Rom 8:12  Therefore, brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. 

Rom 8:13  For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. 

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Rom 8:15  For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.

First of all, we need to make sure we have a good handle on how Paul uses the word “Spirit” here in Romans 8, so we can fully understand and appreciate what we have in the doctrine of “adoption,” and in doing so, we will be able to fully understand the provision that the Father has made for us not only in Christ once we trusted in the gospel that saved us; but also by the Holy Ghost’s ministry, in the Spirit. And to understand how the Spirit (the Living Word of God) works within our spirit (inner man), and how God has designed the Spirit to have an impact in our lives. And it is by Holy Word that we are taught how to “be holy,” and we as His “Church” ought to be sanctified unto Him, in other words; we ought to ‘be separated’ from this evil world, and we are given a ‘new education’ apart from what we have been previously taught by this world, hence, we must be now “led by,” and taught “by” Another, and this is what our Father desires to accomplish unto us as “sons and daughters.”

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, 

2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. 

Gal 5:16  This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. 

Gal 5:17  For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. 

Gal 5:18  But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. 

In Paul’s epistles we see “Spirit” used for the first time like this in Romans 8, and for over 16 times in the chapter Spirit is used to show what you are going to be operating upon, and “led by.” The son is now given the means by which he will now ‘take off the training wheels,’ and now act as an adult son unto his Father, the Spirit (the Word of God) will now guide him in his decision making, and it is vital to understand here in chapter 8, because of the sufferings that are associated with our sanctification, it is important to understand why we go through these things, and the hope that we have because of the provision that our Father has made for us, and how we should view these sufferings, and how our Father views these things.

Rom 8:26  Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

Rom 8:27  And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Remember, its according to “His purpose,” but I have heard this taught that the Holy Spirit will make an intercession for you at the judgment seat based upon your prayers, and will ‘adjust’ what you prayed for inline to what the will of the Father is, because we “know not what to pray for as we ought,” but if this were the case; a son would NEVER have the opportunity to allow God’s word to effectually work within him, our adoption centers around the son making godly decisions based upon what the “Holy Ghost teacheth,” we are told that our minds ought to be Spiritual, and we ought to be “in the Spirit,” and led by the Spirit, and we are to let the Spirit dwell in us, so how do you think we are to pray? It’s to be based upon the living Words of the Holy Ghost’s ministry living in you!

Gal 5:24  And they that are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. 

Gal 5:25  If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 

Moreover, certain teaching like the Holy Spirit is going to make our decisions for us, or that we can pray for ‘traveling grace’ as we travel, is what man’s wisdom teaches, that’s not what God’s word teaches, when Paul asks the saints to pray that he has a safe journey, or a prosperous one, he wants the saint to be desirous of what he is trying to accomplish in the ministry, and place a zealous desire upon the ministry, he wants them to have the proper “Spiritual mind” concerning prayer, and supplications out of agape selfless love for other members of the body. And our being “led by the Spirit” translates to the son and daughter in Christ being now under the education of the Father’s Holy Word, and operating upon the Spiritual mind, this is what it means to “have the mind of Christ.”

2Co 3:3  Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.

2Co 3:4  And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward:

2Co 3:5  Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God;

2Co 3:6  Who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

Finally, God has designed that His Holy Word would be etched on the hearts of His sons and daughters in Christ. And this is accomplished by the “Spirit of the Living God,” and notice in verse 6, Paul says “of the spirit,” and the “spirit giveth life,” we see the ‘small case s’ used here in the verse, and this is because it is by God’s “spirit” that we are being educated unto godliness. And this likeness of godliness, and holiness is how the saints ought to be “led,” and what they ought to “walk by,” and what they ought to be “filled” with, not with the ungodly wisdom of this world by which we have been conformed unto. The Lord and Savior Himself, and the Apostles put Godliness on display while on the earth, and this was done by operating upon the Living Word of the Living God, and this is how we are to “live” unto Him, and be “led by” Him in all holiness, and godliness.

Rod Jones