Gal 4:4 But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, coming into being out of a woman, having come under Law,
Gal 4:5 that He might redeem those under Law, so that we might receive the adoption of sons.
1. The Theology of Adoption
a. Adoption Defined
adoption : G5206 υἱοθεσία uihothesia hwee-oth-es-ee'-ah Strongs
From a presumed compound of G5207 and a derivative of G5087; the placing as a son, that is, adoption (figuratively Christian sonship in respect to God): - adoption (of children, of sons).
Compare “.a son : G5207 υἱός uihos hwee-os'
Apparently a primary word; a “son” (sometimes of animals), used very widely of immediate, remote or figurative kinship: - child, foal, son.
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| Ian Gee, a lawyer from Idaho, talked with his newly adopted son, Obdiyeah, 5, as Lincoln, 13 months, also just adopted by Gee, slept on his arm last week in Monrovia, Liberia. |
to set or place G5087 τίθημι tithēmi Thayer Definition:
1) to set, put, place
1a) to place or lay
1b) to put down, lay down
1b1) to bend down
1b2) to lay off or aside, to wear or carry no longer
1b3) to lay by, lay aside money
1c) to set on (serve) something to eat or drink
1d) to set forth, something to be explained by discourse
2) to make
2a) to make (or set) for one’s self or for one’s use
3) to set, fix establish
3a) to set forth
3b) to establish, ordain
so that we might receive the adoption of sons.
VWS We might receive (ἀπολάβωμεν)
Not receive again or back, as Luk_15:27, for adoption was something which men did not have before Christ; but receive from the Giver.
The adoption (τὴν υἱοθεσίαν)
Po. See on Rom_8:15, and comp. Rom_9:4; Eph_1:5. Not sonship, but sonship conferred.
Rom 8:15 You haven't received the spirit of slaves that leads you into fear again. Instead, you have received the spirit of God's adopted children by which we call out, "Abba! Father!" GW
Spirit of bondage (πνεῦμα δουλείας)
The Holy Spirit, as in Spirit of adoption. The Spirit which ye received was not a spirit of bondage. See Rom_8:4, under πνεῦμα, 7.
Spirit of adoption (πνεῦμα υἱοθεσίας)
The Spirit of God, producing the condition of adoption. Ὑιοθεσία adoption, is from υἱός son, and θέσις a setting or placing: the placing one in the position of a son. Mr. Merivale, illustrating Paul's acquaintance with Roman law, says: “The process of legal adoption by which the chosen heir became entitled not only to the reversion of the property but to the civil status, to the burdens as well as the rights of the adopter - became, as it were, his other self, one with him... this too is a Roman principle, peculiar at this time to the Romans, unknown, I believe, to the Greeks, unknown, to all appearance, to the Jews, as it certainly is not found in the legislation of Moses, nor mentioned anywhere as a usage among the children of the covenant. We have but a faint conception of the force with which such an illustration would speak to one familiar with the Roman practice; how it would serve to impress upon him the assurance that the adopted son of God becomes, in a peculiar and intimate sense, one with the heavenly Father” (“Conversion of the Roman Empire”).
We cry (κράζομεν)
Of a loud cry or vociferation; expressing deep emotion.
Abba (Ἁββᾶ) (Daddy)
Compare Mar_14:36. A Syrian term, to which Paul adds the Greek Father.
Adoption logically follows Regeneration. Regeneration gives one His new Nature as a Child of God, whereas, Adoption gives us our Position as a Son of God. Romans 8:15 - 23;
2Co 6:18 The Lord Almighty says, "I will be your Father, and you will be my sons and daughters."
Gal 4:5 God sent him to pay for the freedom of those who were controlled by these laws so that we would be adopted as his children.
Gal 4:6 Because you are God's children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into us to call out, "Abba! Father!"
