Romans 8:12-17 // Adopted by God

Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 15 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. 16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together. (Romans 8:12-17)

Paul has been explaining how it is that we are not condemned if we have the Holy Spirit in our lives. I have been reading and re-reading this passage here, and it hasn't been making a lot of sense to me. I have compared some different translations, and now I see that the first verse should not end with a full stop. The Greek uses a comma, not a period, although the original would have had no punctuation of course. I have used modern punctuation to try to make the meaning clearer, though not with much regard to the technicalities of language: Therefore brethren, we are debtors. (not to the flesh, to live after the flesh, 13 [For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die] but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.) 14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

If I am right about the punctuation, verse 12 is probably connected to verse 14. Until I've heard back from my friendly expert on ancient Roman adoption I will simply conclude that Paul is saying that we are debtors to God because we are adopted sons of God. Those who live "after the Spirit" are sons of God, so they are debtors to God for adopting them. Sometimes you need to read Paul's writings backwards to make sense of them.

So in the parenthetical (bracketed) section, Paul is making the point that we do not have an obligation that is physical, God does not require rituals from us or great selfless acts or keeping his laws meticulously. If this is where we hope to get our salvation from we will not be saved, we will die. But if we stop thinking about how we are measuring up, by thinking about the fact that we are saved by grace, we will be saved, we will live.

We have an obligation, we are debtors, to God; because he has adopted us, not making us slaves, but giving us the privilege of close association with him. The heir not only inherited the kingdom, but took on the co-management of the kingdom with his father. As joint-heirs with Christ we have a place of honour in the universe that we do not deserve at all. But those who will be joint-heirs with Christ will also join in his persecutions. We all have a different cross to bear, I don't know what mine is to be, but I know that Jesus is able to carry me through and I want to endure temptation so that I may receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised me. (See James 1:12)