For we are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Liberty, equality, and fraternity
“Liberty, equality, and fraternity,” is the three-fold watchword of the masses in modern society. These words are written up in large characters on public buildings, and even on some of the churches, in France; and the ideas represented by them are held and aimed after by vast numbers in nearly every European country. What is meant by them?
(a) By “Liberty” is meant perfect freedom for the people to govern themselves, This is attainable, and, so far as political government is concerned, it has been attained by France, Great Britain, and other countries.
(b) By “Equality” is meant the abolition o! rank and title, whether hereditary or otherwise; to many it means socialism or communism--the abolition of personal property--the State becoming the sole proprietor and apportioner of the means of subsistence.
(c) By “Fraternity” is meant the realization of the feeling of true brotherhood as between man and man. Such are the ideas represented by the “liberty, equality, and fraternity” sought after by the world--a mixture of truth and error. True “liberty, equality, and fraternity” are only to be attained through the gospel being accepted and acted on throughout the world. This alone will stop the seethings of dissatisfaction, the upheavals of discontent, and the outbreaks of revolutionary passion.
I. True liberty is that which is enjoyed by the children of God.
1. Freedom from the condemnation of the law.
2. Freedom from the power of evil.
II. Equality in Jesus Christ. Not an equality subverting natural relations; these remain, but with a new spirit of light and love, constituting essential equality under circumstantial inequalities, so far as these are not inlaid in the very constitution of man as a social being.
1. In Christ there is no national inequality.
2. In Christ there is complete equality between master and servant.
3. Equality as between man and woman.
III. True fraternity. This is unattainable by political methods. It never yet has been, and never will be, reached by these means. Neither ancient nor modern republics have been able to secure true brotherhood among the members of the State, e.g., Athenian democracy, French and American Republics. Only the gospel of Jesus Christ can make us true brothers, as descended from the same parent, heirs of the same inheritance, and hence possessed of a spirit of true fraternal affection towards each other. Not necessarily do Christians always agree in their opinion on indifferent points; nor do they see fundamental questions always from the same standpoint--one seeing the matter according to his own God-given mental peculiarities, another according to his, and so on; but, amid all differences of opinion, they are one in true brotherly affection, sympathy, and aim. This is the real tendency and intention and aim of Christianity, however far we may at present fall short of it. What we can now see only “in part,” will one day be perfected, for “our citizenship, our commonwealth, is in heaven.” (W. Spensley.)
True believers the children of God
I. Consider the sonship of believers under the gospel.
1. In common with the other intelligent creatures of God (Act_17:29).
2. By external profession (Hos_11:1; Mat_2:15).
3. Their sonship consists chiefly in their regeneration and adoption.
4. This sonship is not a mere title or mark of distinction, but has privileges the most excellent annexed to it. There is no condemnation to them. They are His temples. Led by His spirit. Abiding in their Father’s house, heart, love. They have a title to incorruption and immortality (Rom_8:23). They are born to a great inheritance (Rom_8:17; Psa_16:5).
5. This sonship is equally the privilege of every believer in Christ. They may be distinguished from each other, as to external circumstances in life, spiritual gifts and graces, etc., but their filial relation is the same.
6. It is a privilege of which they are conscious, and hence they enjoy the comfort of it (Gal_4:6).
II. How it is that they attain to this privilege and dignity. The text says, by faith in Christ Jesus. To illustrate this, it may be proper to recollect--
1. That in the state of primitive innocence, Adam was truly theson of God: he resembled God (Gen_1:27). This resemblance was effaced by sin; his former relation of sonship to God then ceased, and he was turned out of God’s family and garden as a rebel, while he and his numerous progeny became children of disobedience and wrath.
2. It is by faith, or a supernatural revelation only, that we are informed how this high prerogative may be regained. This surpasses the capacity of the wisest philosopher, and even of angels. It is brought to light by the gospel (Gal_4:4-5).
3. We become the children of God, when we cordially believe in Christ: we are thereby brought into union with Christ and into a relation of sonship with the Father (Joh_1:12). Concluding exhortation:
1. Be astonished, ye heavenly principalities and powers, to see such base-born slaves and rebellious creatures taken into the family of God. Unmeasurable love! Infinite honour!
2. Forget not the love, duty, submission, and service, resulting from this relation.
3. How insipid, alas I are such themes as this to the generality even of gospel hearers. Show them how to acquire a fortune, etc., and they will beall attention; but publish the riches of God’s gracious adoption, they relish it not. Blinded sinner, what a fatal choice! Naught can avail thee in the long run, butthis. Claim thy adoption, and live as a child of God. (Theological Sketch Book.)
All children of God by faith in Christ Jesus
I. A wonderful and an inexplicable privilege. What an honour (Pro_17:6)! What an advantage (Rom_8:17)! In this name we have--
1. A spiritual right to all the creatures of God (1Co_3:21-23).
2. An interest in God Himself (Isa_49:15-16; 1Jn_4:16).
3. The service and guardianship of angels (Psa_91:11; Mat_18:10; Heb_1:14).
4. A certain and infallible claim to eternal glory (Col_1:12; Mat_25:34).
II. The means of the enjoyment of this privilege.
1. This privilege is not natural to man. By nature we are
(1) children of this world (Luk_16:8); or worse,
(2) a seed of falsehood (Isa_57:4); or yet worse,
(3) children of unrighteousness and darkness (1Th_5:5); or yet worse,
(4) sons of wilful disobedience (Eph_2:3); or worst of all,
(5) children of wrath (Eph_2:2).
