Freedom from Abandonment (Romans 8:14–17)
[We] are the children of God.
—Romans 8:14
In each of the four verses of Romans 8:14–17, the Holy Spirit identifies us as God’s children and accompanies us on our journey.
Led by the Spirit, we are identified as the children of God (v. 14).
The Spirit replaces fear with freedom, bringing us from slavery to adoption as God’s child (v. 15).
The Spirit “testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children” (v. 16).
The Spirit assures us that as God’s children, we are “heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ” (v. 17).
As believers, we are “led by the Spirit” (v. 14), have “received a Spirit of adoption” (v. 15 REB), as the Spirit bears witness to us that we are God’s children (v. 16) and, therefore, also his heirs (v. 17).
You have been chosen and adopted.