ADOPTED INTO THE FAMILY

Adopted into the Family

by Pastor Terry L. Reese, Valley GBC; Armagh, PA (4/29/20)

Intro.

This subject brings to mind an old episode of “Father Knows Best” entitled “Adopted Daughter” (1956; it was later revisited in flashbacks in a 1960 episode). Little Kathy Anderson (Lauren Chapin) learns that one of her classmates is adopted, and after a series of misunderstandings (e.g., finding a receipt from an adoption agency), Kathy comes to believe that she too might also be adopted. Kathy then runs away from home, but her adopted classmate convinces her that adopted children are more fortunate than others, because their parents especially chose them (in contrast to natural children, who weren’t chosen and whose parents are now “stuck” with them). Kathy is then joyfully reunited with her family—but is a bit disappointed to learn that she wasn’t adopted after all!

I. The Concept in brief.

Today we deal with a most joyful and central truth with regard to our redemption in Christ—a truth that surely is at the very heart of the Gospel. We are speaking of the Biblical concept known as ADOPTION. Note the centrality of this with regard to Adoption’s relationship to the Gospel in Gal. 4:-4-5:

Gal. 4:4-5: ⁴But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, ⁵so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

Note, dear reader, that in the eternal Plan of God, that we were redeemed and purchased with a most costly substance—the Blood of Jesus—for this PURPOSE, that we might receive ADOPTION as sons, becoming true children of God.

Great hymns of the faith celebrate and recall this truth. One such example would be “I’m a Child of the King,” by Harriett Buell:

I’m a child of the King,
A child of the King:
With Jesus my Savior,
I’m a child of the King.

Or, think about “The Family of God” from the Gaither’s:

From the door of an orphanage

To the house of the King-

No longer an outcast,

A new song I sing;

From rags unto riches,

From the weak to the strong,

I'm not worthy to be here,

But, praise God, I belong!

I'm so glad I'm a part

Of the family of God-

I've been washed in the fountain,

Cleansed by His blood!

Joint heirs with Jesus

As we travel this sod,

For I'm part of the family,

The family of God.

The Scriptures, likewise, frequently speak of our new status of sonship and our intimate familial relationship with God in Christ:

John 1:12 ESV  But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God…

1John 3:1a ESV  See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.

Rom. 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!"

Note in the last passage a most intimate and endearing Aramaic term: “ABBA!” (cf., Mark 14:36; Gal. 4:6). Arthur S. Way has rendered it, "My Father, my own dear Father." Others would liken it to such familiar English terms as “Daddy!” or “Papa!” The point is that this is the sort of intimate and affectionate term that little children use for their own dear, loving, benevolent, kindly, and accepting Fathers.

How staggering that the radically sinful children of men—conceived in sin (Ps. 51:5)—can now relate to a Holy God in this familiar manner! This matter of our Adoption is indeed one of our greatest (among many) blessings from the Cross.

The theological term of Adoption introduces a relational dimension to the consequences of our justification in Christ. As a result of our Lord’s redemptive work, there is a change in our relationship unto God when we repent and invest our trust in Him; once we give our hearts to Christ—believing and trusting in Him alone for salvation—God says that we become part of His Family—not through the natural process of human conception, but through Adoption. We enjoy a change in status from strangers and aliens unto full-fledged members of His Family.

Simple definitions.

The Westminster Confession of Faith:

All those that are justified, God vouchsafes, in and for His only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption, by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God.

Formerly, we “were by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3), but now, we have been redeemed from our former position under the Law (Gal. 4:5), and are sons of the Most High, with full adult familial privileges.

II. The Background of this idea.

Before we further, let us explore the OT & NT background of this idea. In the end we shall see that this is more of a NT-era Greco-Roman legal idea—but nonetheless, there are some important Jewish and OT contributions to this idea.

A. Old Testament.

In the Old Testament, legal adoption was not prescribed in Jewish law or formally practiced by the Israelites. There are, of course, a few examples of prominent individuals from the Jewish world being adopted; chiefly, Moses & Esther. Incidentally, we might also include our Lord Jesus in this number, in that Joseph was not His natural father (Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 1:34-35, 3:23)—but He was accounted Joseph’s legal son and heir to the Davidic Throne (Matt. 1:16).

