What does the Bible say about adoption?

The word is υἱοθεσία, the adoption of sons, or the placing of persons in the position of sons, with all the privileges attaching thereto. Examples of this in a natural way are seen in the O.T. in Moses being an adopted son of the daughter of Pharaoh, Ex. 2:10, and Esther being adopted by her cousin Mordecai, Esther 2:7. In a higher sense Israel was the adopted son of God. Moses was instructed to say to Pharaoh, "Thus saith Jehovah, Israel is my son, even my firstborn." Ex. 4:22 : cf. also Deut. 14:1; Isa. 43:6. So that Paul, when enumerating the privileges of Israel, could say that to them pertained the 'adoption.' Rom. 9:4. In a much higher sense, since redemption has been wrought, those who believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are in the new creation sons by adoption, and the Spirit of God's Son is given them so that they can call God Abba Father, and not only be sons but know and enjoy the relationship with all its blessed privileges. Gal. 4:5-6. The Christian receives the spirit of adoption, the Holy Ghost bearing witness with his spirit that he is a child of God. Not that he enters into the full blessedness of being God's son until the future; for we who have the first-fruits of the Spirit groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption — the redemption of our body. Rom. 8:15-23. All this is certain as to believers, for having been chosen in Christ Jesus they have been predestinated unto adoption by Jesus Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. Eph. 1:4-5.

We learn further that the redemption in Christ Jesus is according to the foreknowledge of God, being now manifested to us in Him. Peter writes, "Ye have been redeemed … by precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot, the blood of Christ, foreknown indeed before the foundation of the world, but Who has been manifested at the end of times for your sakes" (1 Peter 1:18-21). But being even now redeemed by blood, redemption by Christ's power has still to he completed with regard to us. By "the working of the power" whereby He is able to subdue all things to Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour will at His coming transform our bodies of humiliation into bodies of glory like His own (Phil. 3:20-21). The indwelling Holy Spirit is the seal given of God to believers to this "day of redemption" (Eph. 4:30). The Holy Spirit is also "the earnest of our inheritance (up) to the redemption of the acquired possession" (Eph. 1:14). This particular result of redemption is future, and we are now "awaiting adoption, that is, the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:23).

Adoption or sonship is yet another fruit of the redemption in Christ Jesus (Gal. 4:5). We are made children of God by new birth, but sons of God by divine favour. Sonship implies dignity and heirship. We are not servants under bondage, but sons and heirs of God through Christ (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). By the grace of God, He "marked us out beforehand for adoption (sonship) through Jesus Christ to Himself" (Eph. 1:5). We have already received the Spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:15). This sonship of which we are conscious when "we cry, Abba Father," will be publicly acknowledged by God when His "many sons" are brought to glory (Heb. 2:10). At that time of "the manifestation of the sons of God" the whole universe will be brought "into the liberty of the glory of the children of God" (Rom. 8:21), when we shall be "sharing the portion of the saints in light" for which we are already made fit (Col. 1:12).

The third point after His incarnation and His responsibility as a Man under the law is redemption, to set free in view of what follows. The fourth point is the result of redemption, “that we might receive sonship.”Here again, the “we”is Jew and Gentile believers brought into a position of sonship or ‘adopted’to be sons. Sonship is a word that is not often used, it is the contrast to what we had earlier, the child who is like an infant, in the position of being kept under the law, a position of immaturity. The result of redemption is that we are brought into a position of sonship and in connection with this position we will see a few important points in the following verses. This word is used in Ephesians 1:5, where we see that God has adopted us as sons forHimself, and twice in Romans 8. Adopted to be sons means to be put into a position of sonship and that is linked with maturity and with dignity. It is a wonderful position not under the law, as under a jailor or under a tutor but it is a position of dignity in God’s presence and involves having fellowship with God. Sonship is then connected with the cry, “Abba, Father,”and in this we have intimacy. So this topic of sonship is really essential. It is the result of what the Lord has done and it goes together with the reception of the Holy Spirit.

