Two Witnesses

Romans 8:16

This passage declares a double testimony of our relationship to God:

The first testimony is that of our own spirit when it cries, "Abba, Father," and thus furnishes a pattern of our attitude toward God.
Then there is that of the Holy Spirit Himself when He speaks in a thousand places of the written Word which applies to us as believers in Christ Jesus.

So, we receive the vital assurance that we are God's children.

Verse 16 is added without a connective, and the Greek language loves to tie all its sentences together with connectives. This lack of one acts like a finger that stops us and directs our attention to what is now added. It is saying, "Get this!"

This very verse is the declaration of a personal function: the Spirit's witness. In all the great experiences of life we need a voice other than our own to complete the degree of satisfaction which begins in our own conscious awareness. In common affairs we may be strong enough without external encouragement; but when life lunges into a crisis, we need something more. There are times when we need to hear our own convictions reiterated by the voice of another. Let that second witness be greater than ourselves, and His testimony will bring with it the strength and comfort that we need. He is wiser than men and at once we are filled with peace and joy unspeakable.

The importance of having the Spirit as the chief witness will appear from the nature of the facts to be witnessed to - namely, " that we are the children of God." I could not receive this testimony on the authority of a mere human. Though that person may be wise and holy, the subject is beyond that person's knowing and ability. But the Holy Spirit was there when I was born again. He knows when the act of grace became a reality for me. He knows when Jesus came into my heart. These are things that are known by the Holy Spirit because it was because of Him and through Him that all these experiences were made to happen.

Are the eyes open? It is His to enlighten.
Is the conscience awakened? It is His to reprove.
Does your stubborn will yield? It is His to subdue.
Is your heart at peace? It is His to seal.

It is a witness to a witness, and the interpreter of that testimony is borne by the Holy Spirit of God. Of itself, our own spirit can testify nothing.

A witness is simply one who has witnessed a transaction, and who bears witness of that transaction to another who did not witness it. "The Holy Spirit bears witness with..."

A witness bears testimony to a particular fact:

The mathematician by the use of numbers and symbols works out his problems in order to find a result concerning that which he is already in doubt.
The chemist cautiously conducts experiments to find out the nature of substances concerning that which he is totally ignorant.

But, a witness enters a court to witness to a fact of which he has full knowledge and whose testimony the court is waiting to hear. He, who is a believer in Christ Jesus and saved by His grace, is in a Scriptural condition to receive the witness of the Spirit that he is a child of God.

The witness of the Spirit varies as we do individually. It is terribly wrong to set up one sole exclusive standard of spiritual evidence and spiritual life. It is precisely here that a great many people make a mistake. They compare their experience with a Christian they believe is living closer to Christ and assume that they must not have been saved. They observe the life of one who seems to be a super Christian and decide that they are not saved. They are ready to give up in despair.

The only real religion is the work of the Holy Spirit in our souls. By all means, make sure that your worship stands true with the Word of God, and the forms of worship which enable you to stay close to God. But, be sure of this! Creeds and forms of worship, however solemn and impressive, and all the religious activity you can stuff into all the years of your life, can never give you a Christian life. You must be born of the Spirit!

The manner of this new creation may differ in a thousand ways. With some, it may be soft and gentle or as gradual as the dawning of a new day. With others, it may be like the blasting of cannons or like the roar of the ocean.

There are those who are always talking about their symptoms, and who think that they do not have any religion unless they are finding something to worry themselves or other people about.
There are those who think of the witness of the Spirit as a kind of revelation from heaven, or as a rapture - something which lifts us up above other people and singles us out as favorites of God. They look at it as though they were better to begin with than someone else. If anything can make a person a Pharisee - it is that kind of thinking.
There are those who conceive that a feeling suddenly arises in them, and that this amounts to the conviction that they have been elected to become a Christian. They believe that this feeling is the witness of the Holy Spirit. But, to rely on any feeling or emotion, is to rely upon our own spirit bearing witness with itself.

