In my “year in Romans 8” I just made a new connection. Verse 15 (ESV) says, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry ‘Abba! Father!’” I suddenly wondered, since Paul has spent several chapters talking about flesh vs. spirit why didn’t he say “you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into sin”? Going back to 6:16-18, he wrote,
“Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are the slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness? But thanks be to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were committed, and having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.”
So the short answer to the question is that Christians are in fact set free from the slavery of sin. Paul reiterates this in 8:9, “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to Him.”
We also need to remember chapter 7 and Paul’s extended commentary that “I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing” (v. 19). Even the great, miraculously converted, Apostle Paul struggled with sin. A few theologians try to say that this chapter refers to his pre-conversion struggle, but there is no evidence for this. After all, Paul wasn’t struggling when he actively participated in the persecution of Christians. He said of himself, “as to righteousness under the law, blameless” (Philippians 3:6). His wrestling with the flesh was a reality even when he understood and preached the grace of God.
So then why does Paul say “slavery to fall back into fear”? John explains that in 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.” If you put Paul and John together, you don’t just have half the Beatles. What you have is a reminder we all need at times:
Christians, though we are free from slavery to sin, we still wrestle with it and fall into it. The difference is that we no longer need to fear God’s punishment because we are His beloved children. His love and forgiveness are lavished upon us, and we can turn back to Him every time we fail. I’ve started reading
The Imitation of Christ, by Thomas à Kempis, and he had some good thoughts on the problem of temptation:
“When a man of good will is afflicted, tempted, and tormented by evil thoughts, he realizes clearly that his greatest need is God, without Whom he can do no good. Saddened by his miseries and sufferings, he laments and prays. He wearies of living longer and wishes for death that he might be dissolved and be with Christ. Then he understands fully that perfect security and complete peace cannot be found on earth.” (Twelfth Chapter)
“So long as we live in this world we cannot escape suffering and temptation... No one is so perfect or so holy but he is sometimes tempted; man cannot be altogether free from temptation... Yet temptations, though troublesome and severe, are often useful to a man, for in them he is humbled, purified, and instructed. The saints all passed through many temptations and trials to profit by them, while those who could not resist became reprobate and fell away. There is no state so holy, no place so secret that temptations and trials will not come. Man is never safe from them as long as he lives, for they come from within us—in sin we were born. When one temptation or trial passes, another comes; we shall always have something to suffer because we have lost the state of original blessedness...
“We should not despair, therefore, when we are tempted, but pray to God the more fervently that He may see fit to help us, for according to the word of Paul, He will make issue with temptation that we may be able to bear it. Let us humble our souls under the hand of God in every trial and temptation for He will save and exalt the humble in spirit...
“Some, guarded against great temptations, are frequently overcome by small ones in order that, humbled by their weakness in small trials, they may not presume on their own strength in great ones.” (Thirteenth Chapter)
We can draw encouragement even from temptation for several reasons:
1) The struggle proves we are Christians. Non-Christians don’t struggle with sin because they don’t recognize it as sin. “If it had not been for the law, I would not have know sin” (Romans 7:7).
2) The struggle shows if we are growing in Christ. Our enemy doesn’t want us to grow, and wants to cause us to despair, so he turns up the heat. “Consider Him who endured from sinners such hostility against Himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood” (Hebrews 12:3-4).
3) The struggle reminds us of our weakness and humility. While we don’t know if Paul was specifically referring to sin as his thorn in 2 Corinthians 12:9, it is still true that “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”
4) The struggle reminds us to turn to God. If there were no battles, we would not need Him as our Defender and our Refuge. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble” (Psalm 46:1).
5) The struggle spreads God’s comfort to us, and through us to others. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). [I wouldn’t be writing this blog if I had not recently experienced it.]
6) The struggle reminds us of what is truly important. “Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world” (1 Peter 5:8-9).
7) And one day the struggles will be over and God will be glorified. “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever” (1 Peter 5:10-11).
So take heart, brothers and sisters in Christ, in the world we will have tribulation, but He has overcome the world (John 16:33).
“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” (Romans 8:16-17).© 2015 Dawn Rutan.
"If we really believe that God is purposeful in suffering, that our suffering is not meaningless or random, shouldn't that affect how we pray about the suffering in our lives and in the lives of others? As it is, we pretty much only know how to pray for suffering to be removed—for there to be healing, relief, restoration. Praying for anything less seems less than compassionate. But shouldn't the purposes for suffering we find in Scripture guide our prayers more than our predetermined positive outcomes? We could make a very long list of purposes for which God intends to use suffering according to the Scripture. But here are just a few:
