| A Heavenly Treasure by Eric Blick, June 26, 2026
I love the logic and flow of the argument Paul uses in his letter to the Romans. It is a long book but travels a simple, logical outline and flow of thought. As we looked at in a previous Heavenly Treasure, we are all under God’s just punishment (Romans 1-3) in exchanging our life’s worship of Creator God for things that he made instead. We have great benefits of being justified by outside righteousness credited to our account by faith (Romans 4). Specifically, we have peace with God (Romans 5), we have union with Christ (Romans 6), we have freedom from the law (Romans 7), and we have LIFE in the Spirit (Romans 8). What? That is wild! God dwells in me and corporately with other believers by His Spirit! We have the Spirit of God.
But what does the Spirit do all day? Paul takes most all of Romans 8 and says there are four jobs that the Holy Spirit does in the life of Christ’s followers:
- he helps us fight sin (8:5-14),
- he reminds us of our sonship (8:14-17),
- he guarantees our inheritance (8:18-25),
- and he helps us pray (8:26-27).
Today I want to meditate on verses 15-17 that show this fact that he reminds us of our sonship. But why is sonship so important, and for females, is that even great news?
In Ancient Rome the wealth of one generation passed to the firstborn male in disproportionate fashion. What Paul has the audacity to say is you have all the rights as if you are the firstborn son. That means for a boy or a girl, for first born or last born it doesn’t matter, YOU have the inheritance of God!
What does it mean to be a child of God, adopted into his family, and what is the Holy Spirit reminding us of that is so great? Paul argues here that there are seven benefits that are yours and mine as followers of Christ, as verse 14 starts, ”all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.”
1. Security: “[15] For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear,”
You are not going to lose this relationship. This relationship is not going to be red-hot today and then gone when you need it most. You are secure in relationship and love from the Father.
2. Authority: “but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons,”
You are not a hired hand but have the authority to act on behalf of the household. You are a son. You have authority over sin and over the devil and his minions.
3. Intimacy: “by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’”
“Abba” is the language of intimacy of a child learning to speak crying out to her father who runs and overflows with passion and compassion to her. No one can just waltz in and call out to my dad with his private name I use for him that he has reserved for me. I have this intimacy and attention of the father. This is the intimate language Jesus uses to call out to his father in the garden of Gethsemane before he is killed.
4. Confidence: “[16] The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,”
We have this witness who comes into court as it were and verifies that our story is correct. He says when we need to hear it most, “Yes, that is God’s child. She belongs to Christ. I saw her, that is God’s family.” We have a secure confidence we are his.
5. Inheritance: “[17] and if [we are] children, then [we are] heirs —heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ,”
We have true riches with the Father. We have a lasting and beautiful inheritance. All that is the Father’s is Christ’s and ours! The whole next section of Romans unpacks more of what this inheritance looks like, namely, it includes us as followers of Christ getting glory, and we will experience the restoration of all things made right!
6. Discipline: “provided we suffer with him”
This is discipline and not a promise of a life of ease and comfort. This is a broken world still in need of redemption. We suffer. Christ suffered. But this is an action clause with a purpose. Let’s hear our last verse:
7. Family Likeness: “in order that we may also be glorified with him.”
Christ’s life was one marked by suffering and grief and sorrow with deep joy. His life was hard in this broken world. He ultimately suffered in sacrificial death in my place. Why as his follower would my path be something completely different? Of course, I will suffer too. But it is not wasted, and people begin to say, “you look like your dad.”
I loved as a young boy when people would say after they watched me walk with my outsized stride length, “you walk just like your dad.” I remember thinking, “how do you know who my dad is, and he did not teach me to walk like that I just picked that up” (from him! Ironically). That is family resemblance. People will see you and say, “Jesus looked like that in how he acted and loved.” God will use this suffering to make us more look like Christ. The suffering is used like discipline in a workout or gym to make us of deeper character, to look more like our older brother. In fact, we have family resemblance and family likeness. Not only are we God’s child, but we look like it. We belong.
Take these benefits together as one group of seven and let the weight of it land on you with fresh hope and peace. If you belong to God as a follower of Christ, you HAVE his Spirit, and he reminds you that you have security, authority, intimacy, confidence, inheritance, discipline, and a beautiful family likeness. You are loved. You are a son and child of God!
Prayer
Lord, what a great father you are! Thank you for saving us from your just wrath against us and bringing us in close relationship with you. Thank you for indwelling us by your Spirit and for reminding us we are loved, and that we belong to you. Help us grow in our hope in what it actually means to be a son of God, adopted into your family, and cause our lives to be lived differently because we know this to be gloriously true.
Amen!
Write to us!
admin
Notes:
Source: Timothy Keller, Romans 1–7 For You: For Reading, For Feeding, For Leading (The Good Book Company, 2014),
Source: John R. W. Stott, The Message of Romans: God’s Good News for the World, The Bible Speaks Today (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1994) |
Leave a Reply