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The Spirit of Adoption

“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!"[1]

The concept of adoption, when a man takes another man’s son for himself, cannot be found in the Old Testament scriptures. This is most likely the case because of the tremendous cultural significance of passing the inheritance from the father to the son or sons. In Hebrew society, viewed from the Biblical record, there is no account of legally adopting another man’s son, and that son going on to inherit the father’s portion.

Even so, if not among the Hebrews themselves, the concept of adoption was made a reality when God chose and then covenanted to Himself the Hebrew people.[2] The Apostle Paul is absolute in his clarification of what God did for His people Israel: “They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the promises.”[3]

The focus here is upon the physical nation. As Paul wrote in his letter to the Roman believers, he made his point in response to those in his day who questioned what had happened to the people of God.[4] Some were troubled, and asked, "where is the blessing of God, and what has become of the promises God made to the nation He called His name’s sake?" The apostle gives the answer, “But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise [who] are counted as offspring.”[5]

The children of Abraham, looked upon by their neighbors as the people of the one true God,[6] were the people adopted by God, and to them belonged the glory, the covenants and the promises. It was in this reality the apostle asked the question. “What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking?”[7]

Paul's argument is clear. The nation made up of the children of the flesh failed to obtain the promises. The failure was concurrent, going all the way back to the Exodus when, under Moses, the twelve tribes first became a nation coming out of Egypt. We learn from the scriptures that the entire generation of adults, twenty years and older,[8] who had come out of Egypt under Moses perished in the wilderness in unbelief. Those who had rebelled against Moses did not enter the Promised Land.[9] Upon the end of Moses’ career as the leader of God’s people, he stood before the children of those who had perished in the wilderness and reminded them, “But to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.”[10]

What was missing in the children of the flesh, what the Apostle Paul calls Israel, was what God had not given to them.[11] Paul reminds his readers[12] that God, the Almighty El Elohiym Yahweh, in His mercy and grace, has an elect people.[13] It is the elect of God, the remnant,[14] His chosen ones,[15] who obtain the promises.[16]

The nation, which was consisted of those physical people perceived as Abraham’s seed, in the end lacked “the heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear.”[17] Why? Paul continues his argument, writing, “But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness.”[18] Why was Israel unable to attain the law of righteousness? The answer came back, Israel, the children of the flesh, did not attain because, “they did not seek the law of righteousness by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law.”[19]

In the end, the people under Moses and their children's children did not receive the spirit of adoption. As children of the flesh, they lacked the circumcised heart[20] and were incapable of crying out, “Abba Father!”[21] Here the difference between the children of the flesh and the true children of God is revealed. Paul continues, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, (as the children of the flesh do) but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 'Abba! Father!' The Spirit himself (the gift from God) bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.”[22]

God’s grace and mercy is manifested upon His elect people through the means of the spirit of adoption. God gives to the children of the promise the heart to perceive, the eyes to see, and ears to hear. The proof of the children of God is heard in those who cry out (within their hearts) “Abba Father.”[23]

 

Although the Spirit of Adoption did not become a theological concept until after the day of Pentecost,[24] and only after God had poured out, “in the last days, My spirit upon all flesh,”[25] the concept is clearly seen when God spoke through the Psalmist concerning His servant. “I have found David My servant; with My holy oil have I anointed him, He shall cry to me, 'you are my father, my God, and the rock of my salvation.' Also I will make him My firstborn, higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and My covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed also will I make to endure forever, and his throne as the days of heaven.’”[26]

The Apostle Paul laid out for the Church the theology that there is one Spirit that connects the people of God, to God.[27] Previous to Pentecost, the Spirit of God appeared to come and depart upon those whom it pleased Him. The Spirit that led David to write the Psalm, where he cries out, “Cast me not away from Your presence, and take not Your Holy Spirit from me”[28] is the same Spirit God grants as His gift to His people today. All of God’s people, throughout redemptive history, have in some measure[29] partaken of the Spirit of God.

There is a propensity found in Church teaching today which looks upon those saints[30] in past ages,[31] as being disadvantaged and/or not having an equal or the same Spirit that the saints today possess. Many of God’s people, before and under the Old Covenant,[32] were endowed with God’s Spirit. Many are named, such as Joseph,[33] Moses,[34] Joshua,[35] David,[36] and some of the prophets.[37]

But the most significant of men to be endowed with the Spirit of God was the one whom God forewarned to Moses and the newly formed nation of Israel. Nearly thirty-five centuries ago, God spoke through Moses, “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him.”[38]

Approximately halfway between Moses and the arrival of the promised One, God once again spoke, this time through the prophet Isaiah: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit. And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear, but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.”[39] And again, God speaking through the same prophet, “Behold My servant, whom I uphold; Mine elect, in whom My soul delights; I have put My spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.”[40]

These are not mere texts pulled from their context to prove a point. The scriptures are replete, as Jesus himself speaks of them, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me.”[41]

From the very beginning, God had planned long ago to send the man, a man who would come, “from the stump of Jesse, the branch, where the Spirit of the LORD would rest upon him.”[42] As the LORD God spoke through the prophets, He gave His people much detailed information regarding who this man would be, where he would come from, what he was to accomplish, and the results thereof. “By his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.”[43]

