The Glory of Sonship in the Son (4)

 

 

“For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself also will be set free from its slavery to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth until now, and not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption of sons, the redemption of our body.” {Romans 8:19 – 23).

 

Our adoption has a present, a past, and a future – these are melded together in our life in Christ. God our Father has adopted us, we have received “the Spirit of adoption” (Romans 8:15). Our adoption has a future perfection and consummation, “we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body” (Romans 8:23). In between Romans 8:15 and 8:23 we have the working out of our adoption, that is, just as in ancient Roman adoption, we are taking our place in the inheritance and authority of the sons and daughters of God in Christ Jesus. In our Romans passage we see a particular emphasis on sharing in the sufferings of Christ, and in Romans 8:28 – 31 we see that all things are working to bring us into the image of the Firstborn Son, “so that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”

 

Note the correspondence between our Romans 8 passage and 1 Peter 4:12 – 13: “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal among you, which comes upon you for your testing, as though some strange thing were happening to you; but to the degree that you share in the sufferings of Christ, keep on rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exultation.”

 

As Paul writes in Romans 8:18, there is a “glory to be revealed in us,” and in 8:19 he tells us that the “creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” He styles this waiting “an anxious longing.”

 

In verse 21 we read of “the freedom of the glory of the children of God,” and that the creation is looking forward to participating in this freedom.

 

Then in verses 22 and 23 we read that the creation is groaning and suffering the pains of childbirth as it longs for our revealing, and that we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, are also groaning within ourselves.

 

But are we? Are we groaning for the consummation of our adoption? Are we groaning for that Day when creation will be delivered from “corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God”?

 

What sense of these things do we actually have? Are we living in them? Are we teaching and preaching them? Are they informing our relationships in the Body of Christ, with the world, with creation?

 

Are we living as the sons and daughters of the Living God or are we living in the natural, as carnal bottom-feeding professing Christians? Where is our sense of the high calling that the Holy Spirit sets forth for us in Romans Chapter 8? Where is the Life of the overcomer that we see in Romans 8:28 – 39? Are we living in our adoption as mature children who have been given their Father’s signet ring, or are we still wearing diapers that we expect to be changed every Sunday as we focus on who we used to be outside of Christ, rather than who we are in Christ?

 

We see a corresponding trajectory in Ephesians 4:11 – 16, “…until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature Man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” God has a victorious purpose for the Body of Christ, the Church, His Temple – and it is not to run away, it is to bring deliverance to all who will receive the Gospel and to set creation free from its corruption.

 

Christ Jesus has given us His glory (John 17:22) in order that we may be one in the Trinity, and with the Trinity. Who are we to reject His glory? Is it not so much better to teach one another how to live in His glory on mission with Him, for as the Father sent Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ has sent us (John 17:18)? Or, shall we continue as the older brother who would deny the fattened calf to others?

 

The creation is groaning in childbirth, looking for us! Where are we? Are we hidden in the mentality of a false identity? Nationalism? Being still sinners? Doctrinal distinctives? Denominations? Our “best lives now”? Politics? Schemes of prophecy that have to be updated with the headlines; that focus on the natural, escapism, sensationalism?

 

O dear friends, to live in the glory of sonship in the Son is to live in union with the Trinity, it is to live in the destiny that our Father has called us to in Jesus Christ, it is to live in the overcoming power of the Holy Spirit and the love of God, it is to live as those who are dead to sin and alive unto God, it is to live laying our lives down for one another (1 John 3:16), and to keep ever pressing forward into our high calling so that Christ, through us His Body, might bring hope and life and salvation to others and deliverance to the creation.

 

Romans Chapter 8 is to be a present dynamic reality in our lives, in our congregations, in the Church on this planet.

 

Is it?