I wrote this essay in November 2020 for a class about the New Testament, and I felt prompted to share it here. It is written for a Latter-day Saint Christian audience, but anyone can enjoy it, I hope. If you have questions about the claims I make or the sources I cite, feel free to ask!
Note: Exegesis is the act of analyzing a text and trying to understand what the authors meant when they wrote it. Eisegesis is the act of analyzing a text from an outside perspective and trying to apply it to your own life. Both are valuable methods of interpreting scripture, and the goal of this essay was to analyze a passage from the New Testament using both exegesis and eisegesis.
We Are the Children of God
Introduction
In the Epistle to the Romans, Paul explains the need for and the benefits from a Redeemer such as Jesus. In chapter eight, he describes the believers in Christ as children of God, saying, "Ye have received the Spirit of adoption. . . . We are the children of God" (Romans 8:15-16, KJV). He takes this idea of adoption further when he says, "And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (8:17). The bold declaration in these verses carries multiple layers of meaning, both in exegetical and eisegetical terms. In this paper, we will discuss the original meaning and cultural context of the passage, and we will also discuss the Latter-day Saint views of the passage and doctrines that it relates to. We will find spiritual worth in both interpretations of Romans 8:14-17.
Exegesis
The verses in this passage rely on an analogy that depicts all humans as slaves. In the ancient world, about twenty-five percent of people were slaves, and the details of slavery were familiar to Paul's audience. Paul describes humans as slaves to sin, but Christ died for us, and now "sin shall no longer be your master" (6:14, NIV). We are "made free from sin, and become servants to God" (6:22, KJV). Because Christ died for us, he bought us from sin and now has all power over us. We are servants—slaves—to God.
However, God does not simply want slaves. In Romans 8:15, Paul says that "The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship" (NIV). The difference between a slave and a son is massive in the ancient world. Slaves have no rights or freedom, whereas sons are not only free but have a legal inheritance of their fathers' wealth and family name. If we are "adopted to sonship," then we are not slaves—"we are the children of God" (8:16, KJV). In his great mercy, God adopts us as his children, complete with an inheritance. "And if children," says Paul, "then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together" (8:17). Christ is an heir of God because of his righteousness; and through his sacrifice, we also have the opportunity to be heirs of God, though we did not earn it.
Paul describes our inheritance as "life and peace" (8:6), "glorious liberty" (8:21), and "the redemption of our body" (8:23). We will also receive the help of the Spirit throughout our lives (8:26). All of these promises bring hope to the believers. The Epistle to the Romans declares that these promises are available to everyone through God's mercy in offering all people a chance to become God's children. Romans 8:14-17 is a passage of hope and joy for grace in this life and salvation in the life to come.
Eisegesis
As discussed above, Paul teaches about Christians' status as God's adopted children to give them hope for their present and their future. However, when Latter-day Saints discuss Romans 8:14-17, we typically focus explicitly on the future, and we use this passage to support the LDS doctrine of deification. In our Church, we teach that believers in Christ can not only be saved, but also exalted. Salvation means that we are resurrected and justified before God through Christ. Exaltation means that we become like God—divine beings capable of having our own spiritual offspring. If Christ, as the heir of God, has the ability to create worlds, then LDS theology teaches that we too can be exalted to so great a status. In a revelation to Joseph Smith, the Lord says, "Then shall [the exalted believers] be above all, because all things are subject to them. Then shall they be gods, because they have all power" (D&C 132:20). Latter-day Saints have explicit teachings about exaltation and deification, and we also choose to interpret Romans 8:14-17 as part of those teachings. Paul does not necessarily teach deification, and I suspect other Christians would disagree with our interpretation, but the passage fits nicely within LDS teachings of deification.
A second difference between Latter-day Saints and other Christians lies in our interpretation of "adoption." To many Christians, humans are mere creations of God, raised to the status of children purely through God's love for us. To Latter-day Saints, however, humans are the spirit children of God. We were "in the beginning with God," according to Doctrine and Covenants 93:29. The verse continues, "Intelligence . . . was not created or made." Eternal intelligences were born as spirit children of God, who were then born as physical children of our mortal parents. According to this theology, we don't need to be adopted to be God's children. Yet Paul clearly taught that we were adopted. This seems a contradiction, but LDS theology reconciles these two ideas by teaching about two types of spiritual children: first, the children of the Father, who were born in the spirit before the world was; and second, the children of Christ, who are adopted by him when we repent and accept his salvation for our sins (see Ether 3:14*). Based on LDS scripture and eisegetical interpretation, Paul is teaching about this latter type of child, who is adopted by Christ through his sacrifice. Because we believe in two types of spiritual children, we disagree with other Christians who sometimes use this passage to support the idea that we are not children of God until he adopts us. Paul was not teaching about our spiritual origins, we say, but rather our relationship to God and Christ after we have accepted the gospel.**
Conclusion
The two eisegetical interpretations discussed above are not simply personal opinion; they are LDS doctrine. However, they are still eisegesis, because they rely on scripture outside of Romans to inform our interpretation of this passage. I believe in both the exegetical and eisegetical messages that have been put forth in this essay. I am grateful for the doctrine of exaltation. I am grateful to be God's child, through spiritual birth, and Christ's child, through spiritual rebirth.
I do not know if Paul knew about or believed in the doctrine of exaltation or the doctrine of God's spirit children. However, I do know that he was inspired to teach about the great mercy of God and his choice to adopt us as heirs. Because of the sacrifice of Christ, "we may also be glorified together" with him (Romans 8:17). This passage encourages me to live as Christ would have me live so that I may live in the glory of my loving God.
*Ether 3:14 is a verse from the Book of Mormon. It reads, "Behold, I am Jesus Christ. I am the Father and the Son. In me shall all mankind have life, and that eternally, even they who shall believe on my name; and they shall become my sons and my daughters."
**In his book The Mormon Doctrine of Deity, Elder B.H. Roberts writes, "Man is by nature the son of God. He becomes alienated from his Father and the Father's kingdom through sin, through the transgression of the law of God; hence the need of adoption into the heavenly kingdom, and into sonship with God. But though alienated from God through sin, man is nevertheless by nature the son of God, and needs but the adoption that awaits him through the gospel of Jesus Christ to cry again in renewed and perfect fellowship, 'Abba, Father!'"
