The Spirit of Sonship

I invite you to turn with me to Romans and chapter 8 as we continue our studies in this wonderful chapter―one of the high points of the epistle of Romans and, indeed, one of the high points, I think, if we can have high points in the Bible, it’s one of them. It’s page 800 in the church Bibles, if that’s of help to you, and we’re going to read the section that begins at verse 12 and goes to verse 17.

Romans 8:12:

“Therefore, brothers, we have an obligation―but it is not to the sinful nature, to live according to it. For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him, we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs― heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”

Some of us have taken on the challenge of memorizing Romans chapter 8. We’ll be coming to that tonight. And you will find in your bulletin there this morning Romans 8 in the English Standard Version, which is the version that we’ve decided together to memorize this in. Some of you don’t have an ESV. You can buy an ESV New Testament, I think, for a dollar or two in the bookstore. But this you can have with you and use as a means of preparation for this evening as we continue our memorization.

And since you have it in front of you, why don’t we just read verses 9‒17 in the ESV as well? Let me read it. You can follow along there.

“You, however…” No, I’m sorry, from verse 12: “So then, brothers, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 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. For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you … received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs―heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.”

Father, we pray for your help now, as we think about these verses, that the Spirit of God will be our teacher. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Well, we’re essentially considering, from the perspective of Romans chapter 8, what it really means to be a Christian. And sometimes during the week, when I’m thinking about things, I say to myself, “I wonder if I’m not just flogging a dead horse here by trying again and again to explain to people… Maybe by now they have actually got it. Perhaps everything is falling into place.” And then I, just like you, read my paper, I listen to what’s being presented to me, and I realize that so much that confronts me as an individual living in Western culture, living here in suburban Cleveland and traveling around, actually challenges the fundamental convictions that are before us as we turn to the Bible.

And I had something of an illustration of the confusion that is represented in an increasingly syncretistic and pluralistic culture in the obituary in the New York Times last Monday―the obituary of Raimon Panikkar, who was a significant Roman Catholic theologian in the second half of the twentieth century. He died at ninety-one. His great influence was in promoting dialogue among religions―not from the perspective of a very solid understanding of the distinctive nature of Christianity, but rather far more of a blurring of the edges. And this was the statement from him that struck me that was part of the obituary: he said, “I left Europe as a Christian, I discovered I was a Hindu and returned as a Buddhist without ever having ceased to be Christian.”[1] It’s a quite remarkable statement, and it’s a very appealing notion to many people―sounds highly intelligent, and it sounds to be the very antithesis of any kind of dreadful Qu’ran-burning mentality such as we’ve been fed up during the last eight or ten days.

And that’s why it’s so important, loved ones, that you are students of your Bible. I won’t always be here with you. You won’t always have one of my colleagues to hold your hand and get you through. And so it’s very important that you as an individual―as a mom, as a dad, as a grandfather―that you’re actually thinking these things out, and you’re paying attention to them, and you are making deep-seated decisions about them, and the convictions that you have then become the underpinnings of the way in which not only do you live your life but also that you communicate with your children and your grandchildren.

And so, I think it’s timely for us to be here in Romans 8, to recognize what Paul is saying about life in the Spirit—that this is the reality that he described and which we considered last time in verse 9: “You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you.” And we noted that Paul is not describing here two different kinds of Christian, but he is actually distinguishing between those who are regenerate and those who are unregenerate. The distinguishing feature of those who are in Christ is that they are indwelt by the Spirit of God.

And when that is the case―distinguishing there in verse 9b from those in whom it is not the case, because “if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ”―when the reality of it is made clear, then there are certain results that flow from it. And we tried to give ourselves to that last time: “If Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness.” The fact of our mortality, the fact of the decline in our physical frame, sets within the greater context, or the parallel context, of the reality of what we are in the Spirit. Paul says it elsewhere when he says, “Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we[’re] being renewed day by day.”[2]

And one of the results, of course, of what he’s describing here is simply the impact of the fact of a resurrected Christ. If Christ is raised, if by the Spirit he lives in you, then certain things follow. He knows all of our sorrows. He’s able to heal our sorrows. He is able to be the inspirer and the sanctifier of that which makes us joyful. He’s able to sympathize with us in our needs and to supply our needs.[3] He’s not distant from us. He enters into our griefs. He carries our sorrows.[4] And despite all of the changing circumstances of life―the variation of the seasons, the ebb and flow of human relationships, the loss of loved ones, the departure of friends, and so on― the Christian must come back again and again to the fact that Jesus says, “I am he that liveth, that liveth and was dead; [and] behold, I am alive for evermore.”[5] And the reality of the resurrection of Christ made real in the life of those who belong to Christ is being described for us here by Paul in relationship to this matter of life in the Spirit.

