We spoke last of the beautiful reality of God as our Father thru faith in the gospel. That God intends for our fellowship to be with Him as Jesus' own fellowship with the Father.

We see the blessings of sonship thru the gospel everywhere in the New Testament. John 1:12 says "as many as received Him He gave the right to be called children of God."

At Jesus' resurrection He says He is ascending to "my Father and your Father, my God and your God." in John 20:17.

1 John 3:1 says that God's love is so great in allowing us to be called children of God, plus many other references to Christians relating to God as father and the fellowship that comes with that (see 1 John 2:9-11, 13, 15, 23-24; 3:10-17; 4:7,21; 5:1-3). In all of these and more, fatherhood is implied as the source of the fellowship not only between the believer and God but between fellows believers as brothers and sisters.

But this goes farther. The fact that believers thru faith in the gospel relate to God as father implies four things, all informing and guiding our fellowship with God as our father, according to J.I. Packer:

First, God as our father implies AUTHORITY. Even Jesus had a resolute obedience to the will of the Father. See John 6:38; 17:4. The same should be true of us, that our desire is to do God's will as He is our father thru faith.

Second, God as our father implies AFFECTION. The Father loves the Son, see John 5:20; 15:9-10. The same is and should be true of believers, a love for God that shows itself in obedience to our father and the fact that God loves us as a father should guide our lives.

Third, God as our father implies FELLOWSHIP. See John 8:29; 16:32. We have spoken to this point already. But we can now relate to God as our father thru faith in the gospel. This fellowship ought to guide and inform our lives every day and everything we face in the day.

Lastly, God as our father implies HONOR. See John 5:22-23; 17:1. Our lives as believers should be lived to the glory and honor of our father, just as Jesus' was.

All of this is true and is extended to believers thru adoption as sons via faith in the gospel. With Christ as our Lord, we are ruled and loved by our heavenly father. And we must seek to obey Him just as Jesus did, see 1 John 5:1, 3. Don't miss this, as this is fellowship and what it means to have God as our father thru the gospel.

Listen to the Westminster Confession, chapter 12, and how it defines our adoption thru faith in the gospel:

All those who are justified, God vouchsafeth, in and for His only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption: by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God; have His name put on them, receive the Spirit of adoption; have access to the throne of grace with boldness; are enabled to cry Abba Father; are pitied, protected provided for, and chastened by Him, as by a father; yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption, and inherit the promises, as heirs of everlasting salvation.

Dwell on these wonderful realities and blessings that come with sonship thru faith in the gospel. May we live under these joyfully and boldly each and every day. May others be drawn to the gospel thru our lives as we live under the grace of having God as our Father thru faith in the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ.