15. Chapter 10. Communion with Christ in privileges –
Chapter 10. Communion with Christ in privileges –
III. The third thing in which we have communion with Christ, as the third part of purchased grace, is the grace of privilege before God. The privileges we enjoy by Christ are great and innumerable. Specifying each of them would take a lifetime of work, not a few sheets. I will present them only in summary. The spring and fountain from which they all arise and flow is our adoption:
“Beloved, now we are the sons of God,” 1 John 3:2. This is the great fountain of our privilege. What is the source of our adoption? It is from the love of the Father. 1 John 3:1, “Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God!” But from whom do we immediately receive this honor? As many as believe on Christ, he gives them this power to become the sons of God, John 1:12. Christ was appointed to be the first-born among many brothers, Romans 8:29. Taking us as his brothers, Heb.
2:11, makes us become the children of God. God is our Father by being the Father of Christ, and we are his children by being the brothers of Christ. This being the sum of all the honor, privilege, right, and title that we have, let us consider a little the nature of our adoption. It is the act by which we are invested with this state and title.
Adoption is the authoritative translation of a believer, by Jesus Christ, from the family of the world and Satan, into the family of God. It invests him with all the privileges and advantages of that family. To complete the adoption of any person, five things are required: 1. That he actually, in his own right, belongs to a family other than the one into which he is adopted. [Orphans are the rightful, if solitary, members of their own family].
2. That there is a family to which he has no inherent right to belong, into which he must be grafted. If he has an inherent personal right, he does not need adopting. If a man who is a distant cousin comes into the family inheritance by the death of the nearer heirs, even though his previous right was little better than nothing, he is still a son born of that family. A person does not need adopting if he has any right of succession.
3. That there is an authoritative, legal translation of him from one family into another, by someone with the power to do it. Under the law of old, people did not have the power to adopt when and whom they would. It had to be done by the authority of the sovereign power.
4. That the adopted person be freed from all the obligations he has to the family from which he is translated. Otherwise he cannot be useful or serviceable to the family into which he is grafted. He cannot serve two masters, much less two fathers.
5. That, by virtue of his adoption, he is invested with all the rights, privileges, advantages, and title to the whole inheritance of the family into which he is adopted, as fully as if he had been born a son in that family.
All these things agree and are found in the adoption of believers: 1. Believers, by their own original right, belong to a family other than that into which they are adopted. They are “by nature the children of wrath,” Ephesians 2:3, sons of wrath. They belong to that family whose inheritance is “wrath,” called
“the power of darkness,” Colossians 1:13. From this family, God “translated them into the kingdom of his dear Son.” By nature, believers are of the world and of Satan.
Whatever is to be inherited in that family, such as wrath, curse, death, and hell, is what they have a right to. They cannot of themselves, or by themselves, get free of this family: an armed strong man keeps them in subjection (Luke 11:21). Their natural estate is a family condition. It is attended with all the circumstances of a family, family duties and services, rights and titles, relations and observances.
They belong to the black family of sin and Satan.
2. There is another family into which they are to be translated, and to which they have neither right nor title. This is the family in heaven and earth, the great family of God, which is named after Christ, Ephesians 3:15. God has a house and family for his children. Some he maintains on the riches of his grace, and some he entertains with the fullness of his glory. This is the house of which the Lord Christ is the great dispenser. The Father was pleased to “gather together all things in him, both those in heaven, and those on earth,” Ephesians 1:10. In this house live all the sons and daughters of God, spending largely on the riches of his grace. They have no right nor title to this family in themselves; they are wholly alienated from it, Ephesians 2:12, and they can lay no claim to anything in it. God drove fallen Adam out of the garden, and closed off all the ways back with a flaming sword, ready to cut him off if he should attempt it. God abundantly declares that Adam, and all his offspring, had lost all right to approach God in any family relationship. Our corrupted and cursed nature is not vested with any right to anything of God. Therefore,
3. Believers have an authoritative translation from the one family to the other. It is not done in a private, underhanded way, but by way of power or authority.