“And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.” “The firstfruits of the Spirit” gives us a foretaste in anticipation of that bright day of glory; but despite the unutterable blessedness of this, we are still in the body connected with a sin-tainted creation. So that our rejoicing is mingled with groans. Thus God gives His renewed saints to feel the sorrows of the old creation, and to yearn with more earnest desire for the glory to be revealed. We see here there is an added meaning given to adoption, when comparing v. 15 and Gal. 4:1-7. In one sense we have received the adoption (Gal. 4:5-7), becoming sons of God by faith. In this case we wait for the adoption, the redemption of the body — that is, our bodies being delivered from this sphere of sin and corruption, and conformed to the image of Christ, we shall be publicly manifested as sons of God. By faith we have the adoption now; by manifestation we shall have it in glory.

Adoption. — But a nearer expectation is ours — and that in connection with being God's sons. We wait for adoption, which, we see, involves here the redemption of our body. Of adoption Paul alone speaks in the New Testament, as he is the only epistolary writer who calls Christians sons, one passage in the writings of John excepted (Rev. 21:7). For adoption, as used by Paul, means the having openly the place of a son, the one adopted being put into that place or position to the one who adopts him, who in our case is God. Men on earth can adopt those who have nothing to do with them; God only bestows such a privilege on those who are His children. The birth-tie is theirs, who are to be publicly displayed as the sons of the living God. Now this privilege belongs to God's earthly people, Israel (Rom. 9:4); and will surely in the future be openly and blessedly made good to them. But, thanks be to Him, we Christians share in the adoption in a way more glorious and blessed than they will, though we cannot enjoy it whilst in our bodies of humiliation. For adoption concerns, as is evident, when the term is understood, our whole person, and is not to be limited to soul blessing; so it necessarily involves for us the redemption of our body. Now from all eternity God has prepared this adoption for us. It is an essential part of that calling (Eph. 1:5) of which now we are to know the hope (Eph. 1:18). Hence we have now the spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:15), Christ having died that believers might share in this blessing (Gal. 4:5), though we wait for the redemption of the body to enjoy it. But we wait for it; being saved in hope, which, of course, implies an expectation not yet made good. For "hope that is seen, is not hope; for what a man sees, why doth he yet hope for? But, if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it" (24, 25).

Ephesians 1:5 speaks of God's having 'predestined us unto adoption,' and this is closely connected with His having 'chosen us in him before the foundation of the world,' of which we have spoken. Adoption is one of the objects in view therefore in predestination. This is the precious truth of believers being now given the position of sons of God, a place of dignity, liberty, and trust, such as could not be until the Son of God Himself had by death redeemed those who were under the law (Gal. 4:1-7). And while this is fully true now for every believer, yet there is another sense in which adoption is considered in Romans 8:23; 'We ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.' This will be the full manifestation of the sons of God, the bodily entering into the liberty and dignity of that position which is now spiritually ours, at the coming of the Lord. It may be that Ephesians 1:5 implies both aspects of adoption; but at any rate, the emphasis of predestination is here also the blessing in view. This is also said to be 'according to the good pleasure of his will.' And in verse 11 we are seen to be predestined to obtain an inheritance in Christ, 'according to the purpose of him, who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will.' It is not said, 'The eternal purpose,' as is the case in Ephesians 3:11, though it may possibly be implied. As to election, however, the writer is not aware of any Scripture that speaks of this as 'according to the purpose of him;' but 'according to the foreknowledge of God the Father.' No doubt Scripture has reasons for all of these exact expressions, and it is wiser that we do not go beyond them. Yet may we have grace to know the preciousness of both being 'the elect of God,' and being 'predestined' to such matchless blessings that grace has introduced to us.

