Romans 8:1-17 Part B

His answer to that. So it's not not fulfilled by us. Right.

But in us. Right. We are the recipients.

But then how do you get to the walking? This is where I'm coming from. That you're talking about people who are walking according to the Spirit. And the life of the Spirit, just like you say in Galatians 5, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, so on.

Against such there is no law. And I'm not saying that we have to pretend that we are fulfilling in perfection, but that the life of the Spirit of God and the power of the Spirit of God will fulfill those things that the law was aiming to fulfill in humanity but could never produce. I take it the walk is the result of what has been accomplished at the cross.

Yes. So this righteousness that might be fulfilled in us has been perfectly accomplished already by the death of Christ, fulfilled every legal requirement of the law. And then characteristically we are they that walk after the Spirit.

So this is a positional thing. This is not Galatians 5. This is a positional thing. This is what happened at salvation.

Yes. Because you're not in the flesh. That's further down, isn't it? You're in the Spirit.

So and then as many as are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. We're all sons of God. But then it goes beyond position when it comes to walking, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

That's characteristic of those who have the righteousness of the law fulfilled because of the work of Christ. We've got two things going on here. And I don't know whether everybody grasps, but I'll try to lay it out, okay? Does the righteous requirements of the law talk about the moral requirements of the law or the sacrificial requirements of the law? And if it's the sacrificial requirements of the law, then all that the law required in sacrifice was answered by the death of Christ.

If it's the moral requirements of the law, then what the law requires of those who are linked with God is a moral conformity to the law and the Spirit of God produces that. I would throw in my little pebble with the fact that it's the moral requirements of the law. But that to me is what the whole thrust of the chapter is coming to.

It is accomplished righteously and we'll all agree on that. But anyway, there's two different views on that and maybe there's some way that both of them are right. I don't know, but they're both valid.

So would you not say then, am I wrong in thinking that walking after the Spirit is not every believer? I would think it would be because the next verse says, for they that are after the flesh, that would be the unbeliever, wouldn't it? Walk not after the flesh, that's unconverted. Standing, I think that it's talking about. I think it's our standing before God.

I think we need to be practical. You cannot make walk a position. I just did.

That's why you're standing. Standing and walking are different. We're not describing the characteristic of those who are after the Spirit, born of the Spirit as Galatians 4 teaches in contrast to those born after the flesh.

And thus walk according to the Spirit. If we walk according to the Spirit, we will be in a practical everyday life fulfilling the moral high ground of life that the law was asking for, but could not create. It's a position, power, and practice.

So what is the carnal mind? You can't take a position out of it. I think if you read the, to be carnally minded, what is that? That's the mind of the flesh. That's the unsaved person.

Yes, that's right. So then I, but I could still walk after the flesh. Well, you can't according to 1 Corinthians 3. Yeah, but we're here in the Romans.

Well, that's what I'm saying. In this section are unregenerate. They do not have the Spirit of God.

They are none of this. Good. See, we'll have to, just for some young people, when we're reading our Bibles, we go to Mr. Vine and we'll get the word carnal and we find it's S-A-R-X and it means fleshly and so on.

You've got a lot of other stuff with it. But you have to recognize that the meaning of a word is not the final say in understanding a passage. You have to take the context.

In 1 Corinthians 3, in chapter 2, they are called spiritual against natural. In chapter 3, there are two separate words for carnal used. That's not the carnal man here.

The carnal man in 1 Corinthians 3 is a believer. It's one of the Corinthians. The carnal man here is an unsaved man.

So just for young believers in your study of the Word of God, make sure you not only use the meaning of a word, but get the context. Okay, I'll be a little technical here. Actually, the word fulfilled is not an aorist.

It is a subjunctive. So it's opening up the possibility. It's not stating that the possibility will be accomplished.

It's opening up the possibility. It's a purpose clause in order that this might be able to be accomplished. The line of thought I'm trying to develop is that we have the Son of God who has come from heaven.

He has brought an entirely new life, uncorrupted, into humanity. And through the new birth, the gift of eternal life, we possess that life. And that is what is managed and ministered by the Holy Spirit to produce the righteousness, the moral life that the law was seeking for but could not derive from the fallen men of the flesh.