John 1:12, “As many as received him, to them he gave power to become the sons of God.” Investing them with the power, excellence, and light of the sons of God, is a forensic act. It is a legal proceeding. It is “making us fit to partake of the inheritance of the saints in light,” Colossians 1:12; It judicially exalts us into membership in that family, where God is the Father, and Christ is the elder brother. All the saints and angels are brothers and fellow-children. And the inheritance is a crown that is immortal and incorruptible; it does not fade away, 1 Peter 1:4; 1 Peter 5:4. This authoritative translation of believers from one family into another has two parts:
(1.) An effectual declaration and proclamation of a believer’s immunity from all his obligations to the former family to which he was related by nature. This declaration has a threefold object:
[1.] Angels. It is declared to the angels because they too are the sons of God, and members of the family into which the adopted person is to be admitted. Therefore it concerns them to know who is invested with the rights of that family, so that they may discharge their duty towards them. It is declared to them that believers are freed from the family of sin and hell, to become fellow-sons and servants with them. And this is done two ways: 1st. Generally, by the doctrine of the gospel. Ephesians 3:10, “The manifold wisdom of God is made known to the principalities and powers in heavenly places by the church.” This wisdom is made known to the angels by the church, either as the doctrine of the gospel is delivered to it, or as the doctrine gathers it. What is this wisdom of God that is thus made known to principalities and powers? It is that, “the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs and of the same body with us,” Ephesians 3:6. This wisdom is the mystery of adopting sinners from the Gentiles. It is taking them from their slavery in the family of the world, so that they might have a right of heirship, and become sons in the family of God.
How was it made known? It was “revealed by the Spirit to the prophets and apostles,” Ephesians 3:5.
2dly. It is declared particularly, by immediate revelation. When anyone is freed from the family of this world, it is revealed to the angels.
“There is joy in the presence of the angels of God” (that is, among the angels, and by them) “over one sinner that repents,” Luke 15:10. Now, the angels cannot absolutely know the true repentance of a sinner themselves; it is a work done in that cabinet to which none has a key but Jesus Christ. It is revealed by him to the angels when the specific care and charge of a believer is committed to them. These things are transacted before the angels, Luke 12:8-9. Christ confesses the names of his brothers before the angels, Revelation 3:5. When he admits them into the family, Hebrews 12:22-24, he declares to the angels that those he names are sons, so that the angels may discharge their duty towards them, Heb.
1:14.
[2.] It is denounced in a judicial way to Satan, the great master of the family to which they were formerly in subjection. When the Lord Christ delivers a soul from the power of that strong armed one, he binds Satan.
He prevents him from exercising that power and dominion which he held over the person before. By this means, Satan knows that the person has been delivered from his family. Any future attempts to dominate the believer will encroach on the possession and inheritance of the Lord Christ.
[3.] It is announced to the conscience of the person adopted. The Spirit of Christ testifies to the heart and conscience of a believer that he is freed from all obligations to the family of Satan, and that he has become the son of God, Romans 8:14-15. This enables him to cry, “Abba, Father,” Galatians 4:6. I will speak later of the particulars of this testimony of the Spirit, and of its absolving the soul from its old alliance.
(2.) There is an authoritative and actual grafting of a believer into the family of God, investing him with the whole right of sonship. This has a number of acts:
[1.] Giving a believer a new name on a white stone, Revelation 2:17. Those who are adopted take new names. They change the name they had in their old family to the name of the family into which they are translated. This new name is, “A child of God.” That is the new name given in adoption. No one knows what is in that name except the one who receives it. This new
4 name is given and written on a white stone. That is the tessera of our admission into the house of God. It is a stone of judicial acquittal. Our adoption by the Spirit is based on our absolution in the blood of Jesus.
Therefore the new name on the white stone is a privilege based on discharge. The white stone quits the claim of the old family; the new name gives entrance to the other.
