Freedom is Good News Part 164

“If you belong to Christ then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:29)

Here we have a classic, “if / then” statement.  So, in order to consider whether or not you are included in the “then” statement, you must be able to claim the “if” part.  Do you belong to Christ?  Only you can answer this question.  The reality of it is between you and God.  He knows your heart.  He knows every aspect of your heart.  Do you?

It may be hard to understand why this ancient Hebrew might be claimed as our father.  The words “Abraham’s seed” mean that we are his offspring.  But we cannot even claim that unless we know that we “belong to Christ”.  So perhaps we should take a look at what that might mean.

First of all we must understand that if a person belongs to another then they are a possession; perhaps a slave or a bond servant.  In Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians concerning the body he writes, “Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God?  You are not your own, you were bought at a price.”  What was that price with which we were bought?  Peter informs us of that purchase price in 1Peter 1:18-19, “You were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.”

Yes, the purchase price that is demanded in payment for our sins and to buy us back (ransom us) from death and give us eternal life is the “precious blood of Christ”.  Have you come to grips with that understanding?  This is a pretty heavy thought for us to get our minds around.  But get around it we must!!

If you would “belong to Christ” then you have to: know that you are a sinner who has broken the “good, holy and righteous laws of God”, believe and understand that the blood of our Savior is necessary for our redemption and because of point 1 and 2, you must repent of those sins and be baptized for the remission of those sins, just as Peter told the crowd in Acts 2:38.  Those steps are not hard to do – at least not physically.  But to do them from the heart, which means that we have humbled ourselves before our God, takes a true movement of the Holy Spirit.  To do that from the heart takes a great commitment to live according to God’s ways and to begin to love Him with all our heart, strength and life.

That is what it takes to ‘belong to God’.  “But hey”, you ask, “What does that mean for me?”  It means that you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.  We will look at the promises to Abraham of which we will be heirs to, perhaps next time.  But for now, let us read the statement Paul makes just prior to this one in Galatians 3:29.  In 3:26 he writes, “You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.”  O my!!  Sons of God – sons of the creator of all the universe, sons of the Living God who originally blessed Abraham.  Wow, that is good news!!