Inheritance
and Esau; Gal.4:7-11
Galatians 4:7 NASB
“Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir
through God.”
There are few doctrines in
Scripture that are quite as misunderstood as the doctrine we are going to begin
to study here, the doctrine of inheritance.
The doctrine of inheritance
1.
Vocabulary: The
noun in the Greek is kleronomos [klhronomoj] and the verb is kleronomeo
[klhronomew]. The noun means inheritance, possession or
property. The verb means to possess, to receive something as one’s own
possession, and to obtain something. There are slightly different concepts to
the Greek meaning of inheritance and our English understanding of inheritance. In
our English understanding when we think about an heir or inheritance we think
of things that are passed on at someone’s death to a child or descendant of
someone. But that is an added concept to the word. The root meaning is always
possession, something that someone has as their very own,
and in the Greek and Roman world this was tied to the whole concept of adoption
which had to do with the recognition of adulthood and not the placing of a
child into a new family. Always remember the Bible has to be interpreted in the
time in which it was written. In the time this was written the natural born
child might be inept, her might be a fool, he might be irresponsible, and the
father looked at him and says he is not about to pass on the family name and
family property and all the wealth to him because he would just squander it. So
he might have a slave or someone else he had become close to and he would adopt
that person as his adult son, and they would be the designated heir. So the
apostle Paul takes this cultural analogy in order to teach critical principals
about how God makes an unbeliever a part of the family and all that we have in
terms of our inheritance, possessions and spiritual assets as believers in the
Lord Jesus Christ. So we start by understanding that kleronomeo means to possess or receive as one’s possession. An
inheritance can be a birthright in the Scriptures which one enters by virtue of
sonship, Galatians 4:30; Hebrews 1:4. Secondly, it
can refer to property that is received as a gift in contrast to something given
as a reward, Hebrews 1:14; 6:12.
Third, it can be property that is received in the basis of the fulfillment of
certain conditions. Fourth, it can be a reward based on meeting certain
conditions and following certain activities, 1 Peter 3:9; Galatians 5:16ff. So the Bible sees inheritance in four
different ways.
2.
Jesus Christ is
the heir of all things, Hebrews 1:2. So Christ, therefore, is the adult Son,
the huios, and He possesses all
things.
3.
Inheritance is
based on adoption (the sonship aspect of adoption),
therefore it is related to our position in Christ—doctrine of positional truth.
Galatians 3:29; 4:1. There is one inheritance that is based upon our position
in Christ—positional truth. Also this is found in Romans 8:16, 17 NASB “The Spirit Himself testifies
with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children,
heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with
{Him} so that we may also be glorified with {Him.}”
4.
Inheritance is
based on the grace promise of the Abrahamic covenant. Galatians 3:39—why are we descendants of Abraham? Because we have followed
him in faith alone in Christ alone. Heirs of the promise. What was the promise?
Galatians 3:14, the promise of the Spirit through faith. It is the result of
grace, not the result of works.
5.
Inheritance
demands eternal life because the son must have the same life as the father. This
point focuses on the kind of life that comes with adoption. God the Father has
eternal life. When we are adopted as His [adult] sons then God the Father imputes
to us His very own eternal life. So as part of our possession as heir we have
eternal life. Titus 3:5-7.
6.
Inheritance means
to share the destiny of Jesus Christ. It includes destiny. We share the same
destiny with Christ. It also includes eternal life. Christ has an eternal
destiny and we share it by virtue of our election. Ephesians 1:11.
7.
Inheritance is
both a present reality and a future possession. We have the present reality:
right now we are adopted, we have an inheritance that we have right now; we
have eternal life; we share the destiny of Christ. There is a future aspect. 1
Peter 1:4, 5 focuses on it, also Ephesians 1:13, 14. Another aspect is the sealing
of God the Holy Spirit which relates to the doctrine of eternal security. We
are owned by God the Father and that brand of ownership can never be removed. We
see also in these verses that redemption is also a future concept, not just a
past concept.
8.
Inheritance means
eternal security, an inheritance that is undefiled. 1 Pet 1:4, 5 NASB
“to {obtain} an inheritance {which is} imperishable and undefiled and will not
fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the
power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last
time.” This also applies to contingency blessings in eternity which is part of
that inheritance package, blessings that are reserved for us on the basis of
reaching certain levels of spiritual maturity.
9.
God the Holy
Spirit is the down payment on our inheritance. Ephesians 1:14 NASB “who is given as a pledge of our
inheritance, with a view to the redemption of {God’s own} possession, to the
praise of His glory.” Also in Galatians 4:6.
10.
But there is a
problem. The basic problem is that there are some passages which speak of
inheritance as a permanent possession based on faith alone in Christ alone
(Galatians 3:29), but there are also passages which seem to speak of
inheritance as an acquisition or a reward. Further, there are other passages
that indicate that if you participate in certain activities then you will not
be an heir, e.g. the works of the flesh in Galatians 5:19-21, also Ephesians
5:5 NASB “For this you know with certainty, that no immoral or
impure person or covetous man, who is an idolater, has an inheritance in the
kingdom of Christ and God.” Also 1 Corinthians 6:9, 10 NASB “Or do
you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor
effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor {the} covetous, nor
drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.”
