Tim Keller | February 8, 1998
As a new Christian, I thought of salvation as taking things off of me: that my sins were taken off. But at the very same moment, there’s another part of that legal transaction: something is put on me. I’m adopted as God’s own son.
Galatians tells us that because we’re legally adopted, we have an agent—it’s the Spirit. The Spirit is sent not into the world but into our hearts. And the Spirit comes to give not the objective status, which we already have, but the subjective experience of sonship.
Let’s break it into three things: 1) what is promised, 2) what it’s like, and 3) how it comes.
This Month's Featured Book
In The Prodigal God, Tim Keller examines the way Jesus presents the parable to speak both to those who run from God and to those who try to earn his love by being good. It reveals the heart of the gospel—a message of hope for both the rebellious younger brother and the judgmental older brother, and an invitation for all to experience God’s grace.