Systematic Theology

Soteriology: The Doctrine of Salvation (Part 6)

ADOPTION

I. Review

A. What is Systematic Theology?

“Any study that answers the question, ‘What does the whole Bible teach us today?’
about any given topic.” —Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to
Biblical Doctrine, p. 40.

We don’t want there to be any confusion about this issue, because a lot of people will
think we’re trying to put our own ideas into the Bible to make it come out and say
something when it doesn’t mention it or actually teach it. Putting a system over the
Bible and calling that Bible teaching. That’s not what we’re trying to do here. We want
to let the entire Bible speak in all it says about whatever topic we see it talk about. God
has something to say, right? And He has said a lot! Ever tried reading all of the Bible in a
day? It’s not possible. To read the Bible out loud, as fast as I’m talking to you, takes 3
days straight, no stops, no breaks at all.

We don’t want to be a group that only likes to hear some parts of the Bible and not
other parts we aren’t comfortable with. If the Bible talks about prayer, one of the first
passages we think of either The Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:9-13; Luke 11:2-4), or one of
the shortest verses in Scripture, “[P]ray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). The
first passage has Jesus teaching His disciples how to pray (which we should take a close
look at if we want to know how to pray as a disciple of Jesus), and the second comes
from Paul, who is giving a final encouragement for the church in Thessalonica to live in a
godly way. But the Bible speaks much more about prayer than we may even realize, and
we want to look at all the verses that address prayer and come to an informed and
faithful conclusion to that topic.

We do systematic theology all the time in what we say about anything the Bible talks
about:

“The Bible says in order to be a Christian, you have to believe in Jesus Christ, and repent
of your sins.”

“The Bible says Jesus is both God and man.”

 “The Bible says there’s only One God, and He shows Himself to be Father, Son, and
Spirit.”

“The Bible says heaven and hell exists.”

We give a summary of what the Bible says about some topic, because it would take a lot
of time to mention every single verse that talks about God, or Jesus, or prayer, or glory,
or salvation, in a conversation you have with your friends during lunch at school. We can
say, in a few words, that worship is “to attribute worth to an object” (Joseph Carroll,
How to Worship Jesus Christ, p. 36), to credit, or show someone has worth. You can do
that, or give a really long summary:

“Worship is the proper response of all moral, sentient beings to God, ascribing all honor
and worth to their Creator-God precisely because he is worthy, delightfully so. This side
of the Fall, human worship of God properly responds to the redemptive provisions that
God has graciously made. While all true worship is God-centered, Christian worship is no
less Christ-centered. Empowered by the Spirit and in line with the stipulations of the
new covenant, it manifests itself in all our living, finding its impulse in the gospel, which
restores our relationship with our Redeemer-God and therefore also with our fellow
image-bearers, our co-worshippers. Such worship therefore manifests itself both in
adoration and action, both in the individual believer and in corporate worship, which is
worship offered up in the context of the body of believers, who strive to align all the
forms of the devout ascription of all worth to God with the panoply of new covenant
mandates and examples that bring to fulfillment the glories of antecedent revelation
and anticipate the consummation” (D.A. Carson, Worship by the Book, p. 26)

We want to make sure we know what the Bible says, and that we live our lives according
to the Bible, and not the Bible plus. We want to be clear in knowing what the Bible
teaches about God, the Gospel, faith, salvation, Jesus, the Bible, the church, and how
the world is going to end. Does Christ come back? As Christians, our answer is yes. But
what is our support? Where did we get this idea? If it’s from the Bible, can we represent
the Bible accurately in a way that shows we have intimate knowledge of the Scriptures?

