Adopted By God

Good day dear friends. It is another opportunity to share more on God’s grace in Christ Jesus and we are now at Galatians 4:

“But I say, that the heir, so long as he is a child, differeth not from a servant, although he is lord of all; but he is under supervisors and stewards, until the time established by his father. So also we, while we were children, were in subordination under the elements of the world. But when the consummation of the time arrived, God sent forth his Son; and he was from a woman, and was under the law; that he might redeem them that were under the law; and that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Galatians 4:1-5

The last snapshot of God’s grace we viewed was about the equal footing we all have as sons of God in Christ Jesus. The opening verses of this section then move a step further in the divine logic to explain our position as heirs and our adoption by God.

When people are adopted into families, it usually means that people who originally or naturally do not belong to those families are placed in those circles and become members of such families. While this in itself is a gracious act, God has gone further than that in His dealing with us as His children.  

In ancient Greek and Roman traditions, adoption was a very special occasion in the family. In a grand ceremony sons in the family were adopted when they reached the age of maturity. From then on, such sons became legal heirs of the family and had full rights to the family inheritance. Adoption therefore was a legal term. In disputes over inheritance, the questions would not simply be about natural paternity as it is in our own days but about whether such “adoption” rites and ceremonies had been performed. Only properly adopted sons could lay claims to ownership of the family estate.

The description is comparable with what obtains in some societies in present day. People below certain ages (18 years in most countries) are termed “minors” and cannot exercise some rights that other citizens have, for example legal participation in electoral processes like voting. In God’s family, believers are not “minors”; we are not slaves or “unadopted” sons who do not have full rights of sonship. 

God here is speaking to us about the wonder of His love for us. He has grafted us into His olive tree as wild and unnatural we were. In addition, He has also given us full rights of sonship. We are joint heirs or co-heirs with Christ Jesus (Romans 8:17); Christ’s position is our position, His possession is our possession, His privileges are our privileges. All of this is so because God by His grace has adopted us into His family.

This, my friends, is another snapshot of God’s inexhaustible grace. My song for the week is “Children of God” by Third Day. Enjoy your week and come back again next week for a new post.

"Children of God" by Third Day 

No More Discrimination

Hello people of God. It’s the start of a new week and it’s an opportunity for us to add a new view to our collection of vignettes of grace.

 “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” Gal 3:26-28 New International Version

Back in the world the early Christians lived just like in our day, society was stratified along different lines- major distinctions were about ethnicity, economic power and gender. The distinctions are usually very marked and many people become prejudiced on account of these. So very entrenched and deeply ingrained have these prejudices become in different human communities that they continue to affect our relationships and human socialization in general.

In response to some of the ills of such social systems, a number of human ideologies and initiatives have been developed in an attempt to proffer alternatives with promises of better life experiences. Sadly like many other human inventions, they usually provide an avenue for the expression of the evil in man with pride, rebellion and disobedience to God eventually marring any good intentions people may have started off with.  

The 3 verses in focus present to us a reality of our new existence in Christ that far supersedes any man fabricated system or ideology. Every discrimination has been put away:

“There is neither Jew nor Greek…” This abolishes any racial discrimination or divisions based on ethnicity or place of origin. The Jews were God’s special people under the Old Testament (Exodus 19:5). Every other nation on earth was not part of God’s household and kingdom (Ephesians 2:12). But Christ Himself has broken the wall of hostility that formerly separated the two groups and has united both groups in one body (Ephesians 2:14-18).

“…slave nor free…” This abolishes discrimination based on economic power and social stratificationbased on perceived values of people simply because of their vocations or professions. Our material riches or poverty do not give us any special privileges in Christ.

“…male nor female…” Not even gender discrimination has any place anymore. The feminine gender has for long been trampled upon by the society but in Christ Jesus there is an elevation of the female to an equality with the male in salvation.

In Christ Jesus all discrimination is put away. God receives us solely on the basis of faith in Jesus and we all have equal access by one Spirit (Ephesians 2:18). We are all on the same level, saved the same way, entitled to the same privileges. There are no special favours on account of birth, beauty, body physique, skin colour, employment category, level of income or gender.

 “Here (in this new life), it doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, circumcised or uncircumcised, barbaric, uncivilized, slave, or free. Christ is all that matters and He lives in all of us” Col. 3:11.

 This week will you just remember that God does not discriminate against us based on any human characteristics? Nothing else aside Christ Jesus matters; God's grace has broken down all those distinctions. Live in this reality. 

I hope you are thrilled as I am by this snapshot of God’s truly amazing grace. My song for the week is "Grace That Won't Let Go" by Gateway Worship. Have a very good week. 

"Grace That Won't Let Go" by Gateway Worship 

No Longer Under The Supervision Of The Law

Hello people. I am delighted to share another post this week as we continue viewing snapshots of God’s grace from Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. 

 

“Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law”. Galatians 3: 23 - 25 NIV

I have come to realize that one major hindrance to a lot of Christians in living in the fullness of all that God’s grace has made freely available to us is the issue of what purpose the law should serve in our lives. It appears the Galatian church also had many people who had the same dilemma and the verses I have highlighted this week are very essential in giving us the proper perspective to this.

Just like the Jews in Paul’s day, quite a lot of people now have a misunderstanding of the purpose of the law. The law contained more than 600 regulations that the people of Israel were commanded to live by. Some of them covered human conduct in the society while some were regulations on sacrificial offerings which related to cleansing from sin or impurity. There were rules concerning marriage, slaves and masters, and punishments for offences. There were also laws concerning sacrifices using bulls and goats, other animals like birds and even meal and drink offerings. They were related to cleansing sin or impurity. For further details, one will need to read the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy.

The Jews thought that the law could give righteousness and peace but they were very wrong. God has opened up to us the broad scope of His wisdom and knowledge. The law was given as a school master; a supervisor; to lead us to Christ. The law was given so that sin might appear sinful (Romans 7:13). The law convicts all men and sincere people everywhere when faced with the demands of the law recognize their need for a Saviour. That was the ministry of the law and in fact it does the job very well.

The verses in focus also affirm again the change in order- grace has replaced the law. Now that faith has come, the supervision of the law has ended (verse 25). God does not want us to still live our lives with an attitude of servitude to any set of regulations. The book of Hebrews deals exhaustively with the abolishment of the sacrificial system of the law but it also says a little about how we are to live in this new era of grace. “The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant … it will not be like the covenant that I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt …I will put my laws into their minds, and write them in their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people” Hebrews 8: 8-10 NIV.

 You see, in this new dawn of grace God does not expect the believer to live and relate from the standpoint of the Old Testament rules and regulations. It’s rather from a standpoint of the empowerment of God’s grace operating in the core of our beings. There is a new vista of life for believers in Christ Jesus. There is a new principle governing our new relationship with God. It is the principle of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus all made possible by God’s grace. We will have a chance to see more of this as we proceed in the series. 

My song for the week is “Love Came Down” by Kari Jobe. Fill your heart with thoughts of God’s overwhelming grace and have a great week.

"Love Came Down" by Kari Jobe