In this
study on adoption, we will look at the
Scriptures, commentary, expository and
confessional sources to gain an understanding
of adoption and its related concepts. There
are important theological ideas that flow from
our gracious adoption by God.
To begin
with, because of our adoption we are sons and
daughters or children of God, and joint heirs
with Christ. The goal of this study, is as
always, to increase our praise and
magnification of God’s glory!
Introductory
definition of Adoption:
An act of
God whereby he makes believers members of his
family and gives them all the privileges of
children of God.*
From Scripture:
“Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of children
by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the
good pleasure of his will, to the praise of
the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made
us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:5-6)
This
passage from Ephesians sets the stage for our
understanding of adoption and its related
teachings about sonship with Christ, being
joint heirs and children of the living God.
Matthew Poole's
Commentary introduces us to the
foundation or cause of the believer’s
adoption:
“Having
predestinated us unto the adoption of
children; having appointed us unto a state of
sonship and right to glory. This seems to be
more than the former, a greater thing to be
the sons of God, and heirs of heaven, than to
be holy.
By Jesus
Christ; as Mediator, and Head of the elect,
and the foundation of all spiritual blessings
vouchsafed them, and so of this relation into
which they are brought, by being united to
him. The adopted children come into that state
by the intervention of the natural Son.
To himself;
either:
1. In
himself, i.e. looking no farther than to
himself for the cause of and motive to his
adopting them. Or:
2. To
himself, (according to our translation), i.e.
to God. Or, rather:
3. For
himself (as the Syriac renders it); God would
have the honour of having many adopted
children that shall all call him Father.
According
to the good pleasure of his will; his
sovereign grace and good will, as the only
spring from which predestination issued, God
being moved to it by nothing out [side] of
himself.” (1)
As Pool
notes, this first passage from Ephesians that
we are looking at, deals with the cause of
adoption. The cause is not within ourselves.
We are adopted as heirs by grace. If the cause
is in us in any way, then there is ground for
false boasting. (See Romans 3:27-28) Boasting
is excluded by the law of faith. And faith is
the gift of God, Ephesians 2:8.
Additional
Scriptures:
“For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the sons of God. For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have
received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we
cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are the
children of God: And if children, then heirs;
heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if
so be that we suffer with him, that we may be
also glorified together.” (Romans 8:14-17)
“Because
the creature itself also shall be delivered
from the bondage of corruption into the
glorious liberty of the children of God.”
(Romans 8:21)
“And
it shall come to pass, that in the place where
it was said unto them, ye are not my people;
there shall they be called the children of the
living God.” (Romans 9:26)
These
passages from Romans speak of believers being
sons of God, our adoption as children of God
and joint heirs with Christ.
“Wherefore
thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if
a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
(Galatians 4:7)
The
expression “heir of God” underscores our
relationship to God the Father, being His
children
MacLaren's
Expositions from Romans
illuminates our understanding of important
terminology that we see in Scripture:
SONS AND
HEIRS
Romans
8:17.
“God
Himself is His greatest gift. The loftiest
blessing which we can receive is that we
should be heirs, possessors of God. There is a
sublime and wonderful mutual possession of
which Scripture speaks much wherein the Lord
is the inheritance of Israel, and Israel is
the inheritance of the Lord. ‘The
Lord
hath taken you to be to Him a people of
inheritance,’ says Moses; ‘Ye
are a people for a possession,’ says
Peter. And, on the other hand, ‘The Lord is the portion of my
inheritance,’ says David; ‘Ye
are heirs of God,’ echoes Paul. On
earth and in heaven the heritage of the
children of the Lord is God Himself, inasmuch
as He is with them for their delight, in them
to make them ‘partakers
of the divine nature,’ and for them
in all His attributes and actions.
This being
clearly understood at the outset, we shall be
prepared to follow the Apostle’s course of
thought while he points out the conditions
upon which the possession of that inheritance
depends. It is children of God who are heirs
of God. It is by union with Christ Jesus, the
Son, to whom the inheritance belongs, that
they who believe on His name receive power to
become the sons of God, and with that power
the possession of the inheritance. Thus, then,
in this condensed utterance of the text there
appear a series of thoughts which may perhaps
be more fully unfolded in some such manner as
the following, that there is no inheritance
without sonship, that there is no sonship
without a spiritual birth, that there is no
spiritual birth without Christ, and that there
is no Christ for us without faith.” (2)
In Galatians, the
apostle re-emphasizes:
“For ye are
all the children of God by faith in Christ
Jesus.” (Galatians 3:26)
In the Psalms we see
another aspect of the Father’s graciousness:
“Like as a
father pitieth his children, so the LORD
pitieth them that fear him.” (Psalms 103:13)
Barnes' Notes on
the Bible explains more about
the Father and His compassion for them that
fear Him:
“Like as a
father pitieth his children - Hebrew, “Like
the compassion of a father for his children.”
