Children of Promise
Today's Scripture
Galatians 4:1-7
Today's Insights
Huiothesia is used only five times in the New Testament (and only by Paul). This word, translated as "adoption to sonship" in Galatians 4:5, is packed with meaning. Huiothesia is a compound Greek word from huios ("son") and thesia ("placing"). Adoption took place when a child (almost exclusively males in the ancient world) was placed in a family that lacked a suitable heir. With adoption came privileges, rights, and responsibilities of family membership. Paul used the term adoption, but the concept of family membership is also present in John's writing: "See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! . . . Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:1-2).
Today's Devotional
Marcus received a letter that changed his life forever. At thirty years old, he discovered he had been named the sole beneficiary of his grandfather's estate—a vineyard in Tuscany that had been producing world-renowned wines for generations. There was just one condition: Marcus would not receive full ownership rights until he had spent two years learning the craft of winemaking under the tutelage of the vineyard's master vintner.
During those two years, Marcus lived on the property and worked alongside the employees. Though he was the legal heir to everything, he operated under the authority of the master vintner. He obeyed instructions, learned the timing of the harvest, and discovered the secrets of producing exceptional wine. What initially felt like bondage gradually transformed into understanding. By the time he received full control of the estate, Marcus had developed not just knowledge, but a deep appreciation for his inheritance.
In Galatians 4, Paul uses a similar principle to illustrate humanity's spiritual journey. He explains that an heir, while still a child, "is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate" (Galatians 4:1). The heir is subject to "guardians and trustees until the time set by his father" (Galatians 4:2).
This analogy perfectly captured Israel's situation under the law. Though they were heirs of God's covenant with Abraham, they were like underage children—subject to the law's strict guardianship. The law served as their custodian, teaching them about sin and holiness, but it could not empower them to overcome sin or grant them the intimacy with God they were created for.
"But when the set time had fully come," Paul writes, "God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship" (Galatians 4:4-5). Through Christ's redemptive work, believers are no longer spiritual minors under guardianship but full heirs, enjoying all the privileges of mature sonship.
The evidence of this transformation? "God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father'" (Galatians 4:6). The intimate cry of "Abba" reflects not just legal status but relational reality—we address God with the familiar language of beloved children.
Prophetic Significance
The journey from slavery to sonship described in Galatians 4 carries profound prophetic implications that reach from Israel's past through our present and into humanity's future.
In the Old Testament, God continually referred to Israel as His "firstborn son" (Exodus 4:22), foreshadowing a relationship that would extend beyond national Israel to include all who would believe. The prophet Hosea anticipated this when he recorded God's words: "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son" (Hosea 11:1). This passage finds dual fulfillment—first in Israel's exodus, then in Christ Himself as Matthew 2:15 reveals.
The prophet Joel foresaw the outpouring of God's Spirit "on all people" (Joel 2:28), precisely what Paul identifies as the authentication of our adoption—the Spirit who cries, "Abba, Father" within us. This Spirit-filled sonship represents the fulfillment of what the prophets could only glimpse from afar.
Isaiah 43:6-7 prophesied a time when God would say, "Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory." This gathering of God's children from every nation fulfills the promise to Abraham that "all peoples on earth will be blessed through you" (Genesis 12:3).
Our adoption as God's children also anticipates creation's future redemption. In Romans 8:19, Paul writes that "the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed." Our spiritual adoption serves as a forerunner to the cosmic renewal that will accompany Christ's return, when creation itself will "be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God" (Romans 8:21).
The fullness of our adoption awaits the resurrection, when we will receive glorified bodies and experience the complete inheritance promised to God's children. As John writes, "what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).
Reflect & Pray
If you profess Jesus as Savior, how does your identity as God's child change how you view your daily challenges? What does it mean to live today as an heir rather than a slave?
Heavenly Father, thank You for the incomparable gift of adoption into Your family. I stand in awe that You would send Your Son to redeem me from slavery to sin and bring me into the privilege of sonship. Help me to live fully in the freedom and responsibility of being Your child. May Your Spirit continually reassure my heart that I belong to You completely and eternally. Amen.