p. 13 | THE SABBATH SCHOOL by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA · Nov 14, 1900

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 26, No. 46.

THE SABBATH SCHOOL

By Editor

LESSON VIII.—SABBATH, NOVEMBER 24, 1900.

THE ADOPTION OF SONS.

Lesson Scripture, Gal. 4: 1-5, R.V.

"1 BUT I say that so long as the heir is a child, he differeth nothing from a bond-servant, tho he is lord of all; but is under guardians and stewards until the term appointed of the father. 3 So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the rudiments of the world; but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that He might redeem them which were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

NOTE.—The thoughtful student can not fail to see that there is no real division between these verses and the closing verses of the third chapter. It is, therefore, self-evident that the preceding chapter must be very fresh in our minds before we can understandingly begin the study of this.

SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS.

(1) By being baptized into Christ, what have we put on? (2) What do we then all become? (3) Being Christ's, whose seed are we? (4) And what then? (5) With whom are we joint heirs?—"Joint heirs with Christ." Rom. 8:17. (6) What is true of the heir while he is a child? (7) With what is he identical? (8) Notwithstanding what? (9) Under what is he placed? (10) Under what time? (11) When we were children (under age) in what condition were we?—"We also, when we were children, were held in bondage." (12) Under what were we held in bondage?—"Under the rudiments [elements] of the world." (13) What took place when the fulness of time came?—"God sent forth His Son." (14) How was the Son of God sent forth?—"Born of a woman." (15) In what condition?—"Born under the law." (16) Why was He born under the law?—"To redeem them that were under the law." (17) To what end?—"That we might receive the adoption of sons." (18) Whom does Christ redeem?—"Them that were under the law." (19) And as the result, what do we receive?—"The adoption of sons." (20) Then under what must we also have been? (21) Where has the Scripture—the law—shut up all men?—"The Scripture hath shut up all under sin." "The law worketh wrath; for where no law is, there is no transgression." "By the law is the knowledge of sin." (22) Why has it done this?—"That the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe."

NOTES.

1. IF these verses are somewhat difficult to comprehend at first, the comfort which they contain is so much the greater. Wherever there is difficulty there is treasure; and in these verses there is a glorious message of mercy for all mankind.

2. THERE is no difference between the heir, so long as he is under age, and a bond-servant. That means, just as the apostle says in verse 3, that the child is in bondage until he comes into the possession of his inheritance.

3. WE were, as children, "held in bondage under the rudiments of the world." Do not for a moment entertain so dishonoring a thought toward God as that these "rudiments of the world" have anything to do with Him. "For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world." 1 John 2:16. "Take heed lest there shall be any one that maketh spoil of you through his philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." Col. 2:8, R.V. The "rudiments of the world" are totally opposed to both the Father and the Son.

4. CHRIST redeems us from that to which we were in bondage. We were in bondage under the rudiments, the principles, of the world; then Christ was manifested "to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." Thus we see that to be in bondage "under the rudiments of the world," is the same as being "under the law." "Aforetime ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the sons of disobedience; among whom we also all once lived in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath." Eph. 2:2, 3. But it is the law that worketh wrath, for where no law is, there is no transgression. Sin is bondage, and the law holds us in that bondage (compare Gal. 3:22), because it will not compromise with sin.

5. CHRIST was "born of a woman, born under the law." Therefore every person born of a woman is redeemed by Christ. Whether every person will accept the redemption or not, it is for him to say for himself. Christ has purchased the freedom of every person. This constitutes the good news of the Gospel.

6. NOTE from the text that God considers every person in the world as an heir, no matter how much he may be the slave of the world of sin. The heir, while he is a child, differeth nothing from a bond-servant. Even so with us; while we were children, we were in bondage under the rudiments of the world, yet we were heirs of all God's possession—of God Himself. This is true of every man on earth. Everything is for him, if he will but accept it. Yet there must be a coming back, a change so great that it is a new birth. Since we differed nothing from bond-servants, we were bond-servants; in Christ we receive the adoption of sons. Recall the parable of the prodigal son. During his absence from his father's house, he was a bond-servant, yet he was his father's son. So God regards all sinners as wandering prodigal sons. But, notwithstanding this, unless, like the one in the Scripture, they come back to the Father, they will die as slaves.

7. SEE how the apostle Paul classes himself with the Galatians. We were in bondage; those under the law are redeemed, that we might receive the adoption of sons. We may also class ourselves with them, not only as having been, or even now being, in bondage, but also in the adoption.

8. REMEMBER that the Galatians were heathen before they heard the Gospel at the mouth of Paul. All unbelievers are of course heathen; but the Galatians were what is generally known as such. They were among the class that were ready to worship even Paul and Barnabas, holding them as gods because of the miracles that they saw. Acts 14:8-13. Therefore, it is again evident that the things to which they were aforetime in bondage could not possibly be any precepts given by God; for they knew nothing of God.

9. IN this chapter we have simply an extension of the thought presented in chapter 3. Both speak of the bondage of sin, in which the law holds us fast, and of the deliverance. We were, as all unbelievers are, in bondage under the rudiments of the world; but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son to deliver us. Even so in the preceding chapter we read that the Scripture hath shut up all under sin, the law being our jailer; but now that faith is come, we are no longer in prison. But there is no fixed time for faith to come. It is an individual matter, and comes to each one as he is ready to exercise it.

10. "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." But we do not all become the children of God at the same time; for all do not believe at once. Faith is an individual matter. As soon as faith comes to any man, so that he takes hold of it, he is free from his bondage; he is no longer under a pedagog; he is then of age, and ruler instead of servant. It will be seen that the time "when we were children" (verse 3) is entirely different from "the adoption of sons" (verse 5). Of course, when we receive the adoption of sons we are the children of God; but the apostle first carries out the figure that he has adopted, and considers the unbelieving sinner as a child yet under age. When we come of age, when we believe, we become sons indeed; but the change is wholly in us, not at all in God. The change in us is a radical one—from slavery to sonship, from death to life—but God remains the same; His love toward us is the same first as last. The Lord loves sinners, and "will not cast off forever." Lam. 3:31. No one can be lost unless he runs away from the Father's house, and stubbornly stays away, resisting the drawing power of God's everlasting love and mercy. Jer. 31:3.