See the notes at Matthew 7:7-11. God often
compares himself with a father, and it is by
carrying out our ideas of what enters into the
parental character that we get our best
conceptions of the character of God. See the
notes at Matthew 6:9. That which is referred
to here, is the natural affection of the
parent for the child; the tender love which is
borne by the parent for his offspring; the
disposition to care for its needs; the
readiness to forgive when an offence has been
committed. Compare Luke 15:22-24. Such, in an
infinitely higher degree, is the compassion -
the kindness - which God has for those that
love him.
So the Lord
pitieth them that fear him - He has compassion
on them. He exercises toward them the paternal
feeling.” (3)
Accompanying
Scriptures:
“That ye
may be blameless and harmless, the sons of
God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked
and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as
lights in the world.” (Philippians 2:15)
Paul in
Philippians, speaks of our calling as sons of
God to be witnesses of His grace by being
“lights in the world.”
“That being
justified by his grace, we should be made
heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
(Titus 3:7)
This next passage
from 1st John certainly
encapsulates or summarizes the previous
passages of Scripture we have consulted so
far as a summary:
“Behold,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of
God: therefore the world knoweth us not,
because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we
the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear
what we shall be: but we know that, when he
shall appear, we shall be like him; for we
shall see him as he is.” (1 John 3:1-2)
Digging Deeper into
the Greek:
Adoption from Vine’s
Expository Dictionary of New Testament
Words:
HUIOTHESI,
huiothesia from huios,
a son," and thesis, “a placing,” akin to tithemi,
“to place,” signifies the place and condition
of a son given to one to whom it does not
naturally belong. The word is used by the
Apostle Paul only.
In Romans 8:15, believers are said to have
received “the Spirit of adoption,” that is,
the Holy Spirit who, given as the Firstfruits
of all that is to be theirs, produces in them
the realization of sonship and the attitude
belonging to sons. In Galatians 4:5 they are
said to receive “the adoption of sons,” i.e.,
sonship bestowed in distinction from a
relationship consequent merely upon birth;
here two contrasts are presented,
(1) between the sonship of the believer and
the unoriginated sonship of Christ,
(2) between the freedom enjoyed by the
believer and bondage, whether of Gentile
natural condition, or of Israel under the Law.
In Ephesians 1:5 they are said to have been
foreordained unto “adoption as sons” through
Jesus Christ, RV; the AV, “adoption of
children” is a mistranslation and misleading.
God does not “adopt” believers as children;
they are begotten as such by His Holy Spirit
through faith. “Adoption” is a term involving
the dignity of the relationship of believers
as sons; it is not a putting into the family
by spiritual birth, but a putting into the
position of sons. In Romans 8:23 the
"adoption" of the believer is set forth as
still future, as it there includes the
redemption of the body, when the living will
be changed and those who have fallen asleep
will be raised. In Romans 9:4 “adoption” is
spoken of as belonging to Israel, in
accordance with the statement in Exodus 4:12,
“Israel is My Son.” Cp. Hosea 11:1. Israel was
brought into a special relation with God, a
collective relationship, not enjoyed by other
nations, Deuteronomy 14:1; Jeremiah 31:9, etc.
(4)
An exquisite
commentary on Adoption from Redemption
Accomplished
and Applied, by John Murray:
“Adoption
is an act of God's grace distinct from and
additional to the other acts of grace involved
in the application of redemption. It might
seem quite unnecessary to say this. Does not
the term itself and the specific meaning which
attaches to it clearly imply its
distinctiveness? Yet it is not superfluous to
emphasize the fact that it is a distinct act
carrying with it its own peculiar privileges.
It is particularly important to remember that
it is not the same as justification or
regeneration. Too frequently it has been
regarded as simply an aspect of justification
or as another way of stating the privilege
conferred by regeneration. It is much more
than either or both of these acts of grace….
Adoption,
as the term clearly implies, is an act of
transfer from an alien family into the family
of God himself. This is surely the apex of
grace and privilege. We would not dare to
conceive of such grace far less to claim it
apart from God's own revelation and assurance.
It staggers imagination because of its amazing
condescension and love. The Spirit alone could
be the seal of it in our hearts. “Eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into
the heart of man, the things which God hath
prepared for them that love him. But God hath
revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the
Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God” (1 Cor. 2:9, 10). It is only as
there is the conjunction of the witness of
revelation and the inward witness of the
Spirit in our hearts that we are able to scale
this pinnacle of faith and say with filial
confidence and love, Abba Father.