Another case we might think about that more directly foreshadows the NT idea is the story of Mephibosheth of the House of Saul (2 Sam. 9), who, despite coming from a rival family that had done David much evil, was accorded the familial privilege of regularly dining at the King’s table (2 Sam. 9:7, 13). More amazing than this is the fact that WE will one day sit down at the Family Meal with a Greater David—our Lord Jesus Christ (Rev. 19:7-9)!

The primary OT and Judaic foreshadowing of the concept, however, is to be found in the precedent and example of God's adoption of the elect nation of Israel.

Here, God chose (i.e., unconditionally elected) and called an unworthy and not particularly powerful (Deut. 7:7) nor righteous (Deut. 9:4-5) nation unto Himself and called that obscure and radically flawed, but CHOSEN Nation “My son.”

Hos. 11:1: When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.

Ex. 4:22: "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, 'Thus says the LORD, "Israel is My son, My firstborn.”’”

Deut. 14:1a-2 "You are the sons of the LORD your God… For you are a people holy to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.

In the shocking parable of Ezek. 16, God finds an abandoned infant of bad parentage, left to die of exposure in an open field, and out His goodness and mercy, raises her to be His own dear child, and gives her life and covers her in honor—only to see her one day rebel!

Ezek. 16:1-6: ¹Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ²"Son of man, make known to Jerusalem her abominations ³and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD to Jerusalem, "Your origin and your birth are from the land of the Canaanite, your father was an Amorite and your mother a Hittite. ⁴"As for your birth, on the day you were born your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed with water for cleansing; you were not rubbed with salt or even wrapped in cloths. ⁵"No eye looked with pity on you to do any of these things for you, to have compassion on you. Rather you were thrown out into the open field, for you were abhorred on the day you were born. ⁶"When I passed by you and saw you squirming in your blood, I said to you while you were in your blood, 'Live!' Yes, I said to you while you were in your blood, 'Live!'

B. New Testament precedent for this term comes from Greco-Roman antiquity.

In Greco-Roman antiquity—the specific background for the Pauline doctrine of Adoption—adoption was a common practice among childless couples. A person—not necessarily an orphan—would be adopted into a wealthier family with the full rights and privileges of sonship. The adopted son was deliberately chosen by his adoptive father to perpetuate his name and inherit his estate; and the adoptee was in no wise or manner inferior in status to a natural son born in the ordinary course of nature. A stranger was now the master’s own dear child and heir!

On the other hand, the child’s natural parents, if still living, no longer possessed any further claims upon the child once he had been received into the adoptive family. Under this Roman system of adoption, the life and standing of the adopted child now changed completely. The adopted son’s old family lost all claims upon him, and the adoptee gained entirely new rights and privileges with his new family. With the record of his old life cancelled out, the adoptee was also freed and liberated from any debts incurred by his old household; nothing counting against him.

Recall our definition… Formerly, we “were by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3)—unbelieving children of the devil (John 8:44), but NOW, we have been redeemed from our former position under the Law (Gal. 4:5), and are sons of the Most High, with full adult familial privileges. Really, there are two ways in which we may speak of having become His children: 1) with regard to our hearts and affections, through the grace of Regeneration, we now have the genuine capacity to love and adore God; and 2) positionally, relationally, and legally, we are full-fledged members of the Family  through the grace Adoption.

III. Scripture.

Paul uses this terminology some five times within his epistles, including Rom. 8:15, 8:23, and 9:4 (the latter being a reference to national Israel); also, Gal. 4:5 and Eph. 1:5. Let us see where these four verses relating to the Adoption of Christian, Church Age believers, lead us, with regard to our understanding of this concept.

Rom. 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!"

As a present and accomplished fact, we are not involved in a beggarly, fear-based relationship—the servile, trembling spirit of slaves—but rather, are held in the highest affection and regard as deeply beloved royal children! Legitimate Princes and Princesses of the Blood Royale!

