The Attestation of Sonship
By Fred O. Blakely
"In whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise" (Eph. 1:13). “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ” (Gal. 3:36-27).
In Zacharias' prophecy of John the Baptist's ministry, he said that its effect would be to give to people "the knowledge of salvation" by "the remission of their sins" (Lk. 1:76-79). Whoever's sins are forgiven, on the terms laid down in the new-covenant Scriptures, is saved, and so is constituted a son of God (Jn. 1:12-13; Acts 2:38; Gal. 3:26-27; Eph. 1:7). He may be assured of that blessed situation simply on the authority of God's Word.
Those so "accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6), however, have another witness to their sonship of God. It is the Holy Spirit, "whom God hath given to them that obey Him" (Acts 5:32). Thus, Jesus' promise: "Ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you" (Jn. 14:20; cf. vv. 15-19).
"Because ye are sons," declared Paul, "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6; cf. Rom. 8:15-17). So do we have "the witness" of our filial relation to God within ourselves (I Jn. 5:10; cf. ch. 2:20, 27). God having given unto us "His Holy Spirit" (I Th. 4:8), we are divinely "sealed," or marked, as His spiritual offspring (Eph. 1:13-14).
With Paul, therefore, we are "always confident" concerning our sonship, as well as of our immediate presence with the Lord upon our departure from the earthly body (II Cor. 5:5-8). Accordingly, we say with John, "We know that He abideth in us by the Spirit which He hath given us" (I Jn. 3:24). Or, "Hereby know we that we are in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit" (ch. 4:13).
Blessed assurance, indeed, is this twofold attestation to our full acceptance by the heavenly Father, the forgiveness of sins, attested to by the impartation to us of the Holy Spirit.
We pity those poor souls who drudge through their religious life on a mere "hope-so," or "I'm trying" basis, in their attempt to relate to God. We earnestly exhort them, in the Name of Christ, to render to Him the "obedience of faith" (Rom. 16:26), and receive the anointing that certifies to them their sonship. --The End--
In Zacharias' prophecy of John the Baptist's ministry, he said that its effect would be to give to people "the knowledge of salvation" by "the remission of their sins" (Lk. 1:76-79). Whoever's sins are forgiven, on the terms laid down in the new-covenant Scriptures, is saved, and so is constituted a son of God (Jn. 1:12-13; Acts 2:38; Gal. 3:26-27; Eph. 1:7). He may be assured of that blessed situation simply on the authority of God's Word.
Those so "accepted in the Beloved" (Eph. 1:6), however, have another witness to their sonship of God. It is the Holy Spirit, "whom God hath given to them that obey Him" (Acts 5:32). Thus, Jesus' promise: "Ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you" (Jn. 14:20; cf. vv. 15-19).
"Because ye are sons," declared Paul, "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father" (Gal. 4:6; cf. Rom. 8:15-17). So do we have "the witness" of our filial relation to God within ourselves (I Jn. 5:10; cf. ch. 2:20, 27). God having given unto us "His Holy Spirit" (I Th. 4:8), we are divinely "sealed," or marked, as His spiritual offspring (Eph. 1:13-14).
With Paul, therefore, we are "always confident" concerning our sonship, as well as of our immediate presence with the Lord upon our departure from the earthly body (II Cor. 5:5-8). Accordingly, we say with John, "We know that He abideth in us by the Spirit which He hath given us" (I Jn. 3:24). Or, "Hereby know we that we are in Him, and He in us, because He hath given us of His Spirit" (ch. 4:13).
Blessed assurance, indeed, is this twofold attestation to our full acceptance by the heavenly Father, the forgiveness of sins, attested to by the impartation to us of the Holy Spirit.
We pity those poor souls who drudge through their religious life on a mere "hope-so," or "I'm trying" basis, in their attempt to relate to God. We earnestly exhort them, in the Name of Christ, to render to Him the "obedience of faith" (Rom. 16:26), and receive the anointing that certifies to them their sonship. --The End--
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