B. Why Study Systematic Theology?

The simplest answer comes by what Jesus said before ascending to heaven:

Matthew 28:18-20 – And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on
earth has been given to me. 19 Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing
them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to
observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of
the age.”
 Jesus commands us to not just make disciples, but to also teach them, after making
them, to observe everything that Jesus has commanded, and we can’t observe all Jesus
commanded if we aren’t being taught everything Jesus commanded. Going over
systematic theology is to be under obedience to Jesus’ authority and submit to what He
wants taught to His people. All that He taught that we have available to us is found in
the Bible, specifically in the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). Not only there, but
Luke, in writing Acts, he indicates what is spoken about Jesus and how it applies is also
under “all that I [Jesus] have commanded.”

Acts 1:1 – In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and
teach [speaking of the Gospel of Luke].

Also, the apostle Paul puts his own writings under this idea:

1 Corinthians 14:37 – If anyone thinks that he is a prophet, or spiritual, he should

acknowledge that the things I am writing to you are a command of the Lord.

This is the New Testament. And the New Testament testifies of the Old Testament as
well:

Luke 24:25-27 – And he said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all
that the prophets have spoken! 26 Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer
these things and enter into his glory?” 27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets,
he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself.

C. How Do We Study Systematic Theology?

1. With prayer:

Psalm 119:18 – Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law.

You run the risk of not only not understanding what is being taught, but twisting it
to say something it never said, and misrepresenting God, when you don’t seek His
face and maintain a relationship that is sustained by dependence on Him. Don’t be
passive in listening and have the attitude of “FEED ME!”

2. In humility:

1 Peter 5:5 – …Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for
“God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
 What you learn in this series is not common in all the youth groups in the world. I
just heard of a youth conference in Taiwan that the teaching was horrifyingly
unbiblical. It’s upsetting to hear one teacher say “since we must be light, we must
be invisible!” However, what we learn is to humble us, not make us proud. Learning
the great truth of justification is to bring us down and see how high God is, and what
power He has, and grace, and mercy, that we could never show someone who has
murdered our own kids (one day), and demonstrate forgiveness. It isn’t a teaching
we use to beat down our friends who think they can get to heaven any other way
than Jesus. We don’t choke our brother or sister when they get mad and say, “Love
like Jesus!!!”

3. With Singing and Praise:

Romans 11:33-36 – Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God!
How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! 34 “For who has
known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? 35 Or who has given a
gift to him that he might be repaid?” 36 For from him and through him and to him
are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.

The way Paul wrote Romans was teaching first, which led to praise, then practical
application. The bursting out in song is a result of the truth God lets you see in His
word!

4. Practical helps:

Grow in your familiarity with the Bible. A method I’ve learned is to read through a
book of the Bible everyday for a month. Start small, and take notes. Dissect it. Make
observations. Draw out common words from the book. Summarize each chapter of
the book, and remember that. It will help in your memorizing of Scripture, so you
don’t take it out of context. As you do this, themes will pop up in many other books,
and you can start gathering verses, and listing where the Bible talks about assurance
of salvation, or idols, or God’s will. If you want to study a topic, like prayer, find
words in a concordance where the Bible specifically says pray, prayer, ask, confess,
thanks, thanksgiving, etc. This is a small start on your way of being taught all that
Jesus commanded.

D. What have we covered so far?

Theology Proper: The Doctrine of God

Bibliology: The Doctrine of Scripture
Anthropology: The Doctrine of Man
Hamartiology: The Doctrine of Sin
 Pneumatology: The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit
Christology: The Doctrine of Christ
Soteriology: The Doctrine of Salvation
a. Common Grace
b. Election
c. Calling
d. Conversion – Repentance and Faith
e. Justification

II. Adoption is a gracious act of God where He makes those who have faith in His Son become
members of His family and be given all the privileges being in His family.

A. Adoption is not regeneration, and it is not justification.

1. Not regeneration.

John 1:12-13 – But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the
right to become children of God, 13 who were born, not of blood nor of the will of
the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (Being born and being children of God
are two separate things; once we are born again, we are then given by God rights of
adoption that match our new birth. We are not born into God’s family; otherwise
we couldn’t be adopted!)

