“…[A]s many as received [H]im, to them gave [H]e power to become the sons of God…                                                                                                                                                    (John 1)

“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of [H]is Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

 

In the west (that’s us), adoption is one family taking in a child as one’s own. This child previously belonged to another or a different family. The original family either died or was presumed unfit.  This is assumed to be true of the east (Bible land) as well. This is untrue. Adoption in the east is different than one thinks..

Abraham had a servant and Abraham had a son. The servant was Aleazar and his son was Isaac. Aleazar, being the servant had authority and the son did not. In fact, Abraham dispatched the servant to find a wife for the son, Isaac, as the son had no authority of his own in adult matters. However, at the appropriate age, Isaac was given adult status and authority over a portion of the father’s property and possessions. This is also the meaning behind the prodigal son. The prodigal son did not want to wait for the appropriate time and demanded his authority early.

One reason so many do not understand the Biblical doctrine of adoption is due to their refusal to accept a much denied other doctrine. In this article we will (DV) seek to make clear both doctrines. But first let us demonstrate what many believe adoption to mean.

Many, if not most, preachers and therefore, most believers think the doctrine of adoption means that God has adopted His children from the family of (s)atan. While this makes sense according to the west’s definition, it is not Biblically accurate. The fact is, the believer never was a child of the devil. The believer has always been a child of God!!!  Let me say that again, If you are a child of God, you have always been a child of God….always.

Let me share with you a proof text, Galations 4:6. After I share this text with you I will ask you a question. It is not a trick question, but a simple question. Galatians 4:6, “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of [H]is Son into your hearts, crying, Abba Father.”  My question is not a theological one but a grammatical one. Read the text again and then tell me what was the cause of the Holy Spirit being sent into your heart? Another question, this time, a theological question, Does Galatians 4:6 imply that you were a son before the Spirit was sent into your heart? Another theological question, What did/does the Spirit allow the son to do? Answer, The Spirit allows the son to call God, Abba Father or Daddy.

You see, the Spirit was sent to dwell in our hearts because we were already sons!!! If you are a child of God you have always been a child of God. However, we did not know this because we didn’t have any spiritual authority. We didn’t pray, we didn’t love the Word, the Church, nor did we know the love God. We were disobedient and wrathful children and if we did have spiritual authority, imagine all the damage we would cause!!!

After the Spirit is sent to the children of God, they now understand this relationship and we cry, Daddy. We are also now endowed or endued with spiritual authority. When does this adoption occur? Adoption occurs at the moment we are saved. But remember salvation did not make us sons (John1:12) but it empowered us, it gave us authority to be “called the sons of God.” Now we can pray, now we love the Word, now we love the church, now we love our Abba, Father.

An Analogy: I have (3) children. When did these children become my children, before or after they were born? Before they were born, of course.

We have given you a definition and an example of adoption from the life of Isaac. We have sought to explain the doctrine of adoption from John 1. Now we will (DV) turn to the book of Hebrews.

After Abraham returned from a great war involving (5) five kings, he gave a tithe to the Priest, called, Melchisedec, “And as I may say so, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham. For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.” Also, “By faith [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise…”  “With Isaac and Jacob? when did this happen? it didn’t. As Isaac was in Abraham’s loins, so would Jacob be in Isaac’s loins. The point is, God saw Isaac and Jacob as Abraham’s sons and heirs prior to their earthly existence.

[Sidenote: The above is also the explanation of being, “In Christ”…All the works Christ did, (His Pre-Flesh Existence, His sinless life, His death, His burial, His Resurrection!, and His ascention) we did, too, as we were and are “in Him, from-ever to and through for-ever “in [H]im.”]

For the doctrine of adoption to be what it is, the doctrine of election must be understood and accepted as sound. The doctrine of election is the other doctrine we spoke about above. For many, election is a forbidden doctrine. Many a preacher has twisted it’s meaning, in order to teach it safely and to keep his ministry.

The fundemental doctrine of election is God’s free will and free choice to save whom he wills to save and to pass over whom He wills to pass over. The doctrine of election bleeds into the doctrine of definite atonement. The doctrine of definite atonement speaks to Christ atoning for the elect only or in other words, those who will believe. Christ did not atone for all men and their sinful nature or their sins.

The Blood of Christ, certainly and without doubt, could have atoned for all sin and all the sins of all men but that was not His design, likewise Christ could have healed the great multitude of impotent folk in John 5, yet He healed only one certain man. Read John 5.

Those who fight against this great doctrine of election are choosing sides with the lost and their “free will”. Those who deny this doctrine, not only choose sides with the lost, they choose to side against God’s freedom of will. The irony is, humans have no real free will.

Humanity, according to Scripture, is a servant to the sin nature and can be used by (s)atan, according to his will at any time. Christ, speaking to the Pharisee said, “….the lusts of your father, ye will do.” Who is their father, you might ask, “Ye are of your father, the devil…” Christ has just told these religious, pride-filled men that they are condemned to do as the devil does and would have them do. This is true of all non-elect unbelievers.

The reason ministers wrongly teach adoption is because, in order to teach it rightly, they must teach other “dark” doctrines rightly.