HAVE YOU BEEN ADOPTED INTO GOD'S FAMILY?

ADOPTION.

Adoption is the act of God by which believers become members of "God's family." As with human adoptions, believers receive all the privileges and obligations of family membership. "Sons of God," a common King James Version expression, includes individuals of both sexes numbered among God's children (Isaiah 43:6, 18).

According to the New Testament, all persons are sinners by nature. Thus, they are called "children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3, KJV). However, those upon whom God lavishes his love become "children of God" by grace (1 John 3:1). This adoption process has its origin in God's love and its foundation in Jesus Christ who is uniquely the Son of God. The term "Son of God" refers primarily to Christ's deity (Matthew 11:25-27; 16:16-17), for he is one in substance and glory with the Father. As the second person of the Trinity, Christ is distinguished from the Father as "the only begotten Son." Believers in Christ, although "adopted," are never seen as on a par with the uncreated, divine Son.

Nevertheless, in the beloved Son, sinners have been loved and chosen by God the Father to become his children by adoption (Ephesians 1:4-6). That adoption is made possible by Christ the Redeemer. Through his death and resurrection he destroyed sin and its death penalty. He also restored the righteousness and life needed for the status of sonship. Christ is the head of the "new covenant" as its mediator. Believers in Christ become God's heirs, and his joint heirs (Romans 8:17). God gives to them the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of his Son, as the Spirit of adoption (8:15; Galatians 4:6). The indwelling Spirit gives believers assurance that they are indeed God's children. The Spirit enables them to cry out to God as Father (Romans 8:15-16). Such intimacy with the Creator and Savior in prayer is one privilege of adoption.

Adoption was a privilege given to God's people under the "old covenant" (Romans 9:4). Both Israel as a whole and individual Israelites knew God as Father (Isaiah 64:8-9; Hosea 11:1). The New Testament regards adoption as ultimately possible only through Jesus Christ. Israel's adoption before the Incarnation was a sonship comparable to the status of servanthood (Galatians 4:1-7). In Jesus the privilege of mature sonship was extended to include both Jews and Gentiles (3:25-29). Adoption is a benefit enjoyed in the present experience of God's people (1 John 3:1). However, its full extent will be realized only at their resurrection from the dead (Romans 8:21-23).