The distinguishing feature of those who are in Christ is that they are indwelt by the Spirit of God.

Having laid this down up until verse 11, he then goes to a “therefore” in verse 12, or in the ESV, “So then…” We say all the time that we have to have “So what?” in our notes, in our thinking—“Why is this significant? How does this apply? How will this help me?” and so on. And he makes it clear that the reality of life in the Spirit brings with it responsibility.

Ours is an age of irresponsibility. I don’t think it’s just an extreme generalization to make such a statement. We are consumed with rights and entitlements and fairly opposed to the challenges of responsibility. And schoolteachers tell me about this all the time, as do other people. And it’s no surprise, then, that here, as Paul is underpinning for these Roman Christians the nature of belonging to Christ, he drives home this obligation: “Therefore, brothers [and sisters], we have an obligation.” Or let me quote it to you in the ESV. If you’ve got that sheet in front of you, this is easy: “So then, brothers, we are debtors”—“we are debtors”—“not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh,” but to the Spirit, “if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the [flesh]” and so on.

It’s incongruous, he says, to become slaves to the very things from which the Holy Spirit has set us free. And the thirteenth verse makes it very straightforward: “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.” In other words, there is a kind of life that leads to death; there is a kind of death that leads to life. That’s what he’s been saying in these earlier verses. And he’s addressing believers here. We must keep that in mind.

The doctrine of the security of the believer does not eliminate the straightforward warning here in verse 13: “If you do this, then this will follow. If you don’t do this, then that will follow.” “How does this work?” says someone. “I thought that once we were saved, we were always saved, and there was nothing could interfere with it.” Well, you know, it’s often the way that argument is stated that causes so much confusion—as if, somehow or another, the notion of our eternal security in Christ is separate from our perseverance in the things of Christ. And it isn’t! We are saved through our perseverance, not by it. We’re saved through it and not apart from it. In other words, the work of God in securing us for himself has written into its DNA perseverance—if you like, first of all, his perseverance with us, which then is revealed in our perseverance in the things of the Spirit.

Geoff Wilson makes a very helpful comment when he says we dare not mistake a false sense of security in sin from a true experience of salvation from sin. We dare not mistake a false sense of security in sin from a true experience of salvation from sin. If you’re wondering about that, you can just read for homework the book Hebrews and realize how many times the warnings of God are given to the people of God so to make sure that they do not drift off from the path.

And so it is that the reality of what we saw, or what we see in 7:6, is now the basis for the activity to which he calls his readers here. Verse 6 of chapter 7: “But now, by dying to what once bound us, we have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way.” Sometimes you listen to people teach the Bible and say, “We have been released from the law; therefore, that’s it. It’s over! You just do whatever you choose, whatever you feel, however you feel led.” “No,” he says. “We have been released from the law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit, and not in the old way of the written code.” The law, as we said, is not a basis for our justification, nor is the law a basis for our sanctification. It provides the framework; the dynamic is provided in the work of the Spirit of God. And therefore, when you come to verse 13: “If you live according to the [flesh] you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death” the works of the flesh or “the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”

The motto, says Jim Packer, for this section should not be “Let go and let God” but should be “Trust God and get going!”[6] “Trust God and get going.” In other words, we’re not to sit around waiting for God to take care of things. In pastoral counseling, this comes up all the time: “Well, I just thought that if this is wrong, as it clearly is… I know the Bible says it’s wrong. So why doesn’t God take care of it? Why doesn’t he just remove it for me? And presumably, he hasn’t removed it for me because it’s okay for it to stay here.” No, it’s not okay for your lustful heart to dominate your life. But he doesn’t remove that for you. He works in you, giving you the instruction of the Bible and telling you to remove it. “But I can’t remove it.” That’s right! “By God’s enabling, I can do what I can’t do.” That’s right! “Seems paradoxical.” That’s right! “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure.”[7]

