The Essence of Adoption
Ephesians 1:5
“…having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will,…”
The Westminster Confession defines Adoption as “…an act of the free grace of God, in and for his only Son Jesus Christ, whereby all those that are justified are received into the number of his children, have his name put upon them, the Spirit of his Son given to them, are under his fatherly care and dispensations, admitted to all the liberties and privileges of the sons of God, made heirs of all the promises, and fellow heirs with Christ in glory.” Adoption is one of those doctrines that have their root in eternity past, see their application and apprehension in the present, but await the future to see the fullness of their implementation.
Gal. 4:4, 5 says: “But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons”. Adoption is one of the comprehensive ideas that summarizes what salvation all about. The word literally means the placing of a son. Adoption logically follows regeneration. Regeneration gives one his nature as a child of God, whereas adoption gives him his position as a son of God (Rom. 8:15-23; 2 Cor. 6:18; Gal 4:4-6; Eph. 1:5).
Spiritual adoption differs from civil adoption, though there are some similarities. For instance:
(1) We never adopt our own children, but God never adopts any other. All of those who are adopted by God are already His created children, and are already regenerated, redeemed children of God. Adoption logically follows these truths.
(2) Civil adoption provides comfort for the childless, but God had a beloved Son (Mt. 3:17; 17:5) prior to adopting us. The beauty of salvation is that God sent forth His only Begotten Son to die to redeem and thus to make possible our adoption.
(3) There are usually many pleasing characteristics in a civil adopted child, but not in God’s children prior to their adoption (Rom. 3:10-18). We were utterly without merit and with nothing to commend us or to cause God to desire us, other than His own will and choice to do so.
(4) Civil adoption could never give the child the nature of the father, but God’s adopted are given the very mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16). This is the amazing part of the doctrine of adoption. It is also the part in which it is most dissimilar to civil adoption. We are not simply taken into God’s family; we are made a true part of that family; that is, we are made true sons, as if we had been born that way.
(5) In some cases, civil adoption could be declared null and void, but God’s adopted are absolutely secure. There is no circumstance in which our adoption by God can be voided, as there is no higher authority than He who could overrule His decree.
There are a number of ways in which spiritual adoption does favorably and helpfully compare with civil adoption:
(1) Just as the parent must begin the legal proceedings that result in civil adoption; so also the Heavenly Father must begin the action leading to spiritual adoption (Isa. 1:18; Jn. 3:16). The human child cannot initiate adoption; and neither can the unredeemed sinner initiate the process of spiritual adoption.
(2) Both adoptions give an inheritance to one who previously had none (Rom. 8:17; 1 Pet. 1:1-9). Of course, the more profound inheritance is the inheritance of spiritual adoption; which, for all of the elect, remains unrealized until eternity future.
(3) Both adoptions provide a new name (Jn. 1:42; Rev. 2:17). A new identity and an entirely new way of life are what lies fundamentally at the root of both adoptions.
The doctrine of Adoption is a marvelous doctrine that is little understood by the church today. It stands as the root of our hope for future blessedness with God as the children of His family who will spend eternity with Him in glory.