Royalty Through Christ

Ephesians 1:19–2:10 NLT

I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself. Once you were dead because of your disobedience and your many sins. You used to live in sin, just like the rest of the world, obeying the devil—the commander of the powers in the unseen world. He is the spirit at work in the hearts of those who refuse to obey God. All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else. But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus. So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus. God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

“I wrote this story for you, but when I began it I had not realized that girls grow quicker than books. As a result you are already too old for fairy tales, and by the time it is printed and bound you will be older still. But some day you will be old enough to start reading fairy tales again. You can then take it down from some upper shelf, dust it, and tell me what you think of it. I shall probably be too deaf to hear, and too old to understand a word you say, but I shall still be your affectionate Godfather, C. S. Lewis.”

Royalty through christ:

Ephesians 1:19–2:10

Through Christ we’ve not only been redeemed, cleansed, and made new (born again) but we’ve been seated with Him at the right hand of the Father : “in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. 

…far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. 

God has put all things under the authority of Christ (and us) and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. 

And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself. 

This isn’t by any of our works so that we would boast or that we could mess it up beyond repair. 

Another way of looking at it:

Romans 8:26–39

God is our Father. Jesus is King, and we are brothers and sisters of the king, making us Princes and Princesses of the Kingdom.

Just as in the Narnia books, we grow up into our royalty, our righteousness. Our inheritance. Its a journey. Paul lays it out in Galatians:

Adoption; Galatians 4:7

g5206. υἱοθεσία huiothesia; from a presumed compound of 5207 and a derivative of 5087; the placing as a son, i.e. adoption (figuratively, Christian sonship in respect to God): — adoption (of children, of sons).

g5207. υἱός huios; apparently a primary word; a “son” (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figuratively, kinship: — child, foal, son.

'Huiothesia' certainly does not mean adoption, as we in the 20th & 21st century understand it. If Paul had meant "adoption" then this would mean that we are all naturally sons of Satan. But we are not - our natural (birth) family is as Sons of God, through Adam.

In fact, Huiothesia means the exact OPPOSITE of adoption. We are children stolen from our rightful Father, and being 'born again' brings us back into our correct family, where the Father bestows the Huiothesia - a contract that was only ever invoked between NATURAL born children and their parents. (The NKJV Greek English Interlinear New Testament - Thomas Nelson Publishers 1994: edited by Hodges, Farstad, Dunkin, Bruggen, Martin, PIckering & Sturz. Page 663, expounding Gal4:5).

When Stephen recalls the life of Moses in Acts, he uses the word "anaheto" which some translate as "adopted" but literally means "taken" or "stolen." So here, the NT equates adoption with a child being taken, removed or stolen.

Futhermore - when Jerome translated the Latin Vulgate, he had a perfectly good Latin word to denote "adoption" in the sense that we understand it - that word was 'adrogatio'. But he did not use that word. He used the word 'adoptare' which, in his time, simply meant, "to choose". So Jerome conveyed the idea that Huiothesia in the Greek, meant, "the choosing of sonship". Certainly, a bit of an awkward translation, but a long way from our current use of the word "adoption", where a child is transferred from its natural family to an unnatural family. Huiothesia is the reverse - a return of a child stolen and choosing to live in the family of Satan, to a child now choosing to live in the household of its true Father in Heaven.

https://hermeneutics.stackexchange.com/a/80286

This paints the Father as having all humanity kidnaped from him through their own fault… So He decides to take his Firstborn Son, His most precious, most beloved Son, His only begotten son (in the language of the Scriptures of old) to literally buy back, and pay the ransom required to bring His kids home. (miguel & sita: Liberados). I can’t imagine that. How great is His love towards us. And not just give Him for us, but as Isaiah puts it:

(Is. 53 10-12)

10 But it was the Lord’s good plan to crush him

and cause him grief.

Yet when his life is made an offering for sin,

he will have many descendants.

He will enjoy a long life,

and the Lord’s good plan will prosper in his hands.

11 When he sees all that is accomplished by his anguish,

he will be satisfied.

And because of his experience,

my righteous servant will make it possible

for many to be counted righteous,

for he will bear all their sins.

12 I will give him the honors of a victorious soldier,

because he exposed himself to death.

He was counted among the rebels.

