Sons of the Father....
Galatians 3:26-4:7 You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, [27] for all of you who were baptised into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. [28] There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. [29] If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.
[4:1] What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. [2] He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. [3] So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. [4] But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, [5] to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. [6] Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
Our faith in Jesus changes our status: no longer are we going to spend an eternity without God, we are now going to spend forever in his presence. In this passage Paul uses the example of being an heir to explain this to us.
In the ancient world you didn’t become a citizen and have rights until you were an adult. And only men got those rights. So children, women and slaves had none. They didn’t get to enjoy the fullness of being a citizen. What they could receive was restricted by their status. When we lived under the old way of life we were like children – we hadn’t come into the fullness of what we could have.
But through faith in Jesus Christ our status changed – we entered into the fullness of our inheritance. We are no longer slaves to the old way of life, but we become ‘sons’ of God. And this is an important concept for us to get hold off – because it is sons that inherit what the father gives them. It is sons who become heirs to the glories and the riches of God’s Kingdom – in the future, but also here and now. We can have our lives transformed to be like Jesus. We can lift our gaze away from the things of the world, and see those things which will last forever and pore our energy and creativity into those. We can experience the peace of God, learning to be content in all circumstances. We become part of an international family (the original world wide web) which crosses racial and national boundaries. The inheritance of the Kingdom is huge…. And we become sons by having faith in Jesus Christ.
There are some great images in the first part of the passage. When we become a part of God’s family we are ‘clothed’ with Jesus. It’s like your t-shirt, wherever you go, you have it on. You don’t notice it much, because you’re comfortable in it, but it’s always with you. So too is your ‘sonship’ of God in Jesus Christ – it is a status that is always with you – wherever you go, you will be a child of God.
And above all, we are all sons of God. Some versions of the Bible use children here, or say sons and daughters, because they want to emphasise the inclusive nature of this promise, and for us, in our time, it makes sense. But in Paul’s time only the boys got to inherit the father’s wealth. So he used the term sons. But he then says that no matter our earthly status, and in Paul’s time they were lots of divisions between men and women, slaves, freedmen and citizens, rich and poor, when we become part of God’s family our status changes –we are all sons of God.
How do you treat your status as a child of God? Do you wear it wherever you go? Does it provide comfort to you? If we are all sons of God, how does this effect the way we treat or expected to be treated by, our brothers and sister?
[4:1] What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. [2] He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. [3] So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. [4] But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, [5] to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. [6] Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father." [7] So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
Our faith in Jesus changes our status: no longer are we going to spend an eternity without God, we are now going to spend forever in his presence. In this passage Paul uses the example of being an heir to explain this to us.
In the ancient world you didn’t become a citizen and have rights until you were an adult. And only men got those rights. So children, women and slaves had none. They didn’t get to enjoy the fullness of being a citizen. What they could receive was restricted by their status. When we lived under the old way of life we were like children – we hadn’t come into the fullness of what we could have.
But through faith in Jesus Christ our status changed – we entered into the fullness of our inheritance. We are no longer slaves to the old way of life, but we become ‘sons’ of God. And this is an important concept for us to get hold off – because it is sons that inherit what the father gives them. It is sons who become heirs to the glories and the riches of God’s Kingdom – in the future, but also here and now. We can have our lives transformed to be like Jesus. We can lift our gaze away from the things of the world, and see those things which will last forever and pore our energy and creativity into those. We can experience the peace of God, learning to be content in all circumstances. We become part of an international family (the original world wide web) which crosses racial and national boundaries. The inheritance of the Kingdom is huge…. And we become sons by having faith in Jesus Christ.
There are some great images in the first part of the passage. When we become a part of God’s family we are ‘clothed’ with Jesus. It’s like your t-shirt, wherever you go, you have it on. You don’t notice it much, because you’re comfortable in it, but it’s always with you. So too is your ‘sonship’ of God in Jesus Christ – it is a status that is always with you – wherever you go, you will be a child of God.
And above all, we are all sons of God. Some versions of the Bible use children here, or say sons and daughters, because they want to emphasise the inclusive nature of this promise, and for us, in our time, it makes sense. But in Paul’s time only the boys got to inherit the father’s wealth. So he used the term sons. But he then says that no matter our earthly status, and in Paul’s time they were lots of divisions between men and women, slaves, freedmen and citizens, rich and poor, when we become part of God’s family our status changes –we are all sons of God.
How do you treat your status as a child of God? Do you wear it wherever you go? Does it provide comfort to you? If we are all sons of God, how does this effect the way we treat or expected to be treated by, our brothers and sister?
posted by Gordon at
9:07 am
1 Comments:
Interesting blog today, thought provoking! Sometimes I think I don't think about my status as God's daughter enough. Maybe if i did it would give me more confidence!
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Anonymous, at 9:46 am
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