Foundation
of the Christian Faith
Course: Salvation
Lesson
Nine
Title: Adoption
Text: Galatians 4:5
'To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption of sons.'
Introduction: Difference between the usual understanding of Adoption and the New Testament understanding of Adoption.
1)
Meaning of
Adoption. Adoption is the Greek word 'huiothesia', which comes from two
Greek words 'huios'
son and 'thesis' placing'
and means to be placed in the position of a son.
Usual understanding of Adoption.
a) Adoption is defined as being taken into a family as a relation usually to be a son or daughter with legal guardianship.
b) Being adopted as a son or a daughter refers to someone who was not born a child of a particular family but he or she has now been placed into this position.
c) Although the child is adopted it is impossible to ever become a son or daughter by birth.
2) The New Testament understanding of Adoption.
a) We are born outside of the family of God
b) We have been adopted into the family of God through the new birth.
c) We are both adopted and born into the family of God
The usual understanding of Adoption and the New Testament understanding are incompatible. It is impossible for a person to be born into the family after being born into a different family. A person is either born a child of the family or adopted into it, but not both.
Question:
An adopted child is not born into the family. How does this relate to adoption into God's
family?
Natural adoption is a legal agreement. Spiritual
adoption is more than an agreement it is a new birth. It provides the means to be born into the
family of God through new life in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Introductory Testimony: Born into the family of God.
When I came to Christ my life was radically
changed. My life was suddenly turned
around from drunkenness to Christ.
People outside the church knew what I was really like. The people in the church meeting did not
know. When I was at the meeting the
thought came into my head, ‘you are not like them, leave this place’. But I couldn’t leave because I was a part of
the family of God. It was true that I
knew little about the Bible and I had been ‘a crazy drunk’, and I was not like
them in that way. But something had
happened to me and I had been brought into the family of God. The same life, the life of Christ that was in
them was now in me, and that life began to be manifest through me.
Main
Points:
1.
We are adopted to
become partakers of His glory. 1 Peter 5:1 'The
elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the
sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be
revealed'. His glory is His life
and His presence. It is the life of
Christ in us.
a)
We are adopted to be like
the Lord Jesus Christ. We are being
changed from glory to glory. 2 Corinthians
3:18 'But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord,
are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord.'
b)
Adoption is the life of
Christ in the believer. Colossians 1:27
'To whom God would make known what is
the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in
you, the hope of glory:' The
hope of glory means being glorified with Christ at His coming but also being
changed from glory to glory in our daily lives.
(1)
Adoption begins when we
receive the life of Christ by being born again into the family of God through
repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2)
Adoption continues through
life as we are being changed into His likeness from glory to glory.
(3)
Adoption will be
completed when our body will be raised at His coming.
2.
We are adopted to be
heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ.
Romans
a)
An inheritance comes through the death of the
testator to the descendants of the testator.
Hebrews 9:15-16
'And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of
death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first
testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal
inheritance. For where a testament is,
there must also of necessity be the death of the testator.'
b)
The inheritance belongs to the children of the
testator. We are heirs because we are
born into the family of God. We have
received the Spirit of adoption so that we can call God our Father. Romans
c)
We are assured that God
will not withhold anything from us. The love of God is seen in that He gave His
only Son (John
Example: Contrast between Communism and Christ
The Right of Inheritance - Marx's Communist
Manifesto (1848), which sought to institute a political system devoid of class,
had as one of its required measures the Abolition of all right of
inheritance. Right of inheritance gives
privilege to the children of the wealthy.
The Communist Manifesto stands in dark contrast to the scriptures. Marx sought to take away the right of
inheritance but God gives the right of inheritance to all those who will call
upon Him for salvation with no regard to the persons social standing.
3.
Adoption will be
complete when the Lord Jesus returns.
a)
The sons of God
will be revealed when the body is changed into His likeness. Adoption will be complete when the Lord Jesus
returns. Romans 8:23, 'And not only they,
but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.'
Adoption is associated with the redemption of the body. John writes that we are the sons of God but it will not be seen who we are until the coming of the Lord. 1 John3:2, 'Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it does not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
b)
The hope of the
believer - the glory that will come. Romans
Summary:
Adoption means being placed a son in the family of God through new life in Christ Jesus. Adoption makes us
1) Inheritors of the promise. We are made joint heirs with Christ.
2) Become more like Him. We are being changed from glory to glory.
3) The sons of God who will be revealed outwardly at His coming.