The Holy Spirit is both “the Spirit of God” and “the Spirit of Christ.”19 As the Spirit of Jesus, He is “the Spirit of sonship,”20 and so takes on the role of the child. He reaches out to God the Father, calling Him, “Abba, Father.” Abba is a name for God that Jesus uses when He speaks Aramaic, His home language in Palestine.21 Abba is the affectionate term used by young children, similar to the English “dear father” or “daddy.” By using this word, Jesus shows that His relationship with the Father is warm, wonderful and intimate. He feels at home with His Father. Now the Spirit of Jesus is within us, calling to the Father in the same way, confirming us as true sons. By crying to God as “Abba,” both the Spirit and we22 express a similar kind of closeness to the Father that Jesus enjoys.
But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him (1 Corinthians 6:17).
Such oneness, like the marriage union between Christ and the church, is “a profound mystery” (Ephesians 5:32). Yet we should be used to God working well beyond the grasp of our finite minds. Think about the coming of God in flesh.23 Do we understand how that miracle of miracles took place? In the same way, we accept the Spirit and His work as true, not because they fit our human minds, not because we can see or feel them, but because God reveals them as true. They are part of “the mystery of Christ, which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit” (Ephesians 3:4-5).
Though Christ’s love “surpasses knowledge,” we try “to know” and appreciate that love (Ephesians 3:19). We depend on the power “at work within us,” though that power does “far more abundantly than all that we ask or think” (Ephesians 3:20). In the same way, we trust that the Spirit does for us what He says He does – whether or not we see it, feel it, or fully grasp it. We walk by faith, not by sight, or by senses, or by human moods.24
24. 2 Corinthians 5:7; 1 John 3:19-20; Jeremiah 10:23
Research Subjects
- God’s anger
- Sin’s spiritual family
- Friendship with God
- Israel and sonship
- Final resurrection
- God, Spirit within us
- Outward appearance
Long ago, God made the decision to adopt us as His children. He did that, well-knowing that we would be corrupted and condemned by our sins. Sin repels and angers God. Yet, while we were still enemies, God’s adoption plan unfolded. Through His Son’s death and resurrection, God opened the way for us to enter into Christ. “In Christ” we become a son like Christ. He seals this sonship by sending His Spirit to live within us. God assures us that we truly enjoy this new relationship because it depends, not on our perfection, but on His faithful promises.
Memory Verses
- Ephesians 1:4-5 – …even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will…
- John 1:16 – For from his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.
- John 1:12-13 – But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
- 2 Corinthians 6:17-18 – Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them, says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.
- Galatians 3:26-27 – For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
- Ephesians 2:22 – In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19 – Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own…
“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.” Yes indeed, may Your name be respected as holy. Just the thought of calling You “Father” is wonderful to me. So is the thought of Your Spirit living in me. Help me to know You better as my Father…