SONSHIP AND THE STATE SUITED TO IT
This scripture sets forth sonship according to the full thought of God, only to be fully realised at the coming of the Lord. Here God is acting, not in view of what has come in through sin, nor according to our need, but according to His own eternal purpose and love, for His own satisfaction and glory. The sin question having been settled by the redemption work of Christ, that being out of the way, God has taken us up in Christ, according to His eternal purpose. The apostle could say, “who has blessed us”, &c. “He has taken us into favour in the Beloved”. He does not say He will do it, but He has done it. It is all according to His choice and predestination. “According as he has chosen us in him before the world’s foundation, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love; having marked us out beforehand for adoption through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will”.
ln verse 5 we have the relationship, and in verse 4 the state suited to it. We could not have the one without the other (we could not be “before him’’ otherwise); they cannot be separated, both are the result of divine purpose. The state is the result of divine formation, which is new creation. It is really what is found in Christ as man before God. It is formed in us by the work of God. “We are his workmanship, having been created in Christ Jesus for good works”, Eph 2: 10. The work of God in us may be hindered, so that the formation of Christ in us may be very small, as in the case of the Galatian saints. Hence, though the apostle could say, “Ye are all God’s sons by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal 3: 26), for they had begun in the Spirit, they must have lost all enjoyment of the relationship. The measure in which this work has been wrought in us, is the measure in which we are able to know and enjoy the blessed relationship of sonship. It is entirely spiritual; it can only be known by the spiritual, and as we are formed in love. “In love” means not only that we are the objects of divine love, but that we are formed in the divine nature, so that we have become responsive to divine love. And as we are formed in love, we are formed in holiness. The statement of verse 5 has to be taken account of in an abstract sense, it is not true at present in an absolute sense, it is true as far as the work of God has been wrought in us. It describes the state of a man in Christ. “If any one be in Christ ... new creation”, 2 Cor 5: 17. The truth of this scripture will only be realised in an absolute sense at the coming of the Lord. But He—
… gives us now as heavenly light,
What soon shall be our part,
Having the Spirit we are able to enjoy the relationship even now, knowing God as the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And see, the Spirit’s power,
Has ope’d the heavenly door,
Has brought me to that favoured hour
When toil shall all be o’er.
As we enjoy the relationship, we are able to worship the Father in spirit and in truth. Yet at present all is only in measure; we know in part, we see through a glass dimly. The more we are able to take up the privilege, the more we are for the pleasure of God. Now all this should create constant exercise that we do not grieve the Spirit of God, whereby we are sealed for the day of redemption11. All this should lead to earnest desire and prayer, according to the prayer of the apostle at the end of the chapter. So we shall be led into a fuller knowledge of God, and a richer enjoyment of His grace to us in Christ Jesus.
We see how all this works out in a practical way in Philippians 2 and 3. On the one hand, in a readiness to accept self-abnegation, and to go down lower and lower as to this present world, and on the other hand, to know Christ as He is and where He is, and to know the power of His resurrection, which will put us where He is and as He is. As the apostle said, “If any way I arrive at the resurrection from among the dead. Not that I have already obtained the prize, or am already perfected; but I pursue, if also I may get possession of it”, &c. Again, “forgetting the things behind, and stretching out to the things before, I pursue, looking towards the goal, for the prize of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus”, Phil 3: 11-13.
In considering the subject, we should remember that sonship is God’s thought for every saint, not merely that of a select few. “For ye are all God’s sons by faith in Christ Jesus”, Gal 3: 26. “Because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father”, Gal 4: 6. Every true believer has received the Spirit of sonship, and should be able to enjoy the relationship in some measure, Rom 8: 15, 16.
Bristol
From Words of Grace and Comfort vol 6 (1930)