10. The Witness of the Spirit (Rom. 8:16)

This sermon was preached on 7/1/2010

The witness of the Spirit is an important Bible doctrine, although it is not a topic that is often referred to in the Scripture. It is important because possession of it affects Christian experience. The language of the Spirit witnessing to believers is also used by Jesus in John 15:26: ‘But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.’ That verse was spoken originally to the apostles, who received this witness in a special way. The Spirit, ever since the completion of the canon of Scripture, witnesses to Christ through the contents of the Bible. But that is not the type of Holy Spirit witness that Paul refers to in Romans 8. Paul, in Romans 8:17, connects it to the privilege of adoption and in particular links it to the believer’s cry, ‘Abba, Father.’

What is the witness of the Holy Spirit? In order to appreciate what Paul means we have to look at the meaning of the Greek word Paul uses, which means that the Spirit is bearing witness alongside our spirit. It is interesting to observe that in the parallel passage in Galatians 4, Paul says that it is the Spirit who cries ‘Abba, Father.’ So both the believer and the Spirit cry, ‘Abba, Father.’

To what does the Spirit bear witness? Paul’s answer to this question is clear: the Spirit testifies that believers are the children of God (Rom. 8:16). It is obvious that Paul is referring to assurance of salvation. This means that the Spirit’s role is either to confirm this status to someone else or to assure the believer personally that he is a child of God. Which option is correct? To discover the answer, we have to ask another question.

Where does the Spirit bear witness? Two possible locations can be suggested. The first is that he bears witness in heaven, in God’s presence. For example, when we pray as children of God and say, ‘Our Father,’ the Spirit in heaven will testify that we are God’s children. If this is the correct location, then the Spirit’s role in one of confirming our status to God. I don’t think that is what Paul means, mainly because the Father does not need any confirmation of our status. It was because they are sons that he sent the Spirit into the hearts of believers. Rather Paul has in mind, as a location of the Spirit’s testimony, the inner life of each believer.

How does the Spirit bear witness? Paul is saying that in each believer’s heart, there is a twofold witness to the fact that the believer is a child of God. There is the believer’s own witness, which he will have deduced from the promises of the Bible and from the change in his life. And there is the Spirit’s witness, which is distinct from these other sources of assurance, but not separate from them since he is the one who provided them. He inspired the Scriptures and he is the agent of sanctification.

So, in each believer’s heart, there should be two witnesses giving assurance. How do they relate to each other? It is possible to imagine that the Spirit says, in one way or another, to the believer’s spirit, ‘You are a child of God.’ What I mean by this idea is that the two witnesses are separate within the human heart. Now we know that God has, at times, given profound experiences of assurance to certain individuals in which they have tasted heaven on earth. Many have testified to encounters with God that are beyond description by words. Obviously, such an experience is the work of the Spirit, but I don’t think it is what Paul means by the witness of the Spirit.

I say that for two reasons. First, the witness of the Spirit is an experience that was known by each believer to whom Paul was writing, and not only by a select few. His depiction of the work of the Spirit indicates his readers would understand his words. Second, the witness of the Spirit was an everyday occurrence, judging by Paul’s language – there is not a hint in his description that indicates the witness of the Spirit is an occasional experience. So this witness was designed for all of God’s people all of the time. So George Smeaton was correct to say, ‘‘It is not an exceptional gift, but the ordinary criterion and accompaniment of adoption’ (The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, Banner of Truth, 194).

The witness of the Spirit and assurance
If the witness of the Spirit is not the Spirit speaking to our spirit, what is it? The answer is that it occurs when the Spirit speaks with our Spirit (along with rather towards). It can be explained in this way. Here is a believer who has meditated on the promises of God and has searched his heart for evidence of conversion. He has concluded that he is a saved person, yet he finds his assurance to be weak and fluctuating and not very resistant to the devil’s attacks. He needs something to strengthen his sense of assurance, and that comes by the Spirit reinforcing the existing assurance of the believer.