We have to take this seriously. We must pay attention to it. The enabling power of the Spirit is at work to ensure that we as individual believers come up with a strategy for the eradication of sin—come up with a strategy for the eradication of sin. Sin is crouching at your door every day. Remember Genesis? “Sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.”[8] Whatever sin is crouching at your door, whatever sin has been crouching at your door this week―at the door of your mind, at the door of your office, wherever your door is―the answer is not in some blanket statement made from the Bible that we just lay hold of and walk around quoting to ourselves. The answer is by some significant, practical activity. It may mean the change of job. It may mean the removal of material. It may mean a lot of different things, if we are to do what is being said here in [8]:13.

John Owen, in an earlier generation, said, “Let not that man think he makes any progress in holiness, who walks not over the bellies of his [own] lusts.”[9] That’s a very graphic picture, isn’t it? “The bellies of his own lusts”! The sins of gluttony. The sins of idolatry. The sins of immorality. What are we supposed to do with these things? Go out and say, “I don’t know anything about them, because the life of the Spirit of God lives in me; therefore, I’ve got nothing to do with this anymore”? Then you would be an idiot, and you wouldn’t be telling the truth. Because you know the truth. He’s already stated it in chapter 7: “[Oh,] what a wretched man I am! Who will [deliver] me from this body of death?”[10] “The good I want to do, I don’t do, and the bad I don’t want to do, I keep on doing it.”[11] How are we supposed to handle this?

“Well,” he says, “there is a new obligation that attaches to you. This is not a call to self-transformation. This is a call to do what the Spirit of God enables us to do. It is essentially a call to become what you are. You are this! Therefore, drawing on the resources that are provided for you, you can deal with it.”

And what we are confronted with is something that is vital for us to reckon with―namely, that our sinful inclinations, in Christ, have been dethroned, but they haven’t been destroyed. They’ve been dethroned, but they haven’t been destroyed. Therefore, we have to learn to deal with them. We have to learn to deal with sin immediately, decisively, radically, consistently.

When I was preparing this address, I was reading the Telegraph in England, and it carried the story of… I think it was a lord. Certainly his wife was a lady, so he must have been a lord. But anyway, he was a man of sixty-two, and it was actually a posthumous account of his life. And it told the story of him being diagnosed with an elevated PSA. He decided that it wasn’t really something to be unduly concerned about. His physician said, “You know, we can just monitor this. You don’t really need to be unduly concerned.” The next time he went back, it was too late, because it was already in his spine, and he died within a matter of months. It was really too bad. It was very sad. ’Cause it should have been dealt with immediately, decisively, and radically.

“Oh, I was only just thinking about this. I wasn’t planning on doing anything. It was only something going on in my mind. It doesn’t really matter. I didn’t follow through on it. It was only something that I thought about.” Deal with it there. Deal with it in your mind. Deal with it in your mind before it becomes an action. Deal with it the first time it’s an action, before it becomes a habit. Deal with it before it becomes a habit. Because a habit may become your destiny.

And Paul here is simply reinforcing what we’ve been discovering in our studies in Mark’s Gospel, that Jesus had the exact same thing to say. He said it’s worth making the costliest of sacrifices in this life for the sake of eternal life. For the sake of eternal life! That’s why he uses the metaphor, “If your hand offends you, cut it off. You’re better go into heaven minus a hand than go to hell with both your hands.”[12] And he applies that to the feet, and he applies it to the eye as well.

No, pay careful attention here: “If by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.” If you don’t, you won’t. And what kind of life? The life that is truly life.

This is the great challenge, you see, in speaking to young people―speaking to teenagers and speaking to university students―because out there is everything that says, “Hey, we can show you how to live! We’ll show you how to live.” And you tell them about the Bible, they say, “Well, that’s not how to live. That’s a form of death. That’s a form of restriction. That’s a form of spoiling everything!” No, it’s actually not. If you want to really live, live by the power of God, and live in obedience to the Word of God.

If you want to really live, live by the power of God, and live in obedience to the Word of God.

Now, the responsibilities of life in the Spirit are then representative of the relationship which is enjoyed by the Christian. And he goes on to say, verse 14, “because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” In other words, we would expect that since God has made us his sons or his daughters, since he has come to live in our lives by the Holy Spirit, one of the indications that we belong to him would be that we live in obedience to his leading. We are God’s children; therefore, we would want to go in the direction that God intends.

