"God sent His Son to Adopt more sons" Galatians 4:4-7

Spiritually speaking, every human is born outside of God's family. We are rebels against the One who gave us life, and we have joined the family of His arch enemy-the Devil. However, God sent His only begotten Son into the world to defeat the Devil and adopt the elect into His family. The Biblical doctrine of adoption reminds us of our family connection that matters most. Our spiritual adoption into the Heavenly Father's family reminds us to glorify God for establishing a family connection with Him, and maintaining that connection throughout eternity. God sent His Son to adopt more sons.

What is the doctrine of adoption? Our Heidelberg Catechism doesn't define this biblical teaching, though it does assume it on two different occasions. When we think about our faith in God the Father Almighty, we believe that God is "for the sake of Christ His Son, my God and My Father." (#26) Also, when we try to wrestle with the concept of how we can be God's children when Jesus is God's only begotten Son, the answer is found in the doctrine of adoption. "Christ alone is called the eternal, natural Son of God, but we are the children of God by adoption, through grace, for His sake." (#33) What is adoption, then? In the words of our Presbyterian friends in their Westminster Shorter Catechism, "Adoption is an act of God's free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have the right to all the privileges of the sons of God." (# 34)

The Place of Adoption

Adoption is about a changed status. Naturally, we are all children of wrath, says Ephesians 2:3. The unsaved are really serving their spiritual father, the devil. How is it that children of the devil become children of God? God freely gives us the grace of adoption. "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons." (Galatians 4:4-5)

Adoption is a gift. None of us applied to be adopted. Even in our world today, it is the parents who fill out the application forms to adopt. The children who will be adopted do not ask or choose whom their parents will be. The parents and adoption agency choose where to place the child. It is the same with spiritual adoption. "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 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)

The place of Adoption is a place of honor for us. Receiving this wonderful gift gives us an awesome status. The Apostle John worshiped God for this, saying, "Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1)

The place of Adoption puts Christ in His place of honor as well. He is the only natural Son of God, full of grace and truth. Adoption points us to Christ in a few ways. It shows how we can be adopted-by the work of Christ. It also reminds us that we are only adopted. This doesn't mean we are second-class family members of God's family. We're just not of the same class as Jesus. He is unique. Before you or I were ever sons of God, God already had a Son to send forth into the world to redeem us. Jesus is the heir of God, we are joint-heirs (Romans 8:17). Let's never forget that. That's why we gather to worship Him alone.

Think about how this applies to you. God has given you a place of honor. You belong. Isn't that a message our world needs to hear? We long for a real relationship. God says, "You have one, with Me, the moment you believe." The doctrines we believe affect the way we live our life. When we understand our spiritual adoption, it wipes out the temptation for peer pressure. We don't have to follow the crowd just to be accepted, since we are already accepted-by God Himself, through Christ. We already have a family, so we do not need to join alternate ‘families' that dishonor God.

Our adoption occurs at a place in time. The time when we are adopted actually stretches back into eternity. Adoption is no accident. It is a grace which flows out of the fountain of God's perfect predestination. "Just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world . . .  having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will." (Ephesians 1:4-5) God comes to the orphanage of humanity and picks out a bunch of kids to add to His family. He loves us all because He loves Christ. It is through His love for His natural Son, Jesus, that He can love us adopted sons and daughters. Now, you and I, and all God's elect, are recipients of His good pleasure and loving will.

The question naturally arises that since we are adopted through Christ, were the Old Testament believers adopted? Yes, they were. God always approached Israel as His adopted family. "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son." (Hosea 11:1; see also Romans 9:4)

When it comes to being members of God's family, Galatians 3:26-4:7 is the key passage showing the relationship between Old and New Testament believers. According to that passage, Old Testament saints were adopted, yet they still lived under a tutor called the Law (the whole O.T. sacrificial and legal system). It wasn't until the fullness of time, when Jesus came, that they graduated and could now take their place in the Father's house, and live as mature sons instead of underage pupils. The New Testament age, with all that Jesus fulfilled and the presence of His Spirit now leading us in God's ways, this age is so much better. Both Jew and Gentile are adopted into the family of God-but we don't need a tutor. We have the full rights of sonship.

