In this episode we look at a key concept in the New Testament about what it means from someone to be your "father", and what it means to be their "son" or "daughter". Because the blessing of Abraham is said to be located both "in" Abraham and in his "seed", it was common for Jewish people in Paul's day to claim the blessing of Abraham by virtue of their physical descent from Abraham (lineage), and their physical circumcision (law). But Paul pushes back on this way of reasoning. For Paul, claiming someone as your father requires you to somehow resemble them (likeness). And when it comes to righteousness, the story of Abraham reveals that righteousness was given to Abraham because of his trust in God's promise, which took place before he was circumcised. And because Abraham was made righteous in this way, both Jews and Gentiles can be like Abraham in being justified by faith, too. In other words, both Jews and Gentiles can claim Abraham as their father because both Jews and Gentiles are made righteous like Abraham - by faith. 
This connection between "son-ship" and "likeness" is developed further in Romans 6-9 where Paul not only connects Jesus resurrection with the glory of the Father (6:1-4), which amounts to a more extended explanation of Paul's statement in 1:1-5 where he says Jesus was declared to be the Son of God through the resurrection from the dead, but also in our own adoption as children of God having the larger goal of our transformation into the image of God's Son (8:29). In the same way that having Abraham as our father implies we arr made righteous in the same he was made righteous, having God as our Father implies we will be made "righteous" the same way Christ made righteous, which necessitates us being raised form the dead like him (4:23-25; 8:15-24). 
Being a "son" or "daughter" of God, then, means more than just changing out status. That is only the beginning. Having God as our Father means we are destined to become like the Son in his new humanity, and that transformation starts now (Romans 12:1-2). 
Key passages
Romans 4:9-12
Romans 6:1-4 - it says Jesus was raised form the dead by the "glory of the Father." Notice resurrection form the dead is being framed around the fatherhood of God, and therefore the Son-ship of Jesus. This is correlation between resurrection and Son-ship is directly related to the Messianic expectation that God's son would rule over Israel's enemies. For Paul, the list of Israel's (and by extension humanity's) enemies is larger than just a domestic or foreign military. In Romans Paul's list of enemies reaches all the way into our own human nature where the powers of sin and death have reigned (Romans 5-8). Jesus' resurrection establishes him as the Son of God because in his resurrected state, he has exercised dominion over the power of sin and death, and now shares in the fullness of God's glory (immortality). 
Romans 8:15-24 - Our own adoption is both an already (8:15-17), but not yet (8:18-24) affair because we have already been united with Christ by the Spirit and adopted into the family of God, but due to our mortal bodies we have yet to be fully like the Father in our human nature. That full likeness with the Father will come about, as it did with Jesus, at our bodily resurrection, which is why Paul speaks about our resurrection as an adoption - or birthing - of sorts. In that sense, the full implications of our current adoption are waiting to be "revealed" at the resurrection. 

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* Intro Music: "Admirable" Carlos Herrera Music

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