Few truths in the New Testament are more breathtaking, or more neglected, than the Christian’s identity as a coheir with Christ. The apostle Paul writes in Romans 8:17 “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.”
Those words are easy to read quickly. But they deserve to slow us down. Christians are not merely forgiven criminals spared from judgement. We are not merely servants admitted into God’s kingdom. In Christ, believers are adopted into the very family of God and granted a share in the inheritance of the eternal Son himself.
To be a coheir with Christ is one of the highest privileges imaginable. Yet many Christians live as spiritual paupers, unaware of the riches that belong to them in union with Christ.
So what does it actually mean? And why does it matter for ordinary Christian living?
The Glory of Adoption
To understand what it means to be coheirs with Christ, we must first understand adoption.
Paul says in Romans 8:15 “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.”
The gospel does more than change our legal standing before God. It changes our family relationship with God.
Justification answers the question, “How can guilty sinners be declared righteous?” Adoption answers the question, “How can rebels become beloved children?”
The wonder of Christianity is not merely that God tolerates sinners. It is that he brings them home.
J. I. Packer famously wrote that adoption is “the highest privilege that the gospel offers.” He was right. A judge may acquit a criminal without embracing him. But God does both. Through Christ, he pardons us and then welcomes us as sons and daughters.
And if we are children, Paul says, then we are heirs. Inheritance belongs to family.
Christ the True Heir
The language of inheritance runs throughout Scripture.
God promised Abraham an inheritance. Israel inherited the land. David’s royal line inherited the kingdom promises. But all these strands ultimately converge in Christ.
Jesus is the true Son and rightful heir of all things.
Hebrews 1:2 describes the Son as the one “whom he appointed heir of all things.” Everything belongs to Christ by eternal right. The nations belong to him. The kingdom belongs to him. The renewed creation belongs to him. Glory belongs to him.
And here is the astonishing reality of the gospel: believers are united to Christ by faith.
Everything changes once we grasp union with Christ. Christians are not merely helped by Christ from a distance. We are joined to him spiritually and covenantally. What belongs to the Son becomes ours through grace.
His righteousness becomes our righteousness. His Father becomes our Father. His inheritance becomes our inheritance.
Not because we deserve it, but because we are in him.
Imagine a poor orphan being adopted into a royal family. Overnight, their status changes completely. The inheritance is not earned; it is received through relationship.
That is infinitely true for the Christian.
Coheirs—But Never Equals
At this point, we must be careful.
To say believers are coheirs with Christ does not mean we become divine, nor does it mean we become equal with Christ. The Son remains eternally unique. Jesus is the eternal second person of the Trinity, worthy of worship forever.
Our sonship is adoptive; his sonship is eternal.
Yet the New Testament speaks boldly nonetheless, believers truly share in what Christ has secured.
We reign with him (2 Timothy 2:12). We are glorified with him (Romans 8:17). We will inherit the world with him (Matthew 5:5; Romans 4:13). We will even judge angels (1 Corinthians 6:3).
This is not because Christians are impressive. It is because Christ is generous.
What Exactly Is the Christian’s Inheritance?
When many people hear the word inheritance, they instinctively think of material blessing. But the New Testament paints a far richer picture.
1. We Inherit God Himself
The greatest gift of the gospel is not heaven, but God. Again and again, Scripture presents God as the inheritance of his people, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup” (Psalm 16:5).
The Christian’s ultimate joy is not golden streets or reunion with loved ones, wonderful though those things are, our greatest inheritance is unbroken fellowship with the living God. We will see Christ face to face.
2. We Inherit Eternal Life
Titus 3:7 says believers become “heirs having the hope of eternal life.”
Eternal life is not merely endless existence. It is perfected life in the presence of God. No sin. No death. No corruption. No tears. No warfare within.
Every believer knows the frustration of indwelling sin. We long to love Christ more fully than we do. One day that struggle will end forever. The inheritance includes complete holiness.
