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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Romans 8:15 - 8:15
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Spirit of bondage (πνεῦμα δουλείας)
The Holy Spirit, as in Spirit of adoption. The Spirit which ye received was not a spirit of bondage. See Rom 8:4, under πνεῦμα, 7.
Spirit of adoption (πνεῦμα υἱοθεσίας)
The Spirit of God, producing the condition of adoption. Ὑιοθεσία adoption, is from υἱός son, and θέσις a setting or placing: the placing one in the position of a son. Mr. Merivale, illustrating Paul's acquaintance with Roman law, says: “The process of legal adoption by which the chosen heir became entitled not only to the reversion of the property but to the civil status, to the burdens as well as the rights of the adopter - became, as it were, his other self, one with him... this too is a Roman principle, peculiar at this time to the Romans, unknown, I believe, to the Greeks, unknown, to all appearance, to the Jews, as it certainly is not found in the legislation of Moses, nor mentioned anywhere as a usage among the children of the covenant. We have but a faint conception of the force with which such an illustration would speak to one familiar with the Roman practice; how it would serve to impress upon him the assurance that the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father” (“Conversion of the Roman Empire”).
We cry (κράζομεν)
Of a loud cry or vociferation; expressing deep emotion.
Abba (Ἁββᾶ)
Compare Mar 14:36. A Syrian term, to which Paul adds the Greek Father. The repetition is probably from a liturgical formula which may have originated among the Hellenistic Jews who retained the consecrated word Abba. Some find here a hint of the union of Jew and Gentile in God.