New Article: Adoption in Christ
Now I say, as long as the heir is a child, he does not differ at all from a slave although he is owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by the father.
So also we, while we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental things of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God. (Galatians 4:1-7)
In the New Testament letter to the Galatian believers, Paul teaches us that they had been received into the church apart from the rite of Jewish circumcision, and without any obligation to keep the Jewish Law. But due to the influential Jewish party within the church, it was soon being taught that Gentile believers had to be circumcised to partake of faith in Jesus Christ, and that they had to adhere to the Law of Moses as well.
Paul was angry when he heard of these things, which taught that faith in Christ alone was insufficient for salvation, to the point where he proclaimed a double anathema (an abomination) on those who would teach a faith plus works doctrine.
Paul constructs an impenetrable argument for justification by faith, and the Christian liberty which results from it, revealing the basis for this liberty from the Law: the actual adoption by God of believers into His family by grace through faith in Christ Jesus.
Through spiritual adoption, believers are made to be sons of God, heirs with Abraham, and partakers of the promises of the covenant God made with the patriarch. And since believers are adopted, they are no longer slaves but sons, and if sons, then heirs of God through Christ (Gal 4:7).
As sons of God, believers enjoy full claim to the inheritance of the
Those struggling with addictions thirst for this new inheritance because of experiencing the utter disappointments life has dealt them. We have an opportunity to grow deep as we discover our genealogical roots in Christ.
As a side note: Paul did not write “sons and daughters of God,” because he wasn’t thinking of sons as masculine offspring. He was thinking of sons as legal agents. If Paul had written “sons and daughters,” he would have been empowering the men but not the women. By saying that women are also adopted sons of God, he is saying that women are equally God’s agents in this world.
To understand the depth of this title, “sonship”, go to the new article titled, Adoption in Christ.
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