Adoption
“ADOPTION” IS A WONDERFUL DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. “Adoption” is a wonderful message for everyone who has placed his or her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ…
“BIBLICAL ADOPTION SIGNIFIES THE PLACING OF A SPIRITUALLY NEWBORN child into the position of privilege and responsibility attached to an adult son. The entire field of our responsibility as believers is directly related to this doctrine of adoption.” – Chafer…
NAS Ephesians 1:3-5 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4 just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before Him. In love 5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
PREDESTINATION, AS WE LEARNED LAST WEEK, DESCRIBES ELECTION. Predestination tells us something of how God’s choosing us before the foundation of the world takes place. God chose certain people to be believers and He predestined them, He put a boundary around them out of His love. The purpose of predestination, we might say, is “Adoption”…
THIS ENTIRE SECTION SPEAKS OF GOD’S PURPOSE. “Election” speaks of purpose; “Predestination” speaks of purpose; “Adoption” speaks of purpose. It could be argued that Paul’s entire introduction, vv. 3-14, which is an extended expression of God’s will, speaks of divine purpose. In a word, God’s purpose is to glorify Himself through those He has called to faith…
“ADOPTION,” IN ESSENCE, IS A PROCESS OF CONFORMATION, conformation to Christlikeness, conformation into the image of Christ…
NAS 2 Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE IS A PROCESS OF BEING TRANSFORMED into the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. “Adoption” flows out of Election and Predestination…
ONE COMMENTATOR SAYS, “The result of God’s election is our adoption as sons.” – MacArthur…
FIRST, LET’S GET OUR BEARINGS STRAIGHT ON ADOPTION. And please don’t let me confuse you with all my details; you know what the word means. Adoption means what you think it means. The only wonderful difference to the way we think of the word and the way the N.T. uses the word is that being adopted by God is infinitely better than human adoption, as you might imagine…
THE ENGLISH WORD “ADOPTION” REFERS TO THE LEGAL PROCEDURE of adopting a child. To adopt is to raise a child of other biological parents as if it were your own, in accordance with formal legal procedures…
THE GREEK WORD TRANSLATED “ADOPTION” IS υἱοθεσία (hwee-a-thee-see-a) is a compound word that literally means son placement. The prefix υἱο- (hwee-a) is Greek word υἱοj (hwee-os) means son, and -θεσία (thee-see-a) comes from the Greek word τίθημι (tith-e-mi) and means to put or place. So, υἱοθεσία (hwee-a-thee-see-a) means son placement…
υἱοθεσία (hwee-a-thee-see-a) IS A TECHNICAL TERM THAT IS USED ONLY BY PAUL 5 times. Aside from Ephesians 1:5, the other 4 uses are…
NAS Romans 8:15 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!”
YOU WILL REMEMBER THAT I SAID LAST WEEK ROMANS CHAPTER 8 IS a parallel chapter to Ephesians 1 in that it lists many of the same doctrines…
NAS Romans 8:23 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.
NAS Romans 9:3-4 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4 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,
NAS Galatians 4:5 in order that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
YOU NO DOUBT NOTICED THAT IN EACH OF THE 5 USES OF υἱοθεσία (hwee-a-thee-see-a), it is always accompanied by the phrase “as sons.” This includes daughters as well, of course…
WHEN YOU HAVE LOOKED UP AND ANALYZED THE OCCURRENCES OF A WORD, as we have done with the biblical term adoption (υἱοθεσία [hwee-a-thee-see-a]), that’s called a “word study” When you have taken the time to do a word study, you can be confident that you know something biblically accurate about the word. If a word is found but 5 times, and you look up all 5 times, you can confidently make determinations about the word’s meaning. You cannot responsibly claim to know everything about the term, but you can claim with assurance that you know a little, and that the little you have learned is most probably accurate. You feel as if you are on solid ground when you speak about the term. Need I point out the corollary? Without taking the time to do a word study, what is under your feet is more likely sinking sand than solid ground…
“ADOPTION, WHEN THUS LEGALLY PERFORMED, PUTS A MAN in every respect in the position of a son by birth to him that had adopted him, so that he possessed the same rights and is owed the same obligations. Being a υἱοj (hwee-os), a son, involves the conformity of a child that has the life of God in him to the image, purposes, and interests of God and that spiritual family into which he is born. In eternity there will be a revelation by God which will indicate the measure of this conformity to God.” – Zodhiates…
NAS Romans 8:19 For the anxious longing of the creation waits eagerly for the revealing of the sons of God.