1 John 3:1 – See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be
called children of God; and so we are.

Regeneration has to do with our being spiritually alive out of death, and to be able
to hear His Word preached and receive it as God’s Word. (Angels are spiritually alive
but are not God’s children)

2. Not Justification.

Justification deals with where we stand before the law of God. Adoption deals with
our relationship with God as Father, which means we’re given many blessings.

1 John 3:1 – See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be
called children of God; and so we are.

B. In the Old Testament, Israel was seen as God’s son, but by creation and not by
adoption.

Hosea 11:1 – When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
 Exodus 4:22-23 – Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, Israel is my
firstborn son, 23 and I say to you, “Let my son go that he may serve me.” If you refuse to
let him go, I will kill your firstborn son.’

God made Israel. He brought them into existence. There is no mention in the Old
Testament of God adopting anyone into His family. To adopt is to bring that person in to
a special relationship of son/daughter to a father with the rights and privileges adoption
would bring. You never read of anyone in the OT that they call God Father but LORD
(Yahweh). In fact, the sum of how God reveals Himself in the OT is holy, not father:

Isaiah 6:3 – And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”

Habakkuk 1:13a – You who are of purer eyes than to see evil and cannot look at wrong…

His holiness is to draw out the fact that God is a lot more higher than we think, and we
are a lot lower than we love to think. It’s to stress how completely separate God is from
His creation, and we are to be in awe of His majesty.

C. In the New Testament, Father is the name He is now called only by those who are in
Christ.

1. The best way to see what kind of relationship God the Father has with His children
is by seeing His fatherly relationship with His own Son, Jesus Christ.

John 4:34 – Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me…”
(authority)

John 15: 9-10 – As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10
If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my
Father’s commandments and abide in his love. (affection)

John 8:29 – And he who sent me is with me. He has not left me alone, for I always
do the things that are pleasing to Him. (fellowship)

John 5:22-23 – The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son, 23
that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor
the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. (honor)

2. The fatherhood of God will be given to His adopted children.

 1 John 5:1, 3 – Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God,
and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been born of him… 3 For this
is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. (authority)

John 16:27 – [F]or the Father himself loves you… (affection)

1 John 1:3c – [A]nd indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus
Christ. (fellowship)

John 12:26 – If anyone serves me, he must follow me; and where I am, there will my
servant be also. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him. (honor)

3. Adoption happens once a sinner is justified by God, no longer condemned, but

also welcomed as a son/daughter, when He had no obligation to do so.

Galatians 4: 1-7 - I mean that the heir, as long as he is a child, is no different from a
slave, though he is the owner of everything, 2 but he is under guardians and
managers until the date set by his father. 3 In the same way we also, when we were
children, were enslaved to the elementary principles of the world. 4 But when the
fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the
law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption
as sons. 6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our
hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” 7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son,
then an heir through God.

Those who were under the law and not under Christ were slaves. But Christ did an
amazing thing. He put Himself under the law to save those who also were under the
law, because they couldn’t live perfectly under the law. Only Jesus Christ did. So we
all were slaves of our sin, until Christ saved us, so that we could go from being slaves
to being sons, having the Spirit of God in us, and becoming an heir through Him.

Where were you? Enslaved to the world, to your sins, sons of the devil. And yet,
Jesus lived a perfect life and took your place where you should have died, and had
you declared righteous in God’s sight. But God, as judge, did not have any
obligation to make you His own son/daughter! No judge would want the job if
that’s what was required. They don’t declare criminals ‘not guilty’ and take them to
their house and treat them as if they adopted them!

Romans 8:14-17 - For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For 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!” 16 The Spirit himself
bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then
 heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in
order that we may also be glorified with him.

Galatians 3:26 – [F]or in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

Adoption is the response of God to us expressing faith in Jesus, not in being born
again. When we believe in Jesus as the God-man, who took our sins on Himself on
the cross, died and rose again for our sake, and leave our life of sin to follow Him,
God will make us a member of His family, which we could not get into by any other
way, and which He did not have to do.