[2.] Enrolling the believer’s name in the catalogue of the household of God. This admits him to fellowship in that household. It is called the
“writing of the house of Israel,” Ezekiel 13:9. That is, it is the roll in which all the names of Israel, the family of God, are written. God has a catalogue of his household. Christ knows his sheep by name. When God writes up the people, he counts that “this man was born in Zion,” Psalms 87:6. This is an extract of the Lamb’s book of life.
[3.] Testifying to the believer’s conscience that he is accepted by God, thus enabling him to behave himself as a child, Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:5-6.
4. The two last things required for adoption are that the adopted person be freed from all his obligations to the family from which he is translated, and be invested with the rights and privileges of the family into which he is translated.
Now, because these two comprise the whole issue of adoption in which the saints have communion with Christ, I will handle them together. I am addressing their concerns under four categories: (1.) Liberty. (2.) Title, or right. (3.) Boldness.
(4.) Correction. These are the four things that he receives by his adoption, and in which he holds communion with the Lord Jesus:
(1.) Liberty. The Spirit of the Lord that was on the Lord Jesus anointed him to proclaim liberty to the captives, Isaiah 61:1; and “where the Spirit of the Lord is” (that is, the Spirit of Christ, given to us by Christ because we are sons),
“there is liberty,” 2 Corinthians 3:17. All spiritual liberty is from the Spirit of adoption. Whatever else is pretended, is licentiousness. The apostle argues this in Galatians 4:6-7, “He has sent forth his Spirit into their hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father.’ Hence, you are no longer servants;” Bondage is ended.
Believers have the liberty of sons in respect to,
[1.] The family from which he is translated. Liberty is being set free from all the obligations of that family. In this sense, the liberty which the saints have by adoption is either from what is real, or from what is pretended:
1st. What is real involves a twofold issue of law and sin. The unchangeable moral law of God, and sin, are in conjunction with each other. There is a twofold issue here:
(1st.) The instituted law of ordinances, which keeps those to whom it was given in bondage, Colossians 2:14.
(2dly.) The “natural” pressure of the law, with its power and efficacy against sin. These are three components of that pressure:
[1st.] It is rigorous and terrifying in its commands.
[2dly.] It is impossible to accomplish, and insufficient to achieve its primitively appointed end.
[3dly.] The penalties for transgressing it are the Curse, and Death. I will speak very briefly of these, because they are commonly handled and granted by all.
2dly. What is pretended is that there is anything which has power over the conscience once we are made free by Christ:
(1st.) Believers are freed from the instituted law of ordinances. The apostles testify that the law was a yoke which neither we nor our fathers (in the faith) could bear, Acts 15:10. Therefore, Christ “blotted out this handwriting of ordinances that was against them, which was contrary to them, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross,” Colossians 2:14. After a long dispute concerning the liberty that we have from that law, the apostle concludes with this instruction, “Stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made us free,” Galatians 5:1.
(2dly.) In reference to the moral law:
[1st.] The first thing we have liberty from is the law’s rigor and terror in commanding us. Hebrews 12:18-22, “We have not come to the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, to the whirlwind, darkness, and tempest, to the sound of the trumpet, and the voice of words, which those who heard begged that they might hear it no more; but we have come to mount Zion...” We are freed from the administration of the law, given out with dread and terror, that exacts its obedience with rigor. We are not called to that estate.
[2dly.] We are freed from the moral law as the instrument of righteousness. It is impossible to accomplish and insufficient to achieve its primitive end because of sin, Romans 8:2-3; Galatians 3:21-23. And it being impossible to obtain life by the law, we are exempt from the law for that purpose. This exemption comes through the righteousness of Christ, Romans 8:3.
[3dly.] We have liberty from the consequence of its transgression. The first consequence is Curse. There is a solemn curse in the wrath of God that the law contains for its transgression. We are completely freed from this, Galatians 3:13, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law by being made a curse for us.” The second consequence we are delivered from is Death, Hebrews 2:15, and the power of Satan, Hebrews 2:14, Colossians 1:13. We are delivered from sin, Romans 6:14, 1 Peter 1:18, and from our relationship with the world, Galatians 1:4. We are delivered from all the circumstances, advantages, and claims these have on us, Galatians 4:3-5, Colossians 2:20. Without this deliverance, we could not live one day.