3. We Inherit the Renewed Creation
Romans 8 ties the believer’s future glory to the renewal of creation itself. The world groans under the curse, but redemption is coming.
Christians are not escaping creation, we are awaiting its restoration.
The meek shall inherit the earth because Christ will reign over a renewed heaven and earth where righteousness dwells.
The future of the Christian is not disembodied floating. It is resurrection life in a glorified creation under the rule of King Jesus.
4. We Inherit Glory
Paul says that if we suffer with Christ, we will also be glorified with him.
That does not mean believers become objects of worship. It means we will share in Christ’s victory, splendour, and perfected humanity.
The battered saint will shine like the sun in the kingdom of the Father. The timid Christian battling doubt today will one day stand radiant in glory.
The inheritance is almost too magnificent for us to comprehend.
The Road to Glory Runs Through Suffering
Romans 8:17 includes an important qualification “If indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
Modern Western Christianity often wants glory without suffering, but the New Testament never offers such a path.
Union with Christ means sharing both in his sufferings and in his triumph. Christ was rejected before he was exalted. The servant is not above his master.
For believers in many parts of the world, this truth is painfully obvious. To follow Jesus may cost family, employment, liberty, or even life itself.
In the West, suffering is often subtler but still real. Faithfulness to Christ may bring ridicule, exclusion, loneliness, or career limitations. Christians increasingly find themselves swimming against the moral current of society.
Romans 8 reminds us that suffering is not evidence that God has abandoned us. Often, it is evidence that we belong to Christ.
And the inheritance awaiting believers far outweighs present trials “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18).
The future inheritance strengthens present endurance.
Why This Doctrine Matters Practically
This is not abstract theology for seminary classrooms alone. The truth that believers are coheirs with Christ transforms everyday Christian living.
1. It Produces Security
An inheritance secured by Christ cannot ultimately be lost.
Peter describes it as “an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade” (1 Peter 1:4).
Christians often fluctuate emotionally. Some days faith feels strong; other days weak. But the believer’s inheritance does not rest on the strength of our grip on Christ, but on his grip on us.
The Father will not disinherit his children.
2. It Produces Humility
No Christian earns this inheritance, it comes entirely through grace. That destroys spiritual pride. There is no room for boasting when everything has been received from another.
The ground is level at the foot of the cross.
3. It Produces Hope
Many believers carry heavy burdens: grief, illness, disappointment, persecution, unanswered prayers, family struggles, hidden sorrows.
The doctrine of inheritance reminds us that this present world is not the final chapter. Christians are future-oriented people. We live in hope because we know what is coming.
The inheritance is certain because Christ himself has already entered glory.
4. It Produces Holiness
Children of the King should increasingly resemble the King. A believer who knows he is destined for glory cannot comfortably make peace with sin. Our future identity shapes present conduct.
As John writes “All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure” (1 John 3:3).
5. It Produces Courage
If believers truly inherit all things with Christ, then worldly loss loses some of its terror. What can this world ultimately take from the Christian?
Reputation? Comfort? Wealth? Even life itself?
The inheritance remains untouched. This truth gave courage to the martyrs, endurance to the Reformers, and perseverance to countless ordinary saints whose names history never records.
Living Like Heirs
Many Christians intellectually affirm these truths while functionally living as though they belong to this passing world.
We become consumed with earthly status, comfort, recognition, possessions, and anxieties. Yet Scripture repeatedly lifts our eyes higher.
You are not merely surviving until heaven. If you belong to Christ, you are an heir of God.
The future kingdom already belongs to your elder Brother and therefore to you in him. This should reshape how we pray, suffer, give, endure, worship, and hope. It should also deepen our amazement at grace.
That rebels should become heirs would already be astonishing. But that sinners should become coheirs with the eternal Son of God is almost beyond comprehension.
And yet this is precisely what the gospel declares. The Father delights to share the riches of his Son with those united to him by faith.
No wonder Paul erupts into praise at the end of Romans 8 “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future… nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
The heirs are safe because they are in the Son, and the Son will never lose what belongs to him.
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