D. The Privileges of Being Adopted

1. We get to speak with our Father and relate to Him as our Father!

1 John 3:1-2 - See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be
called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is
that it did not know him. 2 Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be
has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him,
because we shall see him as he is.

We can become His children today! This is amazing love shown in a vivid way, a way
which we take for granted and don’t focus too much of our thoughts on. Is this your
reaction to this truth? Does it matter to you that if you call yourself a Christian, you
are a child of God? Would you rather just be forgiven and not be with Him, even
though you won’t go to hell? 1 John 3:1 was my reaction while going through this
study time and time again. I still think I’m dreaming; no one’s ever shown me this
much love before. And I don’t think anyone ever will or can.

Matthew 6:32 – For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly
Father knows that you need them all.

Can your dad say he knows everything you need? Can you say you know what
anyone always needs, including yourself?

Luke 11:13 – If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children,
how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”

Our Father gives us His Holy Spirit in order to live out the Christian life. Can you
imagine trying to live out “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul,
mind and strength” and “You must love your neighbor as yourself” without the Holy
Spirit?
 1 Peter 1:3-4 – Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to
his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the
resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable,
undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

An eternal inheritance. We will never lose it. It’ll never break down, or die, or leave.

2. He disciplines us as His own children.

Hebrews 12:5-7, 10 – “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him. 6 For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.” 7 It is for discipline that you have to
endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not
discipline?... 10 For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but
he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 

If we are not disciplined by our fathers, can we really say we have a father, either in
your natural family, or your spiritual family?

3. We relate to each other as members of a family.

1 Timothy 5:1-2 – Do not rebuke an older man but encourage him as you would a
father, younger men as brothers, 2 older women as mothers, younger women as
sisters, in all purity.

The church should always be seen as a family, especially because those who are in
Christ have been adopted by God into His family. So I can meet a brother in the Lord
1500 miles away and have a deeper fellowship, a deeper relationship than anyone in
my immediate family who isn’t a Christian, and who I’ve known all my life. This is
radical. If my natural family leaves me, I have family all over the world, because God
doesn’t just save the people I know, but men and women, boys, and girls, uncles,
aunts, fathers, mothers, grandmothers, grandfathers, bosses, co-workers, people
who speak different languages and dress different than all of us. They’re our family.
This message is more radical than anything you will ever hear. We are richly blessed
because we have been adopted by the Father of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
The created universe is His, and He created it, and even though He will give us a
better world, He already gave us Himself.

Are you in the family? Can you honestly call God your Father?

Quotes
“You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as revelation of
the Fatherhood of the holy Creator. In the same way, you sum up the whole of New Testament religion
if you describe it as the knowledge of God as one’s holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person
understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having
God as his Father. If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his
whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For everything
that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better than the Old, everything
that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the
Fatherhood of God. “Father” is the Christian name for God.” –J.I. Packer, Knowing God, p.201.

“The thought of propitiation, which appears verbally only four times in the New Testament, is
nonetheless fundamentally important, as being the nucleus and focal point of the whole New Testament
view of the saving work of Christ…The word adoption (the Greek means “instating as a son”) appears
only five times, and of these occurrences only three refer to the Christian’s present relationship to God
in Christ (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:5; Eph 1:5). Yet the thought itself is the nucleus and focal point of the whole
New Testament teaching on the Christian life. These two concepts, indeed, link together; were I asked to
focus the New Testament message in three words, my proposal would be adoption through propitiation,
and I do not expect ever to meet a richer or more pregnant summary of the gospel than that.” –J.I.
Packer, Knowing God, p. 214.

Recommended Reading

Adopted for Life: The Priority of Adoption for Christian Families & Churches by Russell Moore

Children of the Living God by Sinclair Ferguson

The Christian Life: A Doctrinal Introduction by Sinclair Ferguson

Redemption Accomplished and Applied by John Murray

Knowing God by J.I. Packer

Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem

In Christ Alone by Sinclair Ferguson