Living as Adopted Children of God by the Indwelling Holy Spirit

According the Bible, there are only two groups of people, when we speak of salvation and eternity. People make endless other distinctions, which only produce endless divisions and disputes. The catalyst separating the two groups is the Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Triune Godhead. The world cannot receive the Spirit of God (Jn 14:17); but to as many as the Father and the Son send the Spirit (Jn 14:26; 15:26), they become the adopted children of God (Rom 8:15, 17, 23; Eph 1:4–5; 1 Jn 3:1, 10).

All people represent the posterity of the first man, Adam, the sinner. As our federal head, it can be said that we were all “in Adam” when he sinned against God (Gen 3; Rom 5:12). God deals with humanity as a group. In Adam, all die (1 Cor 15:22a). Death is the consequence of sin (Rom 6:23); and all people have an appointment with the just Judge of all the earth when they die (Gen 18:25; Jn 5:22; 2 Cor 5:10; Heb 9:27). The sentence for criminal sinners, according to Jesus Christ, is eternal punishment in the fiery hell of the lake of fire (Mt 25:41, 46; Jude 7; Rev 20:14–15). This is the law of sin and death (Rom 8:2).

The mass of humanity is on this trajectory of sin, death, judgment, and eternal punishment. God gave His holy Law to mankind (Ex 20; Dt 5); but this only provoked people to sin all the more (Rom 5:20). The problem is the flesh of sinners at enmity with God (Rom 8:7). Carnal man will not submit because he cannot submit to the Law, which is spiritual (Rom 7:14). Hence, those who are in the flesh cannot please God (Rom 8:8).

The natural man cannot make himself to be spiritual (1 Cor 2:14–15). He that is spiritual must be born again of the Spirit (Jn 3:1–8; 1 Pet 1:3). In other words, God must make man new (2 Cor 5:17). It is God’s will to separate some of humanity (Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45; 2 Cor 6:16; Heb 8:10).

This group, set apart unto God are the sons of God (Rom 8:14), co-heirs with Christ Jesus (Rom 8:17), who is the only begotten Son of God (Jn 3:16). It is the Holy Spirit who sets this remnant group free from the trajectory of destruction (Rom 8:2). The Spirit guides those who belong to Christ (Rom 8:9). We walk in the truth by walking in the Spirit of truth (Jn 16:13; 2 Jn 1:4; 3 Jn 1:4).

Adopted children take on their new family name because of their new privileged position, based not on their choice. With the new identity comes new blessings and new obligations. Those chosen by God to be sons of God are royal priests within a holy nation of redeemed saints (1 Pet 2:9). To be a saint simply means that one has been set apart by God, for His purposes. The child of God must grow up into maturity (Eph 4:13); and he does this by growing in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ (2 Pet 3:18). Sanctification is entirely a work of God (1 Pet 1:2), according to the will of God (1 Thess 4:3).

The way that God sets apart a chosen race is by repositioning these people from being “in Adam” to being “in Christ” who is called “the second Adam” (1 Cor 15:45). In Christ, all shall be made alive — body and soul (Rom 8:11; Eph 2:5; Col 2:13). God begins with the souls of individuals, by regenerating them, and on the last day, He will give indestructible life to their mortal bodies at the resurrection to life (Jn 5:29).

The resurrection of the soul, dead in sin and dead to God (Rom 8:10; Eph 2:1), occurs when one is baptized by the Holy Spirit (Mt 3:11; Acts 2:38), who then permanently indwells that soul (Jn 14:17; Rom 8:9, 11; Heb 13:5). The life of God in the soul of man makes this man new (2 Cor 5:17). He walks in newness of life (Rom 6:4) by walking in the newness of the Spirit (Rom 7:6).

This new life is the Spirit of life and peace (Rom 8:6). It is the Spirit of Christ, who sets free the captive soul enslaved to sin (Rom 8:2). Theologians call it “mystical union”; which is Christ in us and us in Christ. We are baptized by the Spirit into Christ’s body, His church, the Israel of God (1 Cor 12:13; Gal 6:16). The same Spirit occupies us.

The body of sin, dominated by the sin nature (Eph 2:3), is now occupied by the Spirit and a nature of grace. Grace reigns where sin formerly reigned. There is an evident conflict, as the flesh wars against the Spirit (Rom 7; Gal 5:17). This civil war does not cease until the death of one’s body. Christ in the soul is the hope of glory (Col 1:27) because what has already happened in the soul of the Christian will soon happen to his or her body (regeneration/resurrection).

The new man is led by the Spirit (Rom 8:14), who guides him into all truth as it is in Jesus (Jn 16:13; Eph 4:21). Being conformed to the image of Christ (Rom 8:29), who is the icon of God (Col 1:15), requires the transformation of the mind (Rom 12:1–3). The mind of the natural man, the son of Adam, is set on the flesh (Rom 8:5–7). This is the prescription for death because the mind produces a practical walk on the wide way that leads to destruction (Mt 7:23). This is the course of this world (Eph 2:2).

The other way is Jesus Christ (Jn 14:6). He is the only way that leads to life. Those who follow Him, walk in the newness of life (Rom 6:4). This is the abundant life of the spiritual man (Jn 10:10), indwelt and led by the Holy Spirit on the narrow way of righteousness (Mt 7:13–14). God’s Word, the Bible, is a lamp unto this man’s feet and a light unto his path (Ps 119:105).

The contrasts between Adam and Christ are stark. It is the difference between darkness and light; lies and truth; death and life; flesh and the Spirit; enmity and peace; slavery and freedom; orphans and sons; damnation and no condemnation; and finally, hell and heaven.

There is nothing in the natural man that believes the truth about the separate groups; but from beginning to end, this is what the Bible teaches to both the reprobate and the elect. The reprobate will never believe the truth as it is in Jesus; but the elect, who were redeemed by Jesus on the cross (Col 1:14), will believe all that has been revealed by the Spirit of truth because it is that truth that has taken up permanent residence within the soul (heart and mind) of those who are being saved entirely by God’s grace (Eph 2:8–9).

Therefore, we who are filled with the Spirit, who are walking by the Spirit, positioned in Christ’s righteousness, having a hope and a future, should live in peace, with holy conduct, in the faith granted to us by God’s grace. In all this, we give thanks to God now and unto the day of eternity.

David Norczyk

Spokane Valley, Washington

February 19, 2025

Romans 8:1–17