CHAPTER 5: SONSHIP
In this section we will visit the concept of Sonship in God, also it meaning and application to mankind:
• Sonship. (Birth Right and Inheritance)
• A review of Sonship in the history of Man.
• Christ restored Sonship back to us.
• Difference of Son and Orphan.
• From adoption to about the Father’s Business.
Presentation
Sonship From the Godheads
God’s thoughts or ways often time could not be understood with a linear thinking which is confined by time, a power works out death as it proceeds towards an end from the beginning. They exist in the eternal realm, and could only be expressed as sequential order which in the framing of our understanding is always related to time. However, in the eternal, the end is the beginning, and with the beginning. It also conforms into the beginning, witnesses the beginning and evolves or increases the beginning, its nature and substance.
The Son and His Covenant with the Father
Bearing this in our mind, let us proceed to discuss the following. God never could be confined in any form. Even He expresses His love, power, wisdom and perfection using all of them (names that can be named), He forbids Himself be found in a form. Even He gave man the privilege to express or represent Himself to the visible world, His true intention is never merely for their wellbeing in the natural world. He had in mind when He created Man to be a spiritual entity that would bear the fullness of His Likeness (invisible) as He transforms Man from merely bearing His Image (visible). Man is destined to rule all that He created, visible or invisible. Man is to embody or tabernacle God.
God the Father, before He created the whole visible world, had his sons in His mind. It was his intention that, through the race of mankind, a creature who is able to receive, apprehend and represent His love, He is to be gloried in the sight of all creation, even with them in Himself. For unto Man, He will impute His very being, the fullness of it. And through His love and fellowship with Man, He will teach him all things. He desires to create a race of sons, so that He can share his wisdom, love and glory with them.
Paul decibels this very well here:
Eph 1:4-6 [NIV]
4For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love 5he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
Now, in order to put in motion this “Word” or pattern of life of God the Son, God the Father did two things in the beginning.
Firstly, He made an eternal covenant with His Son, the Christ, in whom He impute all of Himself, even His own Spirit Life, thus He is called the Word, and set in motion of a process to fulfill it, a process which is to impart His honor and His glory unto the Son. But when the Son was presented or revealed to the angelic realm, the Devil rebelled against God in His choice to have man, a lower race in his sight, to receive the fullness of His blessing, which is His honor, glory, power and His very Life. He refused to bow and worship the Son, rebelled against the eternal plan of God for Man. God the Father, in His full knowledge and righteousness, allowed the decision to be challenged, so that His justice and His love will rule and prevail and prove to be unshakable. That is why John in the first of Epistles says that anyone who denies Jesus Christ came in the flesh is the anti-christ, because such denial is not merely about a historical happening, rather, it has much to do with the original intent of God and His purpose to have sons through Manhood into Sonship, even the full transformation of Man from a natural being into a spiritual being.
Secondly, He extended His eternal covenant to include Man. However, the judgment of whether God is right or wrong, was not absent when God created the visible world. It is represented by the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. He created this visible world and placed Man in the Garden of Eden and then covenanted with him, through which the eternal covenant is fully activated in the Manhood of the flesh unto Sonship of the Spirit. He planted the seed of the spirit of Sonship in Man (male and female, he created them.), and granted them full capacity to hear His voice, behold His face and receive His wisdom. Also, because the purity and holiness (set-apart), Man, in his flesh, could walk in His presence and all creation would witness it. When He created Man, He extended the fullness of His Life to him if he would have obeyed.
That is why John mentioned in his Gospel.
John 1:1-4 [NIV]
1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2He was with God in the beginning. 3Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4In him was life, and that life was the light of men.
Paul commented on this in the Book of Colossians a lot. Let us look at a few portions in this book.
Col 1:15-17 [NIV]
15He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
Col 1:27 [NIV]
27To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Col 2:9-10 [NIV]
9For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form, 10and you have been given fullness in Christ, who is the head over every power and authority.
First-Born: Birth Right and Inheritance
The Concept of Sonship clearly undergirds all God’s dealings in human history. We will only briefly mention some for the purpose of illustration. But before that the concept of first-born or first-fruit need to briefly mentioned.