He bore the sins of many and interceded for rebels. 1

1 Tyndale House Publishers, Holy Bible: New Living Translation (Carol Stream, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2015), Is 53:10–12.

For the price for us to be redeemed and put back into sonship was that all of our sin be laid upon his most precious, only begotten Son. “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” as Paul puts in 2 Corinthians 5:21

Esv Study Bible Notes:

5:21 This verse is one of the most important in all of Scripture for understanding the meaning of the atonement and justification. Here we see that the one who knew no sin is Jesus Christ (v. 20) and that he (God) made him (Christ) to be sin (Gk. hamartia, “sin”). This means that God the Father made Christ to be regarded and treated as “sin” even though Christ himself never sinned (Heb. 4:15; cf. Gal. 3:13). Further, we see that God did this for our sake—that is, God regarded and treated “our” sin (the sin of all who would believe in Christ) as if our sin belonged not to us but to Christ himself. Thus Christ “died for all” (2 Cor. 5:14) and, as Peter wrote, “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24). In becoming sin “for our sake,” Christ became our substitute—that is, Christ took our sin upon himself and, as our substitute, thereby bore the wrath of God (the punishment that we deserve) in our place (“for our sake”). Thus the technical term for this foundational doctrine of the Christian faith is the substitutionary atonement—that Christ has provided the atoning sacrifice as “our” substitute, for the sins of all who believe (cf. Rom. 3:23–25). The background for this is Isaiah 53 from the Greek (Septuagint) translation of the Hebrew OT, which includes the most lengthy and detailed OT prophecy of Christ's death and which contains numerous parallels to 2 Cor. 5:21. Isaiah's prophecy specifically uses the Greek word for “sin” (Gk. hamartia) five times (as indicated below in italics) with reference to the coming Savior (the suffering servant) in just a few verses—e.g., “surely he has born our griefs” (Isa. 53:4); “He was crushed for our iniquities” (Isa. 53:5); “the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6); “he shall bear their iniquities” (Isa. 53:11); “he bore the sin of many” (Isa. 53:12). In a precise fulfillment of this prophecy, Christ became “sin” for those who believe in him, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. This means that just as God imputed our sin and guilt to Christ (“he made him to be sin”) so God also imputes the righteousness of Christ—a righteousness that is not our own—to all who believe in Christ. Because Christ bore the sins of those who believe, God regards and treats believers as having the legal status of “righteousness” (Gk. dikaiosynē). This righteousness belongs to believers because they are “in him,” that is, “in Christ” (e.g., Rom. 3:22; 5:18; 1 Cor. 1:30; 2 Cor. 5:17, 19; Phil. 3:9). Therefore “the righteousness of God” (which is imputed to believers) is also the righteousness of Christ—that is, the righteousness and the legal status that belongs to Christ as a result of Christ having lived as one who “knew no sin.” This then is the heart of the doctrine of justification: God regards (or counts) believers as forgiven and God declares and treats them as forgiven, because God the Father has imputed the believer's sin to Christ and because God the Father likewise imputes Christ's righteousness to the believer. (See further notes on Rom. 4:6–8; 5:18; 10:3; 10:6–8; see also Isa. 53:11: “the righteous one, my servant, [shall] make many to be accounted righteous”).

This is the heart of the Father for us.

In light of this we see that the Father had the plan of redemption laid out far before the world began. I’m reminded of Col 3:12-17

By doing this we emliuate our Father and His heart for us. (Love God, Love men). And walk in our Righteousness. As Paul encourages us, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. 11 The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), 1 Co 11:1.”

Righteousness and Justice:

God menat this for real, He wasn’t playing.

In His eyes Righteousness and Justice go hand in hand.

Amos 5:24

Is 1:21, 5:7, 28:17

Amos 6:12

John 16:10

I want to point out another way of looking at this…

If our original father in the natural was Adam (“Adam the son of God) and if the word adopt really means to Place again as sons in Ephesians, and if righteousness and justice are intertwined, and if we are seated at the right hand of the Father with Jesus in His righteousness, then it follows that its justice that we are with Him. The very Justice of God that we are seated with Jesus as co-heirs, brothers and sisters with King Jesus. Its God’s Justice that we are royalty.

Tying Righteousness and Justice together:

Galatians 2:15-21

DJGSE

JUSTICE, RIGHTEOUSNESS