Romans 8:15-16 - Homiletics

The Spirit received by Christians.

The Holy Spirit is the gift of God to his people in Christ—"the promise of the Father;" the Comforter whose advent was foretold by Christ, accompanying Divine truth, and characterizing the new dispensation of God's mercy and love. In this passage the Spirit is mentioned, not so much as the Gift of God, as in the aspects he assumes in the conscious experience of God's people.

I. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE SPIRIT OF LIBERTY . Man in a state of sin is under bondage to the Law, to sin, to fear, and slavishness. But by the emancipating power of the Spirit, the disciple and friend of the Divine Saviour is set at liberty, is freed from the dominion of sin, from the trammels of the world, from the inner bondage of fear and distrust. He possesses "the glorious liberty of the sons of God."

II. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION . This is indeed a marvellous truth, a marvellous privilege. All mankind are the creatures of Divine power, and it is in this sense the poet affirmed, "We are all his offspring." The reflective man perceives that in a higher sense we are children of God, inasmuch as our reason and conscience are the reflection of the Divine nature. But it was reserved for Christianity, as the highest form of revelation, to introduce the conception of man's spiritual sonship in Jesus Christ. The establishment of this relation is a proof of God's condescending kindness. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God!" Here is no question of a merely external relationship; a change of heart, of character, of life, is here implied. Where this relation is realized, the cry, "Abba, Father!" ascends from the affectionate and filial heart.

III. THE HOLY SPIRIT IS THE SPIRIT OF WITNESS . The personality of the Spirit is compatible with the personality of the human recipient of his blessed influences. There is a unity, and yet a diversity. God's Spirit. is in contact with the spirit of Christ's disciple, and witnesses with it, assures of Divine favour and fatherhood. The Word is revealed to the soul; the soul is enlightened to apprehend the Word; the truth is realized, the privilege appropriated; the response is rendered. The same Spirit gives power to the Word and receptiveness to the heart, and brings, the two into exquisite sympathy and harmony. And this witness is effected, not by a vision or a voice, not by fancy or enthusiasm, but by Divine, conclusive evidence. The Spirit of truth and holiness manifests his presence and his power, by calling into existence the fruits of the Spirit, whose quality and abundance leave no room for doubting the Divinity of the agency to which they owe their existence.