Adoption

Gal 3:26-4:7 (ESV)
26 for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise.
 
Sons and Heirs
 
4 I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5  to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.
 
Who are you?  Identity is a core issue for us, and often, we try to define our identity by the things that we do: work, play, service to others, status, material possessions, or any number of things.  If we define our identity by those things, we’re in for some rough times when we go through periods of transition, be they expected, such as retirement, or unexpected transitions, such as a devastating illness, a job loss, or the loss of a loved one.  When something happens that alters our normal patterns of life and relationships, a person often becomes insecure in their identity and questions who they are and their purpose in life.
 
In this passage, and the ones before, Paul’s emphasis has been that if a person has entrusted their life to Christ, then they are a child of God, they are His sons and His daughters, and they stand in the line of Abraham.
Paul rams that point home in 3:26-29.
The old distinctions are still there (Jew—Greek, salve—free, male—female), but they no longer matter because one’s identity is now found in Jesus, in the Messiah.  All who entrust their lives to Jesus are now part of God’s family because of their faith.  As N.T. Wright notes in his commentary on this passage, the ground is even at the foot of the cross.[1]
 
In verse 4:5 Paul also talks about a special status that Christians enjoy when they entrust their lives to Jesus.  Paul states that all who are in Christ receive adoption as sons.  Paul is speaking about the concept of sonship.
Sonship, in this context, is not an expression of gender, with one gender being superior to or favored over another.  Rather sonship is all about intimacy, and as Paul speaks of it, it is intimacy with God.  Those who are adopted into God’s family have complete and total access to the Heavenly Father. 
Through faith in Christ Jesus, there is nothing that separates a person from God the Father.
 
But wait there’s more!  Not only do Christians enjoy intimacy with God when they entrust their lives to Jesus the Messiah, but they also become heirs of the Promise as they stand in the line of Abraham.
One of the great promises from the Lord is that those who are adopted into His family are given His Spirit.
 
I love what Erasmus Sarcerius, a Christian who was from the Reformation era, wrote about adoption in Christ.  He wrote, “For what reason does God send the Spirit of his Son into our hearts after we have become children of God?  He does this in order to reveal to our hearts that we are indeed his children, in order to confirm and make us certain of the fact, in order to bear witness to it, in order to expel every doubt and uncertainty, and in order to seal us in our sonship and inheritance.”[2]
 
I love that.  The Spirit is evidence of our sonship and evidence of our inheritance as heirs of the Promise.  The amazingly wonderful thing is that we are given the Spirit the moment we give our lives to Christ.
The Spirit literally takes up residence in your life and begins the transformational work of making you more and more like Jesus. 
But perhaps the greatest thing of all is that the Spirit enables and teaches us to speak to God in the same way Jesus did—Abba Father; intimately, as His sons and His daughters.
 
The challenge, then, is to remember that our identity is hidden in Christ alone. Our daily response to God’s incredible gift of adoption and sonship is to put on Christ; to live into our sonship as His adopted sons and daughters, full heirs in the line and promises of Abraham! 
 
Enjoy the Heavenly Father and know that He delights in you and what you do as His son or daughter.
 
God bless you and know that you are constantly in my prayers.
Scott