Romans 8:16,17 - We are children of God

8:16

“The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God”. This is a most amazing statement, a most amazing truth. It is amazing in the very fact that we are children of God. It is also amazing in that the Spirit bears witness with our spirit. It isn’t just an idea we have made up, or something that we believe, it is something that God Himself says to us.

8:17

There are consequences of this in how we live, which is perhaps the main thrust of this chapter. But there are also eternal consequences. We are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ. This again is a most amazing statement, a most amazing truth. But notice then the talk about our suffering with Christ. We do not earn our inheritance by suffering, rather it is part of the deal. We share in all things with Christ, and that includes sharing in His sufferings. So how do we suffer? The most obvious is persecution. In the West this is still very rare, but not totally, and the atmosphere is becoming increasingly hostile and who knows what will happen in the future. In many countries in the world the persecution is real and frequent. It may happen in God calling us to care for people in a way that involves a great cost. This is all part of being “in Christ”. I chose that term because if I say it is part of “following Christ” (which it is) we can get the idea that it is something we do ourselves. It isn’t, we do it together with Christ, it is part of His working in us. But being glorified with Christ is also part of being in Christ. We need to learn to rejoice and delight in being “in Christ”.