2. This enjoyment may be obtained by
(1) Adoption (Eph_1:5);
(2) Regeneration; not of water only, so we are all sacramentally regenerated; but of the Holy Ghost (Joh_1:12-13; Joh_3:5).
3. Union with Christ (2Co_5:17; 1Co_4:15; Jam_1:18).
4. By means of faith as saith the text.
III. How shall we know that we enjoy this privilege. Every child of God is--
1. Like his Father (1Pe_1:15-16);
(1) He is merciful; are we cruel?
(2) He is righteous; are we unjust?
(3) He is slow to anger; are we furious?
(4) He is abhorrent of evil; do we take pleasure in wickedness?
2. Bears a filial answering to a paternal love.
3. Reverences his Father (Mal_1:6).
4. Is obedient to his Father.
5. But beyond this there is the witness and guidance of the Holy Spirit of our Father. (BishopHall.)
The means of Christian sonship
A man has faith in God as the Creator of the universe, as the Father of man, as the moral Ruler of the world; but that is not what is meant by the faith that admits into the saved family. A man may assure himself that he has scientific ground for his faith in theism, but that is a long way from the faith that saves the soul. To put faith in manhood, or kinghood, or pope, or progress, or church, or creed, as the object of faith is simply to divert the mind from that which saves. Faith in the beautiful, the good, the nobler aspects of the race, in the poetry and yearnings of the higher humanitarianism, are interesting things to talk about; but to put them forth as the dark passages through which men are to find their way into the family, is to shut the door of hope in the face of the great sinning, sorrowing, race. Not without meaning is Fichte’s despair of raising men into the blessed life since they are so far beneath the reach of his philosophy. But Paul here opens the door of hope, and shows how any man may become a new child of God. (Mitchell.)
The vastness of the Christian family
No man ever wrought to make the world better that was not my brother. No man ever laboured to exemplify the coming manhood, that was not kindred to me. Whatever nation he belonged to he belonged to my nation. Whatever language he spoke, he spoke my language. Whatever sphere he wrought in was my sphere. Whether he was crowned or uncrowned, he was of my lineage. I own him; and if he is saved he owns me. And all over the world, there are no spirits bearing and enduring with fortitude and cheerfulness in obscurity that are not my unknown relations. My Father has an enormous family, for my Father is God. My eldest brother is named Jesus Christ, and the relationships which spring out of this Fatherhood and this Brotherhood--how many they are! Wherever men are denying themselves for rectitude, and enduring for that which is just and true, and living courageously for the right, and exemplifying purity and sweetness, and diffusing happiness-these are the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and our brethren. (H. W. Beecher.)
Safety by trusting Christ
A man was fleeing from some men who desired to rob and kill him. He came to a wide gulf, over which there was only a slender plank for a bridge. It looked too weak to bear him, so that there seemed only a choice of the kind of death open to him. What was he to do? Death behind! Death in front by a fearful fall! While his mind was wavering as to his right course, he saw a strong, heavy man on the opposite side, who shouted. ‘Come over, man! I crossed the plank safely; I am heavier than you are. When it has borne me it will bear you’: Similarly, Christ is our plank of safety across the gulf of damnation. He has borne my sins, therefore He can and will bear yours.
Jesus the only Saviour
A person asked me the other day whether I had seen a book entitled, “Sixteen Saviours.” I answered, “No, I have not, and I do not want to know of sixteen saviours, I am satisfied with one. If all who dwell in heaven and earth could be made into saviours, and the whole were put together, you might blow them away as a child blows away thistle-down, but there is this one Saviour, the Son of Man, and yet the mighty God, and He cannot be moved. Joy then, my brethren, and rejoice in your blessed Lord. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Gal_3:29
And if ye be Christ’s then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the premise.
Abraham’s spiritual seed
If the life we have in the flesh were all we had to provide for, they might be accounted the happiest of mankind who possess in the greatest abundance the means of sustaining it in health and comfort who can--as one of whom Jesus speaks in parable, proposed to do--take their ease, eat, drink, and be merry, because they have much goods laid up for many years. Who then is to be regarded as truly favoured and blest among the children of men? There is a class, few of whom may have been born to opulence in this world, or have any prospect of ever becoming rich in the goods of time; a class whose peculiar possessions may be little coveted or admired by those around them; for the world knoweth them not. Yet with them, if we were true for ourselves, we would desire to have our lot assigned; for they alone have an inheritance that can supply the wants of the immortal spirit, and endure while its being lasts. They are the persons spoken of in our text. Those who are Christ’s, and therefore Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. To be Christ’s is to belong to Him, as those who have given themselves to Him, come under His government and guidance, placed themselves at His disposal, and whom He hath taken for His own, redeeming them from all iniquity, purifying them to Himself. But there is more than this. They are in Him, and He is in them, by a spiritual and vital union formed between them; so they may be regarded as members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. He that is thus joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him. Now, if ye be Christ’s in this sense, then are ye Abraham’s seed. They have an inheritance. All the promises of God, the promises of the covenant made with Abraham, are in Christ yea, and in Him amen; and they who are Christ’s must therefore have an interest in them all.