What is claimed by some is that we are freed from the power of having our conscience bound by any laws and constitutions that are not from God, Colossians 2:20-22. In truth, we were never in bondage to these things, but we are indeed hereby set free from them.
[2.] Believers have liberty as sons in the family of God, as well as liberty from the family of Satan. Sons are free. Their obedience is a free obedience. They have the Spirit of the Lord, and where he is, there is liberty, 2 Corinthians 3:17. As a Spirit of adoption, he is opposed to the spirit of bondage, Romans 8:15. This liberty that we have as children in our Father’s family, is a spiritual largeness of heart. In this open atmosphere, the children of God pursue all holy obedience in Christ freely, willingly, and genuinely, without fear, terror, bondage, or constraint.
There are Gibeonites who outwardly attend the family of God, who serve his house as if it is the drudgery of their lives (Joshua 9:21). The principle by which they yield obedience is a spirit of bondage to fear, Romans 8:15. The rule that governs them is the law in all its dread and rigor. It exacts the utmost obedience from them, without mercy or mitigation. The reason they obey is to fly from the wrath to come and to pacify their consciences. They seek righteousness as if it could be obtained by the works of the law. Thus, all their days they servilely, painfully, and fruitlessly, serve their conviction of sin. The saints, by adoption and in contrast, have a largeness of heart in all holy obedience. Says David, “I will walk at liberty, for I seek your precepts,” Ps.
119:45. See also Isaiah 61:1; Luke 4:18; Romans 8:2; Romans 8:21; Galatians 4:7; Galatians 5:1; Galatians 5:13; James 1:25; John 8:32-33; John 8:36; Romans 6:18; 1 Peter 2:16. Now, this son-like freedom of the Spirit in obedience, consists in a number of things: 1st. Freedom consists in the principles behind all spiritual service, which are life and love. The one regards the matter of their obedience, giving them power. The other regards the manner of their obedience, giving them joy and sweetness in it:
(1st.) Life is what gives them power in the matter of obedience. Romans 8:2,
“The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus sets them free from the law of sin and death.” Life frees them. It enables them to freely obey so that “they walk after the Spirit,” Romans 8:1. “Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God,” Galatians 2:20. It is saying that the life which I now live in the flesh, that is, the obedience which I yield to God while I am in the flesh, comes from a principle of life. And that principle is Christ living in me. There is power, then, for everyone who lives to God; and that power comes from Christ living in them. The Spirit of life from Christ carries them out to that life. The fruits of a dead root are only dead excrescences. The fruits of a principle of life are living acts.
Hence, there is a difference between the liberty that slaves receive, and the liberty that children have as a right:
[1st.] Slaves take liberty from duty; children have liberty in duty. There is no greater mistake in the world, than to think that the liberty of the sons of God means they can either perform duties, or omit them; they can serve in the family of God, or choose not to. That would be a liberty stolen by slaves, not a liberty given by the Spirit to sons. The liberty of sons is found in the inward spiritual freedom of their hearts to naturally and kindly fulfill all the ways and worship of God. When they find themselves restricted and enclosed in them, they wrestle with God for enlargement. They are never content with doing a duty unless it is done as in Christ, with free, genuine, and enlarged hearts. To repeat, the liberty that servants have is from duty; the liberty given to sons is in duty.
[2dly.] The liberty of slaves or servants is from mistaken and deceptive conclusions; the liberty of sons is from the power of the indwelling Spirit of grace. The liberty of servants is from outward, dead conclusions; the liberty of sons is from an inward, living principle.
(2dly.) Love, in the manner of their obedience, gives them delight and joy.
John 14:15, “If you love me,” says Christ, “keep my commandments.”
