As the unique seed of Abraham, Christ includes all the believers who have been baptized into Him (3:27-28). In one sense, when Christ died on the cross, He was crucified alone as our Redeemer. But in another sense, when He was crucified, we were with Him. For the accomplishment of redemption, Christ was crucified alone. But for terminating the old creation, Christ included us in His crucifixion. In the same principle, in the fulfillment of the promise made by God to Abraham, we are not included as part of the unique seed. We can have no share in the fulfillment of this promise. However, for inheriting the promise and enjoying it, we are included. Christ alone fulfilled the promise. But Christ and we share in the enjoyment of the promise. Therefore, on the one hand, the seed is uniquely one; on the other hand, it is all-inclusive. For fulfillment, the seed is one; for inheritance and enjoyment, the seed is all-inclusive, including all believers who have been baptized into Christ.
In 3:19 we see that the promise was made to the seed before the law was given. The promise was made not to the many sons, but to the seed who fulfilled the promise.
The unique seed is also the good land. The seed here is not only for the fulfillment of the promise, but also for the inheritance of the promise. To inherit the promise is to inherit the good land. The unique seed is the land. This proves that the seed is also the one to fulfill the promise, not only the one to inherit the promise. If He were only the one to inherit the promise, who then is the land?
Galatians 3:7 says, “Know then that they who are of faith, these are sons of Abraham.” Works of law make people disciples of Moses (John 9:28) with nothing whatever related to life. Faith in Christ makes the New Testament believers sons of God, a relationship altogether in life. We, the New Testament believers, were born sons of fallen Adam, and in Adam, because of transgressions, we were under the law of Moses. But we have been reborn to become sons of Abraham and have been freed from the law of Moses by faith in Christ. We are sons of Abraham not by natural birth, but by faith. Hence, our being sons of Abraham is based upon the principle of faith. It is based on our believing, not on our working. Our basis for being sons of Abraham surely is not natural descent. We are Abraham’s sons according to the principle of faith.
In verse 9 Paul goes on to say, “So that they who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” Under God’s dealing, Abraham was not working to please God. He was believing Him. Now we who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.
Faith is the reflection of grace. We may also say that faith is a photograph of the divine scenery. Through such faith we become true sons of Abraham. When we believed in Christ, an organic union took place. The divine life entered into us, and we were born of God through faith. As our faith photographed the divine scenery of grace, something of a real and substantial spiritual nature was infused into us. Although this substance is neither material nor physical, it is nonetheless very real. Faith is not superstition. It is related to substantial spiritual reality, a reality which admittedly is very mysterious. This reality is actually the processed Triune God Himself. When we exercise faith in Christ and thereby take a spiritual photograph of the divine scenery, the processed God enters into our being to be our life. This life is divine, spiritual, heavenly, and holy. Entering into us, it causes a spiritual birth to take place. This birth brings about an organic union between us and the Triune God. Because God has been born into our being, we have become sons of God. Thus, we may say that we are God-men.
Some Christians oppose the use of the term God-men and even defame us for saying that the believers in Christ, the sons of God through faith in Christ, are God-men. But according to the Bible, it is a divine fact that human beings can become sons of God. When we believed in Christ, the divine life with the divine nature—in fact, the divine Being of the Triune God Himself—entered into us, and we were born of God to become sons of God. Just as a man’s son partakes of his life and nature, so we as God’s sons partake of the divine life and nature. The offspring of a tiger is a tiger. In the same principle, God’s offspring are His sons possessing the divine life and the divine nature.
Certain early church fathers went so far as to speak of the “deification” of the believers in Christ. We need to be careful in using such a term. To say that the believers are deified to become objects of worship is blasphemy. But it is correct to say that the believers are deified in the sense of possessing the divine life and the divine nature. We may use the word deification in a limited sense to convey the fact that we have been born of God to become sons of God. Praise the Lord that God is our Father and that we are the same as He with respect to the divine life and nature! However, we emphatically state that we shall never be the same as God in the sense of deserving to be worshipped. It is blasphemy to claim that, as sons of God, we should be worshipped along with God. But it is not too much to say that because we are sons of God, we have the very life and nature of our Father. Far from being blasphemy, it is a glory to the Father to declare this fact.
Now we must go on to ask in what way the sons of God are also the sons of Abraham. Christ is both the Son of God and the Son of Abraham. Because we are now in Christ, we are sons of God on the one hand and sons of Abraham on the other hand. How can we be sons of God? Because we are in Christ, who is the Son of God. How can we be sons of Abraham? Also because we are in Christ, who is the Son of Abraham.
It is a matter of tremendous significance for the divine life to be imparted into us. This impartation of the divine life causes an organic union which makes us both the sons of God and the sons of Abraham. This organic union takes place exclusively in Christ. In Christ we enjoy the wonderful organic union with the Triune God. In this union we are, on the one hand, the sons of God and, on the other hand, the sons of Abraham. Christ is the unique sphere in which this all takes place. When we enter into this sphere, we become sons of God and sons of Abraham. Our true status is that in Christ and by the organic union we are both sons of God and sons of Abraham.