The Believer’s Inheritance in the New Testament

Believers in Christ are adopted into God’s family and are heirs of a rich eternal inheritance. What is this inheritance, how and when do we receive it, and how is it preserved for us?

What is an inheritance?

An inheritance is what parents leave their children after they die. It usually consists of property, money, or investments, but can be any tangible asset. A will is a written document that gives specific instructions as to what should be done with a person’s property after they die, including any inheritance due to the rightful heirs.

In the Bible, inheritance is a general term for something to be received from God through a promise. But the word is used in different contexts. God promised the Israelites a land to live in, calling it “Israel’s inheritance” (Exodus 32:13). In the Old Testament, God’s people are called the Lord’s inheritance (Deuteronomy 32:9) because of his own promise to redeem them. And the Messiah will possess the nations as his inheritance (Psalm 2:8). The apostle Paul once called our reward for service to Christ an inheritance (Colossians 3:24).

The believer’s eternal inheritance

But in the New Testament God promises the believer in Christ an eternal inheritance, much more valuable than land or possessions:

… Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.  (Hebrews 9:15)

In this context, inheritance is the term the New Testament writers used for the full and complete salvation promised to every believer, with an emphasis on its future fulfillment. The elements of salvation that we enjoy now in this life include forgiveness, reconciliation with God, and the presence and power of the Holy Spirit. But there is much more awaiting those who trust in Christ.

Paul had special insight into the great riches and glory that God will give those who believe in Christ. He wanted all believers to understand the extent of that glory and just how precious is the inheritance God has promised:

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. (Ephesians 1:18-19)

Co-heirs with Christ

As God’s Messiah, Jesus Christ is the source of all of his blessings. Jesus received “all things” (everything of eternal value) as an inheritance from the Father (Hebrews 1:2). And he wanted to share his inheritance with us! To start this process, he gave his Spirit to all who trust in him:

The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.  And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 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: 15-17)

Christ’s death and resurrection provided a new basis for a relationship with God, that God might adopt us as his sons and daughters. And since Christ is our Savior, he is also our Co-heir. He is the One who gives us access to all the Father has promised. What Christ accomplished in his death and resurrection God now applies to us because we are in him. What he experienced in his body is now true of us, and his future is also our future.

As God’s children, we now share in Christ’s sufferings in this world. But in the future, we will share in his glory as we receive our full inheritance. The believer’s inheritance thus consists of all the blessings that come with belonging to God’s family.

Adoption to sonship

In Ephesians Paul wrote that God’s sovereign plan guarantees our eternal inheritance:

In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will… (Ephesians 1:4-5)

Contrary to popular belief, predestined in this passage has nothing to do with God choosing some people for salvation. It refers to God’s predetermined plan (similar to a written will) that those who believe in Christ would be adopted as his sons and daughters and receive an eternal inheritance along with Christ.

If our sonship is guaranteed, then so is our inheritance. Children are the legal owners of an inheritance if their names are on the will. And no one except the owner who wrote the will (the testator) can erase their names from it.

A major outcome of our adoption is sharing in Christ’s glory and being transformed into his likeness. This is the destiny of all God’s people:

For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. (Romans 8:29)

Because Jesus rose from the dead, he is the firstborn among all God’s glorified sons and daughters. He will lead God’s people into their appointed destiny, that of being like him.

Waiting for the full benefits of sonship

An heir can’t fully enjoy their inheritance while they are still children. In the same way, God has already settled the believers’ adoption, and they have full rights as his sons and daughters. But they are not yet enjoying the full benefits of their status.

They are the rightful heirs, but they haven’t yet received all God has promised. They are waiting for the completion of their salvation so they can take their permanent place in God’s family and fulfill their role in God’s eternal kingdom. Then, they will no longer be underage heirs, but “adults” now able to fully enjoy their eternal inheritance. Even God’s creation is waiting for this event to occur:

The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.  (Romans 8:19)

 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies.  (Romans 8:23)

What is everyone waiting for? The redemption and transformation of our bodies, when God resurrects us into Christ’s image and form. We will remain unique individuals, but now with a glorified body like that of Jesus.

