Into the Heart of Romans
A Deep Dive into Paul’s Greatest Letter
Led by the Spirit (4|4)
Pages 103-107
1 Corinthians 2:11-13 (NIV) For who knows a person’s thoughts except their own spirit within them? In the same way, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. What we have received is not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may understand what God has freely given us. This is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom but in words taught by the Spirit, explaining spiritual realities with Spirit-taught words.
Galatians 4:4-7 (NIV) When the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Paul describes Christian ethics as learning to live from a renewed heart, allowing the life of heaven to take shape in real, earthly habits. What practices or disciplines help you cooperate with the Spirit to form (or solidify) a lifestyle that reflects a renewed heart in everyday choices?
Paul teaches that the cry “Abba, Father” is “both the evidence that we have received the Spirit of sonship and the moment where God’s Spirit joins with our own spirit to affirm that we truly are God’s children”. When have you most deeply sensed the inner confirmation of being God’s child? Has that shaped your relationship with God, your “Abba Father”?
Paul recognizes that people’s spiritual experiences vary widely, and that feelings alone can be unreliable, either giving false assurance or unnecessary doubt. How can we help one another understand “where we really are with God” when feelings can be unreliable and spiritual experiences vary widely?
When have you found yourself praying to God as “Father” most sincerely, and how did/does that shape your relationship with Him?