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"The Spirit Itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God"
(Rom. 8: 16).
"The Spirit Itself . . . . . maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of
God" (Rom. 8: 26, 27).
This "witness" and intercession" are closely associated with the fact that these sons of
God are not yet in glory, but here in the midst of a groaning creation. They are
strengthened to suffer because of the glory that is to come; they are "saved by hope";
and while they often know not what to pray for, they do know that all things work
together for good. It is in this realm that the witness and intercession of the Spirit have
their place. In the structure it will be seen that the word SON gives place to SONSHIP,
which is the word "adoption" in the A.V.:--
C | 15-17. Spirit Itself bears witness. SONSHIP (huiosthesia).
C | 22-28. Spirit Itself intercedes. SONSHIP (huiosthesia).
This brings us to the centre of the structure:--
D | 17-21. Suffering and Glory. Manifestation of SONS (huios).
Until the reign of sin and death actually ceases, until creation itself emerges into the
liberty of the glory of the children of God, the day of complete emancipation for the
believer must be future. For the present, it is enough that we have passed from Adam to
Christ, that there is now no condemnation, that during this pilgrimage we have the
witness and the intercession of the Spirit, and that with all our ignorance of what to pray
for, we know that all things work together for good to them that love God.
We commend this outline to the prayerful interest of the reader, believing that, as it is
based upon the occurrence of words used by the Holy Spirit and not upon headings of our
own devising, it does "divide aright" this precious portion of truth. It shews us the seven
great sections into which the subject-matter falls, and provides us with well-defined
bounds for our subsequent studies. We hope to deal with the opening section A | 1-4
in our next article.