Let us take a closer look at Col. 1:15:
He is the image of the invisible God, which stated by the author of Hebrews as “the exact representation of His being”. Now, take a closer look, we can see that the invisible world includes angels and spiritual entities of various forms and ranks, a whole array of spiritual beings exists in the spiritual world and they are all created through Christ, by Him and for Him, and certainly beside this is the whole universe, the visible world. Now, this clearly implies the concept of first-born. He is the first born of the eternal life into creation. When death entered the visible world, then the world was separated from Him, thus fell into the dominion of darkness. But by God’s grace, a physical seed or womb was preserved even it was not able to marry or become one with the spiritual seed. This means Man’s life unto the eternal life of God was denied because of sin. This can only be taken away by perfect atonement required by God’s justice and His law of Spiritual life in His Holiness, which is His nature, being and glory.
Then, what is the concept of first-born in relation to Sonship?
God, as the creator of all things, in His being, is self-sufficient, which means He does not type after Man’s roles and characters, but He does type for them. So in the Fatherhood of God, His being the Father is never to be modeled as if being a separated person like our earthly father from our mother. No, in His Fatherhood is much about His being the progenitor of all things, prior to that, especially in His relationship to His Only Begotten Son (out of His Being directly, which requires no vessel or the process of conception) as the expression and embodiment of eternal life by His Spirit. The Son becomes the image of His Father, not merely to the visible universe, but also to the invisible spiritual realm. Bible calls these as the heavens and the earth.
In this light, Sonship also should be regarded as a positional and conceptual term, not typed after one of man’s genders, rather expresses itself in the both of them. That is why Paul mentions several times in His epistles that “there is not male or female” as a son of God when we are born of God.
In order to express His divine thought about His Son, as Paul put it, “the mystery of Christ”, God ordered in the family of man the concept and rules of first-born. The first-born in the ancient Hebrew culture would have two separated endowments from his father. One is His birth right, the other the bestowing of an inheritance of double portion compared to his brothers. This is clearly seen in the story of Jacob. He firstly lured His brother, Esau, the first-born, for the birthright with a bowl of soup. Then when Isaac was dying, he pretended to be Esau at the encouragement of his mother and stole the blessings. It was also clearly described in his dealing with Joseph, when he passed on his blessings. He gave Joseph a doubt portion while claiming his two sons as his own.
With birth right, the first-born is destined to bear the Name of the Father, and when he is mature, he is to represent his Father in social and legal matters, for this reason, he is put into strict discipline by the Father even under the steward of the household and servants of his businesses, so that he be equipped with skills, knowledge, wisdom and enough experiences for him to independently carry on the responsibility of the Family and manage well all kinds of affairs. The name of family, with it, honor and wellbeing goes with the birthright. Thus, the first-born is also entrusted with the duty to watch over his siblings and help them to manage their affairs right, so that they all can live together in unity, love and prosperity as one family.
In this, we can clearly witness the thought of Christ as the first-born of many brothers. He is not ashamed to call us brothers and friends. He would more than lay down his honor and royalty to wash our feet as a humble servant, He would willingly lay down His life for us on the Cross so that we be reconciled back to the Father.
With inheritance, the first-born is privileged to enjoy a double-potion. This double-portion, however, was passed on to the Church in Christ Jesus. (Isa. 61) Our double portion is the Father and the Son. Our inheritance is God Himself and we are His inheritance. This is a very familiar concept in the Bible. We will not dig into that in this brief presentation.
Sonship in the History of Man
Now, in this light, let us give a brief review of the concept of Sonship in the history of Mankind.
Adam and Eve
God created Adam and Eve to be one. As we shared above that in Sonship, there is no male or female. Well, in this oneness is hidden the mystery of the Christ and His Bride, the church. He is head of the Church and they are one. Actually before the Fall, woman’s name was given by Adam as “woman”, in Hebrew, it sounds the same as man, which means he gave her his own name, and they are on equal ground in terms of oneness. Not after the Fall, God’s judgment made it impossible for Adam to treat Eve as an equal partner (helper). Man was put in a place to rule over Woman, because it was through Woman that Man was deceived. So Adam changed the name of woman to “Eve”, which means ”living”, because she would become the mother of all the living. Interestingly when they had children, Eve was the one began to name them. So in essence, none was named by Adam (Man), rather was named by Eve (Woman). And God put enmity between her seed and the seed of the serpent.