And his little phrase here, being “led by the Spirit of God,” I don’t think should be thought of in terms of subjective guidance. Now, people say this all the time. I had somebody tell me this week… I asked him, I said, “I believe you’re moving to New York,” and the fellow said, “Oh, yes, we’re moving to New York.” I said, “And is that because of your job?” And he said, “No.” He said just, “God told us to go to New York.” Well, I was at the end of a meal, it was late at night, and I was leaving a restaurant. I didn’t have time to engage in a dialogue. But I went away, and I said, “I wonder how that works. God never once told me to go to New York. I wonder how you get that.” Then I thought, “Well, maybe God didn’t tell him to go to New York. And if he did, I wonder how he did.”

[Lenski], speaking of this notion of the leading of the Spirit of God, says such leading “excludes all [fanaticism], all autosuggestion, all hearing of fictitious imaginary inward voices.”[13] It always sounds very spiritual when people tell you that God told them to go somewhere. I’m not denying that God can tell people to do whatever he chooses to do. I’m just telling you that he has never told me that. I suppose ultimately he told me to come to Cleveland; otherwise, I wouldn’t be here. But I never had any audible voice. If I’d listened to the voice in my head, I guarantee you I wouldn’t be in Cleveland. And I don’t mean to dishearten you in any way, but if I listened during the week to the voice in my head, I would never have stayed in Cleveland. So I’m really afraid of the voices in my head. My head is full of whistles. So I do not want to be paying attention to that.

No, actually, I think when he says here, “because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God”―verse 14―we ought to understand it in terms of verse 13: “If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, because”―explanation―“those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” In other words, they are the ones who do what they’re supposed to do in the realm of obligation, and they live, as opposed to those who don’t, and therefore, they die. You’re sensible people. You can figure it out.

Verse 15 builds on verses 13 and 14: “For you did[n’t] receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear.” No! You actually have “received the Spirit of sonship.” You’re sons and daughters. You’re not slaves. Paul is reminding them of what has happened in conversion: “You didn’t receive the Spirit as a spirit of slavery but the spirit of adoption.” This is what he said elsewhere, back in Galatians and in chapter 4. You can read that on your own later on.

But what he’s making here is a very important point for us as Christians. We didn’t find ourselves caught up with the servile fear of which the Reformers used to speak―the servile fear that lives in dread of punishment and makes us question whether we belong. But rather, we have received the Spirit of adoption, thereby producing what the Reformers refer to as filial fear―the filial fear making us wonder that we belong. Servile fear makes me wonder whether I belong; filial fear makes me wonder at the fact that I do belong. Servile fear lives in the dread of a God who will punish me justifiably for my sins; filial fear lives in the reverential awe of a God who has taken the punishment that my sins deserve, and he has placed that upon his Son—creating, therefore, a sense of obligation to his mercy and to his goodness and to his grace.

No, this notion of adoption is a wonderful thing: “the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’” To be adopted in the Roman context was a radical thing, because the father―the Roman father―had the power over his sons. Patria potestas was the name. And when someone was adopted, there was a whole ceremony that was gone through that took place in the public arena that involved scales, and it involved copper, and then there was a fee that was paid to the father in patria potestas, and just when the transfer was about to take place, he said, “No, I’m not giving him up.” And then the ceremony was engaged in a second time, and just before the transaction was completed, he said, “No, I’m not giving him up.” And then on the third occasion, when the fee was paid and the symbolic gesture followed, then the child, the son, was relieved of his obligations to his father and was adopted into the new obligatory world of his adoptive father. All of the debts that may have been part of his previous family were canceled and annulled. All of the responsibilities that were there were now dealt with. All of the benefits of the inheritance that was part and parcel of his new life were now to become his, and even the arrival of children by natural generation would not alter the status of this adopted son.

