ESOCS Devotional 25 March 2025 – The Spirit of Adoption
MEMORY VERSE: “For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father!” Judges 7:4 NKJV
TEXT: ROMANS 8:1-22
There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. 5 For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. 8 So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
9 But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. 10 And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
12 Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 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 as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” 16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us. 19 For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God. 20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; 21 because the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. 22 For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now.
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Abba is the Aramaic or Hebrew word commonly used for “Daddy.” In Israel, a little child will call his father, “Abba.” And because we have received the Spirit of adoption, we have the right to address God as Abba. Father. Daddy!
The deepest and strongest foundation of adoption is located not in the act of humans adopting humans, but in God adopting humans. And this act is not part of His ordinary providence in the world; it is at the heart of the gospel.
Moreover, if we want to know that we have been adopted into the family of God, then we must look to Jesus Christ. God has no focal point or ground upon which to secure our status as His adopted children, except what He has done in His only begotten Son. He sent the one Son He has from all eternity into the world with the purpose of enlarging His family, so that He would bring many sons and daughters with Him into glory (Hebrews 2:10). To be adopted is to be able to stand where Jesus always stood, looking at God and calling Him “Abba.” Jesus, who always addressed God as “My Father,” teaches His people to say, “Our Father.”
Our passage tells us that we have two options: We can be led by the Spirit of God, or we can be under the spirit of bondage. The spirit of bondage makes us fearful of punishment; the Spirit of adoption leads us as God’s children, and without fear, but bold to stand in the presence of God.
In order to become a mature son or daughter of God, you must be led by the Spirit. But remember, if you are led by the Holy Spirit, you are not under the law. That is our freedom—not a freedom to do evil, but a freedom to love and to do good only. Our motivation to do service for Jesus is love, the most powerful motivator in the world. It works even when fear does not. That’s what God is bringing us to. That’s what makes us mature sons and daughters of God. That’s the result of being delivered from the law.
Finally, we are adopted so that we will, in fact, bear the family likeness. We are chosen to be holy and blameless (Ephesians 1:4). These are the characteristics of the children of God. They are set apart to be “blameless and innocent, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and twisted generation” (Philippians 2:15). There can be no adoption without a conferring of the family likeness and the implanting of a new impulse toward holiness and godliness.
CHALLENGES
- Have you received the Spirit of Adoption?
PRAYER POINT
- Thank you Father for the Spirit of adoption. I have received the Spirit of sonship, and by Him, I cry, “Abba, Father.” Amen.
FURTHER READING: Judges 7:19–25; 8:1–17; Romans 8:23– 39
ESOCS Devotional 25 March 2025
