Sons by Grace (Pt. 1)

We all know and say that we are sons of God, yet few enjoy the privileges of sons, or even know how to live as sons. For us to understand the whole issue of sonship, we have to understand how it came about.  

Galatians 3:22-29

But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. ²³ But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed.  ²⁴ Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.  ²⁵ But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. ²⁶ For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 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 seed, and heirs according to the promise.

Galatians 4:1-7

Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all,  ² but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.  ³ Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.  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.

As Galatians 3:22-25 says, we were all confined to the law before Jesus came. The law was not given to make us right with God; it was given to increase sin and strengthen sin, and to bring us to Christ (Rom. 5:20, Gal. 3:19, 1 Cor. 15:56). As long as we were under the law, we were slaves and children. When God created man, He made Him in His own image and likeness (Gen. 1:26-28). Man was His son. When man disobeyed God, he yielded himself to become a slave of the devil, as you become a slave of whoever you obey (Rom. 6:16). Man did not know he was a slave, but rather thought he was good with God, to an extent of believing he can attain the standards of God. We can see this in Exodus 19:8, where children of Israel told God that everything He tells them to do they will do. They didn’t know that they could not earn the goodness of God by their actions, as they did not know that they had a sinful nature residing in them. To expose the slavery of man to sin and the sin in man, God gave the law. This is why the Bible says that the strength of sin is the law (1 Cor. 15:56), and why Paul goes on to discuss how when the law came it made him want to sin all the more (Rom. 7). The law did not bring sin; the law exposed sin in man, and confined man to sin. Since man was already a slave to sin, the law only exposed and reinforced this. The law was also not given to restore man to a relationship with God, by making man righteous and holy; the law cannot make anyone righteous/justified (Gal. 3:11); it was given to show people the standards of God, and that without God’s mercy and grace no man could attain them. It was given to point people to Christ.

All this was so that man may come to an end of himself and look up to God, for His own solution of freeing man from the slavery of sin and the yoke of the law. Jesus was and is the solution. So until Jesus came, all were slaves, and children, like the prodigal son, sold under sin, not because of what they did, but because of the sinful nature that we were all born with. The only way for us to escape the slavery of sin and the yoke of the law is to accept Jesus. This is why Gal. 3:26 says that we are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

The moment we accepted Jesus, He gave us the right to become His sons (Jn. 1:12). Those who do not have faith in Jesus as their justifier and Saviour, no matter how much good they do or how much of the law they keep are still slaves and not sons. Slavery goes away when we put our faith in Jesus, and sonship comes on. In the story of the prodigal son (Lk. 15:11-32), the father did not cut off the rights of the son when he ran away from home; it is the son who walked away from his rights. When he saw it needful, he came back to his father, and walked right back in to his rights. This is why one of the first gestures of his father was to clad him in a robe, sandals and a ring (Lk. 15:22-23), all to signify sonship, as it is only sons who wore these. When someone accepts Christ, just as in the story of the prodigal son, it is a child walking right back into their rights, where they receive a robe (robe of righteousness – Is. 61:10), a ring (the seal of the Holy Spirit - Eph. 1:13-14) to signify a covenant and assurance of inheritance as sons, and sandals (to signify royalty and peace with the Father – Rom. 5:1, Eph. 6:15). As I said, slaves and servants then did not wear these. Notice also that the father did not tell the son to first work and prove themselves for them to receive back their rights, they were given as soon as the son came back home. We receive righteousness, the Holy Spirit and peace with God by faith through grace the moment we accept Jesus (Rom. 10:9-10, Eph. 2:8). To crown it all, the father ordered for a fatted calf to be killed (Lk. 15:23); blood always signified the initiation of a covenant, in this case both celebration and renewal of the covenant between the son and the father. The blood of Jesus did this for us, ushering us back to the covenant with the Father, of sonship by grace (Heb. 10:16-20, 12:24).

The promise of being heirs of Abraham was not given through the law, as the law came after Abraham (Rom. 4). It was given by faith. After the law was introduced, man could only relate to God based on his  performance. So, in a way, the promise was put on hold until the children of Israel came to an end of their efforts, and surrendered to God’s grace and way of attaining righteousness, that is, faith in Jesus. In other words, they remained as babes in understanding and could not inherit anything. This is what Galatians 4:1-3 says. All people in the world are children of God, but have no rights as His children, nor are they viewed as sons. In His eyes, they are just children who have run away and made themselves slaves to sin. The law preserved the children of Israel from being destroyed by sin until Jesus came, as they were the legal heirs. When they rejected Christ, we, as Gentiles, who were also slaves of sin, were given a chance to become sons. When we accepted Christ, we ceased being slaves of sin and rogue children and started becoming sons. Jesus gave up His place of sonship, took up our place of sin and slavery to sin on the cross by actually becoming sin (2 Cor. 5:21), so that we may take up His place as sons, and acquire all He had. He took all we had and destroyed it, so that we can take all He has and keep it.

Since the children of Israel were confined to the law because of their sin, in order for them to be freed from the law, Jesus had to come under the law, fulfill it and die under the law (Gal. 4:4-5). As long as the law was unfulfilled, that is the righteousness of God not attained through the law, which was the aim of God, man could not be freed from the law. Jesus fulfilled all the requirements of the law, kept it wholly, attained the standards of God, on our behalf:

Romans 8:3-4

 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.

Through faith in Him, we attain the standards of God, and take up His place.

Now that we are sons, all that is entitled to Jesus is entitled to us. We receive this assurance through His Word, and Spirit who He sent into our hearts, to reassure us that we are sons. We are not trying to be sons; we are sons, through faith in Jesus. As the prodigal son did not do anything to receive his rights back as a son except just come back home, not even being made to pay for what he did for squandering the father’s wealth or running away, there is nothing we do to receive our rights as sons, except believe. These rights are entitlement to everything God has, both here and in the after-life, as God’s heirs and joint heirs with Christ.

Romans 8:17

…and if children, then heirs--heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

Heirs do not struggle to enjoy their inheritance, even in the natural realm. They enjoy their inheritance and rights freely, not because they did anything for their father, but because they are sons. Have you been struggling to enjoy your rights as a son of God? Jesus paid for all you need to enjoy your full rights as a son, and now that you have become God's son through faith in Jesus, purpose to enjoy all that's yours, without leaving anything out. For you to enjoy your rights as a son, you have to know what they are, and how to enjoy them. In the next part of this teaching, we will look at this. If you have any questions regarding this teaching, feel free to contact me by clicking on either of the social links below my name, or dropping your question/comment on the comments section, below this teaching.

Blessings. 

-- Sam Gitonga.

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(1/02/15 Sunday Service Sermon, Teaching Transformation Ministry.) 

Brother Sam is the Youth Leader, at Teaching Transformation Ministry. We are located along the Thika-Ruai Flyover Junction (at the Thika Rd./ Bypass intersection), Next to Eastgate Restaurant.