The Phrase, "The Sons of God," in Romans 8:14
By Jonathan Mitchell
"As many as are being continuously led by God's Spirit (or: habitually brought or conducted in [the] Breath-effect which is God; progressively driven along with an attitude from God), these folks are God's sons."
This essay will focus on one layer of the significance of the phrase, "the sons of God," or, "God's sons," in this verse. For a more comprehensive study, covering Rom. 8:14-26, see my article, "Who Are the Sons that are Destined to Set Creation Free..." My question here is, "Why did Paul choose this phrase, in this context of Rom. 8?"
To set the context, we now cite the three verses that precede the verse upon which we will be focusing:
11. Now since the Breath-effect (or: Spirit; Attitude) of the One arousing and raising Jesus forth from out of the midst of dead folks is continuously housing Itself (making His abode; residing; making His home; by idiom: living together as husband and wife) within, and in union with, you folks, the One raising Christ Jesus forth from among dead ones will also continue progressively giving Life to (or: will, as well, habitually give life to, and make alive) the mortal bodies (or: corpses) of, from, pertaining to, and belonging to, you folks (or: your subject-to-dying bodies; or: the three-dimensional results of corporeal, solid substance befitting mortals, which are associated with you people) through the constant indwelling of His Spirit (or: by means of [other MSS: because of] the continual in-housing of His Breath-effect, and the continuous internal-making-its-home, and residing, of the Attitude, which is Him,) within the midst of, centered in, and among, you folks. [cf 2 Cor. 4:14; 5:4-5; Acts 1:8]
12. So then brothers (or: Consequently then, siblings [= fellow believers; Gal. 4:26]), we do not continue being debtors to the Flesh (or: we are not folks under obligation in the [alienated human condition, or by the system of flesh sacrifices and Torah observance]), [i.e.,] of the [situation] to be continually living down on the level of, in the sphere of, in accord with, or dominated by, Flesh (or: = the natural realm; or: = a flesh cultus), [cf 2 Cor. 3:3; 5:16]
13. for you see, if you folks are continuously living down on the level of, in the sphere of, in accord with, and dominated by, Flesh (= the natural realm, an alienated self, or the system of flesh sacrifices and Torah observance), you people are progressively about to be dying away (or: continue on the way to be withering and dying off; [cf Gen. 2:17]). Yet since (or: if, in fact,) in Spirit (or: by Breath-effect; with [His] Spirit; for [the] Attitude), you folks keep on putting to death (or: regularly deprive of life) those practices and activities of the body (or: = works of flesh traditions, Torah cultus, or idolatries) you will continue living (or: possessed of vitality).
First of all, we observe from vs. 13 that Paul is speaking of behavior and a realm (Spirit; Breath-effect) of living. Verse 11 describes what has caused us to live in this higher realm of Life and Spirit. Verse 12 designates the former realm as be "Flesh."
To complete the immediate context of vs. 14, we now cite these verses which follow it:
15. For as it is, you folks did (or: do) not receive again a spirit of slavery to fear (or: get slavery's spirit, or breath-effect, again, unto fear; or: take an attitude which personifies being a slave [as in Egypt or under the Law, leading] into fear again), but rather, you received a spirit of being placed as a son (or: a Breath-effect which set you in the position of a son; or: you receive an attitude of a child having come to adulthood, and now placed with authority), within which (or: in the sphere of, and in union with, Whom) we are habitually crying out, "Abba (Dad), O Father!"
16. The same Spirit (or: This very spirit [of son-placement]; or: The Breath-effect Himself; or: This very attitude) is constantly witnessing together with our spirit (or: is continuously bearing joint-testimony to our spirit; is habitually co-witnessing with, and for, our Breath-effect; is progressively adding confirming testimony to our spirit, and evidence in our attitude) that we are, and continuously exist being, God's children (ones born of God; children from God, by natural descent).
17. Now since children (or: ones born by natural descent), also heirs (possessors and enjoyers of an allotted inheritance; those who hold sway over the allotted portion): on the one hand, God's heirs, on the other, Christ's joint-heirs [cf Eph. 3:6; Heb. 11:9; 1 Pet. 3:7] (or: indeed possessors and enjoyers of an allotment pertaining to God and from God, yet co-possessors-and-enjoyers together in an allotment pertaining to Christ and belonging to Christ) since, after all (or: if indeed), we are continually jointly experiencing and being affected by sensory encounters together [with, or in, Him] - feeling together, receiving joint-impressions, undergoing passion or suffering together (or: co-suffer) - to the end that we also would be glorified together (or: co-glorified) [with or in, Him] (or: can be given a shared appearance; would together receive a manifestation of that which calls forth praise; could be given a joint-approval and a joint-reputation; may be thought of, and imagined, together [in covenant relationship]). [cf 2 Cor. 4:8-9; Col. 3:4; 1 Jn. 3:2]
With this context in mind, let us turn again to vs. 14 and the definition which Paul sets forth for someone being termed a "son of God." He states that they are, "being continuously led by God's Spirit (or: habitually brought or conducted in [the] Breath-effect which is God; progressively driven along with an attitude from God)." Why this particular designation?
Paul does not bring Israel into his letter until the following chapter, in Rom. 9:6-33, and then continues on in 10:1-11:26. That said, we suggest that 8:14 prepares his audience for the chapters that follow. Going back into Israel's beginning as being a nation, we read in Ex. 4:22,
"Thus says Yahweh, 'Israel [is] My son, My firstborn.'"
