WHAT DOES IT MEAN THAT WE ARE SONS OF GOD? DO WE SHARE SONSHIP WITH CHRIST?
By Ezekiel Kimosop
We (believers in Christ) are sons of God by reason of our spiritual heritage in Christ Jesus as revealed in Scripture (John 1:12, 3:16; Romans 8:12-17).
Do we share sonship with Christ in every essence?
My view is that the nature of our sonship in Christ is distinct from the Sonship that Jesus shares with God the Father. Jesus is a member of the Holy Trinity by which God has revealed Himself in the Bible. We do not and will never share in that attribute. We are not divine!
There are a number of ways in which this truth is illustrated in the Bible.
For instance, the Bible teaches that Jesus pleased God perfectly for the very reason I have stated above. He had two natures - He was fully God and fully Man at the same time. He was and is without sin (2 Corinthians 5:21). No believer, not even Mary the mother of Jesus, is without sin.
We cannot attain spiritual perfection on earth even by the exercise of faith. 1 John 1:8-10 illustrates that we simply cannot attain the divine standards. We are merely preserved by God's abiding grace. This is the reason that we ought to confess our sins whenever we appear before the presence of God (Hebrews 4:14-16).
Secondly, believers cannot share in God's divine essence. We are mortals whose souls have been graciously purchased by Christ's shed blood at Calvary (Acts 20:28-30). We are sealed by the Holy Spirit for redemption (Ephesians 4:30).
Even in the life to come, Jesus will take preeminence as God the Son and we shall eternally be His followers as we dwell in the presence of God forever(see Revelation 2:17).
The Church is and will be subordinate to Christ in every essence in this life and in the life to come. This is Biblical doctrine.
We cannot therefore please God perfectly on earth because we dwell in sinful bodies which shall perish on death or be transformed into glorious bodies at the appearance of Christ in glory (1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, 1 Corinthians 15).
This is not to suggest that we cannot please God or walk in obedience to Him or that we cannot access eternal life because of our imperfections. The Bible guarantees us eternal life on the basis of our union with Christ by faith and in accordance with the teaching of Scripture (John 3:16-17, Ephesians 2:8-9).
We should however shape and qualify our Christian worldview solely under the authority of the revelation of Scripture. No living soul can attain spiritual perfection on earth. That's the point.
I am aware that some charismatic teachers often twist the Scriptures to teach that believers are supermen of sorts who, by the profession of words or the exercise of certain level of faith, can command things into existence!
The authority given to us by Christ is stated in Matthew 28:19-20. We are to win souls and to teach them kingdom truths so that they may grow in the knowledge of Christ (cf. Ephesians 4:11-15) and transfer the mantle of the gospel from one generation to another through faithful men (2 Timothy 2:1-2).
We were not called to be miracle workers or to multiply money. We are stewards of the mysteries of God by the proclamation of Christ. We are therefore required to preach Christ crucified (1 Corinthians 1:23, 4:1-2) and to await His soon return in glory.
