In Galatians 3:26 Paul wrote, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.” The familial relationship we enjoy is not exactly the same as Jesus Himself. The Pharisees understood when Jesus called Himself the Son of God, that He was making Himself God’s equal (cf. John 5:18). The only reason He was not guilty of blasphemy is because the claim was true! Jesus is the “only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). The Apostle John wrote this with clarity and beauty when he recorded, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God” (John 1:1-2).
As the Son of God Jesus occupies a place that no mere human occupies. If you use Moses as an example of a great man, the Hebrew writer agreed with his greatness, but made a clear distinction, “And Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant, for a testimony of those things which would be spoken afterward, but Christ as a Son over His own house, whose house we are if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm to the end” (Hebrews 3:5-6).
So the only begotten Son of God is equal to the Father. He is Preeminent, having been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). He is our Redeemer. He is in every sense, the Exalted God the Son, reigning on His throne in heaven. No one of us can claim any commonality with that.
Then what did Paul mean in his proclamation in Galatians 3? The context indicates it clearly. Those who have become children of God through Jesus Christ have changed their relationship to God, and with it gain both God’s providential care, and a hope of redemption that comes to those who belong to Him.
Where once they were slaves to sin, and not children, when the fullness of time had come, God saved them through His only begotten Son. “God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5).
The word “adoption” is the key to understanding this passage. Our faith gives us access to God by that process. Our relationship is not “natural” in that we are not divine as the Father is divine. However, He has received all who exhibit this faith in His begotten Son through adoption.
So now we have a wonderful relationship that gives us privileges and blessings. Notice the first few words of 4:6, “And because you are sons…” Finally, verse 7 gives the result, the change from being a slave of sin to being part of God’s family. “Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Jesus Christ.”
