Our Place as Sons

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Sep 23, 1902

Our Place as Sons

“WHEN the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” Gal. 4:4, 5.

This scripture tells us not only how we may receive the great salvation provided for us, but also the way in which it is provided, because there is such an intimate connection between the two things that they cannot be separated. The expression “the adoption of sons” does not convey the fullness of the relationship with the Father into which Christ brings us, because, when one is adopted, he does not come by that fact into any life relationship with the family. He is in the eyes of the law entitled to the privileges of a son, but there is no union of life that makes him a true member of the family into which he is received. So this expression, like every other figure, fails in the final degree, because of this difference.

We will notice first this idea of sonship, the importance of which is seen from the fact that if one can make himself a son, he can save himself; otherwise he cannot, for salvation must come by the receiving of life and entering into that relationship of life, that can come only by generation. And this text sets forth how this relationship comes to us: “God sent forth his Son.” In sending forth his Son into the flesh, God has brought that flesh into the direct relationship of sonship with himself. All men are made sons of God in Adam, for “Adam . . . was the son of God.” Luke 3:38. But in Adam we are the sons of God only by creation; he was created the son of God. Christ was not created the Son of God; he was the Son of God, the only begotten of the Father. The relationship of the human family, sonship by creation as in Adam, gives very high and exalted privileges. By being made the son of God, man was placed in a position where he could recognize and understand God. Of all the created beings on the earth, man was the only one who could recognize God as God. Yet Adam, the created son, had not the same relationship to the Father as Christ, the only begotten Son, who was born, or who simply was, the Son of God in eternal times that no human mind can fix or comprehend.

Through Christ and His mediation, not in the sense of mediation for sin, but as standing between God and all things, everything was created and sustained. So Christ, even before sin came into the world, was the Mediator between God and all things. “The Lord possessed me as the beginning of his way.” Prov. 8:22. Note that it is not in the beginning, but as the beginning. Christ is “the beginning of the creation of God.” Rev. 3:14. This does not mean that he was the first created being, nor the Beginner of creation, but that the beginning of the creation of God was when Christ was, in the days of eternity. That was not the creative act, but the beginning of the creation, which resulted in the creation of all things. In that mystery that no human mind can grasp, and which it is useless for us to try to put into words, God the Father was in the eternal ages, and the Son also was, through whom came the creation. Thus we see clearly that man in the first creation was farther from God than was Christ. Then the question, when sin entered, was whether Christ, who had always been the Mediator, the Daysman, the One who stood between God and all created things, should still continue to be the Mediator. Shall he still stand with one hand upon the throne of God, and the other upon all things, including man? If so, the hand upon man must be stretched forth to reach to where man is; it must be extended to the place to which he has fallen.

The question was decided from eternity; Christ was still to be the Mediator, and so “God sent forth his Son.” The work now to be done by the Mediator is that he shall still be the bond of union between man who has fallen, and God; and that bond must be the union of life.

So Christ was sent forth to be clothed in human flesh; the eternal Son, not the created, was born in the flesh, and dwelt among us. Thus into the very flesh that we bear was introduced “that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us.” This introduction of the eternal Son into our sinful flesh, brought us into a relationship with the Father that the first Adam did not sustain. By the power of his endless life received into our flesh, we may experience the sonship of the Eternal, and receive our place as sons. So we see that redemption means not simply that we are to be restored to the place that Adam had, but to be lifted far above it. This is the place to which God calls every one of us.

“God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son.” Note that the word “his” is in italics, and the margin has “a son.” The thought here is not so much who he was, as what he was; it is to emphasize the idea of the sonship. God spake at sundry times and in divers manners by the prophets, who because of their own limited experience could reveal only a portion of his salvation. Their message was the message of their own experience in seeing and hearing the Lord. Every prophet taught according to his own experience, and could not reveal more. But gathering up all that had been revealed through all the prophets in all times, God now has revealed the whole through the Son.

The verses following this in the first chapter of Hebrews, state that Christ is “made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they. For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son?” This scripture is brought in here to show how much Christ the Son is exalted above angels. But “he that overcometh shall receive all things as an inheritance, and I will be his God and he shall be my son.” Here the very words that are quoted to show the superiority of Christ over the angels are cited as the experience of the overcomer. This shows that the fact that “God sent forth his Son,” sent him forth from himself into human flesh, established a relationship that had never before existed between God and man. Christ being sent forth from God, will always abide in the flesh; thus the relationship will always be maintained. From the days of eternity one with the Father in essence, character, and being, Christ has now been sent forth into the flesh that we may have the same experience, and in him receive our place as sons. This brings us into a relationship more exalted and more close than the angels, for the very scripture that shows

that Christ is above angels is used of us also.

But all this simply means greater capacity for service. This is the exalted privilege of the Son, and one who holds this relationship must be willing to be used as a son, willing to serve to a greater degree than he ever could before. This redemption puts him on vantage ground with reference to ministry. In Jesus Christ man is brought near to the Father; but this is accomplished by pouring into him the life of the Son, which is a life of ministry and service, and he can keep his place as a son only by letting this life continually flow through him. It is not simply a matter of words, or of assent to a creed, or joining any body but the body of Christ. It is a life relationship with God, to be maintained only by remaining in harmony with the life. “God sent forth his Son” that we might have capacity and power for service, and grow up to the measure of the stature of a perfect man in Christ.

This means earnest, faithful service. We are delivered from the bondage of the law, that our service may be that of sons. A larger ministry is possible for us than ever before, and he who acknowledges this sees open before him such a field of service that he must give himself to ministry. So the redemption offered to us in Christ Jesus is the opportunity to serve in the place of sons. Instead of being mere weaklings and infants who must have some one to look after us, we may have the privilege of looking after others. The ministering Son came not to be ministered unto, but to minister; and when we occupy that place and keep it, we shall not be waiting to be ministered to, but shall be looking for and entering into opportunities of service to others.