My wife and I have an adopted son. Well, not in the legal sense. We came to know Riley in Junior High when he became friends with our youngest son. Riley was at our house often eating with us, for sleepovers. He was in our youth group so we saw him at least twice a week. He lived with us for several weeks after his house burned down. We attended his military graduations. He is part of the Hall family. He has all the rights and privileges a Hall has in our home.
Paul is trying to tell us the same thing when it comes to being a part of God’s family. We have been adopted but nothing we have done gets us in the family. It’s everything Jesus has done for us. See, the Gospel is the good news that Jesus came to earth, died for our sins and rose from the dead. Our belief in that story and faith in Jesus Christ makes us part of the family and makes us right before God.
In the letter to the Galatian churches, Paul is wanting to counter an argument that was leaning toward a “works-based” faith. Paul says there is a fake gospel circulating and the real Gospel is something totally different. So in Galatians 4, Paul teases out the difference between the fake gospel and the real Gospel.
Paul says the fake gospel is all about activity. The real Gospel is about adoption. The fake gospel says that God is only okay with you when you get your act together. The fake gospel is all about do, do, do while the real Gospel is all about what God has done, done, done. See, God did everything needed sending his perfect son, living a perfect life, dying a death we should have, fighting a battle we would have lost in order that we could be adopted and live with him forever. That’s the great, glorious Gospel.
The fake gospel ends at salvation while the real Gospel begins with salvation and continues through the transforming power of the Holy Spirit. Too many stories end with the salvific moment of accepting Jesus. People tend to believe that’s the end of the journey but truly, it’s only the beginning. When you say “yes” to Jesus as your Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit is poured into you, he transforms you and allows you to live into the fullness of the Gospel story. Until you understand that concept, you’ll live an empty and unfulfilled life. Then real Gospel is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit who sanctifies us throughout our entire life and through him, we can do all things.
The fake gospel constantly works for acceptance while the real Gospel confidently works from inheritance. Paul reminds us that we are no longer slaves but children of God, heirs to the Kingdom. Because you believe in Jesus Christ, you get to live from a declared inheritance. Some 2000 years ago, you got a new name: child of God. You got a new family, a felt security, a new purpose. You received forgiveness, healing and freedom.
The real Gospel is all about adoption and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit allows us to live into our inheritance. Blessings on the journey.