Topic: You’re A Legal And Vital Child Of God [18th September 2017]
Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not (1 John 3:1).
The Christian is the legal and vital child of God—a bona fide child of God. In 1 Corinthians 6:20, the Apostle Paul declared, “For ye are bought with a price:
therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” That’s the legal aspect of redemption: you’re bought with a price. And now, God has brought us to live in His class of being, and has poured Himself into us, thereby making our physical bodies His tabernacle of witness; His living temple: “…know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?” (1 Corinthians 6:19). This is the vital aspect. The legal aspect made the vital experience of the God-life possible!
It’s like our righteousness, some still think that what we have is just a legal righteousness, no; we have a vital righteousness. God has given us His righteousness, and now, you have the ability to stand in His presence without guilt, condemnation, or inferiority. In 1 John 3:1-2, the Apostle John cried out: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God ….” This isn’t a promise, neither is it a prophecy. It’s a declaration of reality, a present-hour truth.
The vital aspect of our sonship is that when you were born again, you were born of the Spirit of God. 1 Peter 1:23 says, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.” Now, you have the life of God in you; you have ceased to be an ordinary person; you live a supernatural life.
Rather than using the Greek word, “huiothesia” which explains adoption or placing as sons, that is, one who was taught how to handle authority, the Apostle John carefully chose the word, “teknon,” to explain that we’re vital sons of God; we’re born of Him. NOW are we the sons of God, not tomorrow or someday, or when we get to heaven, but now; it happened immediately you were born again. Galatians 4:6 says, “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
PRAYER
Dear Father, thank you for the legal aspect of redemption which made the vital experience of eternal life possible. You’ve made me a partaker of the divine nature, an associate of the God-kind. I’m full of life, and I live victoriously to your glory and praise, in Jesus’ Name. Amen.
FURTHER STUDY: 1 John 3:1-2 CEV, John 1:12-13
1 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Galatians 3:15-25 Songs of Solomon 6-8
2 YEAR BIBLE READING PLAN: Luke 23:26-33, 2 Samuel 9-10
