THE SPIRIT'S WORKING WITH OUR SPIRIT

CREATED FOR GOD

ROMANS 8:

16 The Spirit itself testifieth 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 we suffer with him, that we may be glorified together. 18 For I reckon, 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 creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. 20 For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope: 21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption, into the glorious liberty of the children of God.

auto to pneuma summarturei tw pneumati hmwn oti esmen tekna qeou ei de tekna kai klhronomoi klhronomoi men qeou sugklhronomoi de cristou eiper sumpascomen ina kai sundoxasqwmen logizomai gar oti ouk axia ta paqhmata tou nun kairou proV thn mellousan doxan apokalufqhnai eiV hmaV h gar apokaradokia thV ktisewV thn apokaluyin twn uiwn tou qeou apekdecetai th gar mataiothti h ktisiV upetagh ouc ekousa alla dia ton upotaxanta ef elpidi oti kai auth h ktisiV eleuqerwqhsetai apo thV douleiaV thV fqoraV eiV thn eleuqerian thV doxhV twn teknwn tou qeou

Verse 10 The body is dead (to men swma nekron). Has the seeds of death in it and will die "because of sin." The spirit is life (to de pneuma zwh). The redeemed human spirit. He uses zwh (life) instead of zwsa (living), "God-begotten, God-sustained life" (Denney), if Christ is in you.

Verse 11 Shall quicken (zwopoihsei).  Future active indicative of zwopoiew, late verb from zwopoioß, making alive. See on "1Co 15:22". Through his Spirit (dia tou pneumatoß). B D L have dia to pneuma (because of the Spirit). Both ideas are true, though the genitive is slightly more probably correct.

Verse 12 We are debtors (opeiletai esmen).  See on Galatians 5:3; Romans 1:14. Not to the flesh (ou th sarki). Negative ou goes with preceding verb and th sarki, not with the infinitive tou zhn.

Verse 13 Ye must die (mellete apoqnhskein) . Present indicative of mellw, to be about to do and present active infinitive of apoqnhskw, to die. "Ye are on the point of dying." Eternal death. By the spirit (pneumati). Holy Spirit, instrumental case. Ye shall live (zhsesqe). Future active indicative of zaw. Eternal life.

Verse 14 Sons of God (uioi qeou).  In the full sense of this term. In verse Romans 16 we have tekna qeou (children of God). Hence no great distinction can be drawn between uioß and teknon.  The truth is that uioß is used in various ways in the New Testament. In the highest sense, not true of any one else, Jesus Christ is God's Son (Romans 8:3). But in the widest sense all men are "the offspring" (genoß) of God as shown in Acts 17:28 by Paul. But in the special sense here only those are "sons of God" who are led by the Spirit of God, those born again (the second birth) both Jews and Gentiles, "the sons of Abraham" (uioi Abraam, Galatians 3:7), the children of faith.

Verse 15 The spirit of adoption (pneuma uioqesiaß).  See on this term uioqesia, Galatians 4:5. Both Jews and Gentiles receive this "adoption" into the family of God with all its privileges. "Whereby we cry, Abba, Father" (en h krazomen Abba o pathr). See Galatians 4:6 for discussion of this double use of Father as the child's privilege.

Verse 16 The Spirit himself (auto to pneuma). The grammatical gender of pneuma is neuter as here, but the Greek used also the natural gender as we do exclusively as in John 16:13 ekeinoß (masculine he), to pneuma (neuter). See also John 16:26 (o--ekeinoß).  It is a grave mistake to use the neuter "it" or "itself" when referring to the Holy Spirit. Beareth witness with our spirit (summarturei twi pneumati hmwn). See on "Ro 2:15" for this verb with associative instrumental case. See 1 John 5:10 for this double witness.