Galatians 3:26-4:7
Adoption strikes at the heart of the questions that are fundamental to our existence: Who are we? Where are we going? What are we doing here?
Main Idea: Though we were orphans, through Christ we have been adopted as sons, guaranteed an inheritance, and given God’s Spirit.
I. A New Identity (3:26-28)
After Paul had helped plant churches throughout the region of Galatia, false teachers infiltrated these communities arguing that Gentile converts to Christ needed to become “Jewish” (circumcision + obedience to the entire Mosaic Law) to truly become the people of God.
These false teachers could appeal to the fact that the church was birthed out of Judaism. The Jews were God’s chosen people. They were the physical offspring of Abraham. They were the recipients of all the promises of the OT. Jesus himself was Jewish. So the question that looms over the early church is this: Are Jews and Gentiles really family? Are we really brothers & sisters?
The gospel clearly tells us that “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith.” The implications of this new identity means that for both Jews and Gentiles we have a shared Father and we are part of a new family.
Paul identifies 3 of the biggest barriers & points of division in the world that church is birthed into:
Racial Barriers (there is neither Jew nor Greek…)
Social Barriers (there is neither slave nor free... )
Gender Barriers (there is no male or female... )
“If we are too quick to correct the biblical language, we miss the revolutionary 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 that 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” … 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 how wonderful this is.” ~ Tim Keller
Bottom line: Are we looking at & relating to others through the lens of biology or theology? Are we really treating one another in the church as brothers & sisters in Christ?
Just as there is a “family likeness” in biological families, Paul reminds the Galatians that there is a “family likeness” in the church, because all who have been “baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”
II. A New Inheritance (3:29-4:5)
Issues of inheritance deals with the past, present, and future.
1. Our Past (3:29-4:3)
Being the true “offspring” of Abraham became a key issue in Galatia. Paul makes it clear that all who have faith in Jesus are “Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to the promise.” He addresses the past of both the Jews & Gentiles:
For the Jewish people (4:1-2), though they were “heirs” of Abraham, they were essentially “slaves” because they were like a child who was under “guardians” and “managers,” unable to come to age before Christ
For the Gentiles (4:3), they were enslaved to sin & the things of this world, unable to help their situation.
Just as an adopted child becomes a part of the lineage of their new family, the same is true with the gospel. Our adoption in Christ means that our past is redefined.
2. Our Present (4:4-5)
Adoption is an incredibly sacrificial and costly process. This is also true of God’s adoption of us; in order to adopt us into the family of God, it took:
Preparation (4:4a)
Entrance into our broken world (4:4b)
Paying the cost to redeem us (4:5)
All of this is offered to us as a gift to “receive.” Our adoption in Christ should remind us of the incredible love that God has for us. Adoption is a choice, not an obligation.
“Adoption, by its very nature, is an art of free kindness to the person adopted… God adopts us out of free love, not because our character and record show us worthy to bear his name, but despite the fact that they show the very opposite. We are not fit for a place in God’s family; the idea of his loving and exalting us sinners as he loves and has exalted the Lord Jesus sounds ludicrous and wild – yet that, and nothing less than that – is what our adoption means.” ~ J.I. Packer
Our adoption in Christ means our present is redeemed.
3. Our Future (cf. Rom. 8:17)
Our status is God’s family is “co-heirs with Christ,” meaning all that belongs to Christ also belongs to us. This is the idea of ‘propitiation’: God does not only save us from our sins, he also credits us with Christ’s righteousness & his perfect record.
Ephesians 1:3: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places”
Our adoption in Christ means our future is secure.
III. A New Intimacy (4:6-7)
God not only sends his Son; he also sends his Spirit into our hearts that causes us to cry out “Abba! Father!” ‘Abba’ is a term of intimacy, like a child babbling ‘da-da.’ No Jewish person (until Jesus) dared to refer to God in this way.
But ‘Abba’ is more than this childish talk; it is a “screaming out” for help in the midst of a broken world. It is a cry that comes out of us when we feel the weight of sin & the fallenness of this world, looking for help from our Father.
We can trust that our screams of ‘Abba!’ are always heard by our Heavenly Father, because Jesus’ prayers went unanswered. Jesus, the natural born Son of God, becomes a substitute orphan for us, crying out in the garden of Gethsemane “Abba!” and on the cross “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
“Because we share the Spirit with Jesus, we cry out with him to the same Father. And since what unites us to Jesus is his Spirit, not our flesh, we share a common family with all those who also have this Spirit resting upon them…. That’s adoption. We’re part of a brand-new family, a new tribe, with a new story, a new identity… The Spirit leads us to see when we are in enemy-occupied territory, and he teaches us to rage against that machine… The Spirit leads us to cry out with the rest of the universe, ‘O God, deliver us from this! This is not how it is supposed to be!” ~ Russell Moore
Caring for orphans is not merely a “special interest group” within the church; this issue is about the very gospel of Jesus Christ. Adoption lies at the center of the gospel and also is a call to mission. It is not a matter of “if” God has called us to orphan care but rather “how” he has called us to this.
Is God your Father? Are you living with brothers & sisters in Christ? How can you care for the fatherless & the motherless - whether you end up with a child in your home or not?
