We note that in this verse witness to our adoption is borne from two distinct sources: our spirit (that is, our conscious self), and God’s Spirit, who bears witness with our spirit, and so to our spirit. (This point is not affected if, with the RSV, we repunctuate and render, “When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ it is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit.” What it means then is that the filial cry, and the filial attitude it expresses, are evidence that the dual witness is a reality in the heart.)
