#DailyDevotion We Have Been Redeemed To Be Sons

Gal 4:1-7  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.

Paul further goes on to explain the Law as a tutor and manager of people until they believe, are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit. The Jews and Gentiles were both under ‘elementary principles’ until the fullness of time came. We were enslaved to the Law, the Jew to the written Law of Moses and the Gentile to the Natural Law written on their hearts. In essence they were the same though the Jews had statutes and precepts as such to run a country and which had them stand out as the people of God. But, they were basic. Paul equates both the worship of Jews and the worship of Gentiles as one and the same. These laws enslaved us to the fear of death for the penalty for breaking the law, sin, is death.

But the fullness of time has come. God has sent forth his son, born of a woman, THE woman, promised in Gen. 3:15, born under the Law. That Law which was meant for good only brought us death and enslaved us. We could not keep it. Jesus though did keep the Law, all of it, just as God intended the Law to be kept. The Law was added because of transgression, to keep man until the promised came. Jesus is the promise. When Jesus cried out on the cross, “It is finished!” everything written in the Law and upon our hearts, the Natural Law, was fulfilled and completed. Jesus kept the Law for us.

By his shedding of blood and by his death Jesus redeemed us from the Law and its curses. The Law and Satan can no longer accuse us before God anymore. Through faith in Jesus and being baptized into Jesus we have received adoption as God’s sons. Not sons that are under the bondage of a tutor, i.e. the Law, but sons who have received the Spirit of freedom. The Spirit of Christ calls from within us “Abba! Father!” Such a cry is a cry for mercy, kindness and loving faithfulness. It calls for our Heavenly Father to ignore the guilt of our sins and look to the cross of Jesus Christ.

Indeed, in baptism, where we put on Christ, the Holy Spirit is also given. He regenerates our hearts, minds and spirits and gives us the life of God. He makes us children of God, sons of God. As sons of God we are heirs of God. Now an heir doesn’t do anything to inherit the inheritance. He is born into that position or adopted to it. Jesus was the natural heir and we are adopted heirs. And just what have we inherited? The kingdom of God. Everything that is God’s is now ours. While we may not see how to use our inheritance now we shall understand and see it as the resurrection. The Spirit is the guarantee of our inheritance.

Now you may ask, “Don’t we still need the Law?” For the sake of our fallen, human flesh, which only wants to sin we need the Law to keep sin in check. Because of the deceitfulness of our flesh, the world and Satan, the Law teaches us what God’s will is and what are good works to God. But the Law cannot be used to accuse us before God, kill us, or enslave us once again. In Christ, we are sons who have a clear conscience towards God who can cry in faith, “Abba! Father!”

Heavenly Father, we thank you for the sending of your Son Jesus Christ to be born under the Law to fulfill the Law for us and to redeem us from its curse. Grant us your Holy Spirit always so we may cry out with a clear conscience and with faith in your promise when we are alarmed so we may live in peace with you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.