WHAT IS DOUBLE PORTION?

You hear alot of teaching now about getting God's "double portion." What is double portion?

Double portion", in the Old Testament that simply meant the firstborn's inheritance. Let me explain.

Suppose a man had two sons and divided his inheritance amongst them. The firstborn son gets two shares in the inheritance, the younger son gets one share. So the inheritance would actually be divided up into thirds; the eldest gets two thirds and the youngest gets one third. That's what double portion means. The firstborn son would get double what the second son would receive.

But in the New Testament we are "joint heirs with Christ".

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.

So I would say that Jesus already got the double portion (as the firstborn among many - Romans 8:29).

Is our portion equal to Jesus' portion? Depends how you interpret Romans 8:17, if you think co-heir with Christ means you get the same portion, then that is what you would expect. If, however, you take the OT view that the co-heir simply means we get to inherit alongside Jesus, but as firstborn He gets double what we get, then you'd expect Him to get the Double portion.

I think the parable Jesus told in Matthew 25 is more useful: the master of the household gives us talents according to our ability, how we use what we have been given is up to us, developing talents into strengths. And if we do well with it, we get more. So some could end up getting double, or triple or ........

And you can look at it this way.(Eph 3:20) says," Now to Him who is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us,"

Exceedingly, abundantly above is infinity. So double portion is infinity.

But here's a question. If God has infinite resources then what size is a portion of infinity? And is it any different to a double portion? (Answer: a portion of infinity is still infinity. And double infinity is still infinity. That thought makes me want to praise the Lord!)