So what we have then following that is, verse 5, is they that are after the flesh. That's the unregenerate man. And so we're looking at the source and its fruit in that section.

That word after in verse number 4, it has the idea of something being held down, doesn't it? From which we get the idea of being dominated. So it's not something who's being dominated by the flesh, but the domination is coming through the Holy Spirit. So they that are after the flesh, as is being pointed out, verse 5 now, it's unregenerate man.

He's morally corrupt. He's alienated from God. He's hostile to God.

And they do mind the things of the flesh. They are not in fellowship at all with God. So was there two things pointed out here? He says they are, and he says they mind.

What they are is their character. Their mind is how they think. But by way of contrast, they that are after the Spirit, those that are indwelt by the Spirit of God, those that have the position, the power, and the practice, they mind the things of the Spirit.

So why does he take this stark contrast and go to what the mind of the flesh is? Either one or the other. Yeah, it's absolutely impossible. In terms of what we were in our unregenerate state, they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

There's not the slightest possibility of pleasing God there. There is the capability now invested in those that are in the Spirit, those that are linked with Christ. There is that possibility invested in us, a capacity to produce righteousness.

You're either one or the other, verse 5, and then he will develop that in the various contrasts that follow. Nothing more in verse 5, we'll go to verse 6. Why is it life and peace here, William? Had you any thought on that? Earlier in the epistle, he has mentioned faith and peace, being justified by faith we have peace with God. Here he mentions in verse number 6, to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Isn't he illustrating the truth that you've just set forward? The unregenerate man doesn't have life, but this spiritually minded man has been given life, and as a consequence has peace. It's a new kind of life that's characterized by righteousness. It's again the case of righteousness and life being brought in.

Where there is life, there is righteousness, and there is ultimate well-being, peace. Peace is not just the cessation of the warfare, it's the ultimate blessing. Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God.

This is the thought of the mind of the Spirit, and I think that's the Holy Spirit that's in view. So the mind of the Holy Spirit is life and peace. So if you're indwelt by the Holy Spirit, that's what's going to characterize you.

It's a perfect harmony with God, with what He is. So it will produce life that is genuine life, and all the excellence of its beauty and joy, and the quality of harmony with what God's principles are. Yeah, it's as a man thinketh, so is he.

So it's the source. The mind of the Spirit is the source of our life. The mind of the flesh is the source.

So it's what He is, as John has pointed out, but the source of that is also brought in. So it's not a process of thinking. There is a Greek word that means process of thinking.

This is not it. This means mindset. Yeah, it's the mindset.

So the fleshly mindset tends only to death and corruption, but to be spiritually minded, the spiritual mindset is life and peace. Altogether different positive. And what we have just said, in harmony with God, then it's just set up by the statement that follows, because that other mind is everything that is the opposite of life and peace.

Right. So again, just to emphasize, this is not the carnal Christian that's been spoken of. This is the unregenerate person, a person that hasn't been born again, a person that's still in their sins, in the flesh.

But let's be honest about it now. First Corinthians 3, the man of the flesh didn't please God either, but he was a Christian. So we as Christians may be in a state that we do not please God.

But what is here is the characteristic. But the fact of the matter is, we can go to that enemy territory as tragic, but that's not what's here. He's drawing absolutes between the two.

The characteristic of the believer is righteousness like peace. In fact, it's really, I mean, verse 5 is talking about the people, but verse 6 and 7 are really talking about the power that has formed that characteristic. So it's really going beyond just the people who are unsaved, in contrast to the people who are saved, but to the spirit himself and the flesh itself.

And so there's the mind of the flesh, there's the mind of the spirit, and the outcome is evident in those who are after that, according to it. Verse 7, now because the carnal mind or the fleshly mindset is enmity against God, is hostilely, actively opposed to God, is antagonistic to God. So you find a person that is bitter in spirit toward God and the things of God.

That's a non-regenerate person. It's an antagonism. A hostility toward God or the things of God or the people of God.