WE ARE SONS OF GOD BECAUSE OF JESUS CHRIST…
“’IN HIS GREAT LOVE, GOD MAKES US MORE THAN CITIZENS OF HEAVEN and servants of his kingdom, and even more than friends. He makes us children. God lovingly draws redeemed sinners into the intimacy of His own family.” – MacArthur…
CONSIDER FOR A MOMENT THE TRUTH OF THE INTIMACY OF YOUR FAMILY. We have – or should have – an intimacy, a familiarity, a closeness, a relationship with the members of our family we do not share with other people, even close friends. “Adoption” speaks of this intimacy. Because of “Adoption,” we are members of God’s family…
I THINK YOU’LL FIND THIS INTERESTING: “The legal process of adoption was apparently unknown in Hebrew society. The levirate marriage, by which a dead man might acquire by proxy a posthumous son who would perpetuate his name and inheritance in Israel, is nowhere referred to in terms of adoption. Adoption may have been practiced in patriarchal times (i.e., in the times of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – TAR), but it left no trace in later Jewish legislation or custom. And yet something analogous to the N.T. doctrine of adoption appears in Yahweh’s relation to Israel. Consider Hosea 11:1.” – Bruce…
NAS Hosea 11:1 When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.
“GOD’S EYES, PASSING THE PRINCES OF THE WORLD, FELL UPON this slave boy, and He loved him and gave him a career.” – G. A. Smith…
“PAUL’S METAPHOR OF ADOPTION MAY HAVE BEEN DERIVED FROM Israel’s deliverance out of bondage in Egypt.” – D. J. Theron…
THIS IS SPECULATION, TRUE, BUT it is rendered more probable by Paul’s own reference in Romans 9:4… Listen to it again…
NAS Romans 9:3-4 For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4 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,
WHILE IT IS ALL BUT IMPOSSIBLE TO DETERMINE WITH CERTAINTY, IT IS plausible that Paul in his use of the word “adoption” was drawing not upon Hebrew or Greek adoption, but that of the Romans…
“THIS IS THE MOST REASONABLE ALTERNATIVE BECAUSE the people Paul was addressing were under Roman rule. In addition, Paul was born a Roman citizen, a citizenship he evidently prized and used to his advantage.” – Hoehner/TAR…
NAS Acts 22:28 And the commander answered, “I acquired this citizenship with a large sum of money.” And Paul said, “But I was actually born a citizen.”
WHAT’S MORE, “the practice of adoption was carried out by the Caesars for succession of power and would have been common knowledge for those under Roman’s rule.” – Hoehner…
“IN ORDER TO FULLY UNDERSTAND ADOPTION one must understand the structure of the Roman family. The father had absolute power (patria potestas) over the members of his family so that he could even take the life of a member of his family and that act would not be considered murder. With regard to property, he had full legal ownership of everything the family had and could dispose of it as he willed.” – Hoehner…
“ON THE OTHER HAND, IN THE GREEK FAMILY THE FATHER DID NOT HAVE absolute power over his family nor was he the legal owner of all the family’s property.” – Hoehner…
I FIND THIS ALSO FASCINATING: “UNDER ROMAN LAW THE PROCEDURE OF adoption had two steps. In the first step, the son had to be released from the control of his natural father. This was done by a procedure whereby the father sold him as a slave three times to the adopter. The adopter would release him as a slave two times and he would automatically again come under his father’s control. With the third sale, the adoptee was freed from his natural father. Regarding the second step, since the natural father no longer had any authority over him, the adopter became the new father with absolute control over him, and he retained this control until the adoptee died or the adopter freed him. The son was not responsible to his natural father but only to his newly acquired father. The purpose of this adoption was so that the adoptee could take the position of a natural son in order to continue the family line and maintain property ownership. – Hoehner…
LISTEN TO WHAT PAUL SAYS AT THE BEGINNING OF CHAPTER 2 of Ephesians…
NAS Ephesians 2:1-3 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.