Rom. 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.

Now, we already learned that our adoption, if we are in Christ, is an accomplished, present-tense fact—but here is a new twist: in a certain sense, our full experience of adoption is yet future, awaiting the resurrection of the body, when we will claim our full inheritance.

Eph. 1:4b-6: In love ⁵He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, ⁶to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved.

This was God’s eternal plan, and its goal is stated: “to the praise of the glory of His grace…” Our Adoption is a demonstration of the Glory of His Divine Attributes!

Gal. 4:4-7: ⁴But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, ⁵so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. ⁶Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" ⁷Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.

Thus, God’s eternal plan is brought to realization THROUGH the Atonement of Christ.

Putting the testimony of these verses together, then, we would observe that through the atonement of Christ (Gal. 4:5), the Father’s predetermined plan to adopt us into His family (Eph. 1:5) is thus made attainable. As believers, we are already and presently adopted as true sons and daughters (Rom. 8:15), but the fullness of the doctrine’s consummation awaits our bodily resurrection (Rom. 8:23).

Again, we who “were by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3) now have been redeemed from our former position under the Law (Gal. 4:5) and are sons of the Most High, with full adult familial privileges, enjoying all of the liberties and privileges of the children of God. Yes, we are part of His spiritual family and have been granted all the privileges of heirship, unto His eternal glory!

So Salvation involves something much more than only “fire insurance” (i.e., the forgiveness of sins and deliverance from condemnation); it is also brings us into a high and lofty position of greatest blessing; believers are indeed, Children of God. Furthermore, we must understand that our great redemption wrought in Christ is far more than a mere restoration of the original Paradise that was lost with Adam; the fact is, we are granted far, far more in Jesus than Adam ever had in his best (prelapsarian, or pre-fallen) days—or ever even dreamed of having!

IV. Final thoughts and implications of this.

A. Let us be ever mindful of the sovereign graciousness of God in this!

By nature, we native-sinners had no claim upon Him—and our present membership in the Family is thus one based purely upon Divine, sovereign GRACE (i.e., God’s unmerited favor bestowed and shed upon the absolutely unworthy).

This being the case, let us therefore approtialy honor our Heavenly Father through an offering of praise—a life characterized by obedience.

John 14:15: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

B. Let this truth be further manifest in the spirit of thanksgiving and amazement!

Here is a lovely passage from the generally reliable old commentator Albert Barnes (whose work is now in the Public Domain):

What an inestimable privilege it is to be a Christian! to be a child of God! to feel that he is a Father and a Friend! to feel that though we may be forsaken by all others; though poor and despised, yet there is one who never forsakes; one who never forgets that he has sons and daughters dependent on him, and who need his constant care. Compared with this, how small the honor of being permitted to call the rich our friends, or to be regarded as the sons or daughters of nobles and of princes! Let the Christian then most highly prize his privileges, and feel that he is raised above all the elevations of rank and honor which this world can bestow. All these shall fade away, and the highest and the lowest shall meet on the same level in the grave, and alike return to dust. But the elevation of the child of God shall only begin to be visible and appreciated when all other honors fade away…

…Let all seek to become the sons and daughters of the Lord Almighty. Let us aspire to this rather than to earthly honors; let us seek this rather than to be numbered with the rich and the great.

C. Lastly, let us never doubt this truth! Never doubt, beloved, that the Eye of His

unmatched parental love and concern is ever upon us, as His own dear children. Despite whatever present difficulties and terrible disasters we may now be experiencing, He is with us!

The proof of the above assertion: WHO is it that calls us the children of God?

1. God the Father does!

2 Cor. 6:18: “…and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty."

2. God the Son does!

Heb. 2:11: He is not ashamed to call them brethren…

3. God the Holy Spirit does!

Rom. 8:16: The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God…

The Triune Testimony is enough—but let us resolve to make this testimony evident unto ALL MEN through our life, our passions, our affections, and our conduct!

We ARE the Children of God!