Adoption is
concerned with the fatherhood of God in
relation to men. When we think of God's
fatherhood it is necessary to make certain
distinctions. There is, first of all, God's
fatherhood which is exclusively trinitarian,
the fatherhood of the Father, the first person
of the trinity, in relation to the Son, the
second person. This applies only to God the
Father in his eternal and necessary relation
to the Son and to the Son alone. It is unique
and exclusive. No one else, not even the Holy
Spirit, is the Son in this sense. It does not
apply to angels or men. In modern theology it
is sometimes said that men by adoption come to
share in Christ's Sonship and thus enter into
the divine life of the trinity. This is grave
confusion and error. The eternal Son of God is
the only-begotten and no one shares in his
Sonship, just as God the Father is not the
Father of any other in the sense in which he
is the Father of the only-begotten and eternal
Son.” (5)
Note: John Murray was a
founder of Westminster Theological Seminary,
where he taught for many years. His books
include, the four-volume Collected Writings, a
commentary on the Epistle to the Romans,
Redemption Accomplished and Applied,
Principles of Conduct, The Imputation of
Adam's Sin, Baptism, and Divorce.
Now for a
final summary on adoption from the Westminster
Confession of Faith and Shorter
Catechism.
Westminster
Confession of Faith, Chapter XII. Of
Adoption
Section 1.)
All those that are justified, God vouchsafeth,
in and for His only Son Jesus Christ, to make
partakers of the grace of adoption:(1) by
which they are taken into the number, and
enjoy the liberties and privileges of the
children of God;(2) have His name put upon
them,(3) receive the Spirit of adoption;(4)
have access to the throne of grace with
boldness;(5) are enabled to cry, Abba,
Father;(6) are pitied,(7) protected,(8)
provided for,(9) and chastened by Him as by a
Father;(10) yet never cast off,(11) but sealed
to the day of redemption,(12) and inherit the
promises,(13) as heirs of everlasting
salvation.(14)
(1) Eph
1:5; Gal 4:4, 5. (2) Ro 8:17; Jn 1:12. (3) Jer
14:9; 2Co 6:18; Rev 3:12. (4) Ro 8:15. (5) Eph
3:12; Ro 5:2. (6) Gal 4:6. (7) Ps 103:13. (8)
Pr 14:26. (9) Mt 6:30, 32; 1Pe 5:7. (10) Heb
12:6. (11) La 3:31. (12) Eph 4:30. (13) Heb
6:12. (14) 1Pe 1:3, 4; Heb 1:14.
Westminster Shorter
Catechism
Question 34
Q: What is
adoption?
A: Adoption
is an act of God's free grace, (1)
whereby we are received into the number, and
have a right to all the privileges of the sons
of God. (2)
(1) 1
John 3:1. Behold, what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should
be called the sons of God: therefore the world
knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
(2)
John 1:12. But as many as received him, to
them gave he power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on his name. Romans
8:17. And if children, then heirs; heirs of
God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be
that we suffer with him, that we may be also
glorified together.
Closing comments:
The goal of
this study is to help us magnify the Lord God
for his marvelous grace that made us children
of God through no merit of our own. It is my
prayer that this goal has been attained.
“Study to
shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that
needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing
the word of truth.” (2 Timothy 2:15)
Notes:
1.Matthew Poole's
Commentary on the Holy Bible, (Peabody,
Massachusetts, Hendrickson Publishers,
reprinted, 1985) p. 663.
2.Alexander MacLaren, MacLaren's
Expositions of the Holy Scriptures, Romans,
Vol. 13, (Grand Rapids, Michigan, Baker
Publishing, reprinted 1988), p. 133.
3.Albert Barnes, THE AGES
DIGITAL LIBRARYCOMMENTARY, Barnes’
Notes on the Bible, Psalms, p. 1614.
4.W. E. Vine, An
Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words,
(Iowa Falls, Iowa, Riverside Book and Bible
House), pp. 23-24.
5.John Murray, Redemption
Accomplished and Applied, (Grand Rapids,
Michigan, Wm. B. Eerdmans. 1955), pp. 132,
134.
“Not
by works of righteousness which we have done,
but according to his mercy he saved us, by the
washing of regeneration, and renewing of the
Holy Ghost.” (Titus 3:5)
“To God
only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ
forever. Amen.” (Romans 16:27) and “heirs
according to the promise.” (Galatians 3:28,
29)
Mr. Kettler
has previously published articles in the Chalcedon
Report and Contra
Mundum. He and his wife Marea attend the
Westminster, CO, RPCNA Church. Mr. Kettler is
the author of the book defending the Reformed
Faith against attacks, titled: The
Religion That Started in a Hat.
Available at:
www.TheReligionThatStartedInAHat.com
For more study:
* For a
great source of theological definitions go to
Rebecca writes at: Rebecca Writes:
http://www.rebecca-writes.com/theological-terms-in-ao/
Adoption by Robery Murray
M'Cheynehttps://www.monergism.com/adoption
The Work of the
Spirit as the Spirit of Adoption by James Buchanan
https://www.monergism.com/work-spirit-spirit-adoption