Myth Number One

One of the common myths in many circles is the belief that “everyone is a child of God.” Even some Christians believe that heresy. But the truth is made unmistakably clear in John 1:12 about what specific condition must be met to “become one of God’s children.”  

Yet to all who did receive Him (Jesus), to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God.

As with everything else in Christianity, it all about Jesus and what He did for mankind on Calvary. Even the very name of this unique belief system is founded on Christ, the Person – “Christianity,” and “being a Christian” – a “Christ-one.” Being “reborn of God” is only made possible by believing and receiving what Jesus did on Calvary for you and me personally.

We are all offspring of Adam and even offspring of Noah. But none of us can become an offspring of God unless and until we each personally acknowledge the need for, and receive by faith, the Finished Work of Jesus Christ, accomplished on our behalf. Romans 10:9-13 presents an open-door invitation to everyone who wants to see and enter God’s Kingdom.

Myth Number Two

So, if becoming a child of God through rebirth is the only way to “see and enter the Kingdom of God” and become a part of God’s family, why did Paul even bring up the notion of “adoption?” After all, aren’t adopted children often viewed as being a peg lower than a biological son or daughter? Sibling rivalry can be tough enough to deal with let alone not even being a “real” son or daughter.

Here, again, is where the cultural context of Bible times is very important to understand in order to benefit from the hidden revelation contained in a given word or phrase or story. The Jews had no word for “adoption” in their language because they had no such concept. Neither did they have a word for “airplane” or “laptop” because no such things existed in their world.

In the Jewish culture, “loving your neighbor as yourself” implied, among other things, taking care of the needs of orphaned relatives or the homeless etc. So there was no need for a formal procedure for “legal adoption” – making a non-biological child “your own child.” Additionally, their personal identity was determined more by their tribal connection than their parentage.

You can verify what I am saying by taking a quick look in an exhaustive concordance for the word “adoption.” It gives no references for “adoption” in the Hebrew Old Testament – and only five references in the Greek New Testament, starting with the Book of Romans. And why is that? Well, because the concept of a formal, “legal adoption” was foreign to most, if not all, cultures until the Romans “invented” it. And Paul understood that Rome’s definition – and its implications – would add new revelation beyond being simply “a child of God” – as wonderful as that is. So, let’s view this word in its historical context as Paul, a Roman citizen by birth, wants us to.

The Power of Adoption

In Paul’s day, Rome’s concept of adoption carried greater weight than being a biological son or daughter. When a child was biologically born to Roman parents, they had the option of disowning the child at any time for a variety of reasons. So unfortunately, no parent-child relationship in their eyes was automatically deemed positive or permanent – but conditional. Human life was cheap under the Roman gods.

However, this was not true if a child was formally “adopted.” Under Roman rule, adopting a person meant:

1) that child was freely and specifically desired and chosen by the parents and   

2) that child would, thereby, have a new status – as being a permanent member of the family. The parents could not later disown any child they had adopted – including a nephew or a homeless orphan etc..

In effect, an adopted child was legally granted a new, secure identity and future. Any prior commitments, responsibilities and debts were erased. New rights and responsibilities were taken on. Additionally in the Roman Empire, the availability of the inheritance was part of daily life – not something that began when your benefactor died. Being adopted automatically made that male or female person 1) an heir to their adoptive father, 2) joint-sharers of all his possessions and 3) fully united to him – the family head in this patriarchal society. If adopted into a royal family, he or she would be eligible for the throne.

God’s Plan Before Time Began

So, let’s think about the implications of this revelation for us as saints in Christ. Rather than being inferior to the beautiful reality of being children of God through rebirth, Jesus’ revelation through Paul about “the spirit of adoption” actually elevates it. Now you can see that your intimate relationship with Father-God is eternally secure and permanently sealed in Christ, regardless of the imperfect behavior of your outer man. For those adopted by God, there is now no condemnation, no “conditional acceptance,” based on future behavior, Romans 8:1. 

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our (new) hearts, crying out, “Abba! Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God, Galatians 4:4-7. 

For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again. But you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!,” Rom 8:15.  

Note: Please don’t let the current, politically charged “gender wars” bias your thinking when reading these scriptures. Paul is pointing to new our spiritual identity in Christ that is not gender-bound, as Galatians 3:27-29 makes clear:

 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise.

Initially, you did not choose God. All humans begin spiritually “dead to God” in Adam – at enmity against God. Yet God mercifully first chose you and even died in your place to offer you salvation, Romans 5:8.  

For He (Father-God) chose us in Him (Jesus) before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in His sight. In love, He predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with His pleasure and will, to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the One He loves (Jesus). In Him (Jesus), we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of (all) sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that He lavished on us. Ephesians 1:4-8  

So, since all this is true for all reborn saints, Jesus, through Paul, exhorts to keep our mind set on our royal standing in the courts of heaven, seated there in Christ in God, where we are fully desired and fully loved new creation saints, thanks to Jesus’ Finished Work. We were re-created spiritually for Heaven. But even here and now on earth, we are heirs of God, “co-heirs with Christ” on earth, to be His Ambassadors of His Good News, Romans 8:17.

For this reason, we can cry out, “Abba, Father,” from the core of our new spirit-being. As a fuller reading of Romans 8 confirms, our new nature as adopted sons and daughters of God is the direct result of the salvation Jesus won for us.

In Summary

So, adoption was a coveted status among those who could potentially rule the Roman world even if they were not originally in the royal blood-line. There was nothing more joyful for them than to discover that one had been adopted by a powerful Roman family.

For Paul, there was a far greater joy in knowing that he was adopted by God the Father through faith in Christ. For in Christ, we enjoy the liberties and privileges of being God’s adopted children forever.

Regarding the Song of the Week

So now you know the back-story about our adoption and why I boldly declare it twice for emphasis in this week’s song:

I’ve been adopted by the One, True God (because I) Was picked before the world began.

I’ve been adopted by the One, True God, As a part of His glorious plan.

Justified by the Blood of God’s Holy, Righteous Lamb. Set apart, and glorified, I am one with the Great “I Am.”

Once you let that revelation of your adoption by God become a permanent reference point in your mind, it will explode and expand into ever-increasing revelations …… like the rest of the song’s lyrics express:

I am the Righteousness of God, in Christ, A gift from God, by grace through faith.  

I am the Righteousness of God in Christ. As He is so am I in this world

I’m alive under grace and abiding in the Vine. By His Covenant of Blood, I am His and He is mine!  (Wow!)   etc.                                                               

Full Disclosure

 Originally, the song began with stanza # 3:

I am the Righteousness of God, in Christ, A gift from God, by grace through faith.  

I am the Righteousness of God in Christ. As He is so am I in this world.

After writing the whole song, I realized that it might sound too much “in your face” or “boastful” to many Christians today who think it is “humble” to regard themselves as “worms” and “unrighteous sinners, etc. So I switched the verses to give the theological background on why we reborn believers are, in fact, spiritually “holy and righteous and accepted” adopted saints in Father-God’s sight.

It is totally by His lavish Grace, through His gift of faith, that I was “picked, reborn and adopted” – just the way all believers are. And God offers that option, through Jesus, to the whole world, as John 3:16 declares. It is not His will that anyone should perish but that everyone would become part of God’s Family, 2 Peter 3:9.  More commentary on this is coming here soon …