Adopted by God – Romans 8:12-17

A text – Romans 8:12-17

8:12 So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh–
8:13 for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.
8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
8:15 For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!”
8:16 it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
8:17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ–if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

A reflection:

In his letter to the Romans, Paul has placed his entire theology, everything he knows about God through his encounter with the risen Jesus. Because of Jesus alone, Saul of Tarsus, the persecutor of the early church, has become Paul the apostle and one of its first and greatest missionaries. Nothing Saul had done made him worthy of adoption into the group who followed Christ. He had been responsible for their misery in many places. But being knocked off his horse and blinded, made completely helpless, and then receiving help from the very people he had persecuted, completely altered the course of his life. He was given the Holy Spirit, adopted by God, and urged to use his considerable gifts of thought, persuasion, vigor, and charisma for the upbuilding of the new church rather than its destruction.

Saul of Tarsus had been adopted by the Triune God and given a new name and a new identity.

So when he speaks of adoption into a new life, calling God “Abba! Father!,” he knows what he is talking about. If we have a new life and new set of relationships, we are heirs to a different future than we would have had before. It won’t be all roses – he does talk about suffering here – but the suffering is done with Christ, within the life of God, and the rewards and the glory will come. What we did and how we lived prior to adoption, whether our life was good or it was bad, makes no difference. God has adopted us, and we belong to God and are already “in the will,” you might say. Paul knows we will slip up. But when we do, we come back to Abba and cling there, and let the Spirit empower us to do better. Paul’s letter to the Romans should comfort us. Its author was not flawless. But he was adopted. And when he failed, he came back to Abba and clung there, relying on the Spirit to lead him to his next mission.

We have been adopted. God loves us. We have gifts to use in God’s kingdom. We are heirs. We just need to let the Holy Spirit lead us to our part in God’s mission.

A prayer:

Lord God, Thank you for loving us. Thank you for adopting us into your life and for giving us gifts for the work of your kingdom. Help us to recognize you as our Abba, Father, and cling to you regularly.      Amen.