Article XII of the Baptist Confession of Faith 1689 (the 2nd London Confession) is a tremendous expression of the biblical doctrine of adoption. It states:
Paragraph 1: All those that are justified, God conferred, in and for the sake of his Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption (Eph 1:5; Gal 4:4-5), by which they are taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God (John 1:12; Rom 8:17), have his name put on them (2 Cor 6:18; Rev 3:12), receive the Spirit of adoption (Rom 8:15), have access to the throne of grace with boldness, are able to cry Abba, Father (Gal 4:6; Eph 2:18), are pitied (Ps 103:13), protected (Prov 14:26; 1 Pet 5:7), provided for (Heb 12:6) and chastened by him as by a Father (Isa 54:8-9), yet never cast off (Lam 3:31), but sealed to the day of Redemption (Eph 4:30), and inherit the promises as heirs of everlasting salvation (Heb 1:14, 6:12).
Benjamin Keach, the seventeen century Baptist leader and pastor, stated it succinctly: "Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, by which we are received into the company of God’s children and have a right to all the privileges of his sons" (Baptist Catechism, Answer to Question 38).
Let’s look at some of the parallels between our adoption as God’s children and the process of adopting a child. We must remember that no analogy is a perfect point-for-point comparison.
Adoption, both spiritual and physical, begins with a decision. Adoptive parents, unlike biological parents, get to choose their children. An adoptive parent is often given the opportunity to see photos of a child or children and given the option of saying, "yes" or "no." Their decision brings a child, that they are not biologically attached to, into the realm of their love. Spiritual adoption rests on God’s choice. Although God is the Creator of humanity he is not the Father of humanity. Jesus gave us the divine paternity test: "If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and am now here. . . .You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desire" (John 8:42-44). John, Jesus’ disciple, states, "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brothers" (1 John 3:10). God chose to save us and to bring us into his family. Jesus states, "You did not choose me, but I chose you" (John 15:16a). John states, "We love because he first loved us" (1 John 1:9).
After the choice has been made, the process of wooing begins. Adoptive parents have a tremendous task before them. Even in the best circumstances the children that are adopted are removed from their original environment (say the womb of their birth mother where they have become acquainted with her heart beat and voice or from a foster home or orphanage, etc.), and thrust into a whole new world. The sights, sounds, and sensations are all different, maybe even frightening. The adoptive parent must begin helping the child to develop attachments. The heavenly pattern is helpful. If we first love them (the biblical concept of love is not sentimental, but action oriented), that is if we nurture them, give them affection, and lovingly discipline them, they will come to love us. Spiritually speaking this is the process of drawing or calling. God, through the Holy Spirit, convicts us of our sin, convinces us of our need for righteousness and our coming judgment, and compels us to repent and believe.
Embracing us in his love, God conforms us into the image of his Son. Adoptive parents also conform their children into a desired image. Adoptive parents will often change the child’s name. This is more than a demonstration of authority over a child; it is a demonstration of the radical transformation that has taken place in a child’s life. It marks the passing of the old standard and being brought into a new one. Look at Jacob, after his encounter with God, he goes from being "deceiver" (Jacob means deceiver) to "one who struggles [with God and man]" (Israel means he struggles with God, see Gen 33:22-32). In a sense, God is demonstrating his authority over Jacob, but he is also signaling that Jacob is not the same person anymore and the narrative of Jacob’s life bears this out (see Gen 25:19-37:11).
Suppose John and Jane Smith want to adopt Song Lu from China. Many would suggest they help Song Lu maintain as much of her Chinese heritage as possible. However, Song Lu, is no longer Chinese, she is a Smith now with all that it entails. Instead of celebrating Chinese New Year with firecrackers, the Smith’s celebrate New Years with creating a list of resolutions that will be broken in a couple of days. Instead of offering incense in a Buddhist shrine, the Smith’s are faithful Christians who take their daughter to church. They may like the name Song Lu, or they may want to name her after some relative. Song Lu becomes Sarah Beth Smith. Whatever her heritage was in China, it can never be that again. A radical change has occurred in her life that can never be undone.
Radical change is exactly what happens to us in Christ. We who were once "excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promises, without hope and without God in the world. . . . have been brought near through the blood of Christ" (Eph 2:12-13). We are now "heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings, in order that we may also share in his glory" (Rom 8:17). This reality is why Paul states, "Therefore, if any one is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone the new has come!" (2 Cor 5:17).
It is said that many adopted children struggle with their adoption. Many wonder if life would have been different (better) with their biological parents, or if there was something wrong with them (because they were given away), and the list goes on. Adoption and how it is handled affects the way children perceive their adoption. It is no different spiritually speaking. We often overlook the concept of adoption as a biblical description for salvation. And often when we do think about spiritual adoption we look at it through cultural glasses that are clouded with misconceptions. The adoptive child shares the same reality as the biological one. Spiritually speaking, many of the doubts that plague Christians today concerning their salvation and/or worth before God stem from a misunderstanding of their own adoption.
This misunderstanding may be a reason God frequently confirms the believer’s status as his child. John states, "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him" (1 John 3:1, NIV). Again John states, "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands" (1 John 5:1-2). Paul states, "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children" (Rom 8:15-16).
I hope the truth of these words soaks into the very fiber of your being. I hope, that those of you who are in Christ, receive from the Spirit that abiding confidence. I pray that if you don’t have Christ, that the Spirit will open your eyes to the truth and draw you into the family. I also hope that thinking about our adoption into the family of God will shape your thinking about adoption in general. I hope you will grasp the reality of being God’s child and that it will help you see that while biology is important it is not ultimate. We have a family that is eternal. The plain teaching of Christ reminds us that not all those who are biologically related to us will be in heaven, but only those who, through obedient faith, trust the Lord. I believe one day we will lay our biology down in the dust. All that will remain is the family formed for and through Christ to the glory of the Father.
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