JULIANNE ATKINSON |GUEST

The summer before sixth grade, I came to faith in Christ at a sports camp. After I returned home, I gushed about God. It flowed out of my mouth how much I loved Him–His grace, love, and mercy in giving us His Son. One evening, I sat in the passenger seat of our family car, talking about these things I had learned of God to my mom, anticipating the worship and fun I would have when I arrived to youth group that night. I was taken aback by my mother’s response to my exuberance: “I wish I could believe that.” 

There are moments in life when you realize truths that change the way you think about your life. For me, this moment in the car was pivotal in teaching me that although my family is dear to me, though they are kind, moral, and emotionally healthy compared to most, celebrating Christmas didn’t make them Christians. Because my mother didn’t share my faith, she didn’t understand the spiritual joy I felt. Yet, even then, I knew my life had changed forever by knowing Christ and I’d never go back. Since then, I’ve reckoned with the fact that my spiritual parents have come from outside my birth family.

Adoption into God’s Family

When we think of the word “adoption” today, we often think of the heart that is moved with compassion to bring an orphan child into the family and raise the child as their own. In the New Testament, when the authors, and particularly the Apostle Paul, talk about adoption, they are describing a legal procedure. In Paul’s day, you could even adopt someone older than you. The point was that they were once in one family by nature, and following their adoption, they were then the legal representative and heir to the inheritance of a completely different family. When he writes in Romans 8:15, “You did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” Paul distinguishes believers as heirs rather than servants. An heir wouldn’t lose their inheritance with old age. An heir would still be welcomed if they had an accident and grew physically unable to perform their daily household duties. In our status of being adopted as an heir of God, standing before Him as His children, in union with Christ, our relationship to our Triune God changes.

Changed by Adoption

First, our master changes from one to another. There’s an authoritative, legal transfer into the family of God. Just as Jesus tells us we cannot serve two masters (Luke 16:13), Paul tells us in Colossians 1:13 that, “He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son.” Imagine showing up to your basketball game and waffling between which team you’re playing for. You would be of no real use to your team if you kept sabotaging them by scoring at whichever basket was closest to you. When you are adopted into the family of God, you are released from all duties and obligations from the family you came from. There’s no going back. You’re set free to joyfully live as an heir of the Father.

Second, Paul draws attention to the Spirit being present in the courtroom. He goes on to write, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” The Old Testament court of law required two witnesses in order to establish evidence against someone else (Deut. 17:6; 19:15). Here we see that we’re not alone in the trial. The Spirit Himself bears witness on our behalf against the adversary so that our definitive case can be made. He advocates for us before the Father, confirming that we are indeed God’s children. This brings us assurance and confidence as well as the power to live as children of the light. We have the privilege to call out “Abba! Father!” just as a toddler excited to see a parent does. The Spirit comes alongside us as we live out the Christian life so that together we are enabled to live not as legalists, not as antinomians, but as children of God, full of inexpressible joy, with gospel assurance that our case has been settled.

Life as God’s Child

I remember the moment my heart was regenerated. I can remember that spiritual court date that took place 27 years ago like it was yesterday. Though that was the day I was legally transferred into the kingdom of Jesus, it was only the beginning. Since then, I have enjoyed the benefits of being a child of God. As God’s adopted children, we are part of a family that outnumbers the grains of sand on the seashore. We point each other back to God as we walk the Christian life together. We have spiritual mothers and fathers that pour into us. We have spiritual brothers and sisters whom we love and pray for and enjoy fellowship with. In my own life, my spiritual family walks with me through the darkest trials and reminds me who I am when I forget–when I forget that I am no longer an orphan and I start to live as though everything depends on me–my adopted family then reflects back to me that I belong to God. I am His and He is mine. I cry out to Him and He hears me. 

The Doctrine of Adoption is a beautiful one and one that we ought to relish. Have you meditated on what it means to be God’s child? We can remember God’s covenant long ago with Abram when He promised to make His descendants number as many as the stars in the sky. He made the covenant with him in a way that vowed if God ever broke the covenant He made, God would take the punishment. Yet shockingly, God also showed that if Abram and his descendants broke the covenant, God Himself would also take the punishment (see Gen. 15). In doing this, He fulfilled both parts of the agreement, thus pointing ahead to His Son, Jesus Christ, who would one day take the punishment for us, and make a way for us to be adopted as God’s children, making us descendants and heirs of the promised inheritance.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash