Adoption

I used to think the passage below was speaking of pretty much one thing, becoming a child of God and adopted into His family.  It sounds like it doesn’t it:

¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. (Rom. 8:14-17)

In looking more into biblical adoption, I found this passage is talking about two different things.  And there is in fact an important difference.

We become children, sons and daughters, of God (vs. 14) at the moment we turn our lives over to Christ.  We’re adopted as sons and daughters, heirs of the kingdom, at the same time.  The difference is in the meaning.  When we become children of God, part of the family.  Adoption is different.

Adoption described in Romas 8 is about the time and culture when Romans 8 was written.  Let’s say you were a successful first century Roman businessman.  You have several children you love, but none of them are capable of running your business when you die nor do they want to.  You start looking for someone else to take over the responsibility, an heir.  This could be a slave, a neighbor, a business associate, pretty much anyone.  You would adopt them as the heir to the family business.

This is different than just having your own children.  The Greek word for “adoption” is huiothesia.  It means “son placement.”  Adopting a son in the Roman and Greek culture was not just bringing someone into the family but placing them in a position of authority. As adults, they are hired to do a job.

Why is this important?

Just to be clear, both becoming a child of God and being adopted as a son or daughter happen at the same moment, when we accept Christ.  We become one of the family of God at that moment.  That means we have a loving intimate relationship with God and will spend eternity with Him serving Him.

Our being adopted is not a relationship thing at all, it is a positional one.  When adopted, we are assigned a job in God’s kingdom we will fulfill as heirs when we go to be with Him. 

God has given us jobs here to do.  These are training for what is to come.  Jesus spoke of this in the parable of the talents (Matt. 25:14-30).  We are being prepared for the job God has for us to do in glory.

Last week we looked at the overwhelming joy we will experience in heaven when we’re with God.  Imagine that joy increased all the more by serving Him there.  We’ve been given talents here by God Who expects us to use them and increase what we’ve been given.  What a thrill it is go serve our Lord. What joy we will have then in serving Him in much greater capacities than we do here.  No wonder we will be overwhelmed.

There is a lot more to this idea of adoption by God. This is just a short summary.