A right understanding of what it means to be an heir with Christ can deepen our love for Christ and radically motivate us to seek transformation by His Spirit.
A wrong understanding can actually take our focus off Christ and lead us down a pathway of self-effort into massive frustration and despair.
We must study this topic carefully, in context, to understand the meaning for us in this life, what benefits of our inheritance are accessible now, and what awaits us in the future.
What Is an Heir?
The Baker Encyclopedia of the Bible defines the word heir as “one who inherits something or who is entitled to a future inheritance.” In the Old Testament, the firstborn child was entitled to receive a double share of the inheritance upon the death of the parent.
This privilege was called the birthright. In the New Testament, the term firstborn is often used in reference to Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29). Believers in Jesus are like younger siblings who are promised a share in the inheritance.
Who Is an Heir?
All believers, both men and women, become God’s children and heirs through faith in Christ.
In Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise (Galatians 3:26-29).
In the context of this passage and the rest of Scripture, this faith is not mere head knowledge, but an identification with Christ that results in obedient actions. In the immediate context, a reference is made to baptism (Galatians 3:27).
Water baptism is a powerful outward symbol of an internal reality (1 Peter 3:21), the spiritual baptism that occurs when a person is born again by the Holy Spirit (John 3:3-8).
The expectation is that those who belong to Christ and are filled with the Holy Spirit will put off the sins of the flesh and live a new life in Christ (Galatians 5:16-24).
There is a warning that those who engage in the works of the flesh will not receive an inheritance in the kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21).
John says this is how we can know who is a child of God: “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning…by this it is evident who are the children of God…whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God…” (1 John 3:8-10, ESV).
What Is Our Inheritance?
Our inheritance is future glory with Christ (Romans 8:17), including all the rewards promised to us for eternity. This inheritance is described in 1 Peter 1:4 (ESV) as “imperishable, undefiled, and unfading.”
In our glorious future, there will be no more death, crying, or pain (Revelation 21:4), but only joy and pleasure forever in God’s presence (Psalm 16:11). The things that God has prepared for those who love Him will eclipse even the wildest imagination (1 Corinthians 2:9).
An aspect of this inheritance includes Christ giving some of his authority to believers to rule and reign with Him (Revelation 3:21, 20:4; 1 Corinthians 6:3).
In his commentary on Romans, F. F. Bruce comments: “Something of the glory is already visible.” He discusses how Paul describes the church as the place where “the manifold wisdom of God” is being made known “to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly realms” (Ephesians 3:10).
However, this picture of God’s glory is “limited and distorted,” but “will be seen in perfection when the people of God, at last, attain the goal which he has ever had in view for them — complete conformity to his glorified Son.”
When Do We Have Access to All the Benefits?
Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory (Romans 8:17).
Some popular teachers twist Romans 8:17 and other passages to say that because we are heirs, we have access right now to perfect health or vast resources of wealth and we simply need to have enough faith to make this our reality.
However, Romans 8:17 contains an important if that should not be missed: “if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
The remainder of the chapter describes the present sufferings that believers must endure in this life as we “wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies” (Romans 8:23).
In their commentary on Romans, Boa & Kruidenier comment on Romans 8:17: “The NIV’s if indeed is not a condition in the Greek text, but rather a fact — adopted coheirs share in all the inheritance of the son. If suffering is the son’s portion, then it will likewise be the portion of the adopted coheirs.”
God’s plan is to conform all of His children to the image of his Son so that we might be glorified with Him (Romans 8:17,29-30). L. Morris comments: “We suffer in order that we may also share in his glory. The path of suffering is the path to glory.” In another place, Paul writes, “if we endure, we will also reign with him” (2 Timothy 2:12, emphasis mine).
Paul describes many spiritual blessings available to believers but also includes this clarification regarding access to our inheritance: “Until we acquire possession of it” (Ephesians 1:14, ESV, emphasis mine).
We do not have full possession of our inheritance right now. Paul understood that his goal in this life was to “know Christ — yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death” (Philippians 3:10, emphasis mine).
Peter says our future inheritance is “kept in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). He then talks about the various trials that we may have to suffer that prove the genuineness of our faith and prepare us for the day when Jesus Christ is revealed.
Peter wrote about the believer’s hope in this life as being full of love for Jesus, not earthly benefits:
Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the end result of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:8-9)
Why Does This Matter?
We have been promised suffering in this life as God conforms us to the image of Christ and we will constantly be frustrated with reality if we think we should have full access to all the benefits of our inheritance right now.
Many false teachings try to subtly move our hope away from Christ and on to temporal, worldly desires. Hope is one aspect of our inheritance that we have full possession of right now. Peter says we have been “born again to a living hope” (1 Peter 1:3, ESV).
There is actually a connection between suffering and hope. Romans 5:3-4 talks about how suffering produces endurance, which produces character, which produces hope. This hope sustains us through the trials of this life and, also, helps to sanctify us for future glory. “Everyone who thus hopes in Him purifies himself” (1 John 3:3, ESV).
In his commentary, C. G. Kruse comments on this text: “The hope of being like Christ in the future expresses itself in an effort to purify oneself to be like him in the present.”
Paul prays for the believers in Ephesus that they would be given spiritual understanding to know this hope (Ephesians 1:18). Colossians 1:27 says, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”
When we believe the revealed truths about present suffering, our hope actually increases because we see that God is true, His promises are true, His Word aligns with our reality, and we have greater hope for the future promises that He has given us.
Other benefits of our inheritance that are available right now include peace with God (Romans 5:1), forgiveness for all of our sins through the cleansing blood of Christ (Ephesians 1:7-8), the gift of the Holy Spirit who is the guarantee of our future inheritance (Ephesians 1:13-14), the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:4), spiritual gifts (Romans 12:4-8), and the Word of God (2 Timothy 3:14-17).
Considering all of these present benefits and our future hope, we can say with the Psalmist: “You alone are my portion and my cup…surely I have a delightful inheritance” (Psalm 16:5-6).
To live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).
For further reading:
What Is Heaven Like According to the Bible?
What Does it Mean to Be a Daughter of Christ?
What Does it Mean to be a Child of God as an Adult?
How Did Jesus Interact with Children? Meaning and Significance
What Is the Meaning of the Body of Christ?
What Did Jesus Mean That We Will Have Trouble in This World?
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