Book of ROMANS
A Study of Chapter 8
Part 10
Romans 8:16-17
Inheritance
Continued…
“ It is the Spirit himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” – Rom 8:16-17 RSV
Picking up where we left off in Part 9 of our study… Still examining THE Heir of God, Christ the Head, the Firstborn Son, the nobleman in the parable of the pounds in Luke’s Gospel.
For it all begins with Him: Jesus the Christ. Without Him and what He accomplished as a man upon this earth, all creation would be without hope still.
Let’s jump back to the Old Testament to one of my favorite Proverbs -
“The fear of Jehovah (the Lord) is to hate evil:
Pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way,
And the perverse mouth, do I hate.
14 Counsel is Mine, and sound knowledge:
I am understanding; I have might.
15 By Me kings reign,
And princes decree justice.
16 By Me princes rule,
And nobles, even all the judges of the earth.
17 I love them that love Me;
And those that seek Me diligently shall find Me.
18 Riches and honor are with Me;
Yea, durable wealth and righteousness.
19 My fruit is better than gold, yea, than fine gold;
And My revenue than choice silver.
20 I walk in the way of righteousness,
In the midst of the paths of justice;
21 That I may cause those that love Me to inherit substance,
And that I may fill their treasuries.”
- Prov 8:13-21 ASV
I believe this passage here in Proverbs 8 refers to the Son of God, the One who would become our Lord & Savior, the Man Jesus. The Interlinear Hebrew-English Bible (J.P. Green) also attributes this, and the following verses (22-31) to Christ.
In verse 14 we find this One IS understanding and has counsel and sound knowledge, and in Christ we know are “all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge” (Col 2:3)
In verse 17, the One that was with the Father at Creation says “I love them that love Me”, and in John 14:21 Jesus tells His disciples - “he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21)
Verse 13 in Proverbs 8 tells us the One speaking hates evil and pride, while in vs 20 declaring He walks in righteousness. Both Testaments say of the Son -
“But to the Son He says:
“Your throne, O God, is forever and ever;
A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom.
9 You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.”
- Heb 1:8-9 NKJV (Psalm 45:6-7)
This One promises that because of this – because He walks in righteousness… because He hates the evil way… because He has knowledge, understanding and might... - “That I may cause those that love Me to inherit substance, And that I may fill their treasuries.” (Prov 8:21)
The Orthodox Jewish Bible agrees with “inherit substance”, while the New Jerusalem Bible says “endow My friends with My wealth.” I like that. “My friends.” I want to be known as His friend. Abraham is an example of one who was blessed by God because of his love for Him. Because of his trusting obedience the Scripture says Abraham “was called the friend of God.” (James 2:23)
Webster’s original Dictionary describes “Friendship” -
“An attachment to a person, proceeding from intimate acquaintance... friendship differs from benevolence, which is good will to mankind in general, and from that love which springs from animal appetite. True friendship is a noble and virtuous attachment, springing from a pure source…”
From our own personal life’s experiences, I’m figuring those reading this know that true friendship is not to be taken lightly. Our Lord feels the same. He will not call friends those who walk contrary to the ways and will of His Father. He tells us in John’s Gospel – “You are My friends if you do what I command you.” (John 15:14) These such friends will be those who share His substance.
This is about inheritance. Being a “co-heir with Christ”, who again, is THE “heir of God.”
Knowing what Jesus has inherited will give us a clearer picture of what it is that His body (hopefully “we”), shall inherit with Him at the end of the age. Only in Him, the Firstborn Son, are we able to obtain that inheritance.
“God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds” – Heb 1:1-2 NKJV “All things”!
Before we continue in Proverbs 8 (which I believe gives a little understanding into our opening passage from Romans 8 & the relationship of Christ to His co-heirs), let’s look at a couple important verses from John -
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. 4 In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.”
- John 1:1-4 NKJV
Another passage, this from the Book of 1st John -
“That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— 2 the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 And these things we write to you that our joy may be full.” – 1John 1:1-4 NKJV
The Word, the Logos, the very expression of God has always existed with the Father. But the Man Jesus, in whom now dwells all the fullness of Deity in bodily form (Col 2:9), did not exist until that first Easter morning when Jesus walked from the tomb. It was on that day that He emerged as the “firstborn from the dead” (Col 1:18, Rev 1:5), and also the “firstborn of all creation” (Col 1:15)
Prior to His birth as a baby, the Word, not yet a physical man - this being who would become Jesus - had been with the Father at the creation of all things. As we’ve studied elsewhere in The Greatest Gift, we find this One sharing His heart further in the Proverb -
"Jehovah (Yahweh) possessed Me in the beginning of His way, Before His works of old.
