Joint-heirs

Follow the logic Paul lays out, because it ends somewhere astonishing. The Spirit bears witness that you are a child of God. "If children, then heirs: heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ." An heir is someone with a legal claim on an estate. A joint heir does not get a slice carved off; a joint heir holds the whole estate together with the other heir. Whatever belongs to Jesus as the Son now belongs to you with him, because you are in him. You were not born into royalty. You were adopted into it, and the adoption is real.

What is the estate? Ephesians 1 is the inventory. "Every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places." Chosen "before the foundation of the world". Destined "for adoption as his children". Grace "freely bestowed on us in the Beloved". "Redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses." And then, in case you thought all this was for later: "In Christ we have also obtained an inheritance." Obtained. Read it slowly and count. Paul cannot stop listing.

Then the rights that come with the position. You have been moved. God "has rescued us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the kingdom of his beloved Son": you have changed jurisdiction, and the old kingdom has no claim on you. You have access. A slave waits at the door; a son walks in. "Let us therefore approach the throne of grace with boldness" (Hebrews 4:16). You do not need an appointment with your Father. And you have provision. "He who did not withhold his own Son but gave him up for all of us, how will he not with him also give us everything else?" (Romans 8:32). Paul says it plainly to the Philippians: "my God will fully satisfy every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). Your Father is not poor, and he is not stingy. Ask him.

One more thing, and do not skip it. Paul finishes the sentence about joint heirs with a condition: "if we in fact suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him." Royalty in this family is not exemption from hardship. It is sharing the Son's road, which went through a cross before it reached a throne. Which brings us to what royalty is for.