Spirit Of Adoption (10)

Now that I am nearing the completion of giving my thoughts on the subject of "adoption" I will be giving some further information that ought to be incorporated into all that I have written. I want to begin by looking at how some other Greek scholars and bible translators have translated the five texts where the apostle Paul spoke of "huiothesia." As I look back over the two series I have done on this topic, I see where I have repeated myself in later chapters, saying again what I said in previous chapters. That happens when you don't keep reworking draft writings. Such will be the case in this chapter. I will make one more chapter after this chapter in order to discuss an early church heresy called monarchianism or adoptionism as it relates to the Sonship of Christ. I have mentioned these doctrines before but will be adding to what I have previously written. I do not expect many bible students to read all these chapters for most of them are not that deeply interested in the subject or question. But, for those who are, they will find a wealth of information on it and find a point of view they may have never heard before. Surely however they have wondered why God needed to adopt children when they are already his children by being "born of God."

Greek scholar Kenneth Wuest gives the following translation of Romans 8:14-23:

"For as many as are being constantly led by God's Spirit, these are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery again with resulting fear, but you received the Spirit who places you as adult sons, by whom we cry out with deep emotion, Abba, [namely] Father. The Spirit himself is constantly bearing joint-testimony with our [human] spirit that we are God's children, and since children, also heirs; on the one hand, heirs of God, on the other, joint-heirs with Christ, provided that we are suffering with Him in order that we also may be glorified together, for I have come to a reasoned conclusion that the sufferings of the present season are of no weight in comparison to the glory which is about to be revealed upon us. For the concentrated and undivided expectation of the creation is assiduously and patiently awaiting the revelation of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not voluntarily, but on account of the One who put it under subjection upon the basis of the hope that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails together up to this moment, and not only, but we ourselves also who have the firstfruit of the Spirit, we ourselves also are groaning within ourselves, assiduously and patiently waiting the full realization of our adult sonship at the time of the redemption of our body.”  (As cited here)

Notice that Wuest does not use the word "adoption" at all in this text that has two of the five occurrences of that word as it appears in the KJV. The words highlighted in red above are those two occurrences. For "Spirit of adoption" (KJV) Wuest gives us "Spirit who places you as adult sons"; And, for "waiting for the adoption" he gives us "waiting the full realization of our adult sonship." Had translators of the KJV and others not used the word "adoption" and translated as Wuest, then the church would have been saved from much confusion on this subject. 

Notice Romans 8:23 in the New Living Translation: 

"And even we Christians, although we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, also groan to be released from pain and suffering. We, too, wait anxiously for that day when God will give us our full rights as his children [huiothesia], including the new bodies he has promised us."

There is a growing number of translations that are omitting the word "adoption" in favor of other words to express the meaning that Paul seems to have had in mind.

In a separate posting from back in 2008 I cited Wuest who said the following about adoption (See here).

"This word (adoption) is the translation of huiothesia, a word of huiso "a son," and thesia, a form of the verb tithemi meaning "to place," the compound word meaning "to place as a son." The Greek word teknon which means "a child," comes from the verb tikto "to give birth to." It therefore has in it the idea of birth relationship. The word means "a born-one." The word huios does not have this implication. Huios is used in Gal. 3: 26 of the believer under law. The latter was under the schoolmaster (the paidagogoso, a slave charged with the moral supervision of a child in its minority. The word teknon is used in Galatians (4:25, 27, 28, 31) of the believer under law. Thus a teknon is a believer in his minority, a huios, an adult son. Believers under the covenant of law were teknon, that is born children of God in their minority. Believers under grace, are both teknon, born children of God and huios, adult sons of God. This meaning of an adult son is to be used only where the word refers to a believer in this age of grace. The word is used also in the N.T., as a Hebrew idiom, where a person having a peculiar evil, is called the son, (huios) of that quality (Lk. 10: 6, Eph. 2: 2, 5: 6, 8). The word huios is also used to refer to the male issue of child.

The A.V., uniformly translates teknon by the word "child" except in the following places where it is rendered by the word "son," which is the proper translation of huios. Mt. 9:2, 21:28; Mk. 2:5, 13:12; Luk. 2:48, 15:31, 16:25; John 1:12; I Cor. 4:14, 17; Phil. 2:15, 22; I Tim. 1:2, 18; II Tim. 1:2, 2:1; Tit. 1:4; Phm. 10; I John 3: 1, 2. Study these passages, using the word "child" in the translation, keeping in mind the idea of the birth-relationship existing, and see what clearer light is thrown upon them. For instance, Mary calls Jesus "child." He was only twelve years old at the time. Yet this child was confuting the learned Doctors (Lk. 2:48). Timothy was Paul's child and the latter was his spiritual father, for Paul had won Timothy to the Lord. In John 1:12, regeneration is in view. In I John 3: 1,2, the fact that we are born-children of God, is in view, having the nature of God. In Phil. 2:15, believers, being children of God, and possessing therefore the nature of God, are expected to reflect in their lives the holiness, love, and other qualities of God.