That's right. What is the law of God here? The rule of God? Would you extend it beyond the Mosaic law? Beyond that, it's the rule of God? That's what I think it is, that a rebellion against God, not accept the word of God, the law of God, the commandments of God. I don't think it's a Mosaic law that's in view at this stage of the game.

It could be included. But it's not limited to it. You want to put it in if you like.

It doesn't matter. Anything that comes from God, they're against. So verse 8 is really summarizing what's been detailed from verse 5 down, isn't it? So then, they that are in the flesh is describing someone who has never been born of God and indwelt by the Spirit of God.

They are still in the flesh, in their element of life. So they cannot please God. They cannot bring pleasure to God in their life.

The flesh is enmity and hostile against God. So they absolutely cannot align themselves with His interests. So those that are in the flesh are synonymous with those that are after the flesh.

I think they that are after the flesh is really, you get a little bit of amplification in Galatians 4, in the illustration of the two sons, and born after the flesh, born after the Spirit. So it's that which is born of that. But verse 9, but ye is emphatic, not the believer, the true believer, but ye are not in flesh, but in Spirit, in the realm of the Spirit.

If so be, or since the Spirit of God dwell in you. So flesh contrasted with Spirit as to our standing. Why does he use the title Spirit of Christ in this verse? Verse 9? Verse 9, yeah.

Just at the end of the verse. He uses Spirit of God and then Spirit of Christ. Is it for two reasons? I wonder if Spirit of God really is origin.

Whereas you come to Spirit of Christ, it's objective. Right. Okay, and the law of the Spirit, it's operation.

So upon the ascension of Christ, he dispensed the Spirit, and as a consequence, the Spirit is the revealer of Christ. So those two things come in here. The purposes of God bound up in Christ, and he's going to develop that for the believer as linked with Christ.

He is none of his, he doesn't belong to him. But if he does belong to Christ, as the Spirit of Christ, then all of the purposes of God for that believer are going to be brought out. Right.

Is it not the special ministry of the Spirit of God to us, again linking Galatians 4 where you have, because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, and then talks about Christ being formed in you. So the ministry of the Spirit of God is to reproduce that very life of Christ in us. Actually, all that Christ did comes from what he was essentially, but it comes by the power of the Spirit of God.

So it was the Spirit of God that actually worked in Christ to produce that life of perfect holiness and beauty. That to me is an astounding truth. He had the native power himself, but it was all accomplished by the Spirit of God.

And so I'm wondering if that's not really what we're being told here. The only way that Christ is going to be replicated is by the one who produced what he was in marvelous submission. So this also hits the idea that there can be believers apart from the Spirit of God, because it says, if any man hath not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

So we don't need to tarry for the Spirit, we don't need to wait for it, we have it upon believing Ephesians 1. Right, absolutely. Ephesians 1 13, upon believing you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. We were clear about this, that this is a unique provision of this age.

The Spirit of God is with you, he shall be in you, the Lord Jesus says in John chapter 14. This is unique on his ascension for this age in which we live. Think of Cornelius, he pleased God, his arms went up to heaven, but he hadn't received the Spirit of God until he met with the disciples.

Give us some help now in verse 10 if you can. If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. What's the thought there? Surely the body is still alive for a believer that's still here.

Did you think that the body as it is contains the seeds of decay and ultimately will bring it to death? So is it physical death that we're looking at here? No, it can't be physical death, we're all living and all believers that he's speaking about are living, but I thought that the idea is here that anything that is linked with this body is absolutely incapable of bringing pleasure to God. So I thought that the moral principle of the flesh is what he's referring to here. But can't we yield our members as instruments? But the members can be used for righteousness, right? And he does use just to support that mortal bodies, just two verses dying, so that's support, they're subject to death.

Subject to death, I think that's the idea. The only way that that yielding can produce righteousness is what he said at the end of that passage. The spirit is life because of righteousness.

So the only way that righteousness will be produced is by that righteous spirit of God. We are all in this paradox as believers of being united to Christ in life. We are spiritually renewed, we possess, we have the indwelling omnipotent God, and yet we have bodies that are still subject to sin's influence, and thus under part of the old creation with a corruption of bondage or corruption death.

