One of the great doctrines of New Testament salvation is the doctrine of Adoption, which we shall study in this lesson.
Regeneration begins the new life in the soul, when a man is born again by the Holy Spirit. The soul has not been born again, but the spirit has been born again, because “that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (John 3:6).
Justification deals with a new attitude of God toward that soul. That is, that soul is declared to be righteous on the basis of the finished work of Jesus Christ.
Adoption admits the Gentile into the family of God. That is, regeneration is a changed nature; justification is a changed standing; sanctification is a changed character; adoption is a changed position.
Now, it is absolutely essential that the serious student of the Bible understand these definite doctrines that deal with Salvation. When we talk about Salvation, we are talking about a real thing. Regeneration is a changed nature; the spirit has been born again. The old nature is still there, but there is also a new man. Justification is a changed standing; the sinner is declared righteous before God. Sanctification is a changed character: a certain amount of reform and cleanliness and cleaning up and separation which follow regeneration. Adoption is a changed position: the born-again, believing child of God—the born-again spirit and the saved soul—is taken out of the world system under the Devil and placed in Jesus Christ as one of God’s sons. In regeneration, the believer becomes a child of God. In adoption the child receives the position of an adult son. “To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:5). “Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ” (Gal. 4:7). Adoption includes our “growing up into Christ” and occupying a new position.
“Adoption” is a Greek word which means “the placing of a son.” Notice how these New Testament doctrines are found mainly in Romans and Galatians, not in Acts and Hebrews. “Ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). The word “Abba” is an Old Testament, Jewish word—a Hebrew word. Before you were saved you were not in God’s family, “ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:12). You have been predestinated to “the adoption of children by Jesus Christ” (Eph. 1:5).
Notice how predestination never has anything to do with salvation, per se. That is, predestination, as such, has to do with conformation of the believer to Christ’s image (Rom. 8:29) and adopting the believer into God’s family (Eph. 1:5). Notice that at NO TIME does the word “predestination” ever refer to the act of receiving Christ. “PREDESTINATION” IS ONLY APPLIED TO A MAN WHO HAS ALREADY RECEIVED JESUS CHRIST.
In Biblical times, the word “adoption” had a two-fold meaning. First of all, the private act of receiving a stranger into the family as a son. Secondly, the public, legal ceremony (or act) of recognizing the son as the heir; something like a “coming out party” or “coming of age party.” Until the ceremony was performed, the child actually differed little from the servants of the home. The word, then, deals not with our relationship to God but our position before Him. Adoption is an act of God whereby He accepts the justified believer as an adult son who can enjoy the privileges and responsibilities of a son of God.
For example, in Exodus chapter 2 Moses became the adopted son of Pharaoh’s daughter with all the rights and privileges of the position when he “came of age.” In Hebrews 11:24, when he came of age we read, “By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.”
Adoption has only one condition, and that is that a person must be in union with Christ. This cannot be accomplished until the sinner receives Jesus Christ and is born again and placed in Christ by the Holy Spirit. We do not have to wait until we have been a saint for a year or ten years. Immediately upon being saved, we enter into the blessings of the fully recognized heir of God. “For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:26), not by water baptism.
The time of adoption: Romans 9:11 says, “For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth.” The Lord determined before “the foundation of the world” (Eph. 1:4–5) to adopt every person who got into Jesus Christ.
Notice, you were chosen not “outside of Christ,” but “in Christ.” No man was ever predestinated to receive Christ. No man was ever “chosen” before he received Christ. Every man who was ever chosen (Rom. 9:11; Eph. 1:5) was in Christ. How do you get in Christ? YOU DIDN’T GET IN CHRIST UNTIL YOU RECEIVED HIM AS YOUR PERSONAL SAVIOUR. When you received Jesus Christ as your personal Saviour, THEN you were placed in Christ, and from THAT MOMENT on, your destination was fixed because God predestinated you to “the adoption of sons” in Christ. Adoption is the gracious act on the part of God entirely of mercy for the believer in Christ. It occurs the moment that one believes in Jesus Christ.
John said, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him” (1 John 3:2). Why? Because we are predestinated “to be conformed to the image of his son” (Rom. 8:29). Sonship is a present possession. We can truthfully say, “I’m a child of the King.” We are not merely children under maids and tutors but adult members of the family. Our adoption will be completed at the resurrection, when we enter into His presence. This is why Paul says in Romans 8:23 that we are “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
Often, in this world, we are not recognized as “sons of God” because we are still sinful. But on that day when Christ comes and redeems our bodies, we’ll occupy our rightful position. We’ll “come of age.” In the meantime, we may be considered the “offscouring” of society, but someday we will throw off our disguise (this body) and put on the new body and be “made manifest.” This is why John said, “It doth not yet appear what we shall be.” That is, it doesn’t appear to the world; it hasn’t shown up. When the world looks at us born-again people (who have been regenerated by the Holy Spirit and placed in the body of Christ by the Holy Spirit), all they see is a sinner whom they like or don’t like, depending upon their preference. But the truth of the matter is when any sinner trusts Christ as His Saviour, the Holy Spirit places him into Jesus Christ. He is born again, he is regenerated, he is circumcised spiritually, he is cut loose from his flesh, he is justified by God, and he is regenerated by the Holy Spirit. His sins are forgiven, and he is put into Jesus Christ and adopted as one of God’s sons. Or as John said, “as he is, so are we in this world” (1 John 4:17). Of course, it isn’t apparent until Christ comes because we don’t have our new bodies yet. So Paul says in Romans 8:23, “waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.”
