The Holy Spirit - Revealing and Convicting (14)

 

  Adoption (V)

 

We see the term “the placing of a son” (adoption) twice in our Romans passage, in 8:15 and 8:23. Some folks get confused about the term because of the way it is used in verse 23, “We ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.”

 

Some people read verse 23 and think, “Adoption is about our resurrection. It is about the consummation of our redemption, the redemption of our body from corruption into its glorious state of incorruption.” This thinking places adoption in the future, it makes adoption something we have not yet experienced.

 

I’m going to share a quote from Douglas Moo’s outstanding commentary on Romans to help us understand this passage:

 

“Since adoption, according to 8:23, takes place when the body is redeemed, some interpret “Spirit of adoption” here [8:15] in the sense of “the Spirit that anticipates, or pledges, our adoption.” But this flies in the face of the immediate context, in which the stress is on the present enjoyment of our status as God’s children. We should, then, attribute the apparent contradiction between this verse [8:15] and 8:23 to the ‘already-not yet’ tension of the Christian’s eschatological status: ‘already’ truly ‘adopted’ into God’s family, with all its benefits and privileges, but ‘not yet’ recipients of the ‘inheritance,’ by which we will be conformed to the glorious image of God’s own Son (see 8:29).” (The Epistle to the Romans, NICNT, Douglas Moo, Eerdmans, page 501.)

 

While I think Moo misses a critical element when he writes of being “adopted into God’s family,” for only children can be adopted, his point about the “already – not yet” is important – for what we see in Romans 8 is a process, a trajectory, a working out of the manifestation of the sons of God that results in creation being delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of God’s children. This trajectory also molds us into the image of the Firstborn Son so that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

 

While Moo writes of “benefits and privileges,” we should also consider the responsibilities and call to suffering that are inherent in the placing of sons and daughters, that are integral to Biblical adoption. All of these lead to the deliverance of creation, the full manifestation of the sons of God, and the conformity of the sons and daughters of God to the image of Jesus Christ so that Jesus might be the firstborn among many brethren.

 

Suffering is inherent in our call to follow Jesus and to grow up into Him, “If indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him” (8:17). We are to present ourselves as “living and holy sacrifices” (12:1). We are to know Him in the “koinonia of His sufferings” (Philippians 3:10).

 

“For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps” (1 Peter 2:21).

 

Furthermore, compare what Peter writes in 1 Peter 4:13 with what we see in Romans 8, “To the degree that you share the sufferings of Christ, keep rejoicing, so that also at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice with exaltation.”

 

Biblical adoption is a process by which the Father brings His sons and daughters to full participation in Jesus Christ, as Jesus’ brothers and sisters (Hebrews 2:10 – 13). These sons and daughters suffer with Christ on behalf of others (Colossians 1:24; 2 Corinthians 4:12; 1 John 3:16), following the Lamb wherever He goes (Revelation 14:1 – 5).

 

We are called to live as men and women in Christ, not as perpetual children preoccupied with “our best lives now” or “bless me clubs” or producing weekly religious productions or having the equivalent of self-help offerings, group therapy, or operating “great courses” in our flavor of Christianity. We are to be our Father’s daughters and sons participating with Him and our Elder Brother in bringing Life to the people of the world and deliverance to the creation. We are to realize that Christ desires to come to the world in and through His Body, today and tomorrow.

 

When we read passages such as Romans 8:18 – 25 we ought to have the good spiritual sense to realize that the coming of Jesus Christ is inextricably associated with His People, rather than the news headlines or the latest and greatest and most entertaining prophecy teacher and his franchise. We need to stop being religious consumers, babies and toddlers in highchairs (1 Corinthians 3:1-3; Hebrews 5:12 – 6:3), and start being women and men of the Word of God who bring the produce of the land to share with others within and without the Church.

 

O dear friend, you are not an accident looking for a place to happen, nor in Christ are you any longer a sinner, not even a sinner saved by grace, but you are a saint of God in our Lord Jesus Christ, washed and cleansed and raised with Jesus Christ to newness of life, sitting in the heavens in Jesus Christ, called to grow up into Him, coming to know your Abba Father, living as an adult in the Family of God, being conformed to the image of His Son.

 

We can easily say that the Biblical Spirit of adoption is the Spirit of adulthood, which I hope we will see in our next reflection in this series.