Eph 1:5 For He pre-destined us to be adopted by Himself as sons through Jesus Christ--such being His gracious will and pleasure--
J.Gill :unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto himself; by which is meant, either the grace of adoption, which is an act of the Father's love, a blessing provided and secured in the covenant of grace; and is of persons to an inheritance, to which they have no legal right; and is entirely free, there being no need on the adopter's part, and no worth on the part of the adopted: or rather the inheritance they are adopted to; which exceeds all others, is incorruptible, undefiled, and fades not away; and lies among the saints in light, and belongs to all the children of God: and this they are predestinated unto by God the Father, who takes them into his family, puts them among the children, and gives them a goodly heritage: and that "by Jesus Christ"; or through him; for both the grace of adoption, and the kingdom and glory they are adopted to, come by and through him as Mediator; through his espousing their persons, assuming their nature, and redeeming them from under the law and its curses; through his giving them a power and privilege openly to be the sons of God; and through faith in Him,
b. How Spiritual Adoption differs from Civil Adoption.
(1) We never adopt our own children, but God never adopts any other than His own.
(2) Civil adoption provides comfort for the childless, but God had a Beloved Son, prior to adopting us. Mat 3:17 while a voice came from Heaven, saying, "This is My Son, the dearly loved, in whom is My delight."
Mat 17:5 He was still speaking when a luminous cloud spread over them; and a voice was heard from within the cloud, which said, "This is My Son dearly beloved, in whom is My delight. Listen to Him."
(3)There are often many pleasing characteristics in a civil adopted child, but not in God’s children prior to their being adopted.
Rom 3:10 Thus it stands written, "THERE IS NOT ONE RIGHTEOUS MAN.
Rom 3:11 THERE IS NOT ONE WHO IS REALLY WISE, NOR ONE WHO IS A DILIGENT SEEKER AFTER GOD.
Rom 3:12 ALL HAVE TURNED ASIDE FROM THE RIGHT PATH; THEY HAVE EVERY ONE OF THEM BECOME CORRUPT. THERE IS NO ONE WHO DOES WHAT IS RIGHT--NO, NOT SO MUCH AS ONE."
(4) Civil adoption could never give the child the nature of the father, but God’s adopted are given the very mind of Christ.
1Co 2:14 The unspiritual man rejects the things of the Spirit of God, and cannot attain to the knowledge of them, because they are spiritually judged.
1Co 2:15 But the spiritual man judges of everything, although he is himself judged by no one.
1Co 2:16 For WHO HAS PENETRATED THE MIND OF THE LORD, AND WILL INSTRUCT HIM? But *we* have the mind of Christ.
(5) In some cases Civil Adoption can be declared null and void, but God’s adopted are absolutely Secure.
ISBE Assurance Jesus repeatedly used this word “amen” to express the trustworthiness and abiding certainty of his sayings. πίστις, pı́stis, “faith”; πληροφορία, plērophorı́a, “full assurance.” The confidence of faith is based, not on “works of righteousness which we have done” (compare Tit_3:4, Tit_3:5 the King James Version) but on the highpriesthood and atoning sacrifice of Christ (Heb_10:21, Heb_10:22; compare Heb_10:19, “boldness to enter ... by the blood of Jesus,” the King James Version). Assurance is the soul's apprehension of its complete emancipation from the power of evil and from consequent judgment, through the atoning grace of Christ. It is the exact opposite of self-confidence, being a joyous appropriation and experience of the fullness of Christ - a glad sense of security, freedom and eternal life in Him. This doctrine is of immeasurable importance to the life of the church and of the individual believer, as a life of spiritual doubt and uncertainty contradicts the ideal of liberty in Christ Jesus which is the natural and necessary fruitage of “the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit ... shed on us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour.” Paul unhesitatingly said, “I know” (2Ti_1:12) - a word which, oft-repeated in 1 Jn, furnishes the groundwork of glad assurance that runs through the entire epistle. For the classic passage on “full assurance” see Col_2:1-10.
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