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the ground (an analogy the apostle
Paul used in 1 Corinthians 15- the
resurrection chapter).
The difficulty is resolved when
you realizc that the New Testament
was written in Greek. The Greek
language uses one word.
gennao,
to
refer
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conception, the begotten
stage of the fetus, the whole ninc–
month gestation period.
and rhe ac–
tual birth.
So. from the beginning of
the new life, conception. the individ–
ual is considered to
be
a "son," even
though he is not yet born. When
you. as a natural human parent , are
first aware that there is life in the
womb. don't you think ofitas your
chi ld. even though it is not ye t born?
And do not
mos1
of those conceived
finally achieve birth?
It 's the same with God.
God begins the birth of His sons
very small. just as we
begin
the birth
of our own children. "Now he that
hath wrought us for the selfsame
thing is God, who also hath given
unto us the
EARNEST
of the Spirit"
(11 Cor. 5:5). An "earnest" is a very
sma ll down payment carrying with
it a promise of more to come, until
the fu ll commitment is reached.
" For as many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of
God " (Rom. 8: 14). T here are no
capital letters in the Greek. by the
way.
It
is only the translators who
decided to capitalize "Son" when it
referred to Jesus and
not
capitalize
"son" when it referred to us. Most
reverent and sincere humility no
doubt, but it leads to misunder–
standi ng.
" For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear; but
ye have received the Spirit of adop–
tion. whereby we cry. Abba. Father"
(Rom. 8: 15). T hat word "adoption"
can just as well be translated "son–
ship" - or even "Sonship"- but ac–
cording to the very scriptures the
translators were translating, it never
entered their minds that we cou ld
be the actual "Sons of God." They
only took words like "brethren,"
"son," "Father" to be metaphors.
niceties, condescension from God as
it were. But this scripture clearly de–
clares that
we
human beings. after
receiving God's Holy Spirit. are to
call God
Abba- which
is Aramaic
for "father"- and then amplifies and
reinforces that by adding "Father"
The
PLAIN TRUTH
June
1977
from the Greek. An actual Father.
not a pretend Father. Perhaps it was
fear of the same charge of " blas–
phemy" leveled against Jesus by the
religious people of His day that
caused those men to use the trans–
lation "adoption" in the clear light
of the context of a double-language
(Arama ic, Greek) " Fa th er-son"
relationship discussed in Romans
eight?
"The Spirit itself beareth witness
with our spirit. that
we are the chi/–
dren ofGod"
(verse 16). This Spirit
of God is. remember. the
only
source of this humanly inconceiv–
able concept of what it is that God
has in store for those who !ove Him.
1 have chosen to believe the Spirit of
God. and not be satisfied with the
ideas of men- how about you?
Now these "children of God" 'dis–
cussed in Romans a re not
born
yet.
T hey have just begun. just been
spiritually conceived. They are not
changed yet from physical to spi ri–
tual totally; they just have the
"earnest" of that yet future total
change.
The fact is,
nobody
has been
changed yet except Jesus of Naza–
reth. All the holy men of old are
dead and in their graves, waiting, as
Job stated he would wait. Sorne de–
cayed to dust-as Peter sa id of
David
ajler
the resurrection of
Christ (Acts 2). Sorne became ashes:
sorne possibly were partly preserved
physically-as Joseph. for example,
whose body was mummified after
the Egyptian style. But
ALL
are wait–
ing for a "better resurrection.. ..
God having provided sorne better
thing for us, that they without us
should not be made perfect" (Heb.
11 :35. 40). " ... the general assemb,ly
and church of the firstborn ... the
spirits of just men made perfect"
(Heb. 12:23) ... waiting ....
Worth Waiting For
God is not playing games. God is
not perpetrating sorne cosmic joke.
God is not sponsoring sorne eterna!
rest home in the sky for retired
Christians.
God is reproducing Himself!
"Behold, what manner of !ove the
Father hath bestowed upon us. that
we should be called the sons of
God . . . . Beloved, now
are
we the
sons ofGod , and [would you believe
"bul' ') it do th no t
yet
appear what
we shall be (we're not born yet, just
begotten) : but we
know
(do we?)
that.
when
he shall appear.
we shalt
be like him;for we shallsee him as he
is"
(1John 3: 1-2).
What is Jesus going to be like
when He comes back to this earth?
A metaphoric, a llegorical, mythical
"Son of God"- o r a real, spiritual.
all-powerful. actual Son of God?
You guessed it: The latter is correct.
Now if He is like that. and we are
going lo be like He is-what do you
suppose
we
will be like?
"Let this mind be in you. which
was a lso in Christ J esus" (Phil. 2:5).
"Whereby are given unto us ex–
ceeding great and precious promises
(beyond the scope of human imagi–
nation]: that by these
ye mighr be
partakers of the divine nature"
(11 Pet. 1:4). " 1 [Jesus says] will
make them (people, human beings]
to come and
worship before thy feet"
(Rev. 3:9). Now,
you
know. and 1
know, and God commands thal
only God Himself is worlhy of wor–
ship!
There is only one inescapable
conclusion.
If we are to be changed from
physical to spiritual- and not just
any ordinary spiritual, but by and
into the Spirit of God; if what we
are taught by Jesus is true, and we
a r e to pra y
"Our
F ather in
heaven ..."; if He really is
our
Father and not just His Father; if
we are (to be) His sons; if we are lo
share the Falher's and the Son's
glory and be one as they are one; if
we are to inherit eterna! life; if we
are to partake of the divine nature:
if we are to be just like Jesus now is:
if we are lO have the complete mind
of Christ in us; if we are lo be wor–
thy of worship- then . . .
WE MUST
BECOME
Goo!
Blasphemy?
No!
Jusl th e "unbelievable"
truth
of
your Bible!
Believe it or not. "Ye are Gods"–
it just doesn't show yet !
And
when
you become God's own
born son. what will you
do?
Will
God equip you with eternallife. His
own Spirit. glory. power ... just to
sit around on clouds and pluck a
harp? What do Gods oo? What
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