1. Their inheritance is one which is freely given them of God, or gratuitously bestowed. This may be said of all the gifts of God to His creatures. “For who hath first given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again?” Angels do not possess their thrones of light as the merited reward of service rendered to the Great Supreme. Man in innocence, though he held that fair paradise in which he dwelt, and all its happy fruits, by the tenure of his obedience, could not have been said to have won for himself, as due for that obedience, even had he continued in it, that which was justly forfeited by transgression. It is still more manifest in regard to those of his fallen race, who are constituted heirs according to the promise of an eternal inheritance, that the change effected in their state and prospects must be wholly of grace.
2. It is an inheritance which is spiritual in its character. It includes in it, indeed, the means of temporal subsistence; the things needful for the body. But these, only in as far as they may be subservient to spiritual and eternal interests. The good promised, however, does not lie altogether without themselves, in the abundance of the things they shall possess in the land of their habitation. It is rather an exaltation and enlargement of their own being. The Spirit of promise is the earnest of the inheritance now; and there is nothing of an earthly or carnal nature in what He imparts as a pledge and foretaste of its delights. Wisdom, and purity, and love, are His fruits.
3. That it is yet future and unseen. They who are heirs according to the promise have the inheritance in prospect, not in full possession. They hope for what they see not. They are under tutors and governors, until the time appointed of the Father for their entering on the enjoyment of that for which His discipline is preparing them.
4. It will be satisfying and eternal. How striking in these respects is the difference between it and every earthly inheritance! The inheritance of those who are heirs according to the promise is “incorruptible, and undefiled, and fadeth not away.” The gold and the silver which are so much coveted here are reckoned by the apostle among corruptible things, but this inheritance cannot be marred or vitiated; neither moth nor rust will ever tarnish its beauty or embitter its sweetness; nothing shall enter into that world, that better and heavenly country where it lies, that defileth, or that worketh abomination, or maketh a lie. Holiness and happiness shall there be felt to be but different names for the same thing, or shall be found in indissoluble and blissful union.
5. It is infallibly secured to those who are heirs according to the promise. He is faithful who hath promised it. He who cannot lie, the apostle tells us, promised it before the world began. We trust you have been already examining yourselves.
Yet we may offer a few suggestions further on a subject which at no season can be without its interest to those who would know whether they be in the faith.
1. We may say that they who are heirs according to the promise may be distinguished by the foundation on which they rest their hope of the inheritance. This is not anyworth or goodness of their own, not any compensation they have to make for past offences, by contrition for sin and amendment of life, not any gifts or offerings they have to present to God in order to conciliate His favour. It is the promise itself which secures the inheritance to all who are persuaded of it and embrace it. But the promise is in Christ Jesus.
2. They may be distinguished by their regards to the inheritance itself. The character of that inheritance is spiritual, but we are by nature carnal, sold under sin. We have no delight in holy exercises; no desire to know, and see, and dwell with God. A great change must take place in our dispositions before we can derive any satisfaction from the society of saints in light, from fellowship with Jesus, the Holy One of God, from the felt presence of the Father of our spirits. He can no otherwise bless us but by turning us away from our iniquities.
3. They who are heirs according to the promise may be distinguished by the influence which the hope of the inheritance has on their tempers and conduct. (J. Henderson,D. D.)
Christian privileges
I. To be Christ’s, i.e., to belong to Him as members of His body.
1. The means. Faith makes us one with Christ.
2. The immediate benefits--
(1) love;
(2) care;
(3) protection (Eph_5:29-30).
II. In Christ to be Abraham’s seed.
1. The Jews and all legalists have despised their birthright and broken away from Abraham.
2. Christ is the true seed of Abraham (Gal_3:16), and those who are one with Christ by faith become the same through Him. Note
(1) the antiquity;
(2) the nobility of theChristian’s ancestry.
III. As Abraham’s seed, to be heirs of Abraham’s promise.
1. Of the Spirit (Gal_3:14), which is the earnest of the inheritance.
2. The full enjoyment of the inheritance in heaven. The Use: Believers should
(1) Be content with any earthly estate. In this regard Abraham was content to forsake his country (Heb_11:8-9).
(2) Be moderate in their earthly cares, and not live as drudges in the world.
(3) Have a care for heaven in comparison with which the things of this world are trifles. This did Abraham (Heb_11:15-16). (W. Perkins.)
Believers heirs of God
When the Danish missionaries stationed at Malabar setsome of their converts to translate a Catechism, in which it was asserted that believers became the sons of God, one of the translators was so startled that he suddenly laid down his pen, and exclaimed, “It is too much: let me rather render it, ‘They shall be permitted to kiss His feet!’”
