And because ye are sons
That is of God, so some copies read; and the Ethiopic version,
"inasmuch as ye are his sons"; not in so high a sense as Christ
is the Son of God; nor in so low a sense as all men are his
offspring; nor in such sense as magistrates are the children of
the most High; nor merely on account of a profession of religion,
as the "sons of God" was a phrase very early used of the
worshippers of the true God; but by virtue of adoption, and which
is not owing to the merits of men, who are by nature children of
wrath, but to the free rich sovereign grace of God. It is a
privilege and blessing of grace in which all the three persons
are concerned. The Father has predestinated to it, and in the
covenant has provided and laid it up; he set up his Son as the
pattern to which these sons should be conformed, and proposed the
glory of his own grace, as the end; by virtue of which act of
grace they were considered as the children of God, as early as
the gift of them to Christ; and so by him when he partook of
their flesh and blood, and died to gather them together who were
scattered abroad; see ( Hebrews 2:13
Hebrews
2:14 ) ( John 11:52 ) . The Son
of God has also an hand in this affair; for through his espousing
their persons, they become the sons and daughters of the Lord God
Almighty; and through his assumption of their nature they become
his brethren, and so to be in the relation of sons to God;
through his redemption they receive the adoption of children, and
at his hands the privilege, the power itself, to become such. The
Spirit of God not only regenerates them, which is an evidence of
their sonship, but as a spirit of adoption manifests it to them,
works faith in them to receive it, and frequently witnesses to
the truth of it; all which show how any come and are known to be
the sons of God. This is a privilege that exceeds all others; it
is more to be a son than to be a saint; angels are saints, but
not sons, they are servants; it is more to be a child of God,
than to be redeemed, pardoned, and justified; it is great grace
to redeem from slavery, to pardon criminals, and justify the
ungodly; but it is another and an higher act of grace to make
them sons; and which makes them infinitely more honourable, than
to be the sons and daughters of the greatest potentate upon
earth; yea, gives them an honour which Adam had not in innocence,
nor the angels in heaven, who though sons by creation, yet not by
adoption. The consequence, and so the evidence of it, follows,
God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts,
crying
Abba, Father.
The Syriac and Arabic versions read, "our Father"; all the three
divine persons here appear, as having a concern in this business,
as before observed; here are God and his Son, and the Spirit of
his Son, said to be sent; by whom is designed not any work of his
upon the heart, nor any of his gifts and graces; but he himself
in person, even the same Spirit of God that moved upon the face
of the waters at the creation of the world, and moved holy men of
God to write the Scriptures; who formed and filled the human
nature of Christ, and descended on him as a dove; and by whom
Christ and his apostles wrought their miracles; and who is called
the Spirit of his Son; as he is frequently by the Jews
F7, (xyvm Klm lv wxwr) , "the Spirit of the King Messiah";
and sometimes
F7 Bereshit Rabba, fol. 2. 4. & 6. 3.
Vajikra Rabba, fol. 156. 4. (See Gill on Romans
8:9).
F8 Targum in 2 Chron. ii. 6.