The word huios is uniformly translated "son" except in certain places, some of which rightfully use the word "children" where the plural refers to children of both sexes. But the following places should be translated by the word "son": Mt. 23:15; Lk. 6: 35, 16:8, 20-34, 36; John 12:36; Acts 3: 25, 13:10; Rom. 9:26; Gal. 3: 26; Eph. 2:2, 5:6; Co. 3:6; I Thes. 5:5. It will be observed that in many of the above places the Hebrew idiom is used where a person having a peculiar quality or is subject to a peculiar evil, is called the son (huios) of that quality or evil. He partakes of the nature of that quality.

Coming now to the word "adoption" (huiothesia), we find that it was a term used in Roman legal practice. It referred to a legal action by which a person takes into his family a child not his own, with the purpose of treating him as and giving him all the privileges of an own son. The custom was not common among the Jews, but was so among the Romans, with whom an adopted child is legally entitled to all rights and privileges of a natural-born child. This custom, well-known in the Roman empire, is used in the N.T., as an illustation of the act of God giving a believing sinner, who is not His natural child, a position as His adult son in His family. This is a legal act and position, and not the same as regeneration and a place in the family as a born-child of God.

The word is found in Rom. 8:15, 23, 9:4; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5. In Rom. 8:15 it is the Holy Spirit who places believing sinners in the family of God as adult sons. In Rom. 8:23, believers have already been placed in the family of God, and are led by the Spirit as the adult sons of God. But only when their mortal bodies have been glorified at the Rapture, will they possess all that sonship involves. In Rom. 9:4, the nation Israel is said to have been placed in the special relationship as the peculiar people of God, thus God's own by adoption. Gal. 4:5 and Eph. 1:5 refer to the same thing that Rom. 8:15 refers to."

See here

On Galatians 4: 5 Wuest writes:

"The Lord Jesus was born under the law, lived under the law, and died under the penalty of the law which we broke, and in paying our penalty, He delivered us from any claims which the law had against us. He died under law, and in His resurrection, was raised into a realm where law as a legalistic system does not exist. This He did, in order that He might not only deliver us from the law but also raise believers with Himself into a realm where law does not operate. Instead therefore of being children (immature ones, nepios) under law, we became adult sons (huios) under grace. We received the adoption of sons. This expression in the Greek is literally, “in order that we might receive the adult son-placing.” We could paraphrase it “in order that we might be placed as adult sons.” Thus, we have presented to us the status of a person under grace as compared to that of a person under law. The latter is in his minority, the former in his majority, the latter treated like a minor, the former like an adult."  

This is very close to my view. It also answers the statement of some who say - "why do not more bible scholars agree with you?" The fact is, many do, and the number is growing every day. 

W E Vine, famed for his "New Testament Words," wrote:

"Adoption (huiothesia) signifies the place and condition of a son given to one to whom it does not naturally belong. The word is used by the apostle Paul only. In Rom. 8:15, believers are said to have received “the Spirit of adoption,” that is, the Holy Spirit who, given as the Firstfruits of all that is to be theirs, produces in them the realization of sonship and the attitude belonging to sons. In Gal. 4:5 they are said to receive “the adoption of sons,” i.e., sonship bestowed in distinction from a relationship consequent merely upon birth; here two contrasts are presented, (1) between the sonship of the believer and the unoriginated sonship of Christ, (2) between the freedom enjoyed by the believer and bondage, whether of Gentile natural condition, or of Israel under the Law. In Eph. 1:5 they are said to have been foreordained unto “adoption as sons” through Jesus Christ, RV; the KJV, “adoption of children” is a mistranslation and misleading. God does not “adopt” believers as children; they are begotten as such by His Holy Spirit through faith. “Adoption” is a term involving the dignity of the relationship of believers as sons; it is not a putting into the family by spiritual birth, but a putting into the position of sons. In Rom. 8:23 the “adoption” of the believer is set forth as still future, as it there includes the redemption of the body, when the living will be changed and those who have fallen asleep will be raised."

All these scholarly men affirm that huiothesia does not denote becoming a child of God, but the full realization of our adult sonship at the time of the redemption of our body.

Warren Wiersbe, well known bible teacher, said:

"We do not enter God’s family by adoption, the way a homeless child would enter a loving family in our own society. The only way to get into God’s family is by regeneration, being “born again” (John 3:3). The New Testament word for adoption means “to place as an adult son.” It has to do with our standing in the family of God: we are not little children but adult sons with all of the privileges of sonship....We enter God’s family by regeneration, but we enjoy God’s family by adoption."  (Borrow Be Free: An Expository Study of Galatians) (as cited at precept-austin here)

That has been my thesis.