And so we're in that paradox, and so that's why I think you get the connection in verse 13, it's to mortify the deeds of the body, it's recognizing the body's susceptibility to sin. Right. There's a mechanism used in your Greek text, and it would go like this, but if Christ be in you, on the one hand the body is dead because of sin, but on the other hand the body is life, because the spirit is life because of righteousness.

So on the one hand the body is subject to death, on the other hand you have life. So it's comparing two things. Sure.

So about Christ being in us then, can you help us with that William? Well again, that's what our position is. We are in Christ, Christ is in you. So is this telling us that the Lord is dwelling on in us through the presence of the Holy Spirit? Yeah.

And we'll get to that again. Verse 11 now, but if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, that is the spirit of God that raised up Jesus, notice the name Jesus, from the dead dwell in you. He that raised up Christ, now why the change from Jesus to Christ? Raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies.

Is that something we experience now, or is that looking forward to what will take place at the rapture? The change of the two, Jesus to Christ, is because he's going to link us with the person, and we are not linked to Jesus, we are linked to the heavenly man, Christ Jesus. But the emphasis would be too, that as the man Jesus, he hadn't been raised, as Christ he is anointed one in heaven. In whom God will fulfill all his purposes.

Somehow, I haven't heard this from others, but it seems to me that the title Christ links him with purpose. This is divine service that has been promised all down through the ages. This is what the one whom God intends to accomplish everything.

So you're looking at the purpose that God has for us even in Christ Jesus. Jesus emphasized what he is historically. Christ emphasizes what he is prophetically, if we could use that word, and what God is going to fulfill in his purpose in him.

So that's who we're linked with, he will quicken our mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you. And it's the future tense, so it's looking forward, I take it to the rapture. His promise in John 14 is, because I live, ye shall live also.

So, and Paul does that in Corinthians 15, if Christ be not risen, what of all men most miserable. And a fundamental truth in the Roman epistle is the risen Christ, his resurrection. So is this living believers at the rapture? He doesn't deal with dead saints here because these are people who are subject to death but haven't died, mortal bodies.

Those bodies will be changed, quickened. From a natural body to a spiritual body, I take it. So there's a contrast then with what you have in verse 10.

If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. We haven't been redeemed fully, but we're going to be in the future. So it's held as dead now.

John, are you thinking that there's a thought of eminence in this by what you pointed out? No, no, I'm just pointing out the fact that a mortal body is one who is subject to death but hasn't died. But I thought maybe we could bring that in because he says, we which are alive and remain. Right, that's what I was getting at.

In 1 Thessalonians 4. So he actually anticipated that these believers to whom he's writing are going to enjoy the blessing of the rapture. So we're just reminded of this. God has not, in the word of God, has not set the rapture off to some future time.

It is about to happen, it is able to happen at any moment. And it certainly would clarify that God has an eternal purpose for our bodies. And so then our attitude toward our bodies should be governed by that as well.

Not to let sin rule, not to let the deeds arising from sin be seen in the body, but to present it to him for his service. Is this thought of Quicken here different from the thought of Quicken in Ephesians 2? Yeah, that's spiritual, that's spiritual life. We've been brought into, by regeneration, brought into spiritual relationship with God.

This is physical. Right. The Lord has taken possession of us now, not the thought of dwell in you, but then he's going to make our dying bodies live in the future.

They're mortal bodies, but they're still subject to death. Is it possible that there's any other thought here that then the Spirit of God himself will be the Quickening agent? Is there some other thought in that, by his Spirit, which dwells in you? I know it can be either by the Spirit or because of the Spirit, some suggest either way. The Spirit may very well be the one who will accomplish it.

He raised up Christ from the dead. But I wonder if maybe if it's because of, that's the point is that the life-giving to Christ Spirit, because he dwells in you, that's the link that you also will be Quickened. So even at the rapture we have the three persons of the Godhead being brought in.

He is God, the Spirit, and it will be Christ who comes. So we're well attended. Absolutely.

