Last week Theology 101 looked at salvation in terms of regeneration. We noted that regeneration refers to becoming children of God through a spiritual birth. Birth is a helpful and often-used analogy by which to think about our great salvation. Jesus Himself used it in John 3 to help Nicodemus understand the way into God’s kingdom.
Several New Testament passages use the analogy of adoption to describe becoming children of God. Human families have children either by biological birth or by legal adoption. In God’s family every child is God’s both by spiritual birth and by adoption. This week we think about salvation in terms of being God’s children by adoption.
God’s family
One of the clearest statements about salvation as adoption is Galatians 4:5: “When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth His Son born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.” Christ’s coming had enabled sinners to be adopted into God’s family.
Just as the new birth is spoken of as being through the agency of the Holy Spirit (John 3:6), adoption also is connected with the Holy Spirit. Romans 8:15 puts it this way: “You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba. Father.” Salvation involves the work of the Spirit whether we think in terms of birth or adoption.
When thinking of adoption as a biblical metaphor of our salvation, we can draw parallels between the human practice and the spiritual illustration of adoption. Adoption begins with a child born into a family as the natural offspring of a father and mother. However, any number of circumstances might lead to those parents giving up the child to adoptive parents. Essentially the child is legally taken out of one family and placed in another family.
Applying this basic process to our great salvation, we might think of salvation as the work of divine grace that begins with a person who belongs, spiritually speaking, in the devil’s family. In fact, on one occasion Jesus directly charged some in His audience as being of their father, the devil (John 8:44). Adoption speaks to us of God’s gracious action of taking repentant and believing sinners out of the devil’s family and placing them into God’s family.
The analogy of adoption has another dimension relating to salvation. Adoption in the New Testament has not only an “already” meaning but also a “not yet” meaning. The “already” meaning presents adoption as a past fact of the Christian life, a truth concurrent with one’s conversion.
The “not yet” meaning of adoption in its future sense is closely akin to glorification and is connected with the believer’s future bodily resurrection. Romans 8:23 puts it like this: “We ourselves who have the firstfruits of the Spirit groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.”
Present and future
With biblical warrant, Christians can say both “I have been adopted” and “I am awaiting adoption.” While already adopted into God’s family spiritually during our earthly sojourn, as Christians we will one day be in His family in heaven for eternity. This latter meaning of adoption awaits that great resurrection morning.
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