Before/Past/Old

After/Future/New

....so that we should no longer be slaves of sin. (Roms 6 v6)

Living in the Spirit of AdoptionRomans chapter 8 verses 9-17

9 But you are not controlled by your sinful nature [the realm of the flesh]. You are controlled by [in the realm of] the Spirit if you have the Spirit of God living in you. (And remember that those who do not have the Spirit of Christ living in them do not belong to him at all.) 10 And Christ lives within you, so even though your body will die because of sin, the Spirit gives you life because you have been made right with God. 11 The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.12 Therefore, dear brothers and sisters*, you have no obligation to do what your sinful nature urges you to do.

13 For if you live by its dictates, you will die. But if through the power of the Spirit you put to death the deeds of your sinful nature, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children [sons] of God.15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children [Gk: you have received a spirit of adoption]. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

15 So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” 16 For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. 17 And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory.

15 The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.[c] And by him we cry, ‘Abba,[d] Father.’ 16 The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

....but you have received a spirit of adoption.

c. The Greek word for “adoption to sonship “ is a term referring to the full legal standing of an adopted male heir in Roman culture... The Greek literally means “you received a spirit of sonship.”

4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.[a] 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba,[b] Father.’ 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir. Galatians 4

Tom Smail wrote in 1980:Within the charismatic renewal today, there is a good deal more talk about spiritual gifts than exercise of them; more discussion about the power of the Spirit than actual experience of it. One of the main reasons for that is most people just do not have the confidence that God has accepted them and loves them just as they are as his children, and therefore will not let them be led astray by what is worldly or demonic but will give them all that he has promised – his robe, his ring and his shoes.This confidence will not be created by repeated acts of laying on hands, but only by an awareness of the Spirits cry of Abba at the creative and motivating centres of our lives. This is what releases from the paralysing fear of God and people that grips so many – and it is not a technique that we can master but a sovereign work of the Spirit which must liberate us. (from ‘Forgotten Father’)