The Believer And Sonship
In John 1:11, 12 we read: "He came unto his own, and his own received him not. But as many as received him, to them gave the power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name." Here a promise is held out to those who are believers. What is that promise? It is power — the power to become a son of God. Denominational doctrine insists that the believer is already a son of God, saved at the point of faith, saved by faith only; he doesn't need the power. Denominationalism says: "This believer is already a son of God." The Bible says: "The believer is given the power to become a son of God." Which do you believe?
Since the believer is given the power to become a son of God we might well inquire, "What is that power?" Paul says it is the gospel: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ; for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek." (Romans 1:15) Note that Paul not only says that the gospel is the power that saves but also specifies that this power is given to the believer. Now isn't that exactly what John said in Chapter 1:11, 12?
We have learned that the believer is given the power to become a son of God and that power is the gospel. Question: HOW does the gospel save the believer? I believe that question can best be answered by inquiring further into the meaning of the gospel. Paul defines the gospel to the Corinthians as composed of the facts of the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ (I Cor. 15:1-4). But we must do more than merely believe these facts — the gospel must be obeyed (II Thess. 1:7-9). How does one obey the gospel? In the Roman epistle Paul explains it this way: "But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you. Being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness" (Romans 6:17, 18). Here people were said to be freed from sin through obedience to the doctrine that had been preached to them. We know that the doctrine preached to them was the gospel — the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. How did they obey it? Let Paul answer: "Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life" (Rom. 6:3, 4.) Here the three facts of the gospel are connected to their obedience to God's command to be baptized.
After telling us that the gospel is God's power to save the believer in Romans 1:16 Paul explains the HOW in verse 17: "For there in is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, the just shall live by faith." God's righteousness here does not refer merely to the fact that God himself is righteous. The psalmist says this righteousness is revealed in God's commandments (Psalm 119:172). Thus the gospel saves because it reveals to men the commandments that must be obeyed before men become righteous. Paul says obedience to baptism is one of those commands. Jesus himself classified baptism as a part of God's righteousness when he urged John to baptize him in fulfillment of all righteousness (Matthew 3:15).
By letting God's word interpret itself we learn that the believer is given the power to be baptized in order that he might become a son of God. Isn't this what Jesus said in the great commission? "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). "For ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26). Verse 27 explains why these believers were sons of God: "For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ." Here were believers who had exercised the power their faith gave them — they obeyed the gospel — they were baptized into the death, burial and resurrection of Christ. As a result they are now sons of God.
As a believer, you, too, can receive the power to become a son of God. Have you exercised that power?
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