Adoption

Although God’s thoughts are simultaneous, there is order in His decrees, both in eternity and their execution in time. There are only five references in the New Testament to adoption, and they are used by Paul (Eph. 1:5; Gal. 4:5; Rom. 8:15, 23; 9:4). The Greek noun is huiothesia, and it means “adoption” or “sonship.” It is a word used only by Paul in the heart of his doctrinal teaching.

Scripture teaches that God is the God of order (I Chron. 15:13; I Cor. 14:40), and that order is carried out by His servants. Observation reveals that Paul used the subject of adoption in its orderly, doctorial fashion. The following list appears to be the Divine order:

1. The chosen of God are predestined (preordained) to the placing as sons: “He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:5, 6 NASB UPDATE).

2. The “placing as sons” is subsequent to redemption and to regeneration: “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father!” (Gal. 4:4-6 NASB UPDATE).

3. Adoption gives added assurance that goes beyond relationship: “For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, Abba! Father!” (Rom. 8:15 NASB UPDATE).

4. Redemption of the body is the perfection and manifestation of sonship: “For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.” “And not only this, but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body” (Rom. 8:19, 23 NASB UPDATE).

5. Adoption is Israel’s assurance of the coming kingdom, but it will also be added assurance for the assembly that Christ is building: “who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever. Amen. But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants…” (Rom. 9:4-7 NASB UPDATE). For the non-Jews, read Romans 11:13-21.

The Greek word for “adoption” is huiothesia and is derived from the noun huios (a son) and the verb tithemi (to set, put, or place), and it means to place in the position of sons (Eph 1:5; Gal. 4:5-7). The Aramaic noun Abba means Father. Therefore, those who are placed in the position of sons doubly understand God to be their Father.

Adoption is never used in reference to Jesus Christ. The contrasts between the Son of God and the sons of God are easily detected. Christ is the eternal Son; sons are born of flesh and born again of the Spirit in time. Christ is the only begotten Son of God; believers are adopted sons. Christ is the essential image of God the Father; saints are creaturely reflections of the Father. Christ is of the same essence as the Father; Christians are sharers of a God-like nature. Christ is God; Christians are both creatures and the new creations of God.

Predestination is a doctrine that enriches the assurance of the elect. “He [God] predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention [good pleasure] of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:5, 6 NASB UPDATE). The spiritual experience realized in conversion, subsequent to regeneration, is the fruit of adoption. There are three important things in Ephesians 1:5-6—(1) the eternal source of the heavenly blessing: “…according to the kind intention of His will”; (2) the manner of their communication to the chosen ones: “… through [dia, ablative of agency] Jesus Christ”; and (3) the reason for their bestowment upon chosen sinners: “…to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.”

True believers are declared by the term “adoption” to be “sons” and “heirs” of God. Therefore, our adoption takes place in time, but it was foreordained in eternity. Children by regeneration and sons by adoption is the teaching of the Scriptures.

Placing as a son goes beyond regeneration. Paul said, “Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father! Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God” (Gal. 4:6, 7 NASB UPDATE). Thus, added to the Spirit’s benefit of the new birth is the further work of adoption; adoption gives the children of God the full legal rights of sonship. Therefore, predestination is no more adoption than election is the new birth.

Before advancing any further in the study of adoption, we need to make it clear as to the time God “places the elect in the position of sons.” Is it before, at the time of, or subsequent to regeneration?

Some believe adoption is before regeneration. John Gill said, “There is a difference also between adoption and regeneration, though divines usually confound these two together.…Adoption is before regeneration; the one is an act of God’s will in eternity, the other is an act and work of his grace in time; the one is the cause, the other is the effect; men are not adopted because regenerated, which would seem necessary; but they are regenerated because adopted; ‘because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts’; to regenerate, to sanctify, and testify their adoption, Gal. 4:6”—A Body Of Divinity, page 521.

Robert Haldane said, “Adoption is not a work of grace in us, but an act of God’s grace without us. According to the original word, it signifies putting among children….In this manner, after adoption comes our sonship by regeneration, not in the order of time, but of nature….Adoption confers the name of sons, and a title to the inheritance; regeneration confers the nature of sons, and a meetness for the inheritance”—Romans, pages 356-358.

