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. For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. 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. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Romans 8:13-16
When God saves a sinner who comes to Christ in faith, that person is not saved because of anything he does or does not do. Salvation is all God’s work. “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Once we have been saved, God does not want us to live in constant doubt and worry over whether we are truly saved or not. That is one of the reasons why every believer receives the Holy Spirit—as a witness that we are truly God’s children.
In his commentary on Romans, John Witmer wrote, “The opposite, however, is also true: If anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ (literally ‘this one is not of Him’). Since only the Holy Spirit gives spiritual life, a person cannot be related to Christ apart from the Spirit. The interchange of the titles ‘Spirit of God’ and ‘Spirit of Christ’ argues for the deity of Jesus Christ. This statement also makes it clear that the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit is the identifying mark of a believer in Jesus Christ.”
The devil loves to stir up doubt and uncertainty in our hearts and minds. He knows that if we are not confident in our salvation our effectiveness for God will be diminished. Assurance of our salvation is a vital part of our armor against the attacks of the enemy. “But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation” (1 Thessalonians 5:8).
