Romans 8:12-30

8:12-17 | The Greek word for adoption means to be legally installed or placed as a son or daughter. Christians have been taken from the family of Adam and placed into the family of God. Donald Grey Barnhouse explains the difference between an heir and a joint heir: “If a man dies, leaving a large farm to four heirs… each heir receives a percent of the whole. But if a man leaves a farm to four joint-heirs, then each son owns the whole farm. Each one can say, ‘This house is mine; those barns are mine; those fields are mine’… Thus when the Lord tells us that we are heirs of God and joint-heirs of Jesus Christ, we are being informed that everything that God the Father has given to the Lord Jesus Christ has been given to us also.”

8:12 | Believers are debtors to share the gospel with the world (1:14) and to live a righteous life. Believers are responsible to live according to the Spirit, not according the flesh (Gal. 5:16).

8:13 | No one can destroy the flesh in this life, but they can destroy the deeds of the flesh. The indwelling of the Spirit gives people the ability to kill the corrupt deeds that once defined them, enabling them to taste life imperishable (Gal. 5:22-23).

8:14 | Following the Holy Spirit’s leadership is proof that people are children of God. For believers, conviction of sin and a pattern of repentance are assurance of their own salvation (Heb. 12:6).

8:15 | Two effects confirm that someone has been released from fear into sonship: adoption and an ability to call God “Father.” The Spirit of adoption provides release from the spirit of bondage.

8:16 | Every time people pray and call God “Father,” the Holy Spirit does the same thing – dual evidence of people’s Sonship. Sonship does not rest alone on one’s changing spirit for affirmation; the affirmation of Sonship rests on the unchanging testimony of the Holy Spirit.

8:17 | The rewards of Sonship are being children and heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. An heir has not yet received his inheritance but anticipates it in the future. The biblical idea of heir implies possession in part here and now, with the promise of complete possession and enjoyment in the future.

8:19-22 | The Greek word for groan is derivative of stenos, meaning “to sigh or groan because of an undesired circumstance.” It appears three times in chapter 8 and refers to the non-rational animate and inanimate creation, including animals, trees, mountains, rivers, plains, and heavenly bodies. Paul pictures an audience eagerly waiting for the sons of God to come into their true glory.

8:20 | The word translated futility is mataiotes (Greek), meaning the inability of something to fulfill the purpose for which it was created. It can also mean emptiness or absurdity.

8:23 | Christians groan negatively because of sin’s presence in the world, its power in their bodies, the practice of sin around them. They positively groan for the gift of the Holy Spirit to guarantee their glory and because they are looking forward to their adoption being final and the redemption of their bodies (Eph. 1:14).

8:26-27 | When believers are under such pressure and in such pain that they cannot even verbalize their desires, the Holy Spirit Himself intercedes with groans mere words cannot express.