Text: Romans 8:12-17
Some of the best practical advice I ever received came from a recently-retired Army Chaplain who is now a bishop in one of the Old Catholic Churches. He told us that when we are facing a decision, particularly an important one, remember the word “HALT.” That is, never make decisions, especially important decisions, when you are Hungry, Angry, Lonely, or Tired: H.A.L.T. These are often the times when our flesh is putting the most influence on our decisions, and it is hardest to think either rationally or spiritually. These are the times when our bodily appetites are most likely to be in the driver’s seat.
Now, it’s certainly not a sin in of itself to be hungry, angry, lonely, or tired. These are just part of being human beings with bodies and emotions. But when our appetites are in control, they can become what the philosophers and theologians classically call the “passions.” That is, they can move from merely being appetites or desires to being disordered desires. Hunger can turn into gluttony. Anger can turn into wrath. Loneliness can turn into lust. Tiredness can turn into slothfulness. And these disordered desires, when acted upon, certainly become sin.
This is what St. Paul is talking about in the beginning of our Epistle when he says,
Brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
Living after the flesh, after our passions, our disordered human desires, leads to death. But if we put the “deeds of the body” (i.e. the sinful actions come from those passions) to death, we will live. We must put our disordered, sinful passions to death, but we must do so “through the Spirit.” That is the way to life rather than death.
It’s important to remember that St. Paul isn’t making a contrast between our physicality and spirituality. This isn’t some proto-Gnosticism that sees our bodies as evil cages for our pure spirits. Rather, the issue is the “deeds of the flesh.” Again, these are when the disordered desires arising from our appetites and passions lead to sin. St. Paul isn’t condemning our physical bodies. Indeed, a few verses later in Romans 8, St. Paul will speak of all creation groaning in anticipation for the redemption of our bodies as God delivers us from bondage to corruption. The resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ with his glorified, yet very human and physical body is the downpayment of the future glorification of all creation. Our redemption by Christ’s blood speaks to that future glory. In the beginning, when God saw his creation, he declared that it was “very good.” And despite the corruption of creation by sin and death, one day it will be restored to that same “very good” state. Indeed, it will be even better; it will be fully united to heaven itself, as we read about in the Revelation to St. John.
In the meantime, St. Paul reminds us to mortify, to put to death, “the deeds of the body.” Elsewhere, in Galatians 5, St. Paul calls these the “works of the flesh,” and he gives a list of examples: “adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like.” These kinds of things are the result of walking in the flesh. Some of them are sins directly against God. Some are sins against our neighbor. But all come from letting our fleshly passions be in control.
These are contrasted in Galatians 5 with the fruit of the Spirit: “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance.” Living after the Spirit rather than after the flesh yields this kind of fruit.
Indeed, in our Epistle, being led by the Spirit of God is what yields life rather than the death that comes from the works of the flesh. But not only do we have the fruits of the Spirit and life; we also have the greatest privilege of the Christian life: adoption into God’s family. Verse 14:
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Living in the flesh is bondage and fear. It’s terror and slavery. But living in the Spirit is sonship, and co-inheritance with Christ himself. Though rejecting the works of the flesh may lead to suffering in this life, the ultimate end is glorification, just as Christ suffered, and yet is now glorified.
Several of you have been involved in the adoption of children one way or another. Some of you have adopted a child. Others were yourselves adopted. And many others came alongside friends and family who were going through an adoption. In our country, adoption is typically for the purpose of providing a stable home and loving family for a minor. This is, of course, a beautiful picture when we think about God adopting us as his children.
That said, this was not typically what adoption in the Roman world of St. Paul’s day was about. Rather, in St. Paul’s day, formal, legal adoption was primarily for social, legal, and political purposes. It was largely an issue of inheritance. Because of this, it was common for the adoptee to be a legal adult rather than a young child. A famous example of this was Julius Caesar adopting his great-nephew Octavian to become his heir, the future Caesar Augustus.
This historical context sheds light on why our Epistle ties our adoption to our inheritance. “And if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.” Jesus’ Father is now our Father. His Sonship is our sonship. His Kingdom is now ours.
But don’t forget the last bit of our text: “if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” When we’re adopted as Christ’s brethren, we also suffer with him. The World did not receive him, because the World would rather be in darkness than receive the light. The same will also happen with us. Furthermore, our flesh will indeed fight against us; it doesn’t want to be submitted to the Spirit. It wants to be in charge. Yet, when we take on this suffering, as the Lord Jesus did, we know that it is merely temporary. We have glory to look forward to, just as he did. And we don’t ever have to suffer alone. Christ is with us; he has sent us his Spirit. The Lord is in our corner. That’s part of what it means to be adopted children of God.
Now, in the Old Testament, we often see adoption language used to speak of Israel. God chose a family to be his family. He promised them an inheritance of blessing, progeny, and land. But to be the chosen people meant being different. It meant being called out of the rest of the nations. Indeed, they were to be a light to those nations. Israel was given God’s Law in addition to being brought into fellowship with him. That is, Israel was to walk according to the ways of God’s Spirit rather than according to the flesh. Living according to God’s Law was what it meant to be God’s chosen people. It was not an entrance exam to become God’s people. That is, covenant with God, and obedience to the covenant was part of the identity of the Israelite. It was not what one did to become an Israelite.
Furthermore, the Messiah was promised to Israel. This is most striking in some further adoption language from the Old Testament, when God adopts David and his heirs to be the line of kings. Ultimately one of those descendants would be the King of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. Though this ultimate descendant of David, the only Begotten Son of God would take on flesh and bring the Spirit of Adoption to all those who would be united to Israel’s true king. All who are in Christ would share in the adoption. We would have the same blessing, the same spiritual progeny, and a spiritual kingdom, just like the Messiah, the true Israelite, the true heir of David.
And just like the Israelite of old, we are to walk in the Spirit because we are God’s adopted children, not in order to become God’s adopted children. This is important to note when we look at the contrast between slavery to the flesh and sonship by the Spirit in our passage. As is so typical in the Epistle to the Romans, St. Paul is talking about a change in status that happens to the Christian when he becomes a Christian. Our status as God’s adopted children who have life by the spirit is positional, not aspirational.
If that’s not quite clear in our few verses from the middle of the chapter, listen to these verses from the beginning and end of Romans 8. Verse 1: “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” And here are verses 38 and 39, the last verses of the chapter: “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from he love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
If you have been adopted as God’s child by your union to God’s Son, not even your own sin can separate you from the love of God. By all means, be sure to fight against your flesh. Be sure to fight against your sin, particularly if it falls on that list of vices St. Paul cites in Galatians 5! And if you’re having troubles with those things, by all means come and get help from your priests. We certainly have spiritual tools for spiritual growth! But always remember that your call to mortify the deeds of the body is a call to simply be who you are in Christ Jesus. If you have been baptized and united to Christ by faith, you are no longer a slave to the flesh. You are no longer a slave to sin. You are a son or daughter of the Most High, a co-heir with the Lord Jesus Christ.
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