Thomas Watson said, “Adoption is a mercy spun out of the bowels of free grace…. It is taking a stranger into the relation of a son and heir; as Moses was the adopted son of King Pharaoh’s daughter, Exodus 2:10, and Esther was the adopted child of her cousin Mordecai, Esther 2:7. Thus God adopts us into the family of heaven, and God in adopting us does two things: 1. He enobles us with his name. He who is adopted bears the name of him who adopts him. ‘I will write on him the name of my God.’ Rev. 3:12. 2. God consecrates us with his Spirit…When a man adopts another for his son and heir, he may put his name upon him, but he cannot put his disposition into him; …but whom God adopts he sanctifies; he not only gives a new name but a new nature. II Pet. 1:4. He turns the wolf into a lamb; he makes the heart humble and gracious; he works such a change as if another soul dwelt in the same body.”—A Body Of Divinity, pages 161, 162.

Let us scrutinize the subject a little deeper. In Greece, a father could not make a will if he had no legitimate son. However, if he had no legitimate son, he often adopted one that he might secure the inheritance to him rather than to relatives, who would otherwise be heirs. The adopted son left his own family and became a member of his adopter’s family, thus loosing all the rights of his real father. The Romans had a custom in which adoption to them was a ceremony. The parents publicly presented their child to society as the acknowledged son and heir.

The Biblical idea of adoption is an act by which one already regenerated is by the Spirit placed as an adult son in that relationship. Regeneration restores the relationship lost in the fall of Adam, and adoption restores the name.

We must not overlook the fact that the covenants were given to the Jews (Rom. 9:4). Therefore, the kingdom, with its ultimate blessing, is given to saved Israel—the believing natural descendants and the engrafted believing Gentiles (Rom. 2:28, 29; Eph. 2:11-17; Gal. 3:8, 28, 29). The chosen Gentiles shall come from the east and west, and they shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom (Matt. 8:11, 12).

Both the chosen Jews and the chosen Gentiles are branches of the same root (Rom. 11). Both constitute the same Israel of God. Both are fellow citizens of the same commonwealth. Both are Jews inwardly. Both are the true circumcision. Both inherit the same kingdom at the same time. However, we carefully distinguish between the “heirs” and the “subjects” (Rom. 9:6; Gal. 6:16; Eph. 2:12; Phil. 3:3; Heb. 11:39, 40).

Both regeneration and adoption express relationship, but they are not identical, as shown by the following seven points:

1. Regeneration involves a change of nature. Adoption is a legal term that denotes a change of position.

2. Regeneration speaks of relationship by birth. Adoption speaks of relationship by law.

3. Regeneration confers the nature of children. Adoption confers the name of sons.

4. Regeneration gives quality to the inheritance. Adoption gives a title to the inheritance.

5. Regeneration is the fruit of life by the Holy Spirit. “Abba, Father” is the cry of relationship by the Holy Spirit.

6. Regeneration is produced by the Holy Spirit. Sonship is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

7. Adoption is a process of Law (doctrine) that goes beyond justification. One is not only acquitted by the Father, but by Law (doctrine). The Father’s eternal Son is the Originator of the salvation of the everlasting sons of God by grace.

It is no wonder that Paul said, “But we do see Him who was made for a little while lower than the angels, namely, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God He might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the author [archegos, originator or founder] of their salvation through sufferings. For both He who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one Father; for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, I WILL PROCLAIM YOUR NAME TO MY BRETHREN, IN THE MIDST OF THE CONGREGATION I WILL SING YOUR PRAISE. And again, I WILL PUT MY TRUST IN HIM. And again, BEHOLD, I AND THE CHILDREN WHOM GOD HAS GIVEN ME” (Heb. 2:9-13 NASB UPDATE).

If Christ had been made like His brethren “in all things” without qualification, the elect could never have been sanctified, because the Sanctifier would have needed sanctification. See what the doctrine of peccability leads to—heresy!