Love is the basis of all their duties. Hence, our Savior distills all obedience into the love of God and our neighbor. On the same grounds, Paul tells us
“that love is the fulfilling of the law,” Romans 13:10. Where love is contained in any duty, it is made complete in Christ. How often David, with admiration, expresses this principle of his walk with God! “O,” he says, “how I love your commandments!” The saints delight that the commandments of Christ are not a burden to them. Jacob’s hard service was not a burden because of his love for Rachel. And no duty of a saint is a burden to him because of his love for Christ. Saints do all things with delight and contentment. Hence they long to walk with God, and pant after more ability. This is a great part of their son-like freedom in obedience. It gives them joy. 1 John 4:18, “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear.” When their soul is motivated by love to obedience, it expels the fear that results from bondage of the spirit. Now, when life and love act together, there is freedom, liberty, and largeness of heart. This is far from that narrow and bandaged frame that others walk in all their days who do not know adoption as sons.
2dly. The object of believers’ obedience is seen as desirable, while to others it is terrible. In drawing near to God, they see him as a Father. They call him Father, Galatians 4:6, not in the form of words, but in the spirit of sons. God in Christ is continually before them not only as one who deserves all the honors and obedience he requires, but also as one who is to be delighted in greatly.
He is all-sufficient to satisfy and satiate all the desires of the soul. While others napkin their talents because they deal with an austere master, believers exercise their strength to its fullest because they draw close to a gracious rewarder. From the principle of life and love, they go to the heart of a living and loving Father. They are only returning the strength they receive to its fountain, to the ocean.
3dly. Their motive to obey is love, 2 Corinthians 5:14. From an apprehension of love, they are led to surrender themselves to the one who is love. What a freedom this is! What a largeness of spirit exists in those who walk according to this rule! Darkness, fear, bondage, conviction, and mere hopes of righteousness accompany others in their ways. But the sons of God, by the Spirit of adoption, have light, love, and contentment in their walk with God. The frame of the children of God in their Father’s house is completely foreign to the world.
4thly. The manner of their obedience is willingness. “They yield themselves to God, as those who are alive from the dead,” Romans 6:13. They yield themselves, surrender themselves, willingly, cheerfully, and freely. “With my whole heart,” says David (Psalms 119:10). “They present themselves a living sacrifice,” Romans 12:1, and a willing sacrifice.
5thly. The rule that guides their walk with God is the law of liberty, divested of all its terrifying, threatening, killing, condemning, and cursing power. In the blood of Jesus, it is rendered sweet, tender, useful, instructive, and helpful as a rule of walking in the life they have received, not the way of working for the life they do not have. These may be sufficient examples of the liberty of obedience that sons and daughters have in the family of God, which Gibeonites are not acquainted with.
(2.) The second thing which the children of God have by adoption is title.
They have title and right to all the privileges and advantages of the family into which they are translated. This is the pre-eminence of the true sons of any family. The ground on which Sarah pleads for the ejection of Ishmael was that he was the son of the bond woman, Genesis 21:10. He was not a genuine child of the family, and therefore he could have no right of heirship with Isaac. The apostle’s argument is, “We are no longer servants, but sons; and if sons, then heirs,” Rom.
8:14-17; “then we have right and title: not being born to this (for by nature we are the children of wrath), we have this right by our adoption.” The saints have a double right and title: 1st. They have proper and direct title in respect to spiritual things. 2dly. They have consequential title in respect to temporal things:
[1.] In respect to spiritual things, their title is to: 1st. A present place, name, and room, in the house of God, with all its privileges and administrations.
2dly. A future abundance of the great inheritance of glory, a kingdom purchased for their whole family:
1st. They have title to, and an interest in, the whole administration of the family of God here in this world. The main idea of the supreme administration of the house of God by the Lord Christ, in instituting ordinances and dispensing the Spirit, is to activate those ordinances in the lives of believers, and to make them effective in obtaining the end for which they were instituted. Believers are the prime objects of this administration. All of this is done for them. It is exercised towards them.
