The Ultimate Adoption

Read Galatians 3:1–4:31

1. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had.
2. They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set.
3. And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.
4. But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law.
5. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.
6. And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”
7Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. Galatians 4:1-7

Growing up in the White House would definitely have its perks. Every school day you would get a limo ride to and from school. In the summer you would travel the world on presidential trips with your parents. During campaign years, you would see the entire country with Mom and Dad. When you were at home, you would have more than one hundred rooms to explore. And if these benefits were not enough, you could brag a lot about what your parents did for a living.

Obviously the overwhelming majority of people have never had and never will have such privileges. But as Christians we are really better off than being a son or daughter of the president. That is because we are the children of the almighty God. As Paul reminds us in his letter to the Galatians, there is no greater privilege. What does it mean to you to be a child of the King of kings?

Under Roman law, an adopted child was guaranteed all legal rights to his or her father’s property. The child was not second-class, but equal to any other children, biological or adopted, in the father’s family.

Before Christ died, we were all slaves to sin. But now that Christ has paid the penalty for our sin, we can accept his sacrifice as payment for our debt. When we do this, we are freed from the bondage of sin and are adopted into God’s family. As God’s adopted children, we share with Jesus all the rights of an heir.

If you belong to Christ, all he has belongs to you (Galatians 4:7). God is your heavenly Father. You can come boldly into his presence, confident that he will lovingly welcome you as his own child.