THE BLESSINGS OF ADOPTION

In today’s world, adoption takes place in a way vastly different from Bible days. Today when a couple (or sometimes a single person) wishes to adopt, after taking the appropriate legal steps they take the child into their home and raise it as their own. The decision of whether to adopt or not does not lie with the child but rests solely on the adopting parents’ shoulders. In the majority of cases the child is too young to understand “adoption” but there comes a time when he/she has to be told, “You are adopted.”

In ancient days adoption took place in a much different way. During the Roman Empire it was a common practice for an adult who wanted an heir, someone to carry on the family name, to adopt a mature young adult male as his son. These young men had shown themselves to be worthy of adoption and capable of carrying on the family name. It is from this context that Paul draws his understanding of adoption.

The word the apostle Paul uses for adoption means “being placed as an adult son.” We come into God’s family by way of the “new birth” and the moment we are born into the family, God adopts us and gives us the position of an adult son. This means that every newborn believer has all the rights and privileges of a son, an heir. It does not mean that all newborn believers know how to conduct themselves, because most of the time they don’t — they must be taught. They must learn to grow into their inheritance and understand how to conduct themselves in the Kingdom.

In salvation we receive a new life; in justification, a new standing; and in adoption, a new position. There are several wonderful blessings of our new position of being adopted.

The first blessing is the assurance of our salvation: “To redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’” (Galatians 4:5-6, ESV). The Holy Spirit witnesses to or assures us of our sonship, our adoption. “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God” (Romans 8:16).

When our assurance takes hold and our confidence is built, then we can freely “walk in the Spirit” and be “led by the Spirit.” “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God” (Romans 8:14).

 

The second blessing or result of adoption is freedom from fear. “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery [bondage] to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry ‘Abba! Father!’” (verse 15). The Holy Spirit living in us, indwelling us, makes the awareness of God’s acceptance of us as His children so real that fear is banished. This is an important understanding for us to grasp, especially those who are constantly struggling with fear.

The third blessing of adoption is that we are made heirs and joint-heirs with Christ. “And if children, then heirs — heirs of God and fellow [joint] heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with his in order that we may also be glorified with Him” (Romans 8:17).

In the natural world a child may be an heir of his parents’ estate but until he comes “of age,” he cannot possess his inheritance. When he reaches that age, whatever it might be, then he can receive the inheritance. In the divine adoption plan we are instantly “of age.”  I hope that’s shouting and praising the Lord I hear in the distance — or am I sharing this with a bunch of Pentecostal deadheads?

“The heir, as long as he is child, is no different from a slave [servant], though he is the owner of everything, but he is under guardians and managers until the date set by his father. In the same way we also, when we were children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son . . . to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. . . . So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:1-7).

Too many of God’s children do not realize their inheritance and are acting like servants rather than sons. In Luke 15 the older brother to the prodigal son complained to his father by saying something like, “All these years I have served you and you never threw me a party like you’re throwing for him.” The father turned to the older son and said, “Son, you are always with me and everything I have is yours” (see Luke 15:19-21).

In a future blog we’ll talk more about being an heir, but right now let the full blessing of adoption be yours and praise Him for what He has done!