“THE SAINTS CHOSEN BY GOD ARE PREDESTINED AS ADOPTED SONS (and daughters) of God. This means that believers, formerly labeled as ‘sons of disobedience’ and ‘children of wrath,’ have absolutely no responsibility and/or obligation to their old father the devil (cf. John 8:38, 44), the ruler of the realm of the air (Eph 2:2). Rather, they are now God’s sons and daughters and consequently He controls their lives and property. And since God does not die, the saints will always be under His control.” – Hoehner…
BEAUTIFUL, ISN’T IT?…
WE ARE SONS OF GOD BECAUSE OF JESUS CHRIST…
NAS Ephesians 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself…
“THROUGH JESUS CHRIST”…
“IT IS THROUGH OR BY MEANS OF THE WORK OF CHRIST, which is discussed in the following verses, that makes it possible for the sinner to be adopted into the family of God.” – Hoehner…
NAS Ephesians 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself…
“TO HIMSELF”… You may be surprised to learn just how much importance is compacted in these two seemingly unimportant words…
“THE PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE ‘TO HIMSELF’ (εἰς αὐτόν [ice au-tahn]) is thought by some commentators to refer to Christ. (The ancient church father Aquinas, for one, believed Christ to be the antecedent – TAR). However, when as aspects of the issue are thoroughly studied, it is more likely that Paul is referring to God the Father. The whole context here in the opening verses of Ephesians 1 is praise to God the Father. In v. 4, God is the subject of the choosing. And in vv. 5-6, the predestination is according to the will of God the Father. Thus, the Father fits much better than the Son in these verses.” – Hoehner…
“GOD THE FATHER PREDESTINED US TO BE ADOPTED AS HIS SONS (and daughters). This adoption came through Christ, and this process brings us to God in order that we may have fellowship with Him as our Father.” – Hoehner…
ALL THAT FROM “TO HIMSELF”…
GOD DRAWS US TO HIMSELF THROUGH CHRIST, AND miraculously we become His sons, just like Christ is His son…
NAS Romans 8:16-17 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.
“ACCORdING TO THE KIND INTENTION OF HIS WILL”…
NAS Ephesians 1:5 He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will,
THE NKJ READS, “THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS WILL”…
NKJ Ephesians 1:5 having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,
THIS PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE TELLS US THAT ADOPTION IS BY THE WILL of God… That may be obvious to you but I believe it worth underscoring. The entire context of our passage could be said to be an expression of the “good pleasure of His will,” the sovereign free will of God the Father in drawing people to Himself to be transformed in Christ…
“’ACCORDING TO THE GOOD PLEASURE OF HIS WILL’GIVES US THE standard by which God’s actions were accomplished. (For Greek students: The preposition κατὰ [ka-ta] with the accusative denotes standard.) The standard is the good pleasure of God’s will.” – Hoehner…
EVERYTHING IN PAUL’S INTRODUCTION COULD BE SAID TO BE an explanation of God’s will…
PERHAPS WE CAN SAY THE FOLLOWING IS THE LESSON OF “ADOPTION” FOR us today…
“ADOPTION MEANS LEAVING ONE FAMILY AND JOINING ANOTHER, leaving behind all that was involved in the first family and assuming the name, identity, resources, and history of another. This is how Paul describes this wonderful new relationship to God. Every human being has been born into the family of Adam. We have left that family to belong to a new family of Jesus Christ. That doesn’t mean that we are not human; it means that we are no longer identified with the sinfulness of Adam. Though we are human and subject to the temptation of Adam. Though we are human and subject to the temptations of Adam’s race, we are no longer enslaved by death and sin. We’ve been transferred into a new family, and we have received a new identity.” – Steadman…
“AS ADOPTED SONS OF THE LIVING GOD, we have the only begotten Son of God as our forerunner and example. We learn how to live from Him, and we are to copy His life. Our aim is to live exactly as Jesus lived. We are to derive our way of life from Jesus, just as Jesus derived His life from the Father.” – Steadman…
NET John 6:57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so the one who consumes me will live because of me.
“GOD THE FATHER WAS HIS RESOURCE, WISDOM, STRENGTH, AND POWER.
Everything Jesus did was in reality the life of God the Father being lived out through the Son. In the same way, we are to derive our life from Christ, to become a channel through which God can work. As adopted children of the Father, we are to share the life of God’s only begotten Son. That is what pleases the Father.” – Steadman…
AS THE ADOPTED SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF GOD WE ARE TO LIVE LIKE our Father would want us to live. That is both a precious privilege and a heavy responsibility…
NAS Ephesians 4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, entreat you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called,
UNDERSTANDING “ADOPTION” HELPS US TO UNDERSTAND “ELECTION” AND “Predestination” better. And when each of these deep doctrines is studied, can we not see how foolish and defeating it is to believe that a true Christian can ever lose his or her salvation?…
“ADOPTION” IS A WONDERFUL DOCTRINE OF THE BIBLE. “Adoption” is a wonderful message for everyone who has placed his or her faith in the Lord Jesus Christ…
NKJ 1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!…
THANKS BE TO GOD FOR OUR ADOPTION AS SONS AND DAUGHTERS by means of the incomparable sacrifice of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ…
BLESSED BE HE!…(ba-rook a-tah a-do-nai) – “Blessed art Thou, O Lord”…
– Professor Thomas A. Rohm