So, God's people have always been adopted, in Old or New Testament. But the realities of adoption are so much better now that Christ, our elder Brother has come. We do not need to groan under the weight of the Law and wonder when God will send a deliverer from our slavery. We have heard the joyful sound. Jesus saves. Jesus saves. We have seen the Child in the manger. We have seen the Man on the cross. We have seen the empty tomb. We have seen the risen King ascend into the clouds to sit on His heavenly throne. Adoption is based on real historical facts, and adoption is a real status we have in the history of our lives.

Adoption has a place among other Bible doctrines. Adoption is a grace of God. But it is not the only grace. How do we get adopted? That is taught by another doctrine-justification. Why are we adopted? That is the focus of another doctrine-sanctification. What is the goal of adoption? That is described by yet another doctrine-glorification. All the doctrines of God's Word are important, and they connect into a beautiful whole. We should be careful to be balanced as we talk about each specific doctrine, lest we lose sight of the beautiful forest of truth because of our close inspection of the single tree standing in front of us.

The Power of Adoption

The power of adoption is revealed to us as the Holy Spirit Himself. "And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!'" (Galatians 4:6; see also Romans 8:14-15) We can call God, "Father," because the Holy Spirit is in our hearts praying this.

Who has this power of adoption? The elect alone. Adoption is a wonderful and important doctrine because it protects us from the false teaching of so many in our society and in the mainline ‘church' today. They teach that God is the universal father of all people. We are all brothers and sisters. Every human is God's child. This is an old teaching. Its modern version says things like, "All roads will lead to heaven. After all, we worship the same God, just maybe in a different way. Thus we should all just try to get along. We need to acknowledge our unity since every human is a fellow child of God-regardless of their religion."

How should the Bible-believing Christian respond? We acknowledge that there are some Scriptures which teach that God is the Creator of all mankind, and thus in that sense could be called their ‘father' or the source of their physical existence (see Acts 17:28-29). Yet the Bible clearly reserves the title of "God the Father" for that blessed relationship which God establishes with only those people He redeems and adopts into His family. John 1:12 says that we can only be called God's children if we receive God's only begotten Son as our Savior. Galatians 4:6 says that God's children-every last one of them, have the stamp of God's family upon them. They are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, who cry out from the heart, "Abba, Father!"

The power of adoption means you can know you are saved. The powerful Holy Spirit of Adoption gives us assurance of salvation. God sent His Spirit "Because you are sons," said Galatians 4:6. The Holy Spirit is like our adoption papers, proving that we really do belong, in body and soul, in life and in death, to God. "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." (Romans 8:16; see also Ephesians 1:13-14)

The power of adoption shapes our attitude to life in God's family. The Holy Spirit produces in us a confidence to love the Father. He is not only our King and Judge. He is our Loving Heavenly Father. "Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son." (Galatians 4:7) Is this your attitude and approach to God? Or do you see Him only as a harsh judge, who rules the universe with an iron fist, waiting for us to mess up. Have you missed the blessing of understanding your adoption?

The power of adoption provides us strength for life in God's family. The Sermon on the Mount assumes we are God's children, and teaches us a whole way of life because of our adopted status. Jesus commonly referred to believers as His brothers (Mark 3:35). We are called to imitate our Father and be perfect as He is (Matthew 5:48). We are to let the light of our life shine before men so that they glorify our Father in heaven (Matthew 5:16). Christian prayer is to address God as Our Father in Heaven (Matthew 6:9). How would our prayers be different if God weren't our Father? Would we try to manipulate Him as if He were a cold-hearted judge or uncaring boss? God is not only our Master, He is our Father. So we are told that in our prayers we can come freely and boldly into His presence. (Matthew 7:7-11) The Holy Spirit says, "Abba! Father!"

