Romans 8:15 For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba… I. THE FACT. "We cry, Abba, Father." 1. In one aspect this seems little. It is only a cry, a name named, and that a child's lisp of the first two sounds of the alphabet. True, but I am not anxious to get from you more than what all Christians confess. "We" cry, Abba, Father. Visions and revelations are exceptional, but we all cry, "Abba, Father." 2. This is not a small thing. It means carrying the clear proof of our being God's children. True, we are infants, but no infant would ever cry "Abba" unless it were a child. Here are weakness and strength, but the one is linked to the other by a bond that cannot be broken. And what a distance between us in our helplessness and God in His glory, but "Father" reaches all the way. Only a cry! God hears nothing else. Observe the refrain of Psalm 107. Mark the reason why universal power is given to the Mediator (Psalm 72:11, 12). 3. This cry is the product of the Holy Spirit (see also Galatians 4:6). This is the Divine side of the matter, of which we have both the human and Divine sides in John 1:12-13). II. THE CONSEQUENCES. 1. You have the witness of the Spirit. The cry and the groaning (ver. 26) are His work; the natural man knows nothing of them. 2. You are heirs of God (ver. 19; Matthew 13:43). 3. You are joint heirs with Christ. (1) An interest in all His glory. (2) He has entered on the inheritance as our Forerunner (Hebrews 6:20). III. BUT WHAT OF THE PRESENT? "If we suffer with Him." Suffer we must; but — 1. These pangs are hopeful; they are of birth, not death, and prove a heaven-sent longing after home and God. 2. The Saviour is with us in them. His Spirit causes them. Christ sympathises and succours (Hebrews 2:17, 18). (A. M. Symington, D.D.) Parallel Verses KJV: For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. |
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