For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.  (15) For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba,  Father”.  (16) The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, (17) and, if children, then heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed, we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together. 

The letter to the Romans was written by the apostle Paul. Paul has been addressing the perpetual contest of the corrupted nature of man with  the new life of the faithful.  He now turns to the consolation of this battle  which is that the faithful are exempt from the power of death, in Christ, provided they live in the Spirit. At the moment of faith in Christ, men and women are pardoned and forgiven for sin and transformed/regenerated  by the now indwelling Spirit of God.

Being in the flesh means devoting oneself to the world and those who do so proceed to death and cannot partake of the peace of Christ. Men by themselves are calable of nothing but ruin as there is no life in our corrupted nature. Man cannot earn salvation, it is only of the Lord. The free gift of grace and gratitutous remission of sin can never be separated from the Spirit of regeneration and the children of God are counted spiritual because of the newness of life in them.  We are justified in Christ – made right with God – but there is no justification without the Spirit –  doing the bidding of the Spirit is also necessary for sanctification.  Only those ruled by the Spirit of God are indeed sons of God and their evident godly behavior is how God marks His people.

Paul tells his readers that they did not in Christ receive the spirit of bondage – by this he means the Old Testament Jews received the Law of Moses which commanded and forbade.  The Law made man aware of sin and restrained man by fear.  But with the coming of Christ and the clear light of the gospel the faithful receive the Spirit of adoption whereby God forgives us our sin and deals with us as a Father.  Under the guidance of the indwelling Spirit there is genuine assurance of being right with God, in Christ, and an elevated state of mind which man on his/her own could never achieve

Our verses today end with the caveat that the faithful will be co-heirs with Christ Jesus who came to glory by the cross, if we suffer with Him.  This is the order of salvation, not the cause and shows us how God governs His people

I say then:  Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  (17) For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.  (18) But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. (19) Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanliness, lewdness, (20)  idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, (21)  envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (22) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, (23) gentleness, self control.  Against such there is no law. (24) And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  (25) If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

The letter to the Galatians was written by the apostle Paul. The gospel he preached was being corrupted by the false teachers in Galatia who followed him as he planted churches in all the known world and they tried to teach Christ Jesus PLUS as necessary for salvation – plus the Law, plus the rites, plus the ceremonies.  But Paul preached that man is made right with God in grace by faith in Christ Jesus and sealed by the then indwelling Spirit. That’s it basically – no more ceremonial bondage or reliance on the works of man which can never earn salvation.

It seems the Galatians differed about doctrine which was destructive to the churches and the people causing great friction and strife; there was ambition, pride,slander, injustice, fraud, violence etc, tearing apart the unity of the churches. Paul writes of the remedy for this potential catastrophe which would be to yield to the direction of the Spirit of God. To obey the Spirit and oppose the natural inclinations of the flesh (which includes the mind) are the two great goals of Christians. At the moment of faith we are reborn – transformed into new men and women and the Spirit becomes indwelling in the faithful. The Spirit makes men free and cannot be indwelling without being manifest in our actions – here listed in our verses as the fruits of the Spirit

In the middle of our verses today – verse 21 – Paul writes of the consequences of indulging in the evil fleshy nature of man – those people will be cut out from the kingdom of God and from all hope of salvation. These threats will hopefully call men to repentance as forgiveness in Christ Jesus is now promised. The death of the flesh is the life of the Spirit. We celebrate today as Pentecost Sunday and the birthday of the church of Jesus Christ.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (12) No one has seen God at any time.  If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.  (13) By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.  (14) And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.  (15) Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.  (16) And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.  God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 

The first sentence of today’s verses, written by the apostle John, refers to the great love God had for us in sending His Son to save us from sin. God set the example and Christ proved His love and our resulting love for one another is not just a nice thing.  It is, in faith, not just who we are now, but an obligation.

John tells us that no man has seen God – meaning we have not beheld Him with our eyes, but have experienced His essence through the love He has shown us. We have not seen the wind either but see it’s effects.   At the moment of faith in Christ Jesus we are reborn – transformed into new men and women and this rebirth is sealed by the now indwelling Spirit of God. Since the essence of God is love and this love is conferred on man by the indwelling Spirit, by faith God dwells in us. Wherever God abides, love is – so love is necessarily connected with faith in Christ Jesus. John is telling us in our verses today that faith in Jesus rests on historic apostolic witness to the person of Christ Jesus; the fulfillment of all the Old Testament prophecies – they saw the miracles, heard the teaching of Christ and were eyewitness to the Resurrection

John is NOT saying that the way to abide in God is to confess faith in Christ and love one another, he is saying that GOD HAS INITIATED this reconciliation and our transformation by faith and the resulting love for one another is EVIDENCE that we are saved. Salvation is of the Lord not of man.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (8) He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.  (9) In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.  (10) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  

In this first letter written by the apostle John, he speaks of the all importance of love.  Love is not optional for the believer and John tells us if we don’t love others we don’t love God.  Love is the imevitable result of being born again – of being a new man or woman in our faith in Christ Jesus but love is not automatic; it is not a matter of our feelings but of our will – it is the growth of our souls.

John has just witnessed in early chapter four of this letter that salvation is by faith in Christ Jesus and at the time of this transformation it is now time to turn to love each other. Love for others is evidence of God abiding in us through the Spirit. Our words and behavior must be consistent with Biblical love which is to live for the highest good for another.  This  is an action verb/a caring commitment, often involving self sacrifice. Biblical love is genuine only when it does not originate from the man/woman, but from God. Salvation is always and only from the Lord, and so this love for others originates in faith in Christ

Biblical love – real love – is seen not in our loving God but in His loving us by sending His Son into a world of hostile unloveable humans to save men from our sins. Without Christ Jesus we are all dead.  Propitiation for sin was the cause of Christ Jesus coming which also means that the acceptable sacrifice of Christ’s death was only able to be accomplished by Him. We are made right with God only through Christ – if men were able to redeem themselves by their works than Christ would not be the only true propitiation for sin.  It doesn’t matter what we think of God but it matters only what God thinks of us.