In essence, God created Adam to be a son of God (Luk. 3:37), and gave him to the hope and blessing to multiply himself, so that He could in the end have a family of sons as he walk with all of them and change them into His Likeness to bear His Name. But Adam failed from the task, as he was equally-yoked with the woman. So when the woman sinned, he did not intervene in the process, and ended up being a participant of her rebellious act. This act broke their oneness and produced a separation between them in God’s sight, so they were judged separately. And through this judgment, eternal life is separated from Man. The womb of Manhood is denied of the planting or seeding of the Spirit of Sonship. Man was separated from God and denied the benefit of the eternal covenant.
The Seed of Promise
But God never broke His covenant with His Son. Through the ages He preserved a line of man to carry the natural seed, so in the fullness of time, as Paul puts it, He would take away the sinful nature from man and plant the seed of the Spirit of Sonship in Man again.
After Abel the righteous was killed, death entered the family of Man. But in place of Abel, God gave the “first couple’ another son, whose name is Seth. Now Seth was named by Eve, but he was in Adam’s likeness and image, which in essence is a restoration of things for the family. From the line of Seth, bloodshed of killing one’s brother is not counted, even his decedents inherited the fallen nature of Man, which means they were not immune to sin. But God preserves a hope, or a seed with the promise of His Life, for the family of Man. This went on until the time of Noah, judgment came upon the earth and only Noah with his family was saved. Shem then was reserved as the first-born to inherit the covenant God made with his father till the time of Abram.
God called Abram’s father to move with his family out among the Chaldeans. In the process, they stopped at Haran. Then God called Abraham out and move to the Land He would give to his descendants. God made a covenant with Abram (exalted father) and changed his name to Abraham (father of many) and gave him a son of promise, Isaac, who is a type of Christ. From Jacob, David and Solomon to the restoration after the Babylonian Exile, the story of the Israelites is quite familiar to many. We will cut it short here.
Christ Restored Sonship Back to us
But in between, God allowed the Israelites to be enslaved in Egypt for over 400 hundreds years till He raised up Moses to deliver them. On Mount Sinai, He gave them the Law through Moses and His angels. In the Law, a particular thing about first-born and father-son relationship is very illuminating. We will spend a few lines on this.
Deut 21:15-23 [NIV]
15If a man has two wives, and he loves one but not the other, and both bear him sons but the firstborn is the son of the wife he does not love, 16when he wills his property to his sons, he must not give the rights of the firstborn to the son of the wife he loves in preference to his actual firstborn, the son of the wife he does not love. 17He must acknowledge the son of his unloved wife as the firstborn by giving him a double share of all he has. That son is the first sign of his father’s strength. The right of the firstborn belongs to him.
18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, 19his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. 20They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a profligate and a drunkard.” 21Then all the men of his town shall stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid.
22If a man guilty of a capital offense is put to death and his body is hung on a tree, 23you must not leave his body on the tree overnight. Be sure to bury him that same day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not desecrate the land the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.
In the Law, God ordained the right of the first-born, also the death penalty of a rebellious son. Then one who is punished with death is to be hung on a tree, but he should not be left to be on the tree overnight, or it will desecrate the land as the inheritance. Every details here is a message of Christ’s death on the Cross, the taking away the curse that was upon Man through Adam and the restoration of our right as the first-born and our inheritance in God the Father.
In a sense, He stepped in the place of Adam who is dead and married “Eve”, the mother of the living, who is desolate till then, again. He then become the first-born among the dead, and is able to grant eternal life to others.
This is a well-established theme in the Bible. Let’s just look at few passages.
Col 1:18-20 [NIV]
18And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. 19For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, 20and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
1 Cor 15:20-22 [NIV]
20But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. 21For since death came through a man, the resurrection of the dead comes also through a man. 22For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive.
Heb 2:9-11 [NIV]
9But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone. 10In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.
And He did this by the sending of His Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Sonship, the promised Gift from God the Father.
Most of us are most familiar with the concept of “born-again”. It becomes a buzz word for one turns to be Christian, even just nominal. But to be born again is not just a change of faith in the context of the religious practice or encampment, it is a spiritual reality and experience one has to possess in order to be saved and live a life of the Spirit. Only by this will we know how to live as a son of God.
When we received the seed of the Spirit of Sonship just like Jesus was born of the Holy Spirit, we are sealed for a work of transformation and it takes a period of quickening of our spirit, not mention soul and flesh, for us to fully immerge into this reality and live in its ways or laws. Paul describes it well in
Rom. 8:13-17 [NIV]
13For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live, 14because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” 16The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 17Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.