Therefore, brethren, consequently therefore, it's emphasized, brethren, here's a brotherhood of those that are indwelled by the Spirit of God who are not debtors to the flesh to live after the flesh. The flesh owes them nothing. It has only brought condemnation, sin, pain, misery, and so on.

We owe it nothing. Why should we live as though we were under the flesh? So our loyalty should be unequivocally to the Lord Jesus and we should repudiate every incitement, every inclination that the sinful flesh would present to us. So I owe nothing to the flesh.

I owe everything to Him. The flesh can only bring us to death. That's, I can't go any further than that.

Just to death. But if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. So the alternative to living under the flesh is to live according to the Spirit, thereby putting in the place of death the deeds or the desires or the lusts of the body, fleshly nature.

Is it possible for a believer to live after the flesh? I'm not laying a landmine for you. I'm asking an honest question in this verse. It says if you do, it seems to me that it is possible.

It is. It's a choice. It's a tragic anomaly.

Like there's something dreadfully wrong. We don't owe it to the flesh to live after the flesh, but we can. And what he says, ye shall die.

I don't think he means there'll be a judgment stroke from God. I just think he says you're going back to that kingdom of death. You're going to be conformed to the flesh and its dictates, or are we going to be conformed to the leading of the Spirit of God? The flesh will bring us to death under its condemnation, its corruption.

But living under the Spirit of God, it will bring us into the enjoyment of life. So we're taught fairly clearly here that we do have a responsibility. We're not totally passive in this conflict.

Yeah, the free will does come in. We can't do it on our own. We'll fail over and over again.

But we, in harmony with the Spirit of God, in submission to the Spirit of God, must take the axe to the root, to the fruit or whatever. This matter of mortifying what is native to the body, that is in terms of flesh and sin, is our responsibility, but it cannot be carried out by us solely. It must be by the power of the Spirit of God.

Could you say again in verse 13 what you mean by the word die? Obviously brother. I don't think it means, don't forget you're going to die one day. I think it means that you are going back to all that was linked with death in Adam, and it's an anomaly.

Don't go back there. Why would you ever go back there? You're going back to death. Or the other side would maybe be 1 Timothy chapter 5, she lives in pleasure, is dead while she lives.

I think that's a vital connection with all that we've talked about down through the past. These verbs are all in the present except you shall live, and that's in the future. So what do we mean by you shall live? The live here is after the manner of life.

It's that their manner of life is after or according to the flesh. And as a consequence of that, they will die. And I take it that that involves in some aspect separation from God and his purposes.

But living under the Spirit of God or through the Spirit and mortifying the deeds of the body, it will bring us, ultimately our goal is the glory. We shall live. You shall die is a future.

I've got the present and live is the future. You are about to die. You are about to die.

But wouldn't it be, you might say, put it in corresponding to the message of the law, this do and you shall live. You mortify the deeds of the body through the Spirit, you shall live. It's not just that you will get to live in a future time.

You will live by that principle. It's the consequence, which is after you do this, this is going to be the consequence. It's the way of life.

It's like recognizing you are in a conflict with the flesh. Only one gets to live. If the flesh wins, you die.

Good. Now, before we move, are any other brethren wanting to come in here? Brother Robert, you haven't said anything? Kent? Could we just get more practical of what it is to mortify the deeds? Maybe you've said it already, but get more practical of what it is to do it. Well, we are told that the old man is dead, and yet we have to put off the old man and his deeds.

So there's a practical expression of what God has brought us to positionally. Similarly, while we are no longer looked upon by God in the flesh, yet we are to mortify the deeds of the body, put them into the place of death. Recognize that that's the place that God has given to it.

It was a body of sin in Romans chapter 6, verse 6. It was a body of sin. It was a body that was used for sin. And God ended my link with Adam so that there would be a change now in that body.

And here is where I have a responsibility that by the Spirit of God there will be a change in that body. What would be my bodily instincts, my flesh instincts to move to? I am to say, no, death comes to that. That's God's only way of dealing with it, and I must by the power of the Spirit of God bring that into fact.

And Timothy says, Paul says to Timothy, flee youthful lusts. That's given the thought of putting to death the deeds of the flesh. You get out of sight of the possibility of it, put it to death.

