Day 5 — First Steps: What Now?
Today’s Passage: Romans 8:9-16
A judge can declare a defendant innocent, but a judge rarely takes the acquitted person home to live in his house. The Christian faith presents a radical shift in your status. You move from a guilty party on trial to a permanent member of the family. The evidence for this shift is a person.
Paul lays out the reality of the Christian life in these verses. The Holy Spirit takes up residence inside every believer. God Himself now lives in you and calls you His child. This is a fact of your new existence.
The presence of the Spirit changes your identity and your obligations. You operate under a new authority. You possess a new life. Let the weight of this evidence settle as you walk through Paul’s argument.
Context Two Competing Realms
Paul contrasts the flesh and the Spirit throughout this chapter. The flesh represents human nature apart from God, driven by its own desires and headed toward death. The Spirit represents the new, eternal life imparted by God. Every human being lives in one of these two realms. Paul assures the Roman Christians they have permanently crossed the border into the territory of the Spirit.
Romans 8:9-11 (BSB)
⁹ You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. ¹⁰ But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. ¹¹ And if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.
Paul establishes a clear dividing line. The mark of a true Christian is the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. If you belong to Christ, His Spirit lives inside you. This presence guarantees your future. The exact same power that resurrected Jesus of Nazareth from a stone tomb now resides in your body. Death has lost its final claim on you.
Romans 8:12-14 (BSB)
¹² Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. 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. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Ownership creates obligation. Your old nature demands obedience, but you owe it nothing. You owe everything to the Spirit who gave you life. The Christian life involves a daily execution of old habits and selfish desires. You kill those habits by relying on the power of the Spirit. This active obedience proves your status as a legitimate son or daughter of God.
Romans 8:15-16 (BSB)
¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption to sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
Fear is the natural state of a slave waiting for punishment. God removed you from slavery and adopted you. You hold full legal rights and privileges in His family. The Spirit gives you the confidence to address the Creator of the universe with the intimate, respectful term “Abba.” You have the inner testimony of the Holy Spirit confirming your permanent place in the family.
Word study "adoption to sonship", huiothesia (Romans 8:15)
Greek: υἱοθεσία (huiothesia), pronounced hwee-oth-es-ee’-ah. Strong’s G5206. In Roman law, adoption was an irrevocable legal act. An adopted son received all the rights, privileges, and inheritance of a biological child, and all his previous debts were canceled. Paul uses this specific legal term to show the absolute security and full inheritance you possess in God’s family.
Study notes The Proof of Adoption
Paul wrote to the Galatians about this exact same legal and spiritual reality. God places His Spirit inside you as the definitive proof of your adoption.
"And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”" Galatians 4:6 (BSB)
God Himself now lives in you and calls you His child. That verdict stands firm against any doubt or fear. You possess the Holy Spirit as the living proof of your adoption. Sometime today, speak out loud to God using the name Paul gives you in this passage: “Abba, Father.” Thank Him for canceling your debts, adopting you into His family, and placing His Spirit inside you as a permanent seal.