No longer a slave, Part 3

II.The “actual results of this passing from the reign of law into grace through faith in Jesus Christ”

 

i. all who believe become “sons/daughters of God

 

ii. all who believe become equal with all of the other saints. They are not lower than any other Christian. There are no second class Christians.

 

iii. all who believe become heirs according to the promise

 

Adoption

 

We have already looked at Paul’s description of the law as guardian. Now, he continues here to contrast our old lives before Christ and our new lives now in Christ.

 

We are no longer under the guardian of the law. Christ has redeemed us so that we might receive the full rights of sons. If you are in Christ; if you have been justified by the free grace and mercy of God in Christ Jesus, then you are a son/daughter of God. Has God sent His Spirit into your heart, that cries out “Abba, Father?” How great a love is this, that He has redeemed us from the curse of the law, and adopted us as sons and daughters? “So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.”

 

God is the king of the universe. And he has adopted you as his son or daughter. As a slave you had no rights and no property. You had no choices in how you lived your life. You could really do nothing to change your situation. But, now the king has adopted you and made you a co-heir with the great prince. You are now part of the King’s family. You have the privilege of fellowship with the rest of the family. You are now an equal with the princes and princesses of the kingdom. And now instead of a life of despair as a slave with no hope of ever being anything other than a slave (And that is what living under the law is like: no hope of being able to fulfill all of it any more than the slave thinking that he could become a prince of the kingdom by his own effort.) Now you are an heir of the Kingdom, because the King, for the good pleasure of His will, has adopted you and lavished all the blessings of the Kingdom on you. What great joy we have in our great and glorious King! He has shown us such love!