A Biblical Presentation On The Doctrine Of Adoption
Adoption is the act of God by which He considers us to be members of His eternal family. We are deemed His children by faith. Adoption is a legal term, figure of speech used to describe a change in our standing before Him. Like justification, it is an undeserved, unmerited favor of God:
"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who 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)
It is not by physical descent or by human efforts that one becomes a child of God, but by faith. He took action to redeem us by sending God the Son into this world. We obtain an inheritance in heaven that cannot perish or fade away.
The Apostle Paul used adoption as a metaphor to communicate that we as believers partake of the inheritance that belongs to Jesus Christ:
"and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him." (Romans 8:17)
"But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:4-5)
Christ has possession over everything. We shall partake in His glory and riches as we have been included as members of the kingdom of heaven (John 17:22; 2 Corinthians 8:9). We are adopted as children of God in Christ:
"He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will." (Ephesians 1:5)
His shed blood brings about both our justification and adoption by God the Father. We belong to Him and He belongs to us.
"But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who 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)
It is not by physical descent or by human efforts that one becomes a child of God, but by faith. He took action to redeem us by sending God the Son into this world. We obtain an inheritance in heaven that cannot perish or fade away.
The Apostle Paul used adoption as a metaphor to communicate that we as believers partake of the inheritance that belongs to Jesus Christ:
"and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him." (Romans 8:17)
"But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:4-5)
Christ has possession over everything. We shall partake in His glory and riches as we have been included as members of the kingdom of heaven (John 17:22; 2 Corinthians 8:9). We are adopted as children of God in Christ:
"He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will." (Ephesians 1:5)
His shed blood brings about both our justification and adoption by God the Father. We belong to Him and He belongs to us.
Comments
Philemon 1:10 I appeal to you for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my imprisonment,
It is very clear that Onesimus is not Paul's biological son, but his adopted son, so we KNOW begotten can be used in this context. Therefore "begotten" certainly does not attest to Jesus' virginal conception; it is perfectly compatible with Jesus being morn a man, and was himself later adopted by God - which is what the Jews believed of the previous messiahs (i.e., earlier kings), see for example 2 Sam 7:14.
Indeed, "begotten" may have come from Psalm 2:7 (via the LXX?), which is God talking to King David, as he adopts David as his son:
7 I will tell of the decree:
The Lord said to me, “You are my Son;
today I have begotten you.
Echoed in the NT:
Mark 1:11 And a voice came from heaven, “You are my beloved Son;[d] with you I am well pleased.”
Acts 13:33 God hath fulfilled the same unto us their children, in that he hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.
What we see here is an evolution of Christology from a man adopted by God at his baptism in Mark to the product of a virgin birth in Matthew and Luke, to a subordinate part of God in John to an equal part some time later in the trinity.
Mark calls Jesus the Son of God.
“The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God” (1:1).
No, it is not a disproof, but it does tells us that modern Christians have quite a different understanding to the followers that Jesus actually preached to.
The original claim is that "begotten" asserts the virginal conception. I note you are not trying to defend that!
No, it is not a disproof, but it does tells us that modern Christians have quite a different understanding to the followers that Jesus actually preached to.
Sure our understanding has evolved. We seek to understand the way the early guys saw it that's why we have scholars. We understand better than they did in some ways.
The original claim is that "begotten" asserts the virginal conception. I note you are not trying to defend that!
Not the act itself but the incarnation, the birth in flesh. Jesus is God's only born son. Born as a son not adopted when he chose to follow,