Q&A: Spirit Led Sonship

Received 4/1/16

Question:

There are those out there who think the doctrine taught in Gal. 4:2-5 and thus Rom. 8:14-15 occurred or was made to happen by the Lord when the dispensation of the grace of God was ushered in through Paul.

So, "the time appointed of the father" began with the ushering in of the dispensation of the grace of God and so all believers are sons of God and have received the spirit of adoption. And, crying Abba Father if not even done consciously by the believer, is dispensationally done on our behalf by the Spirit.

Answer:

I deal with this specific issue in More Than Conquerors, particularly chapter 12, "Cats in the Cradle: From Rags to Riches & Back Again".

The short answer is that I would agree in part with what is set forth above. We are all sons of God, and this is involved with things that have taken place dispensationally. This involves positional truth. Being a son and acting like it are different. The same goes for every area of our sanctification walk. If we, as children, act like servants rather than sons, we might as well be servants (Gal. 4:1; Rom. 8:14-17). It is as sons that we are being presented with an opportunity by our Father in light of our liberty. It is up to us whether we take it and walk as sons, which is to say, be led of the Spirit.

However, I don't believe crying Abba Father is done on our behalf by the Spirit. There will be serious ramifications for our sonship life if we don't, which I begin to set forth in More Than Conquerors. This of course goes to larger issues in mishandling the intercessory ministry of the Holy Spirit, which was one of the major reasons I wrote the book. What he has done on our behalf is something we must partake of. He leads, but we must follow. He teaches us what we ought to pray for, but we must learn-and pray accordingly, etc. He is not off praying for us somewhere. As I detail in the book, he has an intercessory ministry, but this is not the same thing as mystically making something happen. His ministry will teach us how we should walk as sons, but it will not guarantee we do so - it must "beareth witness with our spirit".

Hope this helps.

Seated in heavenly places with Him,

- DWB