“Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings that we may also share in his glory.” (Romans 8:17)

A classic dramatic scene: the reading of the will.  Sometimes it’s the arrival of a completely unexpected letter: “Your [distant relative] died and left everything to you!”  Sometimes it turns out that the inheritance isn’t much of anything, and hopes are dashed. Sometimes, there’s so much that family warfare breaks out, everyone jockeying for the largest possible piece of the pie.

Paul often uses inheritance language, but always with important differences from how we tend to think about such things.  Notice how Paul identifies his audience: they are brothers and sisters … that means they have one Father.  And they have a marvelous Elder Brother, Jesus.  In Christ, we are children of God and siblings together in Christ, and with Christ.

That means we’re heirs.  Notice how Paul puts it: heirs of God and co-heirs withChrist.  God the Father does not parcel out his estate, giving more to some, less to others.  There is one and only one inheritance, and every single one of God’s children is heir to it.  That inheritance is captured in one word, glory.  God’s inheritance is God’s glory, and the glory of God is a shorthand for all who God is.  God’s glory is God’s splendor, magnificence, and radiance; it is all of God’s beauty, holiness, righteousness, justice and goodness; it is God’s life, God’s love, God’s peace and joy, God’s bounteous generosity, lavish grace, unbounded kindness, and so much more beyond human thought or language.

And where is that one inheritance located; where is it to be found?  In Christ.  Jesus is both the what of our inheritance and the how: as the Firstborn Son, all that is Father’s is his.  So our inheritance is Christ himself and is given to us in Christ.  With him, we are heirs of God; in him, we are co-heirs, receiving all that he is and has.

There is an “if,” and we must not skip past it: “If we share in his sufferings.”  God’s family is a suffering family in the here and now.  No, not the sufferings caused by abuse of power, manipulation, pride, greed, and everything that belongs to our pre-Christ, apart-from-Christ lives.  

But if we are Christ’s brothers and sisters, members of Father’s one family, then our Elder Brother is our Way. Through his suffering and death, he came into his inheritance, an inheritance he now shares with all who are his. Because Father’s Creation is still so very out-of-joint, to keep company with our Elder Brother on the way into our inheritance will bring us into the company of his sufferings.  We are not paying for anything; we are not earning or deserving of our inheritance because of our sufferings.  Instead, when we are called upon to suffer in some way because of our allegiance to Jesus, we’re simply showing that we are family in him, together with one another.  Heirs of God, co-heirs with Christ.

What are some ways in which suffering with or for Christ prepares us to share in his glory?

To read or re-read the overview/summary of this week’s passage, you can click here.