That's what you do when you put to death. You put it out of sight, right? So get out of sight. And it is anticipated that that is normal Christian experience.

Verse 14, for as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. So it is characteristic of the sons of God, they are led by the Spirit of God. So this is not a brother taking a ministry meeting and someone says, oh, he was led by the Spirit.

No, it's submission to the leadership, to the guidance of the Spirit of God. That is characteristic of their life. Right.

So why introduce sons here, William? Further down he will bring children out, but what's he indicating when he mentions sons? Well, sonship would be linked with dignity. Right. Children more with relationship.

So have we maturity here as well? And maturity. Yeah. And responsibility.

And responsibility. Right. And I thought I'd throw in the word resemblance.

I thought that sonship has the idea that there will be that likeness to the Father. Because that's where you come now, down in the next verse. Right.

You have this, this is affected by the spirit of adoption. Right. But practically in a believer's life, as he submits to the leading of the Spirit of God, it will lead to maturity.

Right. Do I understand then that in verse 14, as many as are led by the Spirit of God, is that not every believer? Yes. Yeah.

It's got to be. It's anticipated that this is normal. But then how does that, what's the for? It would take you back into the previous verse.

It's the normal way that a believer will live to mortify the deeds of the body. By the Spirit of God Himself. As the Spirit would go before Him to produce.

Right. Lead them. And that is characteristic of those that are the sons of God.

In verse 9, if you're a believer, you're indwelt by the Spirit of God. If you're not, you're none of His. So now, as a child of God, as a son of God, you will be led by the Spirit of God.

That might not be 24-7 in your life. The potential is there. And let's face it.

We are led by the Spirit of God in so many things. We fail. We do things we shouldn't do.

But the largest part of our life, I trust, is under the control of the Spirit of God. Yes. And the thought of relationship, isn't there? Adam was made with energy to live.

But there was more to it in the creation. He had a relationship with God in the garden. Fellowship.

God was known personally. In the new creation, not only have we been given a place in Christ with energy to live, but it's all with a view to our relationship with God. God is personal.

Is it not? Sorry. No, as sons of God, we have that relationship. And does it not, is it not a parallel to verse 4 where we walk after or are dominated by the Spirit, same as being led? Yeah.

Okay. That's right. I would have thought that sons of God would have been linked with heirship, but it's children of God.

And the Proverbs says a wise son makes a glad father. And there's the sons of God. And what were we doing in our lives? As we're led by the Spirit of God, we're pleasing God and bringing glory to God.

God is delighting in us and we're bringing glory to him. The Word of God certainly nourishes and nurtures the life of the Spirit. And I think it is valuable to recognize that the Spirit of God will always give warning whenever evil comes into our awareness.

And we will be warned. If you don't believe that, just pay attention to it and you'll find it's true. You don't have to wait until after you're sinned, after you have sinned, to recognize that it was something wrong.

He wants to prevent sin. And so the earlier that we respond, the better it is for us. The first inkling of awareness of something, judge it as wrong.

And as the idea of mortifying is put it to death, rid yourself of it. And the power of the Spirit of God will operate to change. Can I nudge you on here? Because we've got some tremendous things yet to come in the next minutes.

Verse 15, For you've not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you've received the spirit of adoption whereby we cry, Abba Father. Spirit of bondage again to fear. Like the Old Testament, the saints that were in bondage to the law, we haven't been brought to that, but to a living relationship.

We've been placed as sons in the family with all the honor, the dignity, the responsibility that that brings. This cry here, Abba Father, Galatians 4 tells us that the Spirit has come. And as the Spirit has come into our hearts, He is crying, Abba Father.

As a consequence of the Spirit come, we reciprocate that cry and we also say, Abba Father. And while the first spirit of bondage is a lowercase, I think you've got to have a capital S on the spirit of adoption, just in light of Galatians chapter 4 as well. So it is by the Spirit of God that this likeness to Christ, submission to the Father in the extreme circumstance of Gethsemane, is to characterize all who are now saved.