Notice that pious and learned men have made the mistake of confounding "son" and "child" in the Scriptures. But they, however closely connected, are not the same thing. To identify them is really to take no small liberty with the word of truth. Not that one means to deny that the child of God may be also called a son of God; but the N.T. shows plainly that the two words express different things. It is the apostle John that particularly dwells on our being "children" of God. Why? Because we are born into the family of God. Born of the Spirit, we are thereby children of God, children of His family. "Sons" is wrong in the A.V. of John 1:12 and of 1 John 3:1-2. Beyond question it should be "children" as in 1 John 3:10, and 1 John 5:2. But when it is a question of being "sons", it is predestination that puts us into this place of relation. This was overlooked in the A.V. of Gal. 3:26, which should be, not "children," but, "sons," as in Gal. 4:5-7. And so it should be in Eph. 1:5, where the word requires the adoption of "sons," not "children." There is never the adoption of children, but of sons. One must be by new birth a "child" of God. But God also predestined to adopt the Christian into the position of a "son" by Christ Jesus to Himself. All the Old Testament saints were "children," as we who now believe are also. But they were not the adopted "sons," as we may read in the argument that opens Gal. 4. On the other hand, we are all His sons now, whether Jew or Greek, and receive the Spirit of His Son. Every Christian is brought into that place of sonship. It is one of the new privileges of the gospel. The King and Queen do not consider the highest nobles in the land to be in any such dignity. They may by courtesy be their trusty cousins; but they are not their sons. We Christians are adopted into the place of sons, and have the Spirit of God's Son sent into our hearts, crying Abba, Father. How wondrous, yet true! We are sons of an infinitely greater personage than the king, or any other that ever was on the earth. Such is the Christian by faith in Christ Jesus. It is not spiritual necessity as in ver. 4, but "according to the good pleasure of His will." God might have predestined to a much lower place; He was pleased to give us, for His own delight, the highest possible for a creature, "to the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He made us objects of favour (far beyond the one act of "acceptance") in the Beloved." This explains all. Thus only could we be thus blessed (ver. 6), whether in new nature or new relationship.

Romans 8:23 reads “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” The Christian has already received the Spirit of adoption. He can freely use the most wonderful of all invocations, for he can cry, “Abba Father.” He can address God in terms of the highest, holiest, and most sacred intimacy, and that because the Spirit of God dwells within him; he has been brought into the relation of a child, through faith in “the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.” He is in spiritual liberty and can worship the Father in spirit and in truth. But his body is still subject to the common groan of creation, and thus we wait for the redemption of our body. When it takes place, at the coming of our Lord, then our adoption will be complete.

Romans 9:4, “… Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption.” Here the adoption applies neither to the soul nor the body of the individual believer, but to Israel as a nation. Other glories attach to the same people, but Israel is God’s firstborn (see Ex. 4:22). It ranks highest in all the families on earth in the mind and purpose of God (see Amos 3:2, and Deut. 32:8). To it belongs the adoption—the place of national sonship. The meaning of the word adoption is sonship—the place of a son. It gives the thought of priority, and rank and position. It is important to distinguish between childhood and sonship in the present dispensation. We are God’s children by being born of Him—and only so—but, as thus born, we are also sons as sealed with the Spirit. John gives us the former and Paul the latter. The word “adoption” is only used five times (Romans 8:1, 23; 9:4; Galatians 4:5, and Ephesians 1:5).

Let us look at these separately. First of all we must not confound the adoption of Israel with that which we know in Christianity. It is the peculiar privilege of the Christian dispensation, as we call it, that we both have the adoption, the open acknowledgment that we are sons of God, and the Spirit of adoption to seal and manifest this. Israel had nothing of this kind. Nationally Israel indeed could be called God's son, and, as in relation to the nations of the earth, His first-born, for the blessing of Israel implies the blessing of the nations of the earth also, — the first-born implies the later born. Nevertheless, the character of this is entirely different from Christian adoption. "You only have I known," says the Lord, "of all the families of the earth." They were still a family of the earth and never ceased to be that. Their adoption does not in the least certify the salvation of one single soul among them, nor the spiritual relationship to God on the part of any one. Nationally, they might call God, Father, and He says: "I am a Father to Israel," but the very fact of His saying that implies, as the apostle tells us, that at the time He says it, the true children of God are scattered abroad. God is not owning His children as such. The owning of the nation is in distinct contrast with this. In the time to come, as we know, Israel will be a nation all holy, but up to the time in which the apostle writes, up to the time in which we are now, the condition of the nation has been a very different one from this. The adoption, as we have seen, is an adoption of a family of earth and for earthly privilege and blessing.

A wealthy man might go to an orphanage, and from the fatherless there adopt a lad for his son. The orphan so adopted would not be in the relationship of child to his benefactor, but would, by the favor shown him, become possessed of the privileges of the home. The adopted son would be treated as a child, and be made heir of the estate; he would also call his benefactor father, who would stand in the stead of a father to the orphan; but the favor of the adoption would be quite distinct from the natural relationship of a child.