ADOPTION

 

Gal. 4:5-7

Regeneration begins the new life in the soul when it is born again by the Spirit. Although it has legal connotations, adoption is distinguished from justification. Justification deals with the new attitude of God towards that soul. Adoption admits a person into the family of God. Regeneration is a changed nature; justification is a changed standing; sanctification is a changed character; while adoption is a changed position. In regeneration the believer becomes a child of God; in adoption that child receives the position of an adult son. Adoption is our growing up into Christ and occupying our new position.

The Greek word translated adoption is huiothesia which means literally "to place as a son", and it occurs only five times in the New Testament (Rom. 8:15, 23; 9:4; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5). In other words to formally and legally declare that someone who is not one’s own child is henceforth to be treated and cared for as one’s own child, including complete rights of inheritance.

The adopted child lost all rights and privileges in his old family and gained all the rights of a legitimate son in his new family. He got a new father, and he became the heir to his new father’s estate. He became co-heir with the other sons. In the eyes of the law the old life was completely wiped out. All debts were completely cancelled. He was absolutely the son of his new father. It was carried out in the presence of seven witnesses.

Adoption clearly indicates that a believer is a member of God’s family. In the Roman culture, the adopted child had four major changes: a change of family, a change of name, a change of home, and a change of responsibilities. The word "adoption" only appears in the Epistles and it's use emphasizes that salvation is permanent for the believer.

Why does the Word of God use the word “adoption.” It would seem that birth would be much better than adoption. The Romans recognized that when a baby was born, “you got what you got,” whether you liked it or not. Thus, according to Roman law, a naturally born baby could be disowned from the family. However, people adopting a child knew exactly what they were getting, and no one adopted a child unless that specific child was wanted as a family member, so according to law an adopted child could not be disowned. They were permanently added to the family. Many of the believers were Roman citizens, and using the word “adoption” was one of God’s ways to let the believers know that He chose the children brought into His family, and they could not be taken from it. It is remarkable that an adopted child could have a stronger position than the son by birth.

Roman customs and laws differed from those of the Jews, and it is by understanding Jewish laws and customs that we see why “birth” is used in Peter and James, and “adoption” is used in Romans, Galatians, and Ephesians. Among the Jews, adoption had no importance, and hardly any existence. The perpetuity of the family, when a man died childless, was secured in another way, via the levirate. The levirate was the law stating that if a man died childless, his wife was to marry the man’s brother, and then her oldest son would be counted as the child of the dead man and carry his name (Deut. 25:5-10; Mark 12:18-27). Only sons by blood were esteemed in the Hebrew view.

God made salvation permanent for the believers, which was very different from before the Church started. He communicated this message to His Church, which is composed of both Jews and Gentiles. When a Jew or Gentile believes, they do not lose their nationality, but in God’s eyes is now a believer, a new creation. In Scripture this has a distinctively Jewish flavor, because birth and genealogy were very important to the Jews. They would immediately understand that a child “born” into God’s family was a permanent member of His family.

We do not have to wait until we have been one or ten years in the Lord, but immediately we enter into all the blessings of a fully recognized heir of God. It occurs the moment that we are born again (I Jn. 3:2). Sonship is a present possession. The believer becomes a permanent member of the family of God, because he is forever sealed in Christ (Eph. 1:13), and has a guaranteed hope (II Cor. 1:22; 5:5; Eph. 1:14). While no verse in the Old Testament even hints that one day God would make salvation permanent, the permanence of salvation for believers is the hallmark of the Sacred Secret.

This total change to permanent salvation is clearly taught in Galatians 4:1-5. The first three verses of the chapter show that before Jesus came, though the people of God were heirs, they were equal to slaves, being under guardians and enslaved to the basic principles of the world. God’s equating Old Testament believers to minor children equal to slaves is very important, because a slave is not guaranteed a place in the family. Galatians goes on to say that when the fullness of time came, God sent His Son (4:4) so that we might receive “adoption” into His family.

Galatians 4:5 says: “God sent His Son in order that he might redeem those who were under the law in order that we might receive the adoption.” In order for people to be adopted into God’s family, Christ first had to redeem them, and before Christ redeemed them they were under the law. Without Jesus paying the redemption price, no adoption was possible. Thus no Old Testament believer was adopted into God’s family because adoption was not available yet. Adoption was available only after Christ died, and God started bring people into His family by “adopting” and “birth” on the Day of Pentecost, 50 days after Christ died on the cross. Thus, permanent salvation was not available until Christ died, and was first made available when the Church started on the Day of Pentecost.

Like many aspects of salvation, there is an eschatological component of adoption. Romans 8:23 tells us “we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Why does Paul say that we are “waiting for our adoption”. Aren’t we already adopted? Yes, we are already adopted. When Christ died for us, the price was paid, and when we trust him, we are legally and permanently in the family. But God’s purpose for adoption is not to leave any of his children in a state of groaning and suffering. He raised Jesus from the dead with a new body, and he promises that part of our adoption will be a new resurrected body with no more disabilities and no more groaning. Therefore, what we wait for is the full experience of our adoption, the resurrection of our bodies. At the rapture of the Church our resurrected bodies will be glorified and will then possess all our inheritance that the sonship involves. The full revelation of the believer's adoption is freedom from the corruption present in the world. Being a member of God's family includes the ultimate privilege of being like him (1 Jn. 3:2) and being conformed to the glorious body of Christ (Php 3:21). This is part of the promised inheritance for all God's children (Ro 8:16-17 ).

The cry of adoption: "abba father". Abba, is Aramaic, the language of Christ’s childhood. "Father", is a Greek word, the language of the educated and learned of His day (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6; Mark 14:36). This is a special word of endearment, of close relationship. A slave was never allowed to address his master as, "Abba".

As members of the family of God we must behave with becoming dignity. We are to walk worthy of this high honor in keeping with our position. We must love and serve one another as brothers and sisters in the same family (John 13:14; 15:17).

The story is told of a child, who knew that he was adopted, and was being teased by another child, "You're just an adopted child," with the inference that probably he was illegitimate or something. However, the child was proud of being adopted and replied, "Yes, I'm adopted. My parents chose me, picked me out of many babies. Your parents had to take what they got."