ege enough to be called one of God's lowest
creatures, only so that they might have the honor of being God's
property. For who would not wish to belong to such a Lord and
Creator? But the apostle declares here that we who believe in Christ
shall be not his servants, but his own sons and daughters, his heirs.
Who can sufficiently magnify or utter God's grace? It is beyond the
power of our expression or comprehension.

27. Yet here our great human weakness discovers itself. If we fully
and confidently believed this, then of what should we be afraid or
who could do us harm? He who from the heart can say to God, Thou art
my Father and I am thy child--he who can say this can surely bid
defiance to all the devils in hell, and joyfully despise the
threatenings and ragings of the whole world. For he possesses, in his
Father, a Lord before whom all creatures must tremble and without
whose will they can do nothing; and he possesses a heritage which no
creature can harm, a dominion which none can reduce.

28. But the apostle adds here the words, "if so be that we suffer
with him," to teach us that while we are on earth we must so live as
to approve ourselves good, obedient children, who do not obey the
flesh, but who, for the sake of this dominion, endure whatever
befalls them or causes pain to the flesh. If we do this, then we may
well comfort ourselves and with reason rejoice and glory in the fact
the apostle declares, that "as many as are led by the Spirit of God,"
and do not obey the promptings of the flesh, "these are the sons of
God."

29. O how noble it is in a man not to obey his lusts, but to resist
them with a strong faith, even though he suffer for it! To be the
child of a mighty and renowned king or emperor means to possess
nobility, honor and glory on earth. How much more glorious it would
be, could a man truthfully boast that he is the son of one of the
highest of the angels! Yet what would be all that compared with one
who is named and chosen by God himself, and called his son, the heir
of exalted divine majesty? Such sonship and heritage must assuredly
imply great and unspeakable glory and riches, and power and honor,
above all else that is in heaven or in earth. This very honor, even
though we had nothing but the name and fame of it, ought to move us
to become the enemies of this sinful life on earth and to strive
against it with all our powers, notwithstanding we should have to
surrender all for its sake and