When we think of adoption today, we think of orphans. People often adopt in order to help a child, place them in a home, provide them with love, family, and a future. It's a wonderful, beautiful thing and I'm so glad that people adopt, and that it's a prominent thing in the church and in society.
That said, one of the things I've been somewhat surprised to learn as I have been studying the Pauline use of adoption is that when the Bible speaks of adoption, it's not talking about what we are talking about. That's because adoption in Greco-Roman society was a completely different institution than our modern adoption model. This is important to clarify if we are going to understand the Bible's message rightly--when the Bible talks about adoption it is NOT talking primarily about the welfare of children.
For one thing, in ancient society, most adoptees were adults, not children. And the reason you were adopted was not because you were in need but because someone else needed you--to carry on the family name, to inherit and oversee the family estate. As Michael Peppard puts it in his book The Son of God in the Roman World: Divine Sonship in its Social and Political Context:
"Roman adoption was not for a child to gain a home of love and care but for an adult to gain an inheritance of wealth and status. Stated another way, it was not enacted to stabilize the life of a child, but to stabilize the future of a father." (pg 60) For that reason, a person (usually a grown man) would only be adopted after he had proven himself a trustworthy and reliable person.
Why does this matter? Well, it matters because if we're going to understand the Bible, we need to understand it on its own terms. Imagine if when we read about Noah's ark, we imagined a big modern-day cruise ship? Or if everytime we read about a shepherd we imagined a huge New Zealand sheep ranch? To understand what the Bible is and isn't saying, we need to understand...what the Bible is and isn't saying.
So what does this mean about adoption? Does it mean that God isn't really our father? That we aren't supposed to adopt children? That we shouldn't see glimpses of the gospel in the beauty of an multiethnic adoptive family? Nope.
Here's just a few implications:
It means that when Jesus came to rescue us, to redeem us for adoption as sons and daughters, we weren't adorable little cherubic children that would tug on anyone's heartstrings. No, we were slaves, Paul says. We were rebels. It wasn't that we were so cute and needy and had so much potential. It was because God is so loving and faithful and powerful to redeem lost sinners.
It also means that our adoption in Christ is due to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth earned the right to his Father's inheritance by his life of perfect obedience and sacrifical death. Jesus is the only one who earned his place as a Son of God, but by his grace we get to share in that too as we receive his Spirit--what Paul calls "the Spirit of adoption" (Romans 8:15).
So our adoption as sons and daughters of God isn't due to our being just so inherently lovable and needy. It was and is due to the Faithful Son, Jesus Christ, who has proven himself a worthy heir of all the Father's riches, and who reclaims us from slavery so that we can become sons and daughters. And through us, adopted sons and daughters, the Father's name, family, and glory are extended throughout the earth.
That said, one of the things I've been somewhat surprised to learn as I have been studying the Pauline use of adoption is that when the Bible speaks of adoption, it's not talking about what we are talking about. That's because adoption in Greco-Roman society was a completely different institution than our modern adoption model. This is important to clarify if we are going to understand the Bible's message rightly--when the Bible talks about adoption it is NOT talking primarily about the welfare of children.
For one thing, in ancient society, most adoptees were adults, not children. And the reason you were adopted was not because you were in need but because someone else needed you--to carry on the family name, to inherit and oversee the family estate. As Michael Peppard puts it in his book The Son of God in the Roman World: Divine Sonship in its Social and Political Context:
"Roman adoption was not for a child to gain a home of love and care but for an adult to gain an inheritance of wealth and status. Stated another way, it was not enacted to stabilize the life of a child, but to stabilize the future of a father." (pg 60) For that reason, a person (usually a grown man) would only be adopted after he had proven himself a trustworthy and reliable person.
Why does this matter? Well, it matters because if we're going to understand the Bible, we need to understand it on its own terms. Imagine if when we read about Noah's ark, we imagined a big modern-day cruise ship? Or if everytime we read about a shepherd we imagined a huge New Zealand sheep ranch? To understand what the Bible is and isn't saying, we need to understand...what the Bible is and isn't saying.
So what does this mean about adoption? Does it mean that God isn't really our father? That we aren't supposed to adopt children? That we shouldn't see glimpses of the gospel in the beauty of an multiethnic adoptive family? Nope.
Here's just a few implications:
It means that when Jesus came to rescue us, to redeem us for adoption as sons and daughters, we weren't adorable little cherubic children that would tug on anyone's heartstrings. No, we were slaves, Paul says. We were rebels. It wasn't that we were so cute and needy and had so much potential. It was because God is so loving and faithful and powerful to redeem lost sinners.
It also means that our adoption in Christ is due to the fact that Jesus of Nazareth earned the right to his Father's inheritance by his life of perfect obedience and sacrifical death. Jesus is the only one who earned his place as a Son of God, but by his grace we get to share in that too as we receive his Spirit--what Paul calls "the Spirit of adoption" (Romans 8:15).
So our adoption as sons and daughters of God isn't due to our being just so inherently lovable and needy. It was and is due to the Faithful Son, Jesus Christ, who has proven himself a worthy heir of all the Father's riches, and who reclaims us from slavery so that we can become sons and daughters. And through us, adopted sons and daughters, the Father's name, family, and glory are extended throughout the earth.
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