“It is the Spirit that beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.” 1 John 5:6. “Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father,” or, Father, Father. Oh, what joy and peace come with the entering of the Spirit into the heart as a permanent resident; not as a guest merely, but as sole proprietor! Being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we “joy in God,” rejoicing even in tribulations, having hope that never disappoints, because “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.” Rom. 5:1-5. Then we can love even as God does; we have the same love, because we have the Divine nature. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” “He that believeth hath the witness in himself.” [Sidenote: “No More a Servant, but a Son.”] “Thou art no more a servant, but a son.” It will be seen that as there are two kinds of children, so there are two classes of servants. In the first part of this chapter we have the word “children” used to designate those who are not “of full age,” and have not their senses exercised to discern both good and evil. Heb. 5:14. The promise is to them, even as it is “to all that are afar off,” but it remains to be seen if they will, by accepting it, become partakers of the divine nature, and so sons of God indeed. While thus the children of wrath, men are servants of sin, not servants of God. The Son of God is a servant, but a servant in a far different sense from the servant here referred to. The character of the servant depends on the master whom he serves. In this chapter the word “servant” invariably applies, not to servants of God, who are really sons, but to the bond-servants of sin. Between such a servant and a son there is a vast difference. The slave can not possess anything; he has no control over himself, and this is his distinguishing characteristic. The free-born son, on the contrary, has dominion over every created thing, as in the beginning, because he has the victory over himself; for “he that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” [Sidenote: “If a Son, Then an Heir.”]