Arno C. Gaebelein takes the thought even further: 

“Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ are not adopted into the family of God; they are born into the family. The Greek has only one word ‘Sonplace.’ We are placed into the position of Sons.” (Ibid)

Even those who teach that adoption is the way God acquires heirs, or children, or sons, will say that it is a metaphor and that in any metaphor there is rarely a perfect resemblance. Certainly, as we saw in earlier chapters, the reason why Greeks or Romans adopted was because they needed a male heir. That certainly is unlike God's adoption. 

All this being true, then we can say that Paul's use of "adoption" focuses only upon one or a few of the semblances. That being so, it seems reasonable to me that Paul is focusing on a ceremony where a boy, often a slave boy, is publicly declared to be the son, the adult son, of another, and is then entitled to receive the entire inheritance and judged qualified to immediately reign over the inheritance and over the clan. 

It is then viewed as a formal ceremony marking the end of the birth son's education and training, of his learning to be like his father. 

Paul is thus focusing on the importance of the declaration where a father says "this is my son" or says "this is the one who bears my image and likeness" or "this one has the right to possess the family inheritance and to rule over the family clan." 

Detzler writes that "Throughout the Greek world the wealthy and influential practiced adoption. Sometimes just a simple declaration in the marketplace turned a slave into a son. It was an ancient remedy used when a marriage failed to produce a male heir. No change in name came, but the adopted son immediately became heir to the entire wealth and position of his adoptive family. Conversely the adopted son also assumed responsibility for the parents in their time of need. Adoption in the Greek and Roman world was a beautiful picture. His contemporary culture gave the Apostle Paul this word, but he gave the word a new, Holy Spirit-inspired meaning. (Only Paul uses this word to describe the relationship of believers to their Heavenly Father.) No concept is more meaningful to a believer. For adoption deposits everything that God owns to the accounts of His sons and daughters. Adoption is all about position and privilege."(Ibid - quoting from (Detzler, Wayne E: New Testament Words in Today's Language. Victor. 1986) (precept-austin commentary - here) 

Further, this declaration and placing into position and privilege occurs formally in the day of the resurrection at the second coming of Christ.

In Galatians 4:1-5 the NIV translates the word as "full rights of sons." Notice why from the context: 

"What I am saying is that as long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. He is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. So also, when we were children, we were in slavery under the basic principles of the world. But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons." (Galatians 4:1-5, NIV).

The same commentary adds these words:

"During a boy's teen years, his father would determine when it was time for him to pass from childhood to adulthood—typically around 14 or a little later. In a formal public ceremony, having put aside his childhood toga, he would appear in the toga virilis (toga of manhood), mark of citizenship and his right to now vote in the assembly." (Ibid)

"When the boy was ready, the procession to the Forum began. The father had gathered his slaves, freedmen, clients, relatives and friends, using all his influence to make his son's escort numerous and imposing. Here the boy's name was added to the list of citizens, and formal congratulations were extended . . . Finally they all returned to the house, where the day ended with a dinner party given by the father in honour of the new Roman citizen."

"A son's status was elevated at this point. He was now legally invested with all the rights, powers and privileges of a son and heir of his father—and of a citizen." (Ibid)

"This coming of age at maturity must be what Paul is referring to. God has begotten us as His children. And in one sense He reckons us as already having reached a certain maturity—considering us beyond the status of being as slaves to being set as sons with certain privileges (even though we are as mere babes!). Yet the fullness of our coming of age is yet future—at the time of "the revealing of the sons of God" in the resurrection (Romans 8:19)." (Ibid)

Said the same commentary:

"While adoption is not the way we get into God's family, it is the way we come to fully enjoy God's family. "Adoption gives us the rights of children. Regeneration gives us the nature of children: we are partakers of both of these, for we are sons." (Spurgeon) In other words, we get into God's family by regeneration (being "born again" = the new birth) when we are "born of the Spirit" (Jn 3:7-9-note), for "as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children (literally "born ones") of God, even to those who believe in His name." (Jn 1:12-note) In regeneration the Spirit makes us children of God, while in adoption He gives us the position, privilege and responsibilities of the "sons of God." God could have regenerated us (a new life), but, praise His Holy Name, He also graced us with adoption as His sons." (precept-austin commentary - here) 

Romans Eight & Things Future

In Romans chapter eight, in the verses cited at the head of this chapter in the translation by Wuest, there are several things said to occur in the future. Notice them:

1. "that we may be glorified together"

2. "the glory that shall be revealed upon us"

3. "awaiting the revelation of the sons of God"

4. "shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God"

5. "assiduously and patiently waiting the full realization of adult sonship"

6. "at the time of the redemption of our body"

 

"The huiothesia" then is connected with all these things and the time when the children will have become fully grown and perfected and glorified. It will also be the time when they will be completely redeemed and emancipated.

Are we heirs now? Yes, and no.

Are we sons now? Yes, and no.

When Paul calls believers "children" he is stating what they are now by being begotten of God. When he calls them "heirs" and "sons" it is the result of having first become a child and those terms may be futuristic present tense or else a case of "already, but not now," meaning some aspects of sonship are being realized by the begotten children now but the greater realization of it awaits the day when they are perfected.