Adoption is the basis for all these glorious experiences and realities of the Christian. And the way these can happen is through the power of Adoption. The power is not an impersonal force either, but is God's Power. God Himself lives in us-in the person of God the Holy Spirit-guaranteeing to us that we are in the family.

The Promise of Adoption

As a grace of the eternal God, adoption has eternal significance. Not only does it proceed from God's eternal love before time began, not only does it comfort us in this life's experiences since we have a place where we belong, but adoption also holds out a great promise for our future. "Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." (Galatians 4:7)

We are heirs of God. If we were told that we had a rich uncle who is leaving all his billions of dollars to us, we'd be grinning from ear to ear. But we have even better news from God's Word. We have a richer Father. Our Father owns all those billions, and every other penny on the planet. He even owns the air we breathe and the fish in the bottom of the sea. And we shall inherit the riches of God one day. As children of God, things are only getting better from here.

Adoption has promises for us that are amazing. We know we are accepted and forgiven. We can trust in our Father's protection and wisdom. We know hope. We know security. Yet all these promises are not just present realities and privileges. There is a future aspect to this grace.

Remember those Old Testament believers? They were adopted, but there was something missing. They had to wait until the fulness of times when Jesus came, when they could truly receive the adoption grace they were anticipating. We believers in the New Testament era also await a future adoption grace. There is something missing now. This grace will come to us in the fulness of times as well. The fulness of times is when Christ comes to earth a second time, on the Last Day. In that day, and not until that day, we will experience the fulness of our inheritance-an inheritance which we have a right to, since we are legitimate sons and daughters of our Heavenly Father.

Scripture describes that full inheritance in a few ways. Romans 8:19 says that even the trees and flowers, all creation is eagerly waiting for the end of the curse of sin upon it, when the sons of God will be revealed. Romans 8:23 says "we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body." Our bodies will be perfected and glorified. That is the fulness of adoption's promise. In the end of time, we will hear this divine voice echoing from heaven: "He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son." (Revelation 21:7)

You don't have to be a natural born Son of God to be in His family. Praise God for that, or we'd all be lost! And you don't have to be a natural born son of a current church member either. God's family is not always identical to the biological families of his covenant people. There is hope for those in our communities who are not our blood relatives. Will we communicate that to them? How? By our words? Our actions, of welcoming them to church when they worship, and going out to gather in more for worship and fellowship and membership? God has sent His Son to adopt many more sons and daughters into His Kingdom. Will the doctrine of adoption drive you to evangelism? If you are reading this article, then God's family has not yet all been gathered in. There are more sons and daughters God will gather in to give that wonderful place of honor as adopted children of the King of heaven. There are more sons and daughters whom God will give His power through the Holy Spirit. There are more sons and daughters who have yet to learn the glorious promises that await them because of the blood of Christ, which brings all the elect into the family of God, by adoption.

Luther and Calvin Compared

Martin Luther (1483-1546) and John Calvin (1509-1564) were mighty sinners. They both admitted this often. They also rejoiced that they were saved by a mighty God, with almighty, sovereign grace. They owed their entire existence, and eternal joy, to God and God alone. This God chose to use such vessels as tools in His hand to turn the world upside down during their lifetime, and indeed for all the centuries of history since. The legacy of the Protestant Reformation is a part of God's story in bringing His elect to salvation in this life so that they might serve Him in this world, and join Him in glory in the world to come.

While God used both Luther and Calvin in mighty ways, He did not use them in the same way. The purpose of this article is to explore how God used each man, and especially what was unique about the way God used John Calvin. Protestants of all stripes have long recognized that Martin Luther brought a moderate reform to the Christian Church, while John Calvin brought a more thorough reform. Luther kept more of the medieval customs and worship liturgy, while Calvin and the Calvinists made a clearer break with the previous centuries of Church practice, bringing back the early church practices of a simple worship, unadorned by images and rituals. A simple glance at the sanctuary of a typical Lutheran Church compared to a Reformed/Presbyterian Church illustrates this fact.