https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Galatians+4%3A1-7&version=NIVUK

So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.

Galatians 4:7

A son or daughter is a child, not a slave, but as long as they are under age, they are managed by a slave to whom the master entrusts the child. But when they reach a certain age, because they have been the children all along, although brought up under a slave, they get to make use of their title as sons and share what is their father’s—they call the master ‘Father’ at last.

But calling him Father and making use of the granted privilege do not necessarily take place at the same time, for the son thinks, ‘I am not worthy to be called a son, but as my father has many slaves in the house, I’ll ask him to take me in as a slave’. Until his father’s announcement to the household that this is a son of his he found again, and probably until after several days and weeks of actually living in that household as a son again, the gospel of grace, the acceptance, and the nullifying of what has been do not hit him—but his sonship had been there all along, even during the times he did not realise or accept it. What faith hears, or hearing the gospel with faith, depends on the father, who gave him birth as his son and holds on to the father-son relationship despite all contrary circumstances.

Lord, what share of you do I make use of today as a son? Teach me in what ways I still think and behave like a slave and not like your daughter. Let me honour the relationship you have given birth to and preserved all along.

• What is the most significant difference between being a worker in your home and being a child of the household?
• If there is anything that makes the child unable to enjoy the privileges of being the child of the household, what would that be?
• Do you think you have that privilege in the household of God? Or do you have more tension? How does that affect your sonship?

---