God has made Jesus Christ the “head over all things to the church, which is his body,” Ephesians 1:22-23. He has made him the head over all these spiritual things, and committed their authoritative administration to him, for the use and benefit of the church, the family of God. He does all this for the benefit and advantage of the many sons he will bring to glory, Heb.
2:10. The aim of the Lord Jesus in establishing gospel administrations, and administrators, is “for the perfecting of the saints, the work of the ministry...” Ephesians 4:8-13. All of this is done for the family of God. Christ is faithful to all the house of God in this, Hebrews 3:2. Hence, the apostle tells the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 3:22-23, that all these gospel administrations and ordinances are theirs, and for them. Even though the world benefits by the things of the gospel, it is designed for the children of this family. This, then, is the aim and intent of the Lord Christ in the institution of all gospel ordinances and administrations. They are used for the house of God, and all his children and servants in that house.
It is true that the word is preached to all the world to gather the children of God’s purpose who are scattered around the world, and to leave the rest without excuse. But the primary purpose is to gather the heirs of salvation to enjoy a feast of the sumptuous things that the Lord Christ has prepared for them in his house.
Again, only believers have a right and title to gospel administrations and to the privileges of the family of God. This is because these are offered to his church according to his mind. The church is the “house of God,” l Tim.
3:15; Hebrews 3:6. This is where he keeps and maintains his whole family, ordering them according to his mind and will. Who else would have any rights in the house of God besides his children? If we allow rights only to our own children in our houses, why would we think God allows rights to any but his own children in his house? Is it good to “take the children’s bread and cast it to the dogs?” Matthew 15:26. We will see that only children have a right or title to the privileges and advantages of the house of God if we consider,
(1st.) The nature of that house. It is such that it is impossible for any but adopted children to have a right to a place in it. It is composed of
“living stones,” 1 Peter 2:5, a “chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a unique people,” verse 9; “saints and faithful in Christ Jesus,” Ephesians 1:1; “saints and faithful brothers,” Colossians 1:2; a people that are “all righteous,” Isaiah 60:21. Its whole fabric is glorious, chap. 54:11-14. The way of the house is “a way of holiness,” which the unclean will not pass through, chap. 35:8. Expressly stated, they are the “sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty,” and they alone, 2 Corinthians 6:17-18. All others are excluded, Revelation 21:27. It is true that others may sneak into the great house of God; and so there are “not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth...,” 2 Timothy 2:20. But they only sneak in, Jude says in verse 4. They have no right or title to it.
(2dly.) The privileges of the house will not suit or profit any other.
What good will it do to give food to a dead man? Will he grow or become stronger by it? The things of the family and house of God are food for living souls. Only God’s children are alive; all others are dead in trespasses and sins. What will outward signs avail, if life and power are missing? The saints’ enjoyments in the family of God are all suited to believers. If bestowed on the world, they would be pearls in the snout of a swine.
Only the sons of the family have this right. They have fellowship with one another, with the Father, and with the Son Jesus Christ. They proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes, 1 Corinthians 11:26. They are entrusted with all the ordinances of the house, and their administration. Who will deny them the enjoyment of this right, or keep them from what Christ has purchased for them? In the end, the Lord will give them hearts everywhere to make use of this title accordingly, and not to wander on the mountains, forgetting their resting-place.
2dly. They have a title to the future fullness of the inheritance that is purchased for this whole family by Jesus Christ. This is what the apostle argues in Romans 8:17. “If children, then heirs...” All God’s children are “first-born,” Hebrews 12:23, and therefore they are heirs. Hence, the whole weight of glory that is prepared for them is called the inheritance. “The inheritance of the saints in light.” Colossians 1:12. “If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise,” Galatians 3:29. We are heirs of the promise, meaning heirs of everything promised to Abraham in and with Christ.
