26.2 Our Birth
© 2017 Christ Revealed Bible Institute
Paul taught that we are “adopted” as sons, using the Roman cultural practice of a great man, through a specific ceremony, “adopting” as his son and heir one who was not actually born of him. But John spent many years pondering everything he knew about the Lord Jesus and what He had said inside the milieu of those who taught and practiced Paul’s gospel. And John saw something much more meaningful than Paul’s “adoption” as sons. John saw the pattern of the bringing forth of life, and it is John who establishes that pattern as the central pattern of God in the Bible.
Born Sons. John remembered Jesus’ words – Except you be conceived again – and he had years to consider Peter’s words – having been conceived again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever (1 Peter 1:23). Paul undoubtedly had read Peter’s letter, for they were both in Rome when Peter wrote, three years before both were executed. But Paul did not have the luxury of the years given to John.
And so, without setting aside any measure of wondrous truth we can glean through Paul’s metaphor of adoption, John saw that – No, we are not just adopted. We are conceived of Father’s Seed. We are born sons of God.
We See Jesus. Let’s look again at John’s exact words. Beloved, NOW we are children (teknon – from tikto, to come out of the womb as in the woman brought forth a manchild) – children of God, even so, what we will be does not now appear. We KNOW that IF Jesus appears to us, we ARE just like Him, for we see Him just as He IS (1 John 3:2 – modified from the Greek and made personal to us).
John – If Jesus appears to us? – Paul – Beholding as in a mirror? – Peter – Whom having not seen you love? – The writer of Hebrews said it differently than John, Paul, and Peter. – But we see Jesus …crowned with glory and honor (Hebrews 2:9). Faith is true seeing.
Our Action. And thus we see that John is putting before us the very pattern we considered in Lesson 25:2 The Resurrection. We ARE already Full Covenant Sons, just like Jesus – but what we are by substance does not now appear. Thus right now, we PUT the Lord Jesus Christ UPON ourselves as we ARE. And, as we do so, the moment of full birthing will come and God will be made visible to all through us.
Our Action in this Covenant and in our birthing as full Covenant Sons is to put the Lord Jesus Christ upon all that we are. Those who perform acts of “obedience” are always falling short of God – and call each other so. Those who believe in Jesus call themselves only by Him. Oour faith is the substance of Oour appearance (Hebrews 11:1 paraphrased). (I am always bringing in this contrast because the Bible dictionary writers are always dragging God’s definitions down into this realm of always falling short.)
Heirs by Birth. Since we are conceived of God, we are born sons, “not adopted.” We are heirs by birth and by blood – as the Bible says. The very Life of our Father flows in our veins – as the Bible says. This is our present reality, even though it does not “appear.”
And thus, it is as full Covenant Sons that we make Covenant with God. In spite of and without regard to the weakness of our flesh, we stand as the Lord Jesus Christ in this reckoning of engagement in these binding terms of Agreement with the Almighty.
Our Inheritance. Paul did not see as far as John saw. Or we could say it this way, John, immersed in and standing upon Paul’s seeing, saw further into this great Mystery of God.
The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together (Romans 8:16-17). And thus it is as Full Covenant Sons that we engage with God concerning our inheritance.
Kléronomos (heir): an heir, an inheritor. From klḗros, "lot" and nemō, "to distribute,” meaning “to distribute the inheritance by the casting of lots.”
Symmorphy. Now, this word, kléronomos, might leave us wondering “if we won the lottery.” But Paul quickly invented three new words as he so often did, by adding sym/syn to anything having to do with Jesus. TOGETHER WITH – Symmorphy – sharing the same form.
In this verse, then, the translation into English loses, just a bit, the inherent meaning of Paul.
Synklēronomos – sharing the same form as HEIR, if indeed we sympascho – share the same form of passion so that we syndoxō – share the same form of GLORY. We are now – we put upon ourselves – we will be. (If you translated sympascho into Latin and then into English, it would be COMPASSION, not, “suffer together.”