The most helpful illustration of assurance that I have read likens it to a three-legged stool. One leg is the Bible, especially its promises; the second leg is evidences of a changed life; the third leg is the witness of the Spirit. Just as a three-legged stool can balance on two legs, so a Christian can have assurance from the legs of the Bible and his changed life. Just as such a stool’s balance is precarious, so the Christian without the Spirit is in danger of falling if he does not go and locate the third leg.

But I would suggest that this strengthened witness of the Spirit is not separated from the other two means of assurance, that is, the Scriptures and our progress in holiness. Regarding the first, the Spirit comes and brings the promises of the Bible to our minds and hearts with great clarity and strong application. When this happens, it seems that God is stepping out of the pages of Scripture and speaking directly in our hearts. But this experience of his love and goodwill toward us is not separated from his Word.

Something similar occurs with regard to self-examination. We see in more depth the change that has taken place within us. We become more alert to the desires for holiness, to hatred of sin, of longings for heaven, of love to fellow-believers. Our evidences become more discernible and the fruit of the Spirit more obvious.

This divinely-produced awareness of the Spirit’s work in sanctification involves the whole inner person. The believer’s mind is instructed concerning the biblical demands of God; his emotions are affected so that his love is warmer, his peace is deeper and his joy is overflowing; and his will is stimulated to obey God’s will more carefully. The believer feels refreshed, and desires to proceed in the Christian life; and as he does so, his mind, emotions and will continue to develop.

Maintaining the witness of the Spirit
Clearly, if we want this extra divine assurance, we have to use the means of grace that God has given. There is a responsibility on each of us to read the Bible and to work out in our lives the grace that God has already given to us. Assurance is not given to a lazy Christian.

More particularly, if we want this extra divine assurance, we have to engage in prayer. There is a connection between the call ‘Abba, Father’ and the giving of this witness; that is evident in the verse from Romans 8. And as we noticed when considering the previous verse, there may be a corporate element to the cry, which indicates the importance of public worship. This assurance is not given to a Christian who does not talk often to God.

Further, if we want this extra divine assurance, we have to ensure that our present relationship with the Holy Spirit is healthy. In order for us to receive his empowering, we have to ensure that we are not grieving him. We grieve the Spirit by our wilful sinning, when we engage in sinful intentions and actions. We should cry to the Spirit to enable us to separate from these sins, and then we can expect this strengthened assurance to be given to us as we make progress along the Christian path. Assurance is not given to worldly Christians.

Benefits of the witness of the Spirit
The first benefit is that the Christian with this witness possesses an infallible sense of security. I don’t mean infallible in the sense of perfection but in the sense of genuine. The believer knows it is genuine, the devil knows it is genuine. It is not unwarranted assumptions; the Christian knows that he is on his way to glory, even although he is a sinner. Because it comes from the Spirit, this assurance is irrefutable.

The second benefit is that such a Christian has an increasing sense of security. Although it is infallible and genuine, this witness is not static. The more devoted the believer comes, the more dependant he becomes, the more careful he becomes, the more likely it is that he will continue to receive this heavenly assurance.

The third benefit is that such a Christian develops an intimate sense of security. Paul’s words are given in the context of family relationship, of approaching the Father in prayer. John Owen comments on the liberty believers enjoy in drawing near to God: ‘This liberty in prayer includes a confidence of acceptance, which is given to believers by the Holy Ghost; and this respects not the answer of every particular request, but consists in a holy persuasion that God is well-pleased with their duties, accepts their persons, and delights in their approaches to his throne.’ This sense of intimacy increases as long as they enjoy the witness of the Spirit.

In the Christian life, fear can make us imagine the Spirit has left us when in fact he is doing something for us as he takes us on the journey to heaven. It does not have to be personal sin. Resorting to our own devices, even common-sense ones, weaken the other means of assurance if we are limiting the witness of the Spirit. He calls to us, promising that he can remove our fears. When we listen to his pleas, we enjoy his presence, our fears go away, our graces are enlivened and our understanding of scripture increases.