Adoption & 1 John 3:1

Below are Chris's notes on a topic related to Hession's teaching of Ephesians 1:1-6. Most of you had to bail before he was able to present this material, but trust me, it's worth reading and meditating (or marinating) on this stuff. Thanks Chris for all your hard work. Gentlemen, enjoy.

Adoption & 1 John 3:1

Passage: “See how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God: and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.”

How do we know we are adopted?

• We Believe/Receive Jesus

“But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” –Jn 1:12 (see topic of discussion below)

• We live in the Spirit

“For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’” Rom 8:14-15

• We obey

“For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother.”

–Mt 12:50

The Reason we are Adopted

• This blessing comes not by nature, nor by merit, but by grace, the grace of adoption; which is of persons unto an inheritance they have no legal right unto; the spring of it is the everlasting and unchangeable love of God, for there was no need on the adopter's side, he having an only begotten and beloved Son, and no worth and loveliness in the adopted, they being by nature children of wrath; it is a privilege that exceeds all others, and is attended with many; so that it is no wonder the apostle breaks out in this pathetic manner, and calls upon the saints to view it with admiration and thankfulness—(John Gill's Exposition of the Bible; 1 John 3:1)

Consequences of Adoption

• A New Sense of Belonging
• We once belonged to the world as “children of wrath” (Eph. 2:3; see also Jn 8:41-44), but now are members of the family of God
• Bear this concept in mind when reading Jn 15:19: “If you were of the world, the world would love its own” (also Jn 16:3; 17:25) and compare it to the end of 1 Jn 3:1.
• Children of wrath do not know us in the sense that they do not know our Father. If God is whom our lives revolve around and they do not know Him then what does that make us in their eyes? And if the consequence of accepting our beliefs is that those who do not know God will go to hell, then why should they love us? If they do not know our Father then we are mere lunatics who believe they will burn for eternity--so how can they understand us? Answer: they will not until they know the Father which also means they will no longer be children of wrath, but one of us. They will hate us until they become one of us (i.e., a member of our family). Yet we must love our enemy until then.
• Interestingly (I may be going out on a limb here), in a patrilineal culture that placed such a strong emphasis on lineage and genealogies such as the culture of the Jews, the concept of knowing someone based on who their Father was would have been well-understood in that context. It would have been difficult for a Jew to really know who someone else was in certain respects if the lineage was unknown (e.g., is this person a Levite that should serve in the priesthood? Is he a Benjimite? Is he even a Jew?). The concept of being known by one’s father is difficult for us to understand in our very individualistic and egalitarian society where everyone is “his/her own person”.
• Jn 8:41-47 depicts this sense of belonging very well in which Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for claiming God is their Father and says their true father is the devil, and they cannot hear the words of God because they are not of God.
• Persecution
• Following Jn 15:19 Jesus says, “Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you…” (v. 20).
• By our membership in the family of God the world will persecute what it does not know.
• Let us not think as slaves as well that we are better than our Master—let us question the times when we are not persecuted.
• Love for each other
• We are in the same family and ought to love the brethren
• We are no longer under the tutelage of the law
• Gal 3:23-26
• Be careful to use this freedom for the benefit of the Kingdom.
• Mimicry of the Father
• Eph 5:1 “be imitators of God, as beloved children”
• An Inheritance
• “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him in order that we may also be glorified with Him.” (Rom 8:16-17)
• Discipline
• Heb 12:5-7
• Intimacy
• “…but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba Father!” (Rom 8:15b)
• Freedom from slavery to sin
• Gal 4:6-8
• A unity that crosses racial and gender boundaries
• Gal 3:24-29

Important Note: None of these consequences are negative! All (even persecution and discipline) result in blessing from God.

A Thought for Discussion: Why do you think we are referred to as the adopted children of God yet also as being born of God (Jn 1:12-13; 3:8)? Can we be both Biblically and/or philosophically, or are these passage talking about two areas of doctrine that are quite different (i.e., adoption and regeneration)? Grudem believes that adoption and regeneration are not connected in the NT, but Jn 1: 12-13 particularly makes it difficult for me to agree as Jn 1:12 seems to talk about adoption and then v. 13 speaks of being born of God.

A large part of my springboard for thought was:

• Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. Ch. 37 Adoption (Membership in God’s Family). Zondervan, 1994.
• Gill, John. John Gill's Exposition of the Bible.
• http://biblestudy.crosswalk.com/mybst

All Bible quotes were from the NASB