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Most of us have probably noted the opening and closing themes of Rom. 8:: "No
condemnation" and "No separation": and it would have been easy to have adopted this
view of the passage without further investigation. One feature, however, has always
presented itself as central to the teaching of Rom. 8:, and that is the prominence given
to "adoption". In verse 15 we have the "spirit of adoption"; and in verse 23 we have the
"adoption" itself, "to wit, the redemption of the body". Then, too, we have the "spirit of
bondage again to fear", the deliverance from "the bondage of corruption", and the
"liberty of the glory of the children of God". (In considering this chapter, the reader must
remember that the word "adoption" is a compound in which huios, meaning "son", stands
first. It means literally "placing as a son"). The earlier part of Rom. 8: is full of
references to "the Spirit", which seem to reach their climax in this "sonship spirit" of
Rom. 8: 15. The cry "Abba, Father" is evidently crucial too. And so, to cut a long
story short, with these facts as guides, the following sevenfold outline based upon the
recurrence of the word "Son" is the result:--
Romans 8: 1-39.
A | 1-4. No condemnation. God sent His own SON (huios).
B | 5-15. Led by Spirit of God. SONS now (huios).
C | 15-17. Spirit Itself bears witness. SONSHIP (huiosthesia).
D | 17-21. Suffering and Glory. Manifestation of SONS (huios).
C | 22-28. Spirit Itself intercedes. SONSHIP (huiosthesia).
B | 29, 30. Conformed to the image of His SON then (huios).
A | 31-39. Who condemns? He spared not His own SON (huios).
Just as the chapter opens with a statement concerning the believer's immunity from
condemnation, so it closes with the same fact, and upon the same ground, namely, the gift
of God's Son:--
"There is, therefore, now no CONDEMNATION to them which are in Christ Jesus
. . . . . God sending his Son . . . . . CONDEMNED sin in the flesh" (Rom. 8: 1-3).
"He that spared not His own Son . . . . . Who is he that CONDEMNETH? It is Christ
that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also
maketh intercession for us" (Rom. 8: 32-34).
This, then, is the beginning and end of the matter, even as it is the beginning and end
of the structure--"His own Son".
The next fact that emerges is that all who are thus blessed are "sons of God" too. The
member marked B | 5-15 is full of references to the Spirit, the spirit of resurrection
anticipating now in this life and in these mortal bodies that glorious consummation when
we shall in actual fact be "conformed to the image of His Son" in resurrection glory. And
so the two corresponding members read:--
B | 5-15. "Led by Spirit of God. SONS now (huios)."
B | 29, 30. "Conformed to the image of His SON then (huios)."
Added to this leading by the Spirit of God is His "witness" and His "intercession":--