Charles Spurgeon Commentary Romans 8:15

"For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." — Romans 8:15 (ASV)

But you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

Does your spirit cry in that way tonight? Even if you are in the dark, yet if you cry for your Father, you will soon be in the light.

There is no need to be distressed with any form of doubt so long as the Spirit makes this continual breathing, "Abba, Father, show yourself to me. Do what you will to me. Let me taste your love. Let me at least bow under your hand."

For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. (Romans 8:15)

Is this true of you? You have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Dear friends, hearing these words, can you respond to them? Are they true of you?

For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;

You received it once, and it was a great blessing to you. This came from the law, and the law brought you under bondage through a sense of sin, and that made you first cry for liberty, and then made you accept the liberating Saviour; but you have not received that spirit of bondage again to fear.

But you have received the Spirit of adoption, by which we cry, Abba, Father.

Oh, blessed, blessed state of heart to feel that now we are born into the family of God, and that the choice word which no slave could ever pronounce may now be pronounced by us, "Abba"! It is a child's word, such as a little child utters when first he opens his mouth to speak, and it runs the same both backwards and forwards, -AB-BA. Oh to have a childlike spirit that, in whatever state of heart I am, I may still be able to say, in the accents even of spiritual infancy, "Abba, Father"!

For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;

You did receive it once. You needed it. You were in sin, and it was well for you when sin became bondage to you. It was grievous, but it was salutary; but you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear.

For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear;

We did have it once, and it produced some good effect upon us for the time being; when we were under the Law, we felt ourselves to be in slavery, and that made us go to Christ for liberty.

For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

First, love, and then sonship; he rises in his theme.

For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but you have received the Spirit of adoption, by which we cry, Abba, Father.

The spirit of bondage is the spirit of servants, not of sons; but that servitude is ended for us who are made free in Christ Jesus. We are no longer afraid of being called the children of God. We are not afraid of our own Father; we have a filial fear of him, but it is so mixed with love that there is no torment in it. Whether Jew or Gentile, we cry, Abba, Father.

But ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

We who believe in Jesus are all children of God, and we dare to use that name which only children might use, "Abba;" and we dare use it even in the presence of God, and to say to him, "Abba, Father." We cannot help doing it, because the spirit of adoption must have its own mode of speech; and its chosen way of speaking is to appeal to the great God by this name, "Abba, Father."

For you have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear: but you have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

We did receive the spirit of bondage once. We felt that we were under the law, and that the law cursed us. We felt its rigorous taxation, and that we could not meet it. Now that spirit has gone, and we have the spirit of freedom, the spirit of children, the spirit of adoption. I suppose that the apostle, when he spoke thus and said, 'You,' felt so much of the spirit of adoption in his own heart that he could not talk of it as belonging to others alone.

He was obliged to include himself thus, and so he puts it, You have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. He wanted to intimate that he himself also was a partaker of this blessed spirit. And woe to the preacher who can preach an adoption which he never enjoyed. Woe to any of us if we can teach to others concerning the spirit of sonship, but never feel it crying in our own souls, "Abba, Father."