You see the picture that Paul is using? “You were once slaves of the flesh. You were once bound by these things. You were once controlled by these things. There were debts that attached to you. There were unpaid balances. There was all that was part and parcel of that which held you in absolute power in the patria potestas.” The Roman father had, actually, in the early days, the power of life and death. And Paul, understanding the Roman culture and understanding theology, melds these things. And he says to the folks, he says, “You realize what has happened to you? Nobody can take you back over here into that realm of slavery. Nobody can drag up before you again all these debts, because they have been canceled. They have been subsumed. They have been wiped clean in Christ. And now the thing that defines you is the fact that you are a member of this family and that you can address God in such an intimate way.” And that’s the significance of the Aramaic word Abba. It’s the word that Jesus used in addressing his Father. It’s the word that he used when the disciples came to him and said, “Will you teach us to pray?” And he said, “Then pray this: ‘Abba, our Father who art in heaven…’”[14]

See, when you think in these terms―when we think in these terms―we realize how radically different genuine Christianity is from formalized religion. I haven’t met many formalized religionists who actually refer to God as Father. I certainly have not met many of my secular and unbelieving colleagues referring to God as Father―especially not when things go wrong. They’ll refer to him as “God,” or “god,” or “if there is a God.”

What is it―what is it―that causes us, when the wheels fall off, when the circumstances change, when the wind is in our face, when it appears somehow or another that we’ve lost control of the entire plot―what is it that causes us to kneel beside our beds and simply say, “Abba”? That’s all we can get out! We can’t even get a speech out. We can’t get a prayer out. We can’t even articulate what’s going on in our hearts. We just got nothing to say. All we’re able to say is “Abba.” Why is that? It’s an evidence of your sonship! It’s an indication that you are his daughter―that you are a daughter of the King; you are an heir. That all the inheritance that is Christ, your Elder Brother, is your inheritance too. “He owns the cattle on a thousand hills, the wealth in ev’ry mine.”[15] He’s sovereign over all the affairs of time. And in Christ we find ourselves here.

Oh, that doesn’t mean that it turns everything over, and tomorrow morning the pile that we left on our desk or the challenges that we face in decision-making is somehow eradicated by that. Not! But the distinguishing feature of the child of God is that they take all of that―whatever is represented in that big bundle―and when they lay it down, they’re able to come and say, “Father! Father!”

This is not an expression of triumph, I don’t think. So often, when you have this taught, people say, “And then we cry, ‘Abba, Father,’” as if it was some kind of special spiritual experience—you know, that now that we’ve entered into the great glory of everything, we call him Father. No. No, that’s not when your children call you father, is it? They call you father…

In fact, when you have a son-in-law, when you get sons-in-laws, one of the questions is: What are they going to call you? What am I supposed to call you? I said, “Call me the Right Reverend Doctor Alistair Begg. That’ll do fine. Something along those lines’d fit nicely.” No, I said, “Call me Dad. Call me Dad. You’re part of my family. Sit on my couch, watch my TV, drive my car.” “Really?” “Yeah.” Now, I don’t do that just for any guy that comes over to my house. Somebody come over to my house and started calling me “Dad,” that would be presumptuous. But given the relationship, there’s no need for hesitation.

Now, the intimacy that is conveyed here and the wonder that is conveyed here―and with this we will stop―this is normal Christian living. This is not a special dimension of Christian life. You must fight against those who try and send you in that direction. The context demands us understanding that it is the normal Christian life. Allow the Scripture to adjudicate on your experience. Do not bring your experience to adjudicate on Scripture. This is what is true of us. And when we cry out to God in this way, “the Spirit himself [bears witness] with our spirit that we are God’s children.”

In this Roman ceremony, there were seven witnesses. These seven witnesses were called to account: “Yes, on that day, this transaction took place, and this person was adopted into this family.” Paul understands that this had to be witnessed. And he says, “And I know many of you will be thinking of the witness in this process. Well, let me tell you who the witness is: it is the Spirit of God himself, who testifies with our spirit, assuring us that we are God’s children.” And since we enjoy this sense of intimacy, we are assured of this inheritance―and ultimately our inheritance is Christ himself.

Do you remember when your children were small, and you used to come home, perhaps get picked up at the airport, and your wife would be driving, and they would be in the back? And they were hopefully glad to see you, but they kept moving forward in the back seat closer to you, their little heads over the seat―before all these regulations where you had to virtually strangle your kids in the back. And their little faces would be there, and they’re trying to be sort of oblique about things, but eventually one of them can’t contain it and eventually says, “Daddy, did you bring us anything?” And we’d say, “Yeah. Yeah, I have something for you when you get home.” They’re like, “Oh, that’s fantastic!” I’m nostalgic for those days. But, you know, when my daughter picked me up from the airport Friday, she didn’t ask if I brought anything. I hope she was just glad to have me home. I think she was.