23 I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, Before the earth was.
24 When there were no depths, I was brought forth (born, begotten), When there were no fountains abounding with water.
25 Before the mountains were settled, Before the hills was I brought forth (begotten);
26 While as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, Nor the beginning of the dust of the world.
27 When He established the heavens, I was there: When He set a circle upon the face of the deep,
28 When He made firm the skies above, When the fountains of the deep became strong,
29 When He gave to the sea its bound, That the waters should not transgress His commandment, When He marked out the foundations of the earth;
30 Then I was by Him, as a master workman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him,
31 Rejoicing in His habitable earth; And My delight was with the sons of men."
- Prov 8:22-31 ASV (NJB)
Friends, I believe by the sixth day of Creation all was finished, up to the New Jerusalem. Remember, Jesus was the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” (Rev 13:8). So in that sense, Jesus was begotten as God’s Son from the beginning. But all still had to be worked out. Here in Proverbs 8, He is still spirit as creation unfolds.
“I was beside Him, a master workman, and I was delighting day by day, rejoicing before Him always.”
– Prov 8:30 LEB
And more than all the wondrous universes, above all the glory of creation, more than any other being, physical or spiritual, (all which had been created through Him as the Word) the Son of God found great delight in man. Seeing the potential and destined end for man, the Son yearned to fellowship with this physical creation.
He rejoiced with God at the creation of the world. And the Father created all things through, and for, His Son (John 1:1-4, Col 1:16). The Son’s delights were with the sons of men. For this reason, the Word would be manifest in the Man Jesus and redeem us. Because Jesus is the Fathers delight, He sought to grant unto Him the desires of His heart. And so the Father prophetically promised His Son –
“I will declare the decree:
The Lord has said to Me,
‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You.
8 Ask of Me, and I will give You
The nations for Your inheritance,
And the ends of the earth for Your possession."
- Psa 2:7-8 NKJV
So the Son asked. And God revealed the process through which this would come to pass. The Son would be tested. He would come to earth, be born of woman, prove Himself through suffering, lay down His will and His life, and be resurrected as the Firstborn of creation.
In the NT we read again that there was a specific day when God called Jesus His Son. I believe this happened when Jesus rose from the dead and received authority over heaven & earth: the physical & spiritual realms.
“For to which of the angels did He ever say:
“You are My Son, Today I have begotten You”?
And again:
“I will be to Him a Father,
And He shall be to Me a Son”?
6 But when He again brings the firstborn into the world, He says:
“Let all the angels of God worship Him.”
- Heb 1:5-6 NKJV
The inheritance of the nations did not come to Christ Jesus because He who possessed them had died, as is usually the case with an “inheritance” here in modern understanding. Jesus received the nations as His inheritance because He had been born into a new Life! And those who follow Him into that New Life, again not by death of God, but by their actual transformation into a new creation, filled with His Life, join Jesus the Firstborn as co-heirs of creation.
In Biblical Greek the words κληρονομέω - kléronomeó (inherit) & κληρονομιας - kléronomia (inheritance) give the understanding of a gift, a reward for obedience to the Father. (Strong’s Greek # 2816 & 2817)
Just as we will receive our eternal lot, our inheritance, based on our obedience to the will of God, so did Jesus.
Oh, there is so much more to this walk with Jesus than we have known in today’s “Christianity.” The call of God is not to ‘be saved from hell and go to heaven when we die’, but rather to fulfill the charge of God to man when He first created them on this earth – “Have dominion, be fruitful and multiply.”
Those who overcome by their obedience to the Father, even to death, as they follow the Lord Jesus in the Way of the Cross, will, as brothers of Christ, receive the promised rewards of Revelation chapters 2 & 3, which include the inheritance of the creation, ruling over the saved nations here on earth, and being salvation to mankind. Now that is something I find great hope in!
And next we will begin looking at that Way which we must take; that same Way our Lord Jesus took… the Way of the Cross.
“If we are to share His glory, we must also share His suffering.” – Rom 8:17 TLB
There is no other way.
Next… INHERITANCE AND SUFFERING