Led by the Spirit, submissive to the Father, Abba Father. It's all a result of the position in the which we've been brought. So this is a conscious relationship of knowing God as our Father.

And adoption is not making somebody who's not really a son, a son. That's what we know of adoption today. That is not New Testament adoption.

It is those that are sons set in the place of dignity, set in a place of responsibility. So it's a wonderful blessing. We are not adopted into the family of God the way we talk about that.

We're born into the family of God by the new birth. And as sons, we have been given a place of dignity. All that a father, as he's looking on to the future, he says, my son is now in the place of me.

And he will be the one that will carry on all my interests. All the interests of the father are invested in that son. We are now placed as sons with all that God intends in purpose for us.

Brother William, is there something to be appreciated with Galatians 4 passage and with this passage, the dignity of the language that is used in addressing God by this Abba Father? So we learn lessons from that, don't we? Absolutely. Yes, it's expressing the character of Christ, as our brother's been bringing out, how he addressed the Father, John 17, Holy Father, Old Father. Right? So sonship accomplished, verse 15, verse 16, sonship assured because the Spirit himself, better, birth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.

I'm going to ask a question. Who is this witness to? Who receives the witness? I have a great sensitivity about this verse. I don't know whether I'm going to answer your question or not.

I have great sensitivity that when you got somebody that's struggling, I'm not sure whether I'm saved or I'm not saved. Well, do you have the witness of the Spirit? How do I know if I'm the witness of the Spirit? I think what you have given to us from Galatians 4 with this chapter is the secret. The Spirit of God within us is crying Abba Father.

We are crying Abba Father. There is that joint witness that we are connected with God himself. The Spirit of God and my spirit are doing the very same thing.

I'm submitting to the Spirit of God. I'm saying the same thing as the Spirit of God. And so therefore, I'm not so sure that this is a witness to me that I'm saved.

I think maybe God is interested in seeing this replicated in me. And I think the world will see it replicated in me. But it is the witness of likeness to the Spirit of God within the child of God.

Brother William, why does it go back to children here then rather than keeping with sons? I am referring to the latter part of verse 16 that we are the children of God. Yes, that we actually belong to him. We have a relationship with him by virtue of the fact that the Spirit of God is acquiescing with our spirit.

I take it through the Word of God, the witness of the Word to our hearts. What do you mean? No, just at the end of verse 14, sons of God, you see, but now it goes to children. I'm wondering if it's really not going back to birth.

Okay. Yeah. Sons is behavior, but here's going back to birth, the genuineness of it.

So in 1 John 5, he's a witness in me. Hebrews 10, he's a witness to me. Here, the Holy Spirit is a witness with me.

It's a co-witness. That's right. William, I just want to take you back to when you read verse 16.

You read the Spirit, not itself, but the Spirit himself, which is a correct rendering. I think we should just emphasize that the Spirit of God is not a neuter object. The Spirit of God is a real person of the Godhead and should never be referred to as it.

Unfortunately, you do get it in your authorized version because the word after Spirit, Spirit is a neuter noun and it's a neuter pronoun, and so they come up with this itself. It's a grammatical inclination of the translators, but it's really scripturally wrong. Do not refer to the Spirit of God as it.

So if we have this connection with God, we are children of God. I was going to say, so what? Just so we appreciate the tremendous so what of what's involved. Then there is an inheritance that we're linked with in that family, and we are co-linked with that inheritance with Christ.

Now we may suffer with him and whatever that suffering involves, we suffer with him, but the wonderful truth is he will not be glorified without our being glorified with him. Now that's anticipating what's coming in the chapter, but he's just moving. Our mortal bodies quicken glorified together with Christ.

Wait till you see what's coming. The marvelous truth of all that is ours because of the Spirit of God evidencing in us by the co-witnessing that we belong to God. Just remember this.

That's just a reminder that eventually we are going to share, never share deity, but we will share all that is Christ eternally. Paul says in Titus 3, 7, that being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life that we may be also glorified together. So that's what we have before us to be identified with Christ, not only in life, but in the glory be his co-heirs.

Wonderful. Good, sir. Thanks for your help, brethren.