The Spirit also works in the believers by leading them to live a life as sons of God. “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). We know that we are sons of God because we are led by the Spirit. This leading is not accidental nor occasional. Rather, the leading of the Spirit should be habitual, constant. Continuously in our daily living we should be led by the Spirit. If we are continually led by the Spirit, then we are living as sons of God in a practical way.
As sons of God, we have the Spirit’s leading. We have something that functions within us spontaneously and automatically to give us the Lord’s leading. However, we need to cooperate by paying attention to this leading and by honoring it. Sometimes we say that we do not know the Spirit’s leading, when deep within we know it quite well. We may not know it in the mind, but we know it in our spirit. Within our spirit we have the leading of the Spirit. Having the leading of the Spirit, we should honor it and obey it.
We may have a mistaken, natural concept regarding the leading of the Spirit. The leading of the Spirit does not derive from nor depend on outward things. On the contrary, the Spirit’s leading is an issue of the inner life; it comes from the sense of life, from the consciousness of the divine life within us. Hence, the leading of the Spirit is a matter of life, a matter of the sense and consciousness of life. The mind set on the spirit is life (Rom. 8:6). We know this life not by outward things but by the inward sense and consciousness of life. There is an inner sense that comes from setting the mind on the spirit. If our mind is set on the spirit, we are immediately strengthened and satisfied inwardly. We are also watered and refreshed. By this sense and consciousness we know the life within us, and by this sense of life we can know that we are under the leading of the Spirit. Therefore, the leading of the Spirit does not depend on outward things; it depends absolutely on the sense of life within our spirit. The divine life leads us constantly, not by signs or indicators but by giving us an inner sense or consciousness. Those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. If we are led by outward things, this does not prove that we are sons of God. However, if we are led by the inner sense of the divine life, this indicates that we are sons of God. Because we have the life of God, we have the leading that issues from this life, the leading which indicates that we are sons of God.
The leading of the Spirit which Paul speaks of in Romans 8:14 comes as we walk according to the spirit (v. 4) and set our mind on the spirit. If we walk according to the spirit and set our mind on the spirit, we shall have the leading of the Spirit. We shall have the sense that we are walking, behaving, and living according to the spirit. We should not violate this inner sense or disobey it, for it is truly the leading of the Spirit. When we have this sense within, it indicates that we are being led by the Spirit. Hence, to set our mind on the spirit is to be placed under the leading of the Spirit. The inner life gives us a sense, even in small matters, of whether or not we are under the Spirit’s leading. The leading of the Spirit, therefore, is not derived from the outward environment but from the inner sense and consciousness of the divine life in our spirit. This leading proves that we are sons of God.
The leading of the Spirit by the inner sense of the divine life does not happen as an accident. Like breathing, it is a continual matter in our daily life. Normal breathing is continuous. Because the leading of the Spirit is a matter of life, it should continue normally in every aspect of our daily walk.
The Spirit works in us to lead us to live a life as sons of God. If we do not live and walk according to the leading of the Spirit, we may be the children of God concerning which the Spirit witnesses with our spirit (Rom. 8:16), but we do not have the mark that designates us as the sons of God. We may be God’s children, but we do not have the growth that comes by living and walking according to the leading of the Spirit in life. The leading of the Spirit marks us out as being sons of God in the growth of life.
There is an important difference between the children of God in Romans 8:16 and the sons of God in verse 14. The children of God are in the initial stage of the divine life, the stage that mainly concerns birth, whereas the sons of God are in a more advanced stage, the stage that concerns growth in life. In order to be children of God we need the witnessing of the Spirit with our spirit. But in order to be sons of God we need the leading of the Spirit by the sense of the divine life. As long as we have the witness of the Spirit with our spirit, we have the assurance that we are children of God. However, in order to have the proof, the mark, that we are sons of God we need to have the leading of the Spirit and to live and walk according to the inner sense of the divine life. All real Christians are children of God, having the witness of the Spirit with their spirit, but not all have the mark that they are sons of God growing in the divine life and living and walking according to the leading of the Spirit. Therefore, we all need to go on in the growth in life from the initial stage of being children of God to the more advanced stage, showing that we are sons of God by bearing the distinct mark of the leading of the Spirit in life.
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