Inheritance given as a gift

An inheritance is not earned but promised. If earned, it wouldn’t be enforced by a will, but by an agreement or contract requiring the heir to perform work. In the same way, God promises the believer’s eternal inheritance as a gift and not the result of their performance.

For this reason, we shouldn’t confuse it with the rewards given to believers for their faithful service to Christ (Matthew 19:27-29 and Ephesians 6:8). Rewards will vary depending on our service and obedience to Christ’s commands (Luke 19:11-19). But God promises the eternal inheritance to all believers.

Also, this inheritance doesn’t depend on keeping the law of Moses. The blessings of the Mosaic law come to those who obey it and not by an unconditional promise:

For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.  (Galatians 3:18)

God promised an eternal inheritance to Abraham because of his faith. Now, the blessings of this same inheritance come to those who have faith in Christ after the pattern of Abraham’s faith.

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29)

So, all who have faith in Christ are Abraham’s spiritual descendants. They are heirs of the inheritance God promised to Abraham and his descendants and now given through Christ.

No longer slaves but heirs

An heir can’t take possession of an inheritance until they come of age. If the parent dies before that happens, an administrator manages the trust and the distribution of the wealth. As Paul explained in Galatians:

…. as long as an heir is underage, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father.  (Galatians 4:1-2)

In the Roman world an underage child was no higher than a slave. And a slave was frequently the child’s tutor and guardian (paidagogos in Greek).

God carries out his plan

But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. (Galatians 4:4-5)

Here Paul is speaking of how God’s plan came about historically. Before Christ came, the Jews were under the oversite and judgment of the Mosaic law. And the Gentiles were under the management and judgment of God’s moral law as revealed by conscience. Those under God’s law are like children in a household that are no better off than slaves. And we all were once “slaves” to God’s law, managed and condemned by it because of our sin, both Jews and Gentiles.

But then to redeem us, God sent his Son into the world under the same conditions as the rest of humanity, except without sin. We who trust in him and his saving work are no longer slaves to sin. God doesn’t judge and condemn us by his law because we are now his beloved children.

Thus, by his act of mercy God changed our status from slaves to sons. We are his sons and daughters because we have God’s Spirit, his very nature living in us. And now as God’s children we are heirs of all his promised blessings.

Down payment for the believer’s inheritance

What’s the proof that God will give us our promised eternal inheritance? The indwelling Holy Spirit:

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.  (Ephesians 1:13-14)

We were “included in Christ” when we believed the gospel, and now our destiny is bound up in Christ. God gives the Holy Spirit to everyone who has faith in his Son Jesus Christ as a “deposit guaranteeing our inheritance.” This is like a partial payment, guaranteeing that God will make good on his promise to finish his redeeming work in us.

Our eternal inheritance safely guarded in heaven

Finally, the apostle Peter wrote how the believer’s inheritance is safe from spoilage or theft:

 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade. This inheritance is kept in heaven for you…   (1 Peter 1:3-4)

God has already prepared our inheritance. And he keeps it safe for us in heaven until the final day when he reveals it to us.

Transformed at Christ’s return

Our full salvation is waiting for us, but we don’t yet know everything that it will consist of:

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! ….. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.  (1 John 3:1-2)

But we know that at Christ’s coming he will transform us into his likeness, and then we’ll be complete.

… when completeness comes, what is in part disappears. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. (1 Corinthians 13:10-12)

Children have a very limited view of life and of the future. And so it is with us in this present life—our view of God’s promised heavenly blessings is now clouded by a myriad of earthly cares and concerns. And our thinking reflects our immature condition and narrow focus. But when we become adults, we will see Christ as he is, face to face. Then we will know God fully and understand and enjoy the vast and incomparable riches of our inheritance.

Unsurpassed glory

None of us know just how glorious coming into our eternal inheritance will be. But it will include heavenly blessings not yet described or even imagined:

However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him…   (1 Corinthians 2:9)    

What God has promised, he will fulfill!

Christ in Scripture is listed on Feedspot Top 200 Christian Blogs.