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The Adoption of Sons
Presenter: Larry Kirkpatrick
Location: Mentone Seventh-day Adventist Church, California, USA
Delivery: 2007-05-27 00:54Z
Publication: GreatControversy.org 2007-05-27 00:54Z
Type: Sermon
URL: http://www.greatcontroversy.org/gco/ser/kir-adopt3.php
Among the devices offered in Scripture to illustrate the meaning of redemption, is the concept of “adoption.”
Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ (Galatians 4:1-7).
Under Tutors and Governors
Let us follow Paul’s discussion. God is placed in the Father role. Man is placed in the child role. The time when he enters into the full prerogatives of sonship is determined by the Father. While a child, he is subject to a childhood kind of education and watchcare. He is under the authority of the tutor, babysitter, guardian.
Furthermore, there is little difference between a son and a servant at such a time; neither has access to inheritance from the Father. The son will eventually attain to a time when he can enter into his inheritance but never the servant.
Paul is addressing, not Jews, but Greeks. A Jew might claim sonship because he is Hebrew, but what claim does the Greek have? While the Jews would claim inheritance on the basis of descent from Abraham, the Greek has no such claim. The key issue in this passage is to demonstrate that the Gentile believer has a claim to sonship and the blessing of Abraham.
Under the Romans in the when Paul writes, the testator is the one who sets the time of Heirship. Indeed, according to Greek, Egyptian, and Jewish juridicial practice, the natural children were automatically considered to be heirs. But under Roman law the heir, whether natural child or not, was always assigned as such by the father. In other words, the heir was always “adopted” (See Paul Nadim Tarazi, Galatians, a Commentary, op. cit. p. 197).
Adoption as Sons
Paul compares this arrangement to the relationship between the believer and God. When we were children, says he, we “were in bondage under the elements of the world.” Some have taken the elements of the world as being a negative reference to the law. But this cannot be. The same wording is used up in verses 8 and 9 to refer to the worship of pagan deities.
When the Galatians were children they were involved in the worship practices and idols to pagan deities that surrounded them; they knew no better. But in God’s great love for people, He had forgotten no one. He was waiting. When the fullness of time came at last, Jesus was sent.
He was made of a woman, made under the law. That is, He came as a common, garden-variety, everyday man. He was divine; He was God; yet crucial prerogatives of God He had laid aside (Philippians 2:6-8; 1 Timothy 2:5), (and would later take back up. John 14:10). He came to live under the same situation that all the rest of us must live under. He became as human as we are so that we could join Him in His sonship, so that we could be joint-heirs with Him (Romans 8:17).
Jesus came to redeem us—to buy us back, that we might receive the adoption of sons. The Father paid the price. He permitted His Son to become one of us, to suffer for us, to live a perfect life in a humanity like our own, to sacrifice that life for us, and to enter into His high priestly ministry in heaven on our behalf as one especially able to sympathize with us (Hebrews 4:15).
Jesus had to take our kind of humanity in order to redeem our kind of humanity. Our kind of humanity is, alas, the fallen kind. But having become fully identified with us, Jesus ever kept His communion with the Holy Spirit. He kept filled with God’s Word. In this way, He lived without sinning and so may we. What God the Father did in Christ He will do in every human being who permits Him to.
Jesus was obedient and the Father could accept His sacrifice in full for fallen man. Jesus brought to the cross a perfect character in a disordered humanity. The measure of His character was the measure of God’s character, for, notwithstanding having emptied Himself of certain divine prerogatives, still He was God. But there is more. Jesus claimed us as His own. Our Father accepted Christ’s sacrifice and when we give ourselves to Him, we are accepted in Christ also. His perfect life is counted in place of our imperfect life, and we are treated as though we had not even sinned.
But there is even more than this. Christ changes the heart. The Holy Spirit works in the willing believer, and the end result is a life of holiness. As the Father accepted His Son Jesus, so He accepts us in His Son Jesus. Jesus is the Heir; we become joint heirs with Him. We are adopted into God’s family.
All this is apprehended in many other places in the Bible as well. For example, Jesus urged that in His Father’s house there are many mansions (John 14:2). That is, in the household, in the family of the Father, there are many places—places for more sons and daughters.
God is searching for children. He will give them all that a true child has, and more: “ Thus saith the Lord unto the eunuchs that keep My sabbaths, and choose the things that please Me, and take hold of My covenant; even unto them will I give in Mine house and within My walls a place and a name better than of sons and of daughters: I will give them an everlasting name, that shall not be cut off” (Isaiah 56:5, 6).
The Spirit
Notice that we do not receive the Holy Spirit and by receiving Him become sons, but “because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts.” We accept Jesus through no power of our own. God provides the power, even the desire to come to Him. But in our choosing Him, He, in the same moment of our saying “Yes” to Him, empowers us. He, in the same moment of yes in us says “Yes” in reply. Because He chooses to offer us sonship, and we choose to be sons, He sends forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. We receive the Holy Spirit.
The picture here is one of intimacy, closeness, family. Notice, we are no more servants, but sons. And while servants in the common order of things never receive an inheritance, sons do. Having been adopted by God, we are His sons, and we become heirs of all that belongs to our Father.
But do not miss the last portion of the thought. If we are sons, then we are heirs of God “through Christ.” Again, our only claim to sonship is through Christ. We are never received by the Father on our own. We have no righteousness of our own that could be received in heaven for our own salvation. But in Christ we have that salvation, in Christ we have that sonship.
I went into my boy’s bedroom the other night and just watched our 15-month old breathing, asleep in his crib, sprawled out in a goofy pose. After a few minutes I told my wife that no matter what angle you view him from, he is beautiful. We have all these pictures we’ve taken these past months. He always seems to have a runny nose in those pictures. And we have it all in digital, mega-pixel glory. But he’s beautiful to me anyway. After all. He’s my boy now. I’ve adopted him.
When we adopted our son, he wasn’t matured. That is, He had not attained all that he could attain in life, he had not met his full potential. He was 15 months old! But he was made in God’s image. He was growing. He was filled with potential. We are working with him. We are helping him learn words, to walk, to run, to pray, to think, to obey. We do not fault him because he cannot do that which an eight-year old can do, or a 38-year old can do. Our business is discipling him in how to be human and how to be a Christian. He is our boy.
Conclusion
My fellow Christian, do not fear. Just as it is mine and my wife’s good pleasure to give to our adopted child all that he needs, it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom (Luke 12:32). You will enter into heaven as an adopted child through Christ. that is how you will be saved. You have nothing to recommend you to Him but Jesus. But that is all anyone needs. Rejoice in His goodness and mercy! Thank Him for the gift of His Spirit. Thank Him that He wants you in His house. Grow, become a better and better son, a better and better daughter. GCO
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