The New Testament uses the word adoption (huiothesia) five times. Theologically, “Adoption means to be placed as an adult son of God and given all the rights and privileges of a son.”1 What can we learn about adoption from these five verses?
The Adoption of Israel
Paul states of the Israelites in Romans 9:4 that “to them belong the adoption” and many other privileges (cf. Romans 9:4–5). Israel’s adoption does not mean that each Israelite is a believer and thus a son of God (cf. Rom 9:6; 11:25) but rather refers to God’s adoption of the nation as a whole. Israel is God’s “firstborn son” (Exod 4:22), a nation of “sons of the Lord your God” in the sense that God chose them from among the nations to be a treasured people unto Himself (Deut 14:1–2).
Distinct from Israel’s national adoption, the other four verses speak of the Father’s adoption of each believer into a saving relationship with Him.
The Adoption of Believers in Eternity Past
Ephesians 1:5 states that the Father “predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” In eternity past, predicated by His love (Eph 1:4), and on the basis of the saving work of Jesus Christ, God chose some to be His sons who would otherwise be outside of His family and thus the realm of salvation.
The Adoption of Believers in Christ
The Father sent His Son “so that we might receive adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:5). It is only “in Christ Jesus,” Paul explains, that “you are all sons of God, through faith” (Galatians 3:26). As believers, Paul explains in Romans 8:15 that we “have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” (cf. Galatians 4:6). Not only are we adopted, an objective and legal matter, but the Spirit also assures us of this adoption by moving us to pray to God as our Father.
The Adoption of Believers Fully Realized in the Future
Romans 8:23 describes a future benefit of our present adoption as believers: “we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Though we are indeed the sons of God by faith now and know this reality through the work of the Spirit in us, we also await our resurrection and glorification because we are the sons of God.
When Christ returns, we will not only be God’s “children” but “heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him” (Romans 8:17). May God help us to persevere as His sons as we look forward to what our Father has in store for us—resurrection, glorification, and inheritance above.
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- Rolland McCune, A Systematic Theology of Biblical Christianity: The Doctrines of Salvation, the Church, and Last Things (Allen Park, MI: Detroit Baptist Theological Seminary, 2010), 115. [↩]