As the result of the Exodus from Egypt, Israel was led by God's Spirit (e.g., in the pillar of Cloud mixed with Fire; Ex. 13:17, 21; 14:19, 20; 16:10b; Nu. 9:17-23). Within the context of Israel's wilderness journey, Moses would periodically seek Yahweh's guidance for leading the people. Through the visible Cloud, and through Moses' leadership, Israel was led by God's Spirit. We find reference to this in Hos. 11:1, which was cited in Mat. 2:15,
"I called (or: summoned) My Son from out of the midst of Egypt."
But for the new covenant, and the new creation (2 Cor. 5:17), a new birth is required. Jesus said to Nicodemus,
"You should not be amazed (or: begin to marvel; at some point be filled with wonder; suddenly be astonished; or: Don't be surprised) that I said to you, 'It is necessary and binding for YOU FOLKS (= the Jews) to be born back up again, to a higher place (or: for you people to be given birth from above).'" (Jn. 3:7)
We see this alluded to in Rom. 8:11, above, and then developed and explained in vss. 15-17, above.
Furthermore, we find a parallel metaphor to birth, or re-birth, in the pictures of resurrection. Turning to Ezk. 37 and the vision of the Valley of Dry Bones, we see that those bones represented "the whole house of Israel" (vs. 11). There (vs. 9-10), we observe that this picture of resurrection happened by the Breath, or Spirit, coming into them (as in Acts 2:2), and 37:13-14 speaks of Yahweh putting His spirit into His people. Paul expands upon this theme in 1 Cor. 15:35-57. He revisits this theme in Eph. 2:1-6.
Returning to Rom. 8, vs. 1 speaks of now living in the sphere of the Spirit (the new covenant) as contrasted to the sphere of the flesh (the old covenant), and then vs. 2 informs us that the Spirit of the Life in Christ Jesus has freed us (resurrected us) away from the Law of the failure (deviation) and the Death (Rom. 5:12). Here, we see an allusion, first to the freedom from Israel's slavery in Egypt, and second to the Law which had become an instrument of Israel's death (Rom. 7:9; 2 Cor. 3:6).
Rom. 8:4b previews being "led by the Spirit" by speaking of,
"habitually walking about (= for those ordering their behavior and living their lives) NOT in accord with, or in relation to, or following the pattern of, or dominated by, Flesh (or: = not corresponding to humanness; or: = not on the level of Torah-keeping boundary-markers), but rather, in accord with Spirit(or: down from [the] Spirit; corresponding to [His] Attitude; on the level of, in the sphere of, following the pattern of, and dominated by, Breath-effect)."
Once again, we have the contrast of the new against the old. Then vs. 6 gives a summation of Rom. chapter 7 (and on through 8:5):
"For it follows that, the result of the thinking (the mind-set and effect of the way of thinking; this disposition; the result of understanding and inclination; the minding; this opinion; the thought; this outlook) of the Flesh (= from the human condition or the System of culture and cultus; or: = from the keeping of Torah) [is; brings] death, yet the result of the thinking (the mind-set and effect of the way of thinking; this disposition; the thought, minding, opinion and outlook) of the Spirit (or: of this spirit; from the Breath-effect; which is the Attitude) [is; brings] Life and Peace (a Joining; a Binding-together of that which had been separated)." [cf 5:12, above; Gen. 3:17]
Take note that 8:6, here, speaks of "the result of the thinking," and this is how we can understand both Eph. 2:1-6, and here, Rom 8:
10. But since Christ (or: Yet if, as is the case, an Anointing) [is] within you folks, on the one hand the body is dead (exists Lifeless; is a corpse) BECAUSE OF sin (or: through failure, deviation, missing the target and derangement); yet on the other hand, the Spirit (or: spirit), Attitude and Breath-effect [is] Life BECAUSE OF an eschatological Act of justice that brought a flowing together of rightwising Deliverance into equitable, covenantal relationships within the Way pointed-out (or: LIFE, on account of the covenantal Faithfulness of a liberating Turn into the Right Direction of the pointed-out Way and Path of Rightness).
Because we are born anew to Life in Christ, we do not exist in the sphere of the flesh (the old covenant given to Israel). Instead, "in the sphere of the Spirit," we exist with Christ within us (8:10) - which is the environment of the new covenant where we are led by the Spirit, and thus are the sons of God, a part of God's Family, where His Son is the Firstborn among many siblings (8:29b).
In summing this up, we saw that Israel was termed "God's son," and that Israel was led by God's Spirit during their wilderness journey. We have seen that we (like Israel, Jn. 3:7) have to be born back up again, from above, into this new creation where we are in the Spirit and, being "joined to the Vine" (Jn. 15; 1 Cor. 6:17), we are now being led by the Spirit, which simply identifies us as being sons of God. We are also now able to produce His Fruit (Gal. 5:22-23) and bear His image (2 Cor. 3:18).
All of this is why,
Our tie-in with ancient Israel can be observed in Rom. 11:17 where they were metaphorically described as the Olive Tree. We Gentiles were grafted in among the believing, new-covenant branches, and this presents another picture of how we can also be termed "the sons of God," as was ancient Israel.
Jonathan
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