"ADOPTION (PART I)" (Pastor Tom Henry) ~ 2/19/26

“But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son…To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Gal. 4:4, 5)

“Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.” (Eph. 1:5)

The word “adoption” comes from a root, which means, “the placing of a son.” It came to mean what it still means with us, namely, the transfer from one family to another, and the placing of one who has been so transferred as a son or daughter into the new family. Adoption, in the theological sense of the term, is an act of God by which He pronounces sinful men to be His, admits them into His family, and gives them a right to the privileges of His children.

As an adopted son or daughter originally belongs to a different family from that into which admitted, we are want to ask from what family the children of God were transferred. We can say that they are of the family of Adam. By this we understand that they are his natural offspring. All are his sons and daughters by natural descent, and thus bear his image and likeness, and derive from him the guilt, the pollution, and the curse which he had bequeathed to them as a fatal inheritance. It is good for all adopted sons and daughters to remember from where you came, and “…look unto the rock whence ye are hewn, and to the hole of the pit whence ye are digged.” (Isa. 51:1)

But there is another family, one that Adam and all of sons and daughters fell into, so that they became, not only the children of Adam, but children of the evil one by whose seduction both father and children were reduced to their present condition. “Ye are of your father the devil,” said our Lord to the Jews (John 8:44). They boasted of being Abraham’s children, thinking that therein was their acceptance with God, but their conduct proved that they were the spiritual offspring of the enemy of all righteousness. Jesus added, “And the lusts of your father ye will do.” Let us not think that this charge applied to them alone because of their peculiar depravity. Scripture is clear that all unregenerate men are under the same condemnation and denomination: “He that commiteth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning…In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil.” (I John 3:8, 10)

Spiritual adoption, like civil adoption, consists in translating a person from the family in which he was born into that of another. In the case of civil adoption, the translation is made at the desire and by the authority of the person who, having no children of his own, has recourse to this means and provision. In like manner, the admission of sinners into the family of heaven is the act of God, by Whom we are blessed with all spiritual blessings. (Eph. 1:3) It is an act of His grace and authority. First, it was of His grace, in that He has chosen persons so unworthy to enjoy this high honor. It is wonderful to contemplate that God picked us out for Himself. Parents whose children are natural born have no choice in the matter; they must “take what they get,” as we say. Adoptive parents, however, may choose. They might have a preference as to gender, physical features, temperament, family history, etc. It is humbling to think that God chose us for Himself to be adopted sons and daughters, even though we had nothing in ourselves to recommend us. It was a choice of pure grace, in that, we were chosen in Christ, and in Him the Father saw everything that is pleasing to Him. “According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world…Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Eph. 1:4-6) Second, it is by His authority that the original connection to the former family is dissolved, and a new relation is constituted between the adopted children and Himself. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power (authority) to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12, 13) Notice, as many as will receive Him, are adopted into the family of God, and are granted all rights and privileges that belong to the children of God.