ADOPTED AS SONS
Galatians 4:4-7 NKJV
4 But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” 7 Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Paul is writing to the churches of Galatia, encouraging them to stay with the gospel of the grace of Christ. Men had come to Galatia after Paul’s initial ministry there and were preaching a different gospel. They were preaching the observance of Jewish laws and days and feasts. There is nothing inherently wrong with those things except that these fleshly things were taking precedence over the grace that is in Christ. Paul keeps spelling out the differences between the law and grace.
In our verses for today, Paul is reminding the believers that Christ came to redeem or buy us back from having to live under the law in order to be accepted by God. No works of the flesh, no observance of days and seasons, no circumcision is going to make anyone right with God. And none of these fleshly things can cause us to be adopted as sons of God.
Adopted as sons is a powerful truth. We are not servants or slaves of God. We are now adopted into His family when we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior. And there is a major difference between a slave and a son.
I can appreciate the idea of being adopted. My parents could not have any more children after I was born. When I was two years old, they adopted a baby girl. She was made a part of our family. She was my sister and carried the same last name as I did. She was not treated differently. She was a Clayton.
In the same way, we have been adopted into God’s family as sons of God. And because we are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son, the Holy Spirit, into our hearts. The Holy Spirit confirms in us that we are part of God’s family, so much so that we call God Abba Father. Abba being a term of endearment, some Greek scholars have noted it is likened to Daddy in our culture. The picture this produces is not of people struggling to be accepted by God, but rather children loved and brought into the family with all the benefits that family members have. Adopted as sons is a powerful, powerful spiritual reality.
APPLICATION
Paul shared this news with the churches of Galatia in order to help them live by grace through faith. And we still need the same encouragement today. Doing works of the flesh makes us feel as if we are accomplishing things. Living by faith is more challenging. This is another reason why a daily walk with the Lord is so important. We must keep His words and ways alive in us, so constantly feeding ourselves on His words of truth is not only a good thing, it’s a vital thing. It’s way too easy to get caught up in the natural things around us, including how we see ourselves. So, referring to ourselves as sons of God may sound awkward at first, but it is worth pushing through.
Start in your own personal time with the Lord thanking Him that He is your Father, and you are His child. Thank Him that you have been adopted as a son. And thank Him that the Spirit of His Son, Jesus, is living in you today. Welcome to the family!
PRAYER
Thank You, Father, that I can call You my Father. Thank You for loving me enough to adopt me as Your son. And thank You for sending the Holy Spirit to live in me.