And progress in the Christian life is progress into understanding that when I have Christ, I have everything. Without him, I’ve got nothing. With him, I have everything. I may be absent a relationship I want. I may be absent something that I think would add to the sum of my total happiness. But when I have Christ, I have all that I need. And when that begins to dawn—when I realize that I have been adopted into this family, that Christ is my Elder Brother and that he has granted to me not only the prospective privilege of life and glory but also the peculiar privilege of suffering with him… Isn’t that interesting how he says that? And if we―this is true of us―if we “suffer with him in order that we [might] … be glorified with him…”

Do you realize how selective our Western Christianity is in this kind of terminology? If we’re not careful, we’ll skip the suffering bit, going immediately to the glory bit. A significant number of our brothers and sisters in Christ today are suffering for their faith—physically, materially; the loss of life, the loss of home, the loss of family. And yet here, consistently, leadership in American Christianity tries to convince us that we’ll really get this right when we triumph, when we’re in control, when we’ve got everything buttoned down. That has never been true of the history of the church.

Progress in the Christian life is progress into understanding that when I have Christ, I have everything.

The Cultural Revolution in China under Mao Zedong sought to eradicate once and for all Christianity from mainland China. And in seeking to do so by persecution, by all forms of punishment, by the breaking down of churches, by the dismantling of assembled religion, forty years on, the church in China is far more vibrant than it ever was when the persecution began.

What is that to say? That we ought to invite persecution? No. But I think it is for us to take seriously what he says: “If we suffer with him…” Why do we think it is that Christians in North America should get home to heaven scot-free? If there is going to be a third Great Awakening, I’m pretty dead certain it’s not going to come about as a result of Glenn Beck and Fox News. But it may come about as a result of what he’s saying here in Romans chapter 8 actually coming to fruition: that those who, being led by the Spirit of God, as sons and daughters of God, put to death the deeds of the flesh, refuse to submit to the alien authorities, and as a result find themselves walking with Christ, not simply in the triumph of his resurrection but in the very fellowship of his suffering.

I’m not a prophet. I’m not a son of a prophet. But I think that it would be good for us to think along these lines and to pray along these lines. For I’m not convinced that things will remain as they are for the foreseeable future. And what we most desperately want, which is triumph, may be the last thing that we actually need, which is suffering.

Father, thank you that your Word shines as a lamp to our feet and a light to our path.[16] It opens things up in a way that is sometimes distinctly uncomfortable to us. It forces us to think outside of the box that is routinely fed to us by so much secular and religious thought. We don’t want to be crazy, except to be crazy in the way that your Word calls us to be. And I pray today that you will help us to become people of your book. I pray that all that is true and of yourself may find a resting place in our minds. Anything that is untrue or unkind or unclear, help us to step away from it.

And may the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest upon and remain with all who believe, today and forevermore. Amen.

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[1] Raimon Panikkar, quoted in William Grimes, “Raimon Panikkar, Catholic Theologian, Is Dead at 91,” New York Times, September 4, 2010, https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/05/us/05panikkar.html.

[2] 2 Corinthians 4:16 (NIV 1984).

[3] See Hebrews 4:15.

[4] See Isaiah 53:4.

[5] David Fellingham, “I Am He That Liveth” (1982). See also Revelation 1:18 (KJV).

[6] J. I. Packer, Keep in Step with the Spirit (Leicester: Inver-Varsity, 1984), 157.

[7] Philippians 2:12‒13 (paraphrased).

[8] Genesis 4:7 (NIV 1984).

[9] John Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, in The Works of John Owen, D.D., ed. Thomas Russell (London: Richard Baynes, 1826), 7:341.

[10] Romans 7:24 (NIV 1984).

[11] Romans 7:19 (paraphrased).

[12] Mark 9:43 (paraphrased). See also Matthew 5:30.

[13] R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (Columbus: Warburg, 1945), 510.

[14] Luke 11:1‒2 (paraphrased).

[15] John W. Peterson, “He Owns the Cattle on a Thousand Hills” (1948).

[16] See Psalm 119:105.