Again, remember, in this, there is no male, no female. It is in a sense like a missing child coming home and being included gradually in the love of the father and mother. The example of adoption can only reflect certain aspect of this process. In a sense, we come from being a total stranger to being an integrate part of a family, getting acquaint with way of the family, the love of the parents and the privilege of our family name, family tradition and inheritance. But there is something more to our own well-being, something miraculous in nature and in power. It is a life of a blessed son, not an orphan whose soul ever wondering and searching for a home of love and belonging.
Son and Orphan
Let take a brief look at the differences of an orphan and a son.
• Family Love
A son is free to receive love from members of the family and also free to offer his love and affection to others. An orphan is fearful to do so.
• Inheritance
A son has right to claim his father’s inheritance; an orphan have nothing to inherit. An orphan often carried with him a pride of being a “self-made” while a son enjoys a natural posture of being assured with everything, especially his future.
• Provision and Protection
A son freely enjoys his father’s protection and provision; these are absent for an orphan for the lack of a father.
• Mental and Emotional Well-being
A son, with a good up-bring and healthy education, is most likely to be stable in his mental and emotional expressions of himself as he enjoys great security, stability and confidence of being who he is. An orphan, having none of these, seldom is whole and stable in his expression of himself, being it mentally or emotionally.
When Jesus was with His disciples, he shared with them that He will lead them to the Father, his Father and their Father. When He is ready to die, He encouraged them with the thought that He will not leave them as orphans. In a sense, by the adamic nature, we all lost the spiritual sense of being home in life and love, as we are all cast out spiritually from the presence our Heavenly Father. Only when we received the Spirit of Sonship, could we be able to be restored back to our relationship with our heavenly Father. And that takes a process. It could not be done by self-will and self-strength, but by the apprehending and appropriating of His grace and love through Christ Jesus.
From adoption to about the Father’s Business
We are firstly adopted back into the Family of God and begin to fellowship with Him as a son with his father. We will live in His love, security and provision. But more than, the Father will begin to teach us about Himself and impart His Likeness unto us.
The Father’s heart is to have mature sons, not just babes. This takes a process. Let look at what Peter has to say about this.
2 Pet 1:3-8 [NIV]
3His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. 8For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
How we come to maturity?
1. We will have to have faith and hope in Him.
2. We will have to learn obedience through discipline.
This is the journey of our spiritual life even in time and space. Jesus learned obedience from the things He suffered for. So are we, if we are to be like Him, we will have to yield to the Father’s discipline and partake His divine nature, which is love, righteousness, peace, joy, power, mercy and goodness.
The Father’s desire is to have us mature in His being and worthy of His Name, so that we can reveal and teach the creation of His love, wisdom and justice.
Now, are you ready for this journey?
Scriptures
Sonship and Its “History”
Matt 22:41-46 [NIV]
41While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42“What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?”
“The son of David,” they replied.
43He said to them, “How is it then that David, speaking by the Spirit, calls him ‘Lord’? For he says,
44“‘The Lord said to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand
until I put your enemies
under your feet.”’
45If then David calls him ‘Lord,’ how can he be his son?” 46No one could say a word in reply, and from that day on no one dared to ask him any more questions.
Lk 15:11-32 [NIV]
11Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ 20So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Gal 4:4-7 [NIV]
4But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, 5to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. 6Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.
Son and Orphan
John 14:15-19 [NIV]
15“If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
Mt 5:43-48 [NIV]
43“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? 47And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that? 48Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
Heb 12:4-11 [NIV]
4In your struggle against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. 5And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons:
“My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
6because the Lord disciplines those he loves,
and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.”
7Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? 8If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons. 9Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live! 10Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. 11No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.
Questions for Reviews
1. Can the Father and Son relationship in the Godheads be compared with that of an earthly father and son relationship? What is the biggest difference?
2. Do you have any further observations of the differences of an orphan and a son? Please expound on them a little.
3. Obviously the Holy Spirit is interacting with men of the OT, like Moses, David and Elijah, so what is the difference of this interaction with the interaction of the Spirit of Sonship after we are born again?
Questions for Mediation and Application
1. What is your Born-Again experience? How is your relationship with your Heavenly Father after that?
2. In what way do you think the Father is disciplining you in your spiritual life?
3. Each one of us suffers the effect of being a spiritual orphan somehow. Can you give a list of the effects of the mind-set of an orphan in your life? What should you do with these?
4. God has a unique calling in each of our lives. But He will not release us fully into it before we are mature and wise enough to handle His business. Can you give a description of what this means to you personally?