There are three things that the children of God are said to be heirs to: (1st.) They are heirs to the promise, as in Galatians 3:29 and Hebrews 6:17. God shows “the heirs of the promise, the immutability of his counsel;”
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are said to be “heirs of the same promise,”
Hebrews 11:9. From the foundation of the world, God made a most excellent promise in Christ, containing a deliverance from all evil, and an engagement to bestow all good things upon them. It contains a deliverance from all the evil that the guilt of sin and the dominion of Satan had brought upon them. It invested them with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus. Hence, in Hebrews 9:15, the Holy Spirit calls it a “promise of the eternal inheritance.” This is what the adopted children of God are primarily heirs to. They are heirs to the promise that God made at the beginning to fallen man, and that he has solemnly renewed and confirmed by his oath. Their claim for their inheritance is accepted in the courts of heaven.
(2dly.) They are heirs of righteousness, Hebrews 11:7. Noah was an heir of the righteousness which comes by faith. Peter calls it being “heir of the grace of life,” l Pet. 3:7. James puts both of these together, chap. 2:5,
“Heirs of the kingdom which God has promised.” That is, they are heirs of the kingdom of grace and its righteousness. In this respect, the apostle tells us that “we have obtained an inheritance,” Ephesians 1:11, which he also places with the righteousness of faith, Acts 26:18. Now, this righteousness, grace, and inheritance, not only means that righteousness which we actually partake of here, but the purpose and accomplishment of that righteousness in glory. And so, (3dly.) They are “heirs of salvation,” Hebrews 1:14, and “heirs according to the hope of eternal life,” Titus 3:7. Peter calls this an “incorruptible inheritance,” 1 Peter 1:4. Paul calls it the “reward of the inheritance,”
Colossians 3:24. That is, salvation is the result of the inheritance of light and holiness which they already enjoy. Thus, full salvation by Christ is founded on the promises; the means of salvation is righteousness and holiness; and the purpose of salvation is eternal glory. The sons of God have a right and title to all of this because they are made heirs with Christ. In sum, the saints’ main title and right by adoption, is that the Lord is their portion and inheritance, and they are the inheritance of the Lord. What they have is a large portion, and nicely divided.
[2.] Besides this principal right, the adopted sons of God have a second consequential right to the things of this world. They have a right to all the portions of this world that God is pleased to entrust them with. Christ is the
“heir of all things,” Hebrews 1:2. The Lord, by his sovereignty, originally granted all things here below for man’s use. He appointed the works of his hands to be used for man’s benefit. Sin reversed this whole grant and institution. All right and title to the things of creation was lost and forfeited by sin. All things were freed from their subjection to man. Yet that freedom, which removes the purposes for which they were originally appointed, is part of their vanity and curse. It is evil for anything to be separated from the purposes for which it was created. And so the whole creation is released from any subordinate ruler.
Man, having lost the title by which he held his dominion over the creatures, has no interest in any of them, nor can he lay any claim to them. But now the Lord, taking a portion for himself from fallen mankind, and appointing them heirs of salvation, reserves the works of creation for their use in their pilgrimage. To this end, he invests the second Adam with the right and title to what the first Adam had lost. He appoints him “heir of all things.”
Thereupon, his adopted ones, being “fellow-heirs with Christ,” also have a right and title to the things of this creation. To clear up what this right is, I must make a few observations:
1st. The right that the adopted sons have is not the right that Christ has.
What Christ has is sovereign and supreme, to do what he will with his own. But what the adopted sons have is subordinate. They are accountable for the use of those things to which they now have a right and title. The right of Christ is the right of the Lord of the house; the right of the saints is the right of servants.
2dly. All the children of God have a right to the whole earth, which is the Lord’s, and the fullness of it, 1 Corinthians 10:26. This is in two regards:
(1st.) The sovereign Lord of the earth preserves it merely for their use, and for their account. All others are maalae fidei possessores [wrongful occupants], invading a portion of the Lord’s territories without his permission.
(2dly.) Christ has promised to give them the kingdom and dominion over it in such a way that the government of the earth is exercised to their advantage.
