The Ministry of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:15-27)
In this chapter of Romans, as we have so far considered it, Paul has given three responses about how Jesus delivers his people while they have an awareness of their sinfulness. First, the Holy Spirit enables them to love God’s law – they fulfil the righteous requirement of the law, which is to love God and neighbour. Second, Christians should reflect on the radical difference that exists between them and other people – they are in the Spirit and not in the flesh. Third, believers should by the power of the Spirit engage in mortification of sin throughout life, putting to death that which will not die completely while they are in this life. Now the apostle mentions further activities of the Spirit that they experience, and some of them are hard to explain because often the actions of God are beyond us. We can approach them by noting that the Spirit is called the Spirit of adoption, that there is a connection to the eternal inheritance, and that his intercession is one of groaning. The