SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD. WE REALLY ARE

Gregory of Nazianzus wrote "What He was, He laid aside; what He was not, He assumed. He takes upon Himself the poverty of my flesh so that I may receive the riches of His divinity." 
 
How do human beings get to be the sons and daughters of God?
 
HOW
 
This is a summary of the achievements of Jesus for us. It’s what happened when God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself.
 
“Jesus holds the “keys” that symbolize his victory over death and the grave (Revelation 1:17-18). On the cross, Jesus defeats Satan and “sets us free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). On Easter Sunday, the Son of God defeats death when he rises from the grave. The resurrection from the dead proves that Jesus is the true Son of God, who came to take away the sin of the world and bring us home to the Father.” (1)
 
YOU AND I ARE INCLUDED IN THE DIVINE EMBRACE
 
Jesus in His Person takes away the sin of the world. He sets us free from the law of sin and death which is Adam’s knowledge of good and evil and the law of Moses. He brings us home to the Father. God in the person of Jesus Christ, reaches into earth and enfolds humanity in God. Jesus achieves the kind of oneness for us that He has with His Father. The law of sin and death was the expression of Adamic knowledge of good and evil that Moses ministered to the Hebrews. But it was not the end point of God’s Grace as Jesus Christ. It was a prelude. This grace involved the completion of the incarnation. First the Son came as a man. Second the Son comes by the Spirit in every woman/man.
 
THE CORE OF ‘IN THE SPIRIT’ IS RECONCILIATION
 
The tongues and the gifts that came at Pentecost were not ‘just gifts’ to be amazed about. They were the sign of the inauguration of the Kingdom of God among men and women by the Holy Spirit representing Christ our life. Thus, to mistakenly think of the ‘Spirit’ as ‘the gifts’ is a serious reduction in the meaning of life in the Spirit. Life in the Spirit is not primarily life in the gifts. Life in the Spirit of Christ is Christ our life – Christ incarnated in our being. Life in the Spirit is the reconciliation wrought by Christ made real in us in the Everyday.
 
DEATH UNDONE
 
Athanasius wrote, “The body of the Word, then, being a real human body, in spite of its having been uniquely formed from a virgin, was of itself mortal and, like other bodies, liable to death. But the indwelling of the Word loosed it from this natural liability, so that corruption could not touch it. Thus is happened that two opposite marvels took place at once: the death of all was consummated in the Lord's body; yet, because the Word was in it, death and corruption were in the same act utterly abolished.” 
 
When Jesus rose from the grave infinite life rose in Him to enter you  by Christ coming in your flesh.
 
IN THE SON YOU ARE SONSS
 
Irenaeus wrote, "Jesus Christ, in His infinite love, has become what we are, in order that He may make us entirely what He is."
 
The main manifestation of the Spirit is Christ expressed as you. The result of this may be seen in a progressive healing of the soul, a driving out of sin and the expression of Christ in your persona – which we call Christ our life. Yet this is not merely life as in the opposite to death. In Christ our life our being is filled with the infinite life that God is,  in person. The gifts can amaze you. But the incarnation will nurture,  sustain you and train you in the Spirit of Sonship.
 
(1) Davis, Martin M.. The Christian Doctrine of God. AsiAfrica Ministries, Inc.. Kindle Edition.