Adoption
“Placing as a son, from huios (son) and tithemi (to place)”
Summary
The act by which God receives believers into His family as sons, conferring upon them the privileges, status, and inheritance of children through union with Christ and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit.
☩Definition and Background
The Greek word huiothesia, used exclusively by Paul in the New Testament, means 'the placing as a son' of one who is not so by natural birth. The custom of adoption was common among Greeks and Romans but was not part of Jewish law. In Roman practice, the adopted person was transferred from his natural father's authority into that of his adoptive father, gaining all the rights of a natural son including the family name, inheritance, and religious duties. Paul employed this familiar legal concept metaphorically to illustrate how God brings believers into the relation of sons through grace in Christ.
☩Old Testament Background
Israel as a nation held the status of God's adopted son: 'Israel is my son, my firstborn.' This national adoption included the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises. Individual examples of natural adoption appear in Scripture: Moses by Pharaoh's daughter, Esther by Mordecai, and Eliezer as Abraham's heir presumptive before Isaac's birth. Jacob adopted his grandsons Ephraim and Manasseh, elevating them to equal status with his own sons to give Joseph a double portion.
☩The Christian's Adoption
Through faith in Christ, believers receive the spirit of adoption whereby they cry 'Abba, Father.' This adoption follows redemption: God sent His Son 'to redeem those under law, that we might receive adoption as sons.' The Spirit bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, freeing us from the spirit of bondage and fear that characterized life under the law. As adopted sons, believers become heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, sharing in both His sufferings and His glory.
☩Present and Future Aspects
While adoption is a present reality conferring immediate privileges—God's special love, access to Him with filial boldness, fatherly correction, provision and protection—its full manifestation awaits the future. Believers who have the firstfruits of the Spirit 'groan within themselves, waiting for the adoption, the redemption of the body.' Just as Christ was always the Son but was declared Son of God with power by His resurrection, so our adoption, though now true, will be openly manifested when Christ raises His saints to share His glory.
☩Distinction from Regeneration
Adoption and regeneration are related but distinct aspects of salvation. Regeneration is the imparting of new life, making one a child of God by nature through the new birth. Adoption is the legal act conferring the status and privileges of sonship. Regeneration concerns the believer's new nature; adoption concerns the believer's new standing. Together they express that believers are both born into God's family and formally placed as sons with full inheritance rights, predestined by God 'according to the good pleasure of His will.'
Related Verses55 mentions
See Also
References
- 1.James Orr (ed.), "Adoption," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. I (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 2.James Hastings (ed.), "Adoption," in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1915–1918).
- 3.Philip Schaff and Johann Herzog (ed.), "Adoption," in The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, vol. I (Funk and Wagnalls, 1908–1914).
- 4.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Adoption," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 5.George Morrish, "Adoption," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).