Sons Of God

This week we are talking about adoption, both our adoption in Christ as well as hearing a dear friend Brittany Kavcsak’s adoption story ❤️

As we kick off the week, listen to Tim Keller unpack our key text this morning from one of my favorite books, Galatians For You.

“If we want to understand who a Christian is, and why being a Christian is a privilege, we need to appreciate divine adoption. How does this inheritance come to us? Through the Son, we become God’s children legally (4: 4-5), receiving a new status; and through the Spirit, we become God’s children experientially (v 6-7).

The heart of the Christian life is 3:26: “You are all sons of God”. We already are sons. It is not something we are aiming at; it is not a future attainment. It is something that we have already, in our present state.

But this sonship is not a universal given. We are not “children of God” in some general way, by virtue of having been created by Him. There is a sense in which all human beings are God’s offspring because all humans have been made in His image (Acts 17: 29).

But Paul is speaking of a much deeper kind of relationship here. This sonship comes “through faith in Christ Jesus”. We are only His sons when we have faith in the Son. It is through faith that God adopts us.

Many take offense at using the masculine word “sons” to refer to all Christians, male and female. Some would prefer to translate verse 26: “You are all children of God” (as the NIV 2011 does).

But if we are too quick to correct the biblical language, we miss the revolutionary (and radically egalitarian) nature of what Paul is saying. In most ancient cultures, daughters could not inherit property. Therefore, “son” meant “legal heir”, which was a status forbidden to women.

But the gospel tells us we are all sons of God in Christ. We are all heirs. Similarly, the Bible describes all Christians together, including men, as the “bride of Christ” (Revelation 21: 2).

God is evenhanded in His gender-specific metaphors. Men are part of His Son’s bride; and women are His sons, His heirs. If we don’t let Paul call Christian women “sons of God”, we miss how radical and wonderful a claim this is.” (Ch.7, Children of God)