The truth concerning God’s righteous servant was not a secret, nor was it hidden. The prophets described Yahweh’s servant frequently in the prolepsis sense,[44] as though the outcome had already been established. The prophet Isaiah is the best example, devoting many chapters to the glorified servant of Yahweh[45] and the future kingdom upon the earth.[46] Yahweh’s righteous servant was expected, although many ideas concerning his identity had circulated through the centuries. But the chief sign the people should have been looking for was that of prophet, “Behold My servant, whom I uphold, My chosen, in whom My soul delights; I have put My Spirit upon him; he will bring forth justice to the nations.”[47]

When Jesus arrived on the banks of the Jordan and was baptized by John, it was the Spirit of God Who descended upon him.[48] Without the anointing of God’s Spirit, what could Yahweh’s servant really have accomplished? The answer is self-evident and applies to all of God’s people!

 

The biggest difference between the working of the spirit of God in His people then and now, is that the spirit has become the seal, “which is an earnest of our inheritance, to the redemption of the acquired possession, to the praise of His glory.”[49] What does this mean for the people of God today? It means the acquired possession, found in the promise to be a partaker of the divine nature,[50] to be made a life-giving spirit, like Jesus,[51] has been bought.[52] In simple terms, that which the people of God hope for and are to become has been bought with the precious blood of God's Christ.[53] It’s a done deal.

Prior to the “acquired possession,” the spirit of God rested upon the man or woman of faith, who looked forward in hope to the time of the restitution of all things.[54] For those looking, the restitution meant the establishment of God’s reign in the new heavens and new earth,[55] where peace and righteousness ruled the hearts and minds of God's people.[56] But, before the restitution could take place, it was necessary for the Lamb of God to be slain.

The Lamb slain before the foundation of world was typified[57] under the Old Covenant, primarily in the sacrificial system. But long before the establishment of the covenant where the sacrificial system was instituted, (that form of worship the people of Yahweh were called upon and expected to use when approaching the one true and living God), there was the event which served as a lesson for God's people. The event took place, when, at the command of God, Abraham took his only begotten son Isaac[58] and led him to Mount Mariah to offer him up as a sacrifice. There, God intervened after Abraham showed the world what faith really meant, as he was willing to take the life of his special son, and in prophetic prose declared, “God will provide Himself a lamb.”[59]

The picture of the sacrifice, the story of Abraham and Isaac, and the prophets,[60] all speak of the Lamb who would come and bring appeasement between God and His people. For thousands of years, God’s people, endowed with the spirit of God, looked forward in faith to the promise that God would provide the Lamb.[61] Today the Lamb of God is provided for the people of God through the person of Jesus. As John the baptizer openly declared of the man who walked toward him, “Behold, the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.”[62]

 

The saints, under the promises of the Old Covenant, did not have, or know of, the seal of the Holy Spirit. Today the promise of the adoption, foreseen through the prophet Hosea, “there it shall be said to them you are sons of the living God,”[63] and through the Apostle Paul, who reminded the Corinthian believers of what God had promised, “And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty”[64] -is that spirit which cries out abba Father. Instead, the saints of the past, led by the Spirit as they were, they looked forward in faith to the one, coming through David, who would bring peace and righteousness to the nation called after God’s name.

As the son of David, he will sit upon the throne of David,[65] bringing about the restitution of all things with the reign of God’s kingdom on earth.[66] It was this hope the prophets spoke of, and the true children of the promise looked forward in anticipation.[67] It is the same hope that Jesus preached, and the apostles continued to teach to the Church long after the death of Jesus, his resurrection from the dead and his ascension into heaven.[68]

With the institution of the New Covenant,[69] the gift of the Spirit of God has been poured out[70] upon the people of God. Their adoption has been assured with the seal of the Spirit. [71] Today the saints[72]—all those redeemed by the blood of the Lamb—in some measure experience the earnest of the inheritance, the inheritance to be shared with Christ Jesus.[73]

One of the oldest prophesies concerning God’s Christ was spoken by the Hebrew patriarch Jacob upon his deathbed. With his dying breath, Jacob blessed all twelve of his sons. When it was his son Judah’s turn to be blessed, Jacob uttered a fascinating prophecy: “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.”[74]

When Jacob spoke these words, there was no Kingship, no “ruler’s staff,” nor for that matter had the nation of Israel yet been formed into those people who would be called[75] after God’s name. But perhaps the most fascinating aspect of Jacob’s prophecy is to be found in the concept of the obedience of the peoples, with the focus upon the obedience or the gathering[76] to the one (him) which the tribute was to come.

Through these veiled words, we are able to look back today with the advantage of hindsight and understand the amazing truth of how the people of God gather around (in obedience to the truth[77]) the one to whom the tribute is due.

The people of God have gathered to the promises of God since God began to make promises, in the unity of the hope, the inheritance, the gift of the Spirit, and to God Himself. The Apostle Paul left no room for debate when he wrote to the Ephesians. “There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call—one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.”[78] Paul made no distinction between the saints of old and the saints to whom he wrote in Ephesus.[79] The God who is the Father of all, over all, and through all, is the same for all the saints throughout redemptive history.

The adoption of God’s people, under both the old covenant and the new,[80] is intricately linked to the perfection—that is, the completion of the whole man. It is the completed man[81