Excerpt from The Hope of the Gospel

In his letter to the Colossians, Paul coined the phrase ‘the hope of the gospel’. He admonished the church to ‘continue in the faith firmly established and steadfast, and not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you have heard’. Col 1:23. In this study, we are endeavouring to understand the hope of the gospel. And more so, what is the nature of the life that God is giving? How is it received? How is it proclaimed? How does this life come to us? Our desire is to be firmly established and steadfast in this life. We aspire to be effective ambassadors of the gospel. We are endeavouring to understand the proclamation of the evangelist. What is the message we share with our families, friends, neighbours and work colleagues?

When we look at the Scriptures, our hope is clearly defined as becoming sons of God. ‘Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God’. 1 John 3:1. This is the message we must embrace and proclaim to all men. As Paul wrote to the Colossians, ‘This is the hope which has come to you, just as in all the world’. Col 1:5. It is the hope of sonship.

In expounding this hope, Paul built to a climax when he declared, ‘God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory’. Col 1:27. This will be one of our key passages. Our primary interest is: What is the nature of Christ’s life?

Christ in you

With these words, ‘Christ in you’, Paul captured the heart of the predestination of mankind. This message is proclaimed to us by a messenger enabling us to receive His life, and be born from above, born of God. We are predestined as sons of God as we come into Christ, apprehending His life in the body of Christ. In this way we are joined to Christ, growing up into His fullness, and the fullness of our individual sonship. From there we become His bride, ‘without spot or wrinkle’, His administration which brings forth the finished mystery of God, to the new heavens and new earth.

We read in the opening of John’s gospel account, ‘In Him was life … He was in the world … as many as received Him, to them He gave the power to become the sons of God … which were born, not of blood … but of God’. John 1:4,10,12,13. When we look at Christ as the Father’s Son, He is the Seed of zoe-life. By receiving Him, we receive the seed of incorruptible zoe-life and are ‘born of God’. We are a new creation in Him. He is the new creation. And we, individually, are new zoe-fied creatures, born as sons of God, heirs of the promise to Abraham. This is the beginning of the gospel. Receiving the promise of sonship in the faith of Abraham is the hope of the gospel.

We soon realise that our predestination is vastly different from the angels, and far exceeds the nature of Adam’s sonship in the beginning. By no means is mankind destined to replace the fallen angels. Nor are we simply restored to the state of Adam and Eve before the fall. Concerning the difference between angels and mankind, the book of Hebrews is very clear. ‘For to which of the angels did He ever say, “thou art My Son”?’ Heb 1:5. The angels were created as ‘ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who would inherit salvation’. Heb 1:14. Here Paul defined salvation itself as an inheritance, the adoption and all the covenant promises made to our father Abraham. Eph 2:12. It is the inheritance of sonship by receiving the life of Christ. This is a wondrous and unique predestination reserved for mankind aloneaccording to the Father’s desire, by adoption and new birth. Let’s take some time to dwell on this central tenet - the adoption.

The adoption

There is only one begotten Son of the Father. If we are to be sons of God, there must be some way in which we can share His sonship, as joint heirs with Him. This is the meaning of the adoption. We are called into Christ by the messenger. By His own redeeming work, Christ places us with Himself into the position of a son, with the standing of a son. Once in the Son, the Father then sends the Spirit of His Son, as the seed, into our hearts, by the Holy Spirit. When we receive His seed, we are immediately born again, made alive together with Christ. Eph 2:1. We know this because the Spirit of the Son within us cries out ‘Abba! Father!’ As new born sons in Him, we are able to partake of His birth and sonship.

Let us restate this amazing destiny again. He makes us joint-heirs with Him by placing us in Himself, in the position of a son, the position of faith. Then the Father gives us the Spirit of the Son, as the seed of our eternal sonship, by which we cry ‘Abba! Father!’ This is the meaning of being born from above. This new birth is the most amazing fruit of the work of adoption. Now, as sons, we are to grow up into the fullness of our sonship, so that we receive the full inheritance of sonship.

Again, in summary, He has made us alive together with Christ. He has raised us together with Christ, progressively giving us this inheritance as joint-heirs, on condition that we participate in the fellowship of His sufferings. That is, that portion of Christ’s sufferings which belongs to us. His life within us enables us to suffer His sufferings in our flesh. We are able to proceed to the day of resurrection, the day of change to immortality. In that day, we are manifested as the sons of God, with full glory and power, made ready for our work in the new heavens and new earth.