As We Are. To share together with Jesus’ passion (compassion) is to share being the Mercy Seat of God, life laid-down and love poured-out. To put Jesus upon ourselves is to call ourselves by what we ARE, which is what we will be. Pretty simple, eh? – Our Action now as Full Covenant Sons.
In the next session, we will spell out the specifics of our inheritance in a rapid-fire presentation of overwhelming Covenant verses. In this session we are seeing ourselves as we are and as we will be – born HEIRS in full Symmorphy, sharing the same form with the Lord Jesus, His glorious Body.
Life. Let’s attempt to take “conceived of God” as literally as we can – that is, by the definition I am using for “literal,” that we would believe that God IS telling us the truth. God’s Sperm is Jesus; God’s Sperm is every Word He speaks. This Seed, then, is the generation of God’s life inside of us.
For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also (John 5:26-27). – And this is the testimony: that God has given us age-abiding life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life (1 John 5:11-12). This quality of “LIFE” begins in Father as God-Life. The Life in us is the same.
Being in Tune. Now, it is only those who define God by the serpent that then draw from the above statement to claim that we are “little ‘God’s’ running around.”
When we say, “God,” we are speaking only of our Father, the One who makes His home in us by the constant flow of Spirit Word, Spirit Word that is fully welcome in us as we sing that Word as our own personal song. Thus, to us, such a reality means that every particle that we are is fully in tune with our Father who fills us with all that He is. And this “being in tune” is not dependent upon our performance, for we have ceased from any claim to ourselves, but it is entirely dependent on Christ, this One who has taken us entirely upon Himself.
I See Jesus. He that possesses the Son possesses the Life.
I spent 21 years in the move fellowship seeking to “become” a son of God in and of myself, for that was the only way I knew. I left that fellowship determined never to be alone again, but somehow to know this Jesus upon whose breast I could always lean my head.
I see myself now as a full Covenant Son. And this is what I see. I see Jesus as the only Life I am. I see Father as this Wondrous One who fills me with all of Himself. And I see me as the human me I am and have always been. And I see Jesus again as the One who is always making ME to be in tune with Father and making FATHER to be in tune with me.
I Am Never Alone. And when I am contrary, I give it no thought, for my contrariness cannot affect who and what I am as a son. In complete contrast, even that which seems to me to be “contrary,” I see only as my Father utterly with me in all things, moving with and as my distress to reconcile the world to Himself.
I am never alone.
But as I live, more and more, in this mind of Christ, I see something else growing in me as well. And has given Him authority to execute judgment also. I am the son of the King, and I am born to authority.
Seized into His Throne. And her Child was seized into God and into His throne (Revelation 12:5b).
To those who actively and continuously live in complete Victory, I will give to seat themselves alongside of Me inside all the sphere of My throne, as I also live in continuous active Victory and am sitting Myself down alongside of My Father inside all the sphere of His throne (Revelation 3:21 – modified from the Greek and paraphrased to the nature of God).
Now, this session is on our nature and being as Full Covenant Sons and the next session is our Inheritance. Clearly, this authority inside which we seat ourselves alongside of Jesus is essential to our expression and our inheritance.
Born to Authority. But this lesson is focused on one thought – that we are born sons – that you and I are born to this authority. Yet again, because we have already shattered the image of the serpent from our own seeing of God, we never “interpret” this authority as meaning “control over,” but rather as the Mercy Seat of Love, the power to first see and then to call all things by Love.
Yet the authority of Love is immeasurably more powerful than any control coming by compulsion. It is the authority before which every knee bows, willingly, of its own heart desire. We are born to this authority; we are born to love one another.
Born that Way. Sympascho – I just love this word – Compassion – sharing the same Heart Flame that burns inside of Jesus – utterly together with the Heart of God. We are born to draw all things into Love; we are born to set creation free.
My son knew that he was born a teacher when we visited with all the Yordy cousins and he saw that out from which he comes. Now that my son is in the classroom full time, it is clear: he is a born teacher. Teaching is what he does.
We are born sons of God. Setting creation free is simply what we do.