A Study in Galatians
Lesson #5 Inheritance (Galatians 3:29 – 4:7)
In the previous lesson we saw the benefits from being in the family of God. Those benefits include an inheritance. In this lesson we are going to look at some of the things that make up our inheritance as well as how we gain our inheritance.
What is an inheritance?
When you think about an inheritance you usually think about something that someone is going to leave you when they die. Therefore is someone has already died then we may already have our inheritance or we may be getting it over time (example trust fund). But the reality is that someone had to think beyond the present to provide an inheritance for someone else.
This is just what Jesus Christ did for us (Hebrews 9:11-15). But note in that verse it says eternal inheritance. We must also realize that while it is nice to have an inheritance in this life, what really matters is an eternal inheritance.
What is our inheritance?
For the saved person in the Church Age, our inheritance is not just one thing or item. Our inheritance can be several different things. For this lesson we will break it down into two parts. The first part we will refer to as Promised Inheritance and the second part we will refer to as an earned inheritance.
1) Promised Inheritance (1 Peter 1:4)
- This inheritance is connected with being saved not works we do after salvation.
- It has to do with the glorified body (Ephesians 1:4-14 ; Romans 8:29)
- Notice that in Galatians we see that the inheritance is connected with promise. When it comes to Abraham he was promise the earth, but the promise seed came through a type of the resurrection (Romans 4:13-25 ; Hebrews 11:17-19)
- Abraham is not in the body of Christ but to inherit the land and live forever he would have to be resurrected and given a spiritual body of some sort.
- We are children of promise just as Isaac according to Galatians 4 and our spiritual body is given to us at the rapture and is referred to as the redemption of the purchased possession (Philippians 3:20-21 ; Ephesians 1:13-14)
- This inheritance is promised to us and is automatically gained with salvation.
2) Earned Inheritance (Colossians 3:17-25)
- This part of our inheritance is an earned reward. It has to do with how we served God after we were saved.
- Suffering is connected with reigning with the Lord Jesus Christ in the Millennium (Romans 8:17 ; 2 Timothy 2:11-13).
- Our position in Jesus Christ is secure but our position and rewards in the Millennial Reign are based upon how we serve. Therefore regarding this part of our inheritance it may change base upon how you serve.
- This is why there are verses in Paul’s writings like Galatians 5:19-21 and 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that talk about us inheriting the Kingdom of God. Spiritually a saved person today is in the Kingdom of God already (Colossians 1:13-14) because they are in the body of Jesus Christ. But when the Kingdom of God comes physically to this earth we can have a position in this kingdom that is referred to as our inheritance.
What can we do now?
If you are not saved then you should consider salvation because it is the only way to receive the promise of eternal life and our glorified body. If you are saved then you should think beyond the present and focus on your eternal inheritance because as we have seen there is a part of this that we must earn and it can only be earned now.
A Study in Galatians
Lesson #6 Inheritance (Galatians 3:29 – 4:7) : Handout
1) What is a good passage in the Bible for showing that there is such a thing as an eternal inheritance?
2) List the two parts of our inheritance that we will study in this lesson.
3) What is the promised inheritance and how do we gain it?
4) What is the earned inheritance and how do we gain it?
5) What should we do regarding our inheritance?