Becoming Sons

Probing Your Own Heart

Are you fully persuaded of your place in God's family?

Do you honorably carry your family name?

Building on Some Foundational Concepts

Life comes only by Jesus Christ.

The godly life does not come by the Law for the Law lacks the power we need to live up to its standards. Neither can the Law give us eternal life because our own sinful flesh turns it into an instrument of condemnation and death. God never intended the Law to give us eternal life and a godly life. That dual mission He gave to His Son, the Living Word by whom we have abundant life.

In our pursuit of salvation and holiness, we are free from the Law.

No one has ever been nor will ever be justified through the Law and his own achievements in the deeds of the Law. To pursue salvation and righteousness through the Law and our own efforts is to carry on a mission doomed from the onset. Thankfully, Jesus is the way to salvation and holiness. He does for us what we (with or without the Law) could never accomplish.

Anyone now can be a part of God's family.

By making salvation through faith in Jesus available to everyone, the Father has opened wide His arms and heart to any son of Adam. Anyone can receive the adoption of sons. Nothing but unbelief will exclude anyone from God's family.

The timing of Jesus' coming was determined by God's wisdom.

Though we might wonder at it, we can rest confidently in the timing of God's wisdom that waited so long (though not too long) to send His desperately-needed Son.

Questions and Responses

What is the Christian's relationship to the Old Testament Law?

Jesus did not abolish the Old Testament Law; He fulfilled it. The Law still stands as an accurate revelation of God's will. However, our relationship with God is not based on the Law but on the One who fulfilled it, His Son Christ Jesus. Since He is the author and finisher of our faith, we look to Him (Hebrews 12:2). We look to Him because the sacrifices of the Law are no longer required -- Jesus came and fulfilled their purpose once and for all. We look to Him because the Law's moral imperatives ("Be ye holy" and "Thou shalt not covet" as two examples) can now be met -- Jesus came and lived them fully...and then lives that life in us. So you see, our relationship is with Jesus, not the Law. Thus we can see and do God's will better. "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life" (1 John 5:12).

What does God expect of His children?

"Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God" (Matthew 5:9).

"In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother" (1 John 3:10).

"Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children" (Ephesians 5:1).