3dly. This right to the whole earth is a spiritual right, not a civil interest. It only sanctifies the right and interest that is bestowed. God has providentially set the civil bounds of the inheritance of men, Acts 17:26, allowing the men of the world to enjoy a portion here. Often that portion is very large. Yet, for his children’s sake, the beasts of the forest that are made to be destroyed, may not take over the whole possession. Hence, 4thly. No adopted person has any right, by virtue of his adoption, to any portion of earthly things to which he does not have a right and title based upon a civil interest that has been given to him by the providence of God.
But, 5thly. What they do have by their adoption are these:
(1st.) A right to whatever portion God is pleased to give them, as it is reinvested in Christ and not as it lies under the curse and vanity of sin.
Therefore, the sons of God can never be called to account for usurping what they have no right to. But all the sons of men who violently grasp those things which God has liberated from their dominion because of sin will indeed be called to account.
(2dly.) By this right, they are led to a sanctified use of what they do enjoy. These things are pledges of the Father’s love, washed in the blood of Christ, and inspirations to live to his praise, who gives them all things to richly enjoy.
Hence, I dare say that unbelievers have no true, unquestionable right to the temporal things they possess. It is true that they have a civil right in respect to others, but they do not have a sanctified right in respect to their own souls.
They have a right and title that will be upheld in the courts of men, but not a right that will hold up in the court of God, nor in their own conscience. One day it will be sad for them when they give an account of their enjoyments.
They will be reckoned with for abusing what they have possessed by not using it for the glory of the one who is the true owner, but for laying their hands on the creatures of God, and keeping these things from the ones for whose sakes alone these unbelievers are preserved from destruction. The God of glory will come to them, either in their consciences here, or in the judgment that is to come. He will say with the terror of a vengeful judge, “I have allowed you to enjoy corn, wine, and oil, and a great portion of my creatures. You have rolled yourselves in wealth and prosperity, when the rightful heirs of these things lived poor, low, and mean next door. Give now an answer for what and how you have used these things. What have you used for the service and advancement of the gospel? What have you given to those for whom nothing was provided? What contribution have you made for the poor saints? Have you had a ready hand and willing mind to lay down everything for my sake?”
They will be compelled to answer truthfully, “Lord, we indeed had a large portion in the world. But we thought it was our own, and that we could do what we wanted with our own. We ate the fat and drank the sweet, and left the rest of our substance for our children. We spent some on our lusts, and some on our friends. But the truth is, we cannot say that we used this unrighteous mammon to advance the gospel, or to minister to your poor saints. And now, look, we must die...” The Lord will proceed further, and question not only the use of these things, but also their title to them. He will tell them, “The earth is mine, and the fullness of it. I did, indeed, make an original grant of these things to man, but that was lost by sin. I have restored that grant only for my saints. Why, then, have you laid your fingers of prey on what was not yours?
Why did you compel my creatures to serve you and your lusts, when I freed them from your dominion? Give me my flax, my wine, and wool. I will make you as naked as the day of your birth, and revenge upon you your rapine, and unjust possession of what was not yours.” What will men do when that happens?
(3 ) The third thing which the children of God have by adoption is boldness. But I have spoken of this at large before, in treating the excellence of Christ in respect to our approach to God through him. So I will not reconsider it here.
(4.) The fourth thing which the children of God have by adoption is affliction. Affliction is the privilege of children, because it proceeds from love.
It leads to spiritual advantages, such as being conformed to Christ, and being sweetened with his presence, Hebrews 12:3-6. But I will not elaborate on this.
Adoption is the source of all the privileges which Christ has purchased for us, and in which we have fellowship with him:
• fellowship in name; we are sons of God (as he is).
• fellowship in title and right; we are heirs, and co-heirs with Christ.
• fellowship in likeness and conformity; we are predestined to be like the firstborn.
• fellowship in honor; he is not ashamed to call us brothers.
• fellowship in sufferings; he learned obedience by what he suffered, and every son that is received is to be scourged.
• fellowship in his kingdom; we will reign with him.
I must speak of all these things specifically in another place, so I will not draw out the discourse concerning them any further here.