Chapter Four; Verse 4:1–7

Children who are under age are no better off than slaves, even though they are heirs of everything their parents own. They have to obey their guardians and teachers until the time their parents have set. That is how it was with us before Jesus came. We were like children—slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.

But when the time was right, God sent his Son—born of a woman, under the Law, so he could set us, who are under the Law, free to be adopted as God’s children. Now that we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying Daddy! Daddy! Doesn’t that privilege of intimacy with God make it plain that you are not a slave, but a child? And if you are His child, you’re also an heir, with complete access to the inheritance.

The basic assumption behind all of this is clearly that we are not His children automatically. We are slaves, held under the bondage of the Law, until we make the choice to become God’s child. God makes sure that we all have this choice. Have you chosen yet? Choose Jesus today!

Adoption as God’s child

It is helpful to remember what happens with an adoption in a worldly sense. The child, though not “born” into the family, receives all the rights and privileges of that family: a new name, inheritance, and all the rest. An adopted child does not enter the family as a slave, but with the full rights of any blood-related birth child.
I took this as a whole so we could talk about the basic concept. My father told me over and over that before I accepted Jesus I had no freedom of choice. I was completely controlled by my flesh, the world, and spiritual forces of which I was not aware at all.

It took a radical transformation to set me free from all of that so I could experience the freedom of choice. That transference was my adoption as His child. This is what Jesus did in fulfilling the Law on the Cross. He paid the penalty so that I could be adopted, born from above, regenerated as a son or daughter of God. I know that because I now have intimate, personal conversations with the God of the universe. I talk to Him and He talks to me—conversationally and personally, about the events of my life, what I want to do, and the things He wants me to do. More than that, I have the same inheritance as Jesus because I am now part of Him.

It’s an amazing thing God did for us, enabling us to be set free from the bondage of the world!

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