promises that those who separate from impurity are welcomed as sons and daughters by God.

Assurance Through the Spirit

• Romans 8:16 assures believers that the Spirit bears witness with their spirit, confirming their identity as God’s children.
• True assurance is not subjective feelings (“I know in my heart”) alone; it requires objective scriptural testing.
  • 1 John provides three major tests of assurance: believing the true gospel, walking in righteousness, and loving fellow believers.
• Church membership is important: life and doctrine should be subject to biblical standards within a congregation, preventing self-deception.
• Assurance arises from the Spirit’s inward testimony and is strengthened as believers see evidence of obedience, hatred of sin, and growth in holiness, all aligning with God’s Word.
• Genuine assurance produces a desire for fellowship with other believers; isolation conflicts with the Spirit’s work of adoption.
• Assurance deepens as the Spirit works sanctification in believers—progressively producing a hatred of sin and love for righteousness.

Inheritance as Heirs with Christ

• Romans 8:17 explains that adopted children are also heirs—joint heirs with Christ.
• In Christ, believers inherit the promises made to Abraham and Israel. Christ is the true Israel; thus, all blessings promised to Israel belong to those in Him.
  • 1 Peter 2:9 describes believers with Israel’s Old Testament titles: chosen race, royal priesthood, holy nation, God’s possession.
  • Galatians 3:26-29 directly connects believers to Abraham’s offspring, making them heirs by faith in Christ.
  • Even physical descendants of Abraham are not true heirs unless united to Christ.
• The supreme inheritance is God Himself as Father—not just material blessings, but relationship and union with Him.
  • Believers receive the Father's love for the Son, Christ's righteousness, and God's jealous care. All that belongs to the Son accrues to God's children by adoption.
  • This inheritance is not primarily earthly goods, but the privilege of being united with God and included in His family.

Chastening and Discipline

• Adoption brings not only privilege, but also the loving discipline of the Father.
  • Hebrews 12:6: God disciplines every child He receives as proof of His love.
  • Revelation 3:19 and Proverbs 3:11-12 reiterate that discipline is a mark of God’s delight in His children and should not be despised.
• The Spirit’s work includes not just blessing, but correction and chastening for growth in holiness—a theme sometimes neglected in popular teachings on the Holy Spirit.
• God’s loving discipline is evidence of adoption and designed for the believer’s spiritual maturity.

Suffering as Evidence of Adoption

• Romans 8:17 makes clear that believers are heirs with Christ “provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”
  • Suffering is an expected and necessary sign of genuine adoption, contradicting “prosperity” teachings that claim suffering is a sign of weak faith.
• 2 Timothy 3:12: All who desire to live a godly life in Christ will experience persecution and suffering—this promise is as real as any other in Scripture.
  • John 15:18-20: The world hates believers because it first hated Christ. Suffering and opposition are inevitable for God’s children and are linked directly to their union with Christ.
  • As former enemies now adopted, Christians share both in God’s love and in the world’s hostility.
• In many parts of the world and much of church history, Christian suffering is the norm; comforts and freedoms are exceptions.
• Philippians 2:5-11 reveals that Christ glorified God through suffering and obedience to death; believers are called to follow His example.

Suffering and Sanctification

• Suffering is not evidence that believers lack faith; rather, it is part of the process God uses to conform them to Christ’s image.
  • Over-realized eschatology (expecting all blessing now) misses the necessity of present suffering and the hope of future glorification.
  • Pain, disappointment, unanswered prayer, and loss are ordinary Christian experiences—not signs of abandonment but of belonging to God’s family.
• Through suffering, believers increase in similarity to Christ: as they cling more tightly to Him, forsake worldly comforts, and endure trials, the family resemblance grows.
  • Spiritual growth through suffering is more profound than that produced by comfort or “mountaintop” experiences—the imagery of a crown of thorns is truer to the gospel than crowns of earthly glory.
• Believers should embrace suffering as a necessary part of discipleship, knowing God provides grace for endurance and uses these trials to strengthen and purify their faith.
  • When believers suffer and turn to Christ, it deepens their dependence and reveals the sufficiency and glory of God in their lives.