The problem is that we want to go to these passages and take this phrase “inherit
the kingdom of God”
as a phrase that equals salvation. It is not. So we have to ask the question:
What does it mean to inherit the kingdom?
11.
Conclusion: There
are two categories of inheritance in the Bible and that is substantiated by two
particular phrases. One is the phrase “inherit the kingdom,” Ephesians 5:5; 1
Corinthians 6:9, 10. Then there is another phrase, “inherit salvation,” Hebrews
1:14. Inheritance means possession but it depends on what
we are possessing. We must look at the object in the context. What kind of
inheritance is in view? We have seen that there are some possessions that are
given to every believer in Christ. Romans 8:17
is a critical passage to understand NASB “and if children, heirs
also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with {Him}
so that we may also be glorified with {Him.}” The punctuation should be: “and
if children, heirs also, heirs of God, and fellow heirs with Christ…” (two different inheritances emphasized). “Heirs of God” is
for every single believer, but the second category is “fellow heirs with
Christ.” What do we have to do to be a joint heir with Jesus Christ? The
condition is: “if indeed we suffer with {Him} so that we may also be glorified
with {Him.}” Suffering is the mechanics by which God reinforces the doctrine in
our souls and brings us from spiritual infancy (in the midst of that suffering
we apply doctrine) and we grow to spiritual maturity. The suffering with Christ
stands for going through that process of discipline. So there are two kinds of
inheritance: inheriting the kingdom and inheriting salvation. Inheriting
salvation has to do with inheriting eternal life and those blessings that every
believer equally possesses from the moment of salvation. But inheriting the
kingdom is a different category which has to do with ruling and reigning with
Jesus Christ in His kingdom. It has to do with owning the kingdom and
possessing the kingdom. Those who are heirs of the kingdom are spiritual
aristocracy in eternity. But we see that there are many believers who because
they never learn any doctrine and never apply any doctrine spend most of their
lives under the control of the sin nature, never deal with the sin in their
life, never advance to spiritual adulthood, and the result is they are
disqualified from inheriting the kingdom. They still have eternal, life, will
spend eternity in heaven but they will not rule and reign with Jesus Christ and
they will not own or possess the kingdom. They will be classified as those who
lose rewards at the judgment seat of Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:12-15.
12.
We have our
illustration of inheritance given in Hebrews 12:16, 17 NASB “that {there be} no immoral or
godless person like Esau, who sold his own birthright [inheritance] for a
{single} meal. For you know that even afterwards, when he desired
to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance,
though he sought for it with tears.” Esau gave everything up that would have
been his for a bowl of soup. The trouble is a lot of believers are giving up
their inheritance rights, position and possession in Jesus Christ for a bowl of
soup. That was the problem with the Galatian
believers. Their bowl of soup was legalism.
Now Paul is going to refer
to the licentious aspect of it in vv. 8-12. He is going to refer back to their
life before they were saved. Galatians 4:8 NASB “However at
that time, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those which by nature
are no gods.” This is idolatry. Idolatry can come under various
categories. It can be licentious under the concept of the phallic cult, or it
can be under the guise of religion if there is legalism involved. Idols are not
gods but there are demons associated with idolatry, according to 1 Corinthians.
[9] “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how
is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to
which you desire to be enslaved all over again?” This is the
problem with many Christians. After they are saved they either want to get
involved in some form of legalism and emphasize ritual without reality or they
get involved in some form of antinomianism and licentiousness and lasciviousness.
They want to turn back and live like they did before they were saved. We were
nor saved just to get into heaven, we were saved so
that we could live our lives pleasing to God and to glorify God in the angelic
conflict. God has an unbelievable amount of blessing for each one of us that he
desires to give us but if we just cop out and say we are just glad we are in
His family and don’t care if we are the dumb son or not then we are going to
miss out on so much God has for us, and that is the problem with most
believers.
Galatians 4:10 NASB “You observe days and months and
seasons and years.” That is a kind of an insult. He goes to the
fact that under the Judaizers they were now beginning
to observe all the feast days and various fasts under Judaism. But under the
Greek paganism that they came from there were also religious festivals and
religious feast days and they were beginning to observe those. Paul is saying
that in the church age there is no emphasis on feasts or fasts or religious festivals,
it is all secondary and has nothing to do with biblical Christianity. The Bible
makes no emphasis on observing any of these days. [11] “I fear for you, that
perhaps I have labored over you in vain.” It is not that they are losing their
salvation but that they are saved and are just going to give up like Esau did,
and give up all that they have as part of their birthright, their adoption in
Christ, and will forfeit all of their inheritance rights and they will end up
at the judgment seat of Christ with nothing.