The Evidence of Sonship

The gift of the Spirit demonstrates beyond question who belongs to the covenant community of Christ, and who does not. “False brethren” were preaching “another gospel” in the churches of Galatia, a “gospel” that requires Gentile believers to adopt circumcision and otherwise conform to the regulations of the Mosaic Law. Paul repudiated this false teaching in his letter to the Galatians and explained why circumcision is unnecessary for Gentiles.

Paul’s first and strongest argument is the fact that the Gentile believers of Galatia possessed the gift of the Spirit. They received the Spirit while they were still uncircumcised. If God has given His Spirit to anyone, by definition, he is a child of God and an heir of Abraham.

• “O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was presented as a crucified one? This only I would learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit from the works of the law or from a hearing of faith? Are you so foolish? Having started in the Spirit, are you now completed by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain, if it be indeed in vain? Therefore, he who supplies you the Spirit, and works miracles among you, does he do it from the works of the law or from the hearing of faith?” - (Galatians 3:1-5).

• “When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So that you are no longer a bondservant, but a son. And if you are a son, then an heir through God” - (Galatians 4:4-7).

[Apple Trees - Photo by Skylar Zilka on Unsplash]

Since the Galatians received the Spirit without circumcision, circumcision is not a requirement for being acquitted by God of the penalty of sin or for becoming a member of His covenant people.

The gift of the Spirit is indisputable proof that God accepts Gentiles as members of His people without circumcision. Jesus redeemed his saints from the “curse of the Law” so that “THE BLESSING OF ABRAHAM might come on the Gentiles through him, and we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith,” not through circumcision or the other rites and requirements of the Torah. And so, Paul equates the gift of the Spirit with the blessing of Abraham and with justification by God. Justification and the receipt of the Spirit are inextricably linked - (Galatians 3:6-14, Genesis 12:1-3, 22:18).

The Mosaic Legislation was not against the promises of God, but its purpose was never to justify men and women. The Torah was added after the Abrahamic covenant, and its function is to expose sin for what it is, the “transgression” of God’s commandments. The Law is incapable of making anyone alive, and only the Spirit imparts life – (Galatians 3:21, Romans 8:11).

• “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will give life also to your mortal bodies through his Spirit that dwells in you” – (Romans 8:11).

• “It is the spirit that gives life” – (John 6:63).

The Spirit incorporates each believer into the community of faith, empowers him to become an effective witness, and transforms him into the image of God, so that, in Christ, the man becomes a new creation. There is no true Church without the presence and activity of the Holy Spirit, and the very idea of a non-spirit-filled “Christian” or congregation is a contradiction in terms.

• “Now, the Lord is the Spirit. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit” - (2 Corinthians 3:17-18).

• “For neither is circumcision anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creation” - (Galatians 6:15).

The New Testament pattern of conversion involves three distinct players and three different though closely related events.

First, the man who hears the Gospel, repents, and exercises faith. Second, the Church baptizes the penitent man and thereby accepts him into the faith community. And third, God confirms the  acceptance of the convert by granting him the gift of the Spirit:

• “And Peter said to them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit” – (Acts 2:38).

The gift of the Spirit is mandatory, not optional. Like repentance, faith, and baptism, it is not something that can be delayed. The gift plays a vital role in the conversion of an individual, and it is the Spirit that transforms a man into a Christian, a child of God, and a member of the Church.

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

The negative inference of Paul’s statement is that the lack of the Spirit demonstrates that a man is not a Christian. If the man possesses the Spirit, he is a Christian, and vice versa. This is confirmed by Paul in his Letter to the Romans:

• “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his” – (Romans 8:9).

Paul’s statement in Galatians 3:1-5 indicates something dynamic that is experienced by the recipient of the Spirit. For example, Paul refers to “miracles worked among you” by the Spirit. But this is a collective description (the pronoun ‘you’, is plural), and refers to miracles that occurred in the church and among its members, not necessarily to miracles that took place as each individual received the Spirit. Moreover, the term ‘miracles’ is general, not specific. What kind of miracles?

Unfortunately, the New Testament does not refer explicitly to any specific event or miraculous display that accompanies the baptism of the Spirit, or whether there even is a specific “sign” that always occurs when anyone receives the gift of the Spirit.

The Book of Acts describes several different things that occurred when someone received the Spirit, including speaking in tongues, the appearance of tongues of fire, the sound of a mighty wind, men prophesying, and a group “magnifying God.” In Samaria, Simon the Magician “saw” that the Spirit was given through the laying on of hands by the Apostles, but precisely what Simon saw is not stated. And so, Acts provides several possible “signs,” but the Book does not identify any of them as THE “sign” of the baptism in the Spirit – (Acts 2:1-4, 8:18, 10:44-48, 19:6).

Fortunately, the Letter to the Galatians does not leave us without any clues. The presence of the Spirit in the life of a man or woman will begin to change him or her into the likeness of Christ, and this is confirmed when the convert’s life manifests the fruits of the Holy Spirit:

• “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other, that you may not do the things that you would. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. <…> But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control; against such there is no law. And they who are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. If we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk” – (Galatians 5:16-25).

If a man has the gift of the Spirit of God, his possession of the gift will produce the fruits of the Spirit and transform his life into the image of Christ. And the gift of the Spirit also confirms that the convert is a member of the family of God.

• “Wherefore, if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things are passed away; behold, they are become new” – (2 Corinthians 5:17).

• “For whom he foreknew, he also marked out ahead of time for conformity to the image of his Son” – (Romans 8:29).

• “Put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that becomes corrupt after the lusts of deceit; and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And put on the new man, that after God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth” – (Ephesians 4:22-24).

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[Citations of Old Testament passages in this article are based on the ancient Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint (see the links here and here). Text printed in ALL CAPITAL LETTERS represents quotations and verbal allusions from the Old Testament. The Septuagint is represented by the Roman numeral for ‘seventy’ or LXX based on the Latin name of the translation, ‘Interpretatio septuaginta virorum’]

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SEE ALSO:

• The Blessing of Abraham - (The gift of the Spirit is part of the covenant promises made to Abraham, including blessing the nations of the Earth)

• The Spirit of Life! - (The Gift of the Spirit is clear evidence that a person has been justified by God and made a part of His covenant people)

• The Promise of the Father - (With the outpouring of the Spirit on the Day of Pentecost, the blessings for all nations promised to Abraham commenced)

• The Life-Giving Spirit - (Jesus grants his people the Spirit without which there is no enduring life or salvation. His words are Spirit, and they are Life)