Romans 8:1-17

 Romans 8:1-17

In this chapter Paul offers one of the great phrases of all the Bible. “We cry out, ‘Abba, Father…”. This is such a beautiful and deeply endowed phrase to unpack it we would have to notice what Paul says before the phrase itself. He tells us in verse one that there is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. Up to this point, much of the book of Romans has been about the power of sin and our helplessness against it. In fact, we have no choice, before we are Christians, except to sin. Paul uses the word flesh to describe that pre-Christian life. The word flesh is used three ways, and it is only by noticing the context that we get the meaning. One use is for the literal flesh, the tissue of the body. A second way refers to perspective, as when he says, “Abraham was our ancestor according to the flesh.”. The third way he used the word was to describe the sinful nature of man, the growing appetite to engage in evil. We often associate flash with sex, but it can be any desire for selfish experience, such as gluttony or fits of rage. See Galatians 5:19-21 for a more complete list. In contrast to “flesh,” Paul uses the word “spirit.”. The Jewish understanding of spirit carried two implications: first, it was the person who went beyond death and life; second, it carried the idea of power. For example, the Holy Spirit is a person, but also His presence is the power for the Christian life.

So what do flesh and spirit have to do with Abba Father? Paul says that we have the Spirit of adoption because of who Christ is and what He did. We are adopted, and that is a much more powerful and meaningful theme than we may know. We often think of being adopted into the family of God as a symbolic, sweet, and warm metaphor. Not so! In Roman culture, adoption was a legal, serious, binding, and life-altering event. Under Roman custom, a son was never emancipated from his dad. If you were 85 years old and your dad was 105, he still legally had absolute authority over you and all that was yours. That authority extended to the point that a father could have his son put to death. Adoption meant moving from one absolute authority to another. That has powerful implications for how a son lived under his adopted father. Roman adoption was a two-step process, all of which was witnessed by seven witnesses. In the first step, the biological father would sell his son to the adoptive father. Often he would be sold back to the biological father, sold again, purchased back, and sold a third and final time. This was a way of making sure that the biological father was in full agreement with the adoption. In the second step, the adoptive father and the son, who was at this point nothing but a slave, would go to a magistrate where the boy would be legally adopted. The adoption was so complete that it is like a new life begins. Any debt, crime, or obligation the boy had was removed, and it no longer applied to him. He is the heir of his adoptive father’s estate, title, and privilege. If the adoptive father had biological children, the adoptive son did not lose any of his rights to them or hold a lesser position than they did. In the eyes of the Romans, the adoptive son was legally your son, a begotten son. The emperor Claudius adopted Nero as his son and heir. There was no biological relationship between Claudius’ daughter Claudia and Nero; nevertheless, when Claudius wanted the two of them to marry, it required special permission from the Senate because they were legally brother and sister.

There are some implications for us. We are heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ. That means we are entitled to the privileges of Jesus in regards to being a son. We really like the sound of that. We have access to the Father just as Jesus does. But it also means that we are under the absolute authority of God. The call to holy living and personal holiness is not optional and is not just for a special elite kind of Christian. With the wonderful privilege of sonship comes the obligation of holiness.

“Lord, help me to live the holy life You expect of Your son. AMEN”