Man is not saved by feeling that he is saved, nor has he the witness of sonship by feeling that he is a son of God, but is by the Spirit of God apprehending and quickening his soul. The ground on which Paul bases the evidence of sonship is that of a Divine Spirit greater than the emotions of our souls consciously acting upon us.

But, how do we know this? We know, when we feel conscious not so much of possessing a life, as of a life possessing us. The witness of the Spirit is not to our spirits that we are the children of God. It is with our spirits that God is our Father. He takes the things of Christ and makes them known unto us.

There is in Christ a sight of our sin that humbles and shames us, yet, there is a sight of His love that overwhelms us. The Spirit puts us in possession of that love as our own; and in loving tenderness the Father bends over us so lovingly that our hearts cry, "Abba, Father."

A blessed consciousness is wrought within us, which has some room for pride, but only for assurance, self-forgetfulness, wonder, gratitude, and happy obedience in love to our heavenly Father.

So, as the Spirit witnesses with us, not only by way of assurance, but by way of assistance, His testimony has an influence upon ours. He helps us to witness to ourselves.

So, the "Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit:"

In every perception of God's Word.
In every revelation of His counsel.
In every aspiration after Him.
In every holy resolution.
In every thrill and throb of love and desire.

Each of these acts is mine, inasmuch as I have experienced them and they have transpired in my heart, but they have also come from God, and therefore, only through Him have these come to be mine. God created the heavens and the earth, and He followed each act of creation with the assurance that "it was good." And, when we were created in Christ and our spiritual sonship is witnessed in the presence of all, God says, "It is good!"

So, the witness of the Spirit:

Comforts us in times of trial.
Encourages us to pray.
Restrains us in times of temptation.
Stirs us to active service.
And supports us in the prospect of death.

Look in this eighth chapter as to the work of the Holy Spirit.

He helps against sin. (v.2)
He leads and guides. (v.14)
He gives assurance of sonship. (Verses 15 & 16)
He aids in prayer. (v.26)
He gives believers a happy sense of their acceptance and future.(v.17)

The text describes a great spiritual reality.
It is a witness to a great fact.
It is the witness to the heart's peace and the soul's comfort.
It is a witness to life's prospects.
Everything hinges and turns upon the clearness of this two-fold testimony.
It brings with it heaven's credentials.
It is stamped with heaven's seal.
It places within us heaven's peace.
It is the witness of the Spirit of God!
It is the testimony that we are the children of God.
It is a high exaltation when the Spirit calls us:
"The children of light." (John 12:36) and
"The children of the bride chamber." (Matthew 9:15)

But, the highest honor of all is to be the "children of God."

Such a stupendous relationship staggers our belief. To be fully assured of our Divine adoption demands more than our testimony or that of our own feelings or the opinion of others like us. Our feelings may mislead us, and the opinion of others may deceive us, but the "Spirit Himself beareth witness..." Now we have the greatest privilege, the greatest honor that man could have, and that is to say, "Abba, Father." I can dare to call the God of all creation, Father. That is incredible!

There are and will be moments of dullness and of coldness in our Christian life, and there will be dangerous and perilous times.

There is a danger of depression and despair, and the remedy is a more perfect trust in our Heavenly Father.
There is a danger of turning to spiritual stimulants.

We must never try, by physical activity or intellectual cleverness, to work ourselves into feeling what we know we do not feel.

A true remedy is to abide in Christ, and then our spiritual nature will quickly improve. Instead of looking for artificial tests of the vitality of our spiritual life:

Let there be more earnest communing with God.
Let there be less thoughts of ourselves and our feelings.
Let there be more thoughts of Him and His great love.
Let there be more study of the deep meaning of His precious Word.
Let there be more seeking to have His will done in our lives.

Then, the keen appetite and the clear vision will return with increasing spiritual health, and again and again happy and peaceful moments will be ours. We will delight in the fact that we are the children of God. We will experience the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are the sons of God. Then we can say with Paul: "I know in whom I have believed..." (2 Timothy 1:12)

No one should be content until that glorious certainty is theirs!

Sermon is by Dr. Harold L. White
You can email Dr. White at [email protected]