The sign of adoption is to be led by the Holy Spirit. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Rom. 8:14). Guidance by the Holy Spirit is always in connection with the word and never outside the word. Guidance by the Holy Spirit is the pathway to sonship and proof of sonship. The Holy Spirit guides the believer into the truth of God from the word of God, and the word of God is THE STANDARD of truth. So, if you don’t have the word of God, the Holy Spirit cannot “guide you” anywhere. Jesus said, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” (John 16:13).
John 17:17 says, “Thy word is truth.” This means that the modern-day Christian, who professes to be led by the Spirit and talked to by the Spirit and guided by the Spirit but is guided by a “Spirit” contrary to what God said, is guided by Satan. A perfect example is 1 Corinthians 14:37 where Paul said, “If any man think himself...spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.” In that chapter Paul said that when it came to the matter of tongues, “let your women keep silence in the churches” (v. 34); if men speak, only two or three, and only in order and only when an interpreter is present (v. 27).
Paul said if a man thinks he is spiritual, he will have to acknowledge that those commandments weren’t anybody’s opinion or anybody’s teaching or anybody “knocking somebody’s faith.” Those were the commandments of God.
If you think you are led by the Holy Spirit and guided by the Holy Spirit and don’t believe those things, you’re guided by the Devil, friend. You put that down. The very idea of you talking about being “led by the Holy Spirit” and guided by the Holy Spirit and then rejecting what the Holy Spirit said about the nonsense you are fooling with. Now, isn’t that something?
Here is a Christian getting all puffed up and swelled up when the Bible corrects his personal feelings and his personal experiences by telling him he is wrong in taking experiences over what God said. Then he talks about being “led by the Holy Spirit.” You are led by an unholy spirit, friend. That Book says, “Thy word is truth” (John 17:17) and “If a man love me, he will keep my words” (John 14:23).
“He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God” (John 8:47). So, we have a lot of nonsense going on today where these so-called “Bible believing Christians”—who have thirty-five versions that contradict each other—talk about “sharing their experience” and “praising the Lord,” while rejecting what God said. They are not led by the Spirit—not the Spirit that wrote the Book.
The cry of adoption, “Abba, Father,” shows that you have come from a Gentile family into a Jewish family. “Abba” is a Hebrew word for Father (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6; Mark 14:36). “Abba” is the Aramaic from the language of Christ’s childhood; it means “father.” Therefore, you have been adopted into the family of God, “built upon the foundation of the apostles [Jewish] and prophets [Jewish], Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Eph. 2:20).
Whereas, before you were saved you were “Gentiles in the flesh...without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world” (Eph. 2:11–12). You were alone in the world without hope and without God; a stranger from the covenants of Israel and the commonwealth of Israel. That is no longer true. Now you are part of the Lord’s family, and you are part of the genealogy that goes clear back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Of course you are not a literal, physical Jew because in Christ “there is neither Jew nor Gentile.” In Christ, all are spiritual Jews (Rom. 2), and a spiritual Jew, technically, is “neither Jew nor Gentile.” He is something entirely different. As the Bible says, he is a new creature. “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).
There are great blessings that come from our adoption into the family of God. The man who is adopted becomes the object of God’s particular love. We know “God so loved the world, that he gave,” but in John 17:23 Jesus said about His own, “Thou...hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” That is, there is an intimate love relationship for the Father and Son, which is manifest between God and the believer, that is not manifest between God and the unsaved man.
The compromising Christian preachers and healers of our day are trying to get unsaved people to think that God loves them the same way He loves His own people. THAT IS A HERESY. “For God so loved the world, that he gave [past tense] his only begotten Son” (John 3:16), but all the love that God had for this world showed up at Calvary where Christ died. Since that time, Christ is very clear in His high priestly prayer, for He prayed, “I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me,” John 17:9.
When the Bible says that “Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it” (Eph. 5:25), it is talking about an intimate relationship that exists between Christ and His body, the body of believers, that exists nowhere between this God-hating, Christ-rejecting, Bible-perverting world of unsaved sinners and the Father of glory—the Father of all lights.
The modern trend of Fundamentalism is liberal. The modern trend is to make the unsaved people think that God is just crazy about all of them and doesn’t have a thing against them, and just forgives them for anything. APART FROM CALVARY THERE IS NO FORGIVENESS FOR ANYBODY. LET’S GET THAT CLEAR. “Without shedding of blood is no remission” (Heb. 9:22). Apart from Calvary you won’t find the love of God manifest ANYWHERE in that Book.
When you talk about “the love of God” and omit the blood, the cross, the sweat, the tears, the whip, the nails, the cursing, the pain, the blasphemy, and the suffering, you are preaching a PERVERTED GOSPEL, and you yourself are a SPIRITUAL PERVERT to try to present the word of God in that manner. Now, how do fellows get in this fix? They get in this fix by trying to get along with the world in order to keep their income up. “The love of money is the root of all evil” (1 Tim. 6:10), and not of “all kinds” as you read in the new, so-called “Bibles.” When a man wants to “get in good” with the world and stay in good with the world for monetary purposes, he doesn’t dare be critical or negative.
The gospel that is being preached today across this country on thousands of radio stations and from thousands of pulpits is a gospel of “all good news and no bad news.” This overlooks the fact that the gospel is “that Christ died [negative] for our sins [negative] according to the scriptures; And that he was buried [negative], and that he rose again the third day [positive] according to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3–4). The gospel is 75 percent negative according to the man to whom it was revealed (1 Cor. 15:1–4). THE GOSPEL IS 75 PERCENT NEGATIVE ACCORDING TO THE MAN TO WHOM THE NEW TESTAMENT REVELATION WAS GIVEN (Gal. 1:11–12).
The man who said, “If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:9) said the gospel was 75 percent negative. It was not John 3:16. John 3:16 is a general outline on God’s manifestation of His love found i n the gospel. John 3:16 is not the gospel. John 3:16 doesn’t mention Christ dying for sins. You say, “Well, it says....” That’s your problem, you see. Now, you see how people are. They are so anxious to avoid persecution and are so anxious to pass off and get along with the world, that if it comes to a choice of two verses, they will take the one that will upset folks the least. Paul said the gospel which I delivered unto you is how “that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures,” and he said if any man preach any other gospel than that, “let him be accursed.” THAT is the gospel, but it is 75 percent negative. So, it is not being preached. What they are preaching is the love of God—positive. They are not preaching the gospel. God’s love for this world is a different kind of love than His love for the body of believers who have been adopted into His family. Once you bring out that distinction, then somebody is going to accuse you of discrimination, egotism, and God knows what; so, the preachers simply are not pointing that out.
In the blessings of adoption, the child of God becomes the object of God’s peculiar love. There is an intimate love relationship, and it is not like the Lord and the unsaved man at all. The born again child of God becomes the object of the Father’s fatherly care. The Father (God) looks after his livelihood as to what he will eat, what he will wear, his occupation, and his health.
The adopted children of God have a family name. They are “called the sons of God” (1 John 3:1). The sons of God have a family likeness (Rom. 8:29). They are going to be conformed to the image of Christ. The child of God has a family love. In 1 John 3:14, “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren.” The child of God has a filial spirit, a spirit of sonship. He cries “Abba, Father,” (Rom. 8:15).
The child of God is in a family gathering. John 14:23 says, “we will come unto him.” The child of God, in the family, receives Fatherly chastisement (Heb. 12:5–11) which proves that he is a true child of God. The Lord “scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Heb. 12:6–7). It is not like God dealing with the unsaved people at all.
The reason behind God’s chastening of a child of God and an unsaved man are entirely different, but by simply talking about “love” and “peace,” the modern cowardly preacher covers up the difference so the unsaved man thinks he is in the family when he is not.
If you are an unsaved man, God is not whipping you to make you bear fruit for Christ. If you are an unsaved man, God isn’t whipping you to make you appreciate Heaven more. If you are an unsaved man, God isn’t whipping you to show you that His power is “sufficient” or that His promises are true, although that is the reason why God whips His children. God whips an unsaved man to show him that he cannot save himself. He is trying to get him to receive Christ to keep him out of Hell.
There are responsibilities that come with adoption. Members of the royal family of Heaven must behave like “children of the King.” They are to walk worthy of this high calling, in keeping with their position. They are to love and serve one another as brothers and sisters in the same family. They are to love each other, and above all, they are to love their Father and love their Father’s word. As a child enjoys the free run of the house and the privileges of running into the Father’s presence at all times, so the believer can approach God’s presence at any time, for those who are adopted into the family of God are “led by the Spirit of God.” We ought to possess our possessions and live as sons of God because we are adopted into God’s family and God is our Father.
So, the adopted position is a great position—an honorable position. Once you are in the family, you are in. It is true that if you are saved you have been adopted into God’s family. If you are saved, the Lord chose you for His child. Praise His name, rejoice in it, and be worthy of the name by which you are called.
Source: Theological Studies Vol. II - Adoption by Dr. Peter S. Ruckman
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