10 Dec Is Sonship Earthly or Heavenly?
In Romans 8:15 it describes something we know as sonship.
‘The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.”’
Sonship is a remarkable thing, open to all people male and female, it is the idea that we become children of our father in Heaven. We are adopted into his family, and given an inheritance. We have relationship with God. This scripture, and other parts of the Bible make it clear that sonship is most definitely a heavenly thing, even while we are living here on Earth.
But is sonship also Earthly?
What do we mean by that?
The relationship described in Romans 8 is between us as God’s children and our heavenly father, but are we also supposed to have father-son type relationships between people, here on Earth. And no, we are not talking of biological relationships, but of spiritual father-son style relationships. The answer from both example and teaching in the Bible is yes.
We have examples of Jesus and the twelve disciples, of Elijah with Elisha, of Moses with Joshua, of Paul with Timothy and so on it goes. There are many examples of heart relationship where two people belong together like a father and son while living on Earth. In 1 Timothy 1:2, Paul wrote to Timothy saying, ‘To Timothy, my true son in the faith. May God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord give you grace, mercy, and peace.’
Timothy was not a biological son to Paul, but according to the Bible was a ‘true son.’ What we observe there is a meaningful relationship, which was ‘of the heart.’ It was a relationship where one helps the other to grow in Christ, and the other helps the one in doing what God has called them to do. Just like a son works together with his father to achieve something, and the father uses that to teach and mature the son, such a type of thing is also supposed to be found throughout the Body of Christ.
But it is rare to see and observe. Why?
For many human reasons. Firstly true fathers in the church are rare. Paul also wrote in 1 Corinthians 4:15, ‘you do not have many fathers.’ So while there are many leaders, not many know how to be fathers. Also many people are too independent to be sons. Others are wary and mistrusting, or suspicious of leadership, not willing to risk opening their heart. In many cases the idea, or thought has never occurred. Others may have abused positions of trust. It can all be quite complicated.
But what is clear is that God does want us to trust others, and to trust our leaders. God wants leaders to be trustworthy, and to care for those under them sincerely. God wants us to put others first. And when we do, such father-son relationships can fill the Body of Christ and like reinforcing in concrete can strengthen it and make it substantial.
Sonship relationships are certainly heavenly, but they are also to be earthly as well. They are to be found between people as well as between us and God. They are for here and now as well as for later in Heaven.
No Comments