"Sons of God" (Chapter 19, Part 1)

Knowing God by J. I. Packer

“Sons of God” (Chapter 19)

What is a Christian?

A Christian is one who has God as Father.

Everyone is a creature of God by creation, but not everyone is a child of God by redemption.

“Sonship to God is not, therefore, a universal status into which everyone enters by natural birth, but a supernatural gift which one receives through receiving Jesus.” - J. I. Packer

John 1:12–13 NIV

12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

Sonship is a gift of grace. It is not a natural sonship, but an adoptive sonship.

Ephesians 1:5 NIV

5 he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—

The revelation to the believer that God is his Father is in a sense the climax of the Bible.

In the OT, God revealed his covenant name as Yahweh, (the LORD). Holiness was the emphasis. The “fear of the LORD” was our proper response.

In the NT, God is still holy, but a new relationship has been emphasized. “Father” has become his covenant name and the name by which his people call him.

A New Relationship

Christians are his children, his own sons and daughters, his heirs.

“To those who are Christ’s, the holy God is a loving Father; they belong to his family; they may approach him without fear and always be sure of his fatherly concern and care. This is the heart of the New Testament message.” - J. I. Packer

Our comprehension of God as our Father need not be limited or distorted by our own experiences with our earthly fathers.

We all have an innate perception of what an ideal father would be, and the NT gives us clear testimony to the perfect fatherhood of God in relation to Jesus Christ.

God’s relationship as Father to us is meant to be a reflection and reproduction of God the Father’s own fellowship with Jesus, God the Son.

God’s fatherly relation to Jesus in John’s Gospel:

Fatherhood implied authority.

John 6:38 NIV

38 For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.

Fatherhood implied affection.

John 5:20 NIV

20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works than these, so that you will be amazed.

Fatherhood implied fellowship.

John 8:29 NIV

29 The one who sent me is with me; he has not left me alone, for I always do what pleases him.”

Fatherhood implied honor.

John 17:1 NIV

1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.

John 5:22–23 NIV

22 Moreover, the Father judges no one, but has entrusted all judgment to the Son, 23 that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him.

Each of these dimensions of fatherhood apply to us as believers as well:

We are to obey our heavenly Father.

We have fellowship with our heavenly Father through Jesus Christ.

Our Father loves us as his adopted children.

We are honored by our heavenly Father through our union with Christ.

John 12:26 NIV

26 Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me.

Adoption: The Highest Privilege

A Formal Definition:

“All those that are justified, God vouchsafeth, in and for His only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption: by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God; have His name put upon them, receive the Spirit of adoption; have access to the throne of grace with boldness; are enabled to cry, Abba, Father; are pitied, protected, provided for, and chastened by Him, as by a father; yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption, and inherit the promises, as heirs of everlasting salvation.” WCF 12

Adoption is the highest privilege that the gospel offers, higher even than justification.

Justification—God’s forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance for the future—is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel.

It is primary, because it meets our primary spiritual need: forgiveness of sins, rescue from God’s wrath, and reconciliation.

It is fundamental, because everything else in our salvation assumes it and rests on it.

But it can be argued that adoption is the highest blessing.

Justification deals with our relationship with God as our Judge - legal.

Adoption deals with our relationship with God as our Father - familial.

Justification, in and of itself, does not imply any intimate or deep relationship with God the judge.

Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship.

According to the Scriptures, pardon, acceptance, and adoption, are distinct privileges, the one rising above the other in the order in which they have been stated . . . while the first two properly belong to (the sinner’s) justification, as being both founded on the same relation—that of a Ruler and Subject—the third is radically distinct from them, as being founded on a nearer, more tender, and more endearing relation—that between a Father and his Son. . . . There is a manifest difference between the position of a servant and a friend—and also between that of a servant and a son. . . . A closer and dearer intimacy than that of a master and servant is said to subsist between Christ and His people: “Henceforth I call you not servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends” (John 15:15); and a still closer and dearer relation is said to exist in consequence of adoption; for “Thou art no more a servant, but a son, and an heir of God through Christ” (Galatians 4:7). The privilege of adoption presupposes pardon and acceptance, but is higher than either; for, “To as many as received Him, to them gave he power”—not inward strength, but authority, right, or privilege—“to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12). This is a higher privilege than of Justification, as being founded on a closer and more endearing relation—“Behold! what manner of love the Father hath bestowed on us, that we should be called the sons of God.” - James Buchanan, The Doctrine of Justification

Galatians 4:4–7 NIV

4 But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. 6 Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Adoption is an abiding blessing. In God’s family there is absolute stability and security; the parent is entirely wise and good, and the child’s position is permanently assured.

Adoption: The Basis for Our Life

The entire Christian life has to be understood in terms of adoption. “Sonship” must be the controlling thought.

Just as Jesus always thought of himself as Son of God in a unique sense, so he always thought of his followers as children of his heavenly Father, members of the same divine family as himself.

John 20:17–18 NIV

17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’ ” 18 Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Just as the knowledge of his unique Sonship controlled Jesus’ living of his own life on earth, so he insists that the knowledge of our adoptive sonship must control our lives too.

The Sermon on the Mount: The Christian’s “Royal Family Code”

Christian Conduct

Adoption is the basis of Christian conduct.

“...the sermon teaches Christian conduct not by giving a full scheme of rules and a detailed casuistry, to be followed with mechanical precision, but by indicating in a broad and general way the spirit, direction and objectives, the guiding principles and ideals, by which the Christian must steer his course…precisely the kind of moral instruction that parents are constantly trying to give their children.” - J. I. Packer

Three Principles of Christian Family Conduct:

Imitate the Father.

Matthew 5:44–45 NIV

44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children 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.

Matthew 5:48 NIV

48 Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Glorify the Father.

Matthew 5:16 NIV

16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

Please the Father.

Matthew 6:1 NIV

1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.

Matthew 6:4 NIV

4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Christian Prayer

Adoption is the basis of Christian prayer.

Matthew 6:9 NIV

9 “This, then, is how you should pray: “ ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,

“Jesus could say to his Father, “You always hear me” (Jn 11:42), and he wants his disciples to know that, as God’s adopted children, the same is true of them. The Father is always accessible to his children and is never too preoccupied to listen to what they have to say. This is the basis of Christian prayer.” - J. I. Packer

Prayer must not be thought of in impersonal or mechanical terms, as a technique for putting pressure on someone who otherwise might disregard you.

Matthew 6:7–8 NIV

7 And when you pray, do not keep on babbling like pagans, for they think they will be heard because of their many words. 8 Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.

Prayer may be free and bold.

Matthew 7:7–11 NIV

7 “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. 9 “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

God lovingly hears our prayers, but often he gives us what we should have asked for, rather than what we actually asked for, because he is a wise, loving Father.

The Life of Faith

Adoption is the basis of the life of faith—the life of trusting God for our needs as we put his kingdom and righteousness first.

Faith is not foolhardiness or presumption — there is a difference.

Faith is tested when disciples live for Christ in a hostile world.

Following Jesus may mean that we forfeit some measure of worldly security or prosperity, but Jesus reminds us of what our status as adopted children of God promises.

Matthew 6:25 NIV

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?

Matthew 6:26 NIV

26 Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?

Matthew 6:31–33 NIV

31 So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.