Adoption is the gracious act of God whereby He chooses us, calls us to Himself, and gives us the privileges and bless­ings of being His children. God has an adoptive nature­ His plans for His family is expansive. Though mankind lost the status and privileges of sonship in his tragic fall in Paradise, adoption translates the believer out of a miserable estate into a happy union with God.

Adoption is triune in nature: God the Father chose His children before the foundation of the world (Rom. 8:28-29; Eph. 1:5, 11; 1 Thess. 1:4; 1 Peter 2:9); God the Son earned the blessings by which we become children of God (1 John 4:10); and God the Holy Spirit changes our nature by regen­eration, so that we move from being children of wrath to children of God (1 John 2:29; 3:9).

Adoption brings relationship changes. First, the rela­tionship with God is changed, as He is now “Abba, Father” (Rom. 8:15). Thus, the child of God declares, as Christ did, “I seek not mine own will, but the will of my Father” (John 5:30). The believer’s life is controlled by the convic­tion that God is now his Father (Matt. 7:11; cf. 6:9). This is his comfort in all aspects of life (Matt. 6:32; John 14:1-2; James 1:16-18).

Second, our relationship to the world is changed. It is now a troubled one (1 John 3:1). Further, it is one that the believer continually strives to put to death, because even though he lives in the world, he must not be “of” it (John 15:19; 17:16; Rom. 12:2; cf. Ex. 23:32-33; Judg. 2:1-2; 2 Cor. 6:17-18; Phil. 1:27; James 1:27; 4:4).

Third, our relationship to the family of God is changed, for the child of God has many brothers and sisters in Christ (1 John 3:14-18). As the believer is united to God in Christ, so he is united to all other people of God (John 17:21). Thus, adoption brings with it a communion of saints (Ps. 133:1; Rom. 12:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12-31; 1 Thess. 5:11).

Moreover, adoption includes two precious benefits: a blessed status and wondrous privileges. God’s adopted chil­dren share the same status as the very Son of God (cf. Hos. 1:10; Rom. 9:26; 2 Cor. 6:18), who is their Elder Brother (Heb. 2:11). This means they enjoy the same love from God that exists between the Father and His Son (John 17:23; cf. Jer. 31:3; 1 John 3:1). Thus, God declares of the believer what He says of His Son: “This is my beloved” (Matt. 3:17).

Furthermore, the child of God receives manifold privi­leges. He receives the Spirit of adoption (Rom. 8:15); is changed into the likeness of Christ (Rom. 8:29; 2 Cor. 3:18); is chastened for sanctification (Heb. 12:6-7); is comforted by God’s filial love and pity (Ps. 103:13); is preserved from falling (Jude 24); and is provided all things necessary for life (Matt. 7:7-11; James 1:17).

Beyond all this, the believer enjoys the privileges of the only begotten Son Himself. This brings with it acceptance (Eph. 1:6); communion (2 Cor. 13:14); life (John 1:12-13; 1 John 3:1-3); and an eternal inheritance (Rom. 8:17). Adoption, under Roman law, was a legal act by which a man chose someone outside of the family to be an heir to his inheritance. This inheritance was divided; yet, though there are countless heirs of Christ, each believer receives the full and entire inheritance of God.

These privileges bring the responsibility of joyful service to the Father. This includes childlike reverential love for the Father; submission to the Father in all His providences; obedience and imitation of the Father; and love for the Father’s children. As a child rejoices in pleasing his father, so the believer searches the smiles and frowns of God to guide his conduct in life.

From being a child of the devil to becoming a child of God; from a child of wrath to the object of God’s favor; from a child of condemnation to an heir of all the promises and a possessor of all blessings; from the greatest misery to the highest felicity – adoption is a stupendous wonder. The prodigal has nothing to move God to adopt him; further, he has much to discourage the adoption; yet God delights to become his Father in Christ by the Spirit.