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Barton's Bible Study Notes

The Sonship of our Lord and Our Adoption as Children of God

Table Setting

SOME SEARCHING QUESTIONS:

Does the title, “The Son of God” mean that Jesus is God?

What about the argument of those cults who contend that if Jesus is the Son of God, He must have been sired at some point and, therefore, before that point He could not have been God?

Where does a believer’s sonship come from?

Where does one get the right to be adopted as a child of God?

Are we the children of God because He created us?

Where did God give a believer the right to reign and rule with Jesus Christ?

How is the eternal security of the believer secured?

The sonship of the Lord Jesus Christ and a believer’s adoption as a child of God are two essential doctrines in the portfolio of a believer’s faith. Unfortunately, they have not been given the importance that is their due, nor have they been well understood by most. The failure to properly understand the Lord and Savior’s sonship has led to many doctrinal errors, such as those propagated by Nestorius1Dan Graves, “The Nestorianism Heresy and Controversy,” Christianity.Com. May 14, 2021, https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/the-nestorian-controversy-11629695.html (accessed June 23, 2022). in the fifth century2Nestorius and other adoptionists correctly understood the statement “You are My Son; this day I have begotten You.” as a declaration of adoption of a human as God’s son, but they were incorrect in assuming it referred to His deity. Had they understood it as a reference to His being officially declared the true king, the anointed one in his humanity, the Messiah, they might not have erred concerning the hypostatic union. or by the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Most believers today have little or no knowledge of how they came to be a child of God. They only vaguely know that this occurred when they exercised faith in the Lord as their savior. However, are they sons or daughters because they have been born spiritually? Are they spiritual children of God? Are they children because they were created by God. In what sense are they children? Are all believers the children of God? Was this true in the Old Testament, under the Old Covenant? What does being a son or daughter of God entail? What are the implications? What are the privileges? What are the responsibilities? Most believers do not realize that they are a child of God only because Jesus was the Son of God and that a believer’s adoption comes in their identification with him. Being a son or daughter of God and the Lord’s being the Son of God are inexorably linked.

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1  Dan Graves, “The Nestorianism Heresy and Controversy,” Christianity.Com. May 14, 2021, https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/301-600/the-nestorian-controversy-11629695.html (accessed June 23, 2022).

2  Nestorius and other adoptionists correctly understood the statement “You are My Son; this day I have begotten You.” as a declaration of adoption of a human as God’s son, but they were incorrect in assuming it referred to His deity. Had they understood it as a reference to His being officially declared the true king, the anointed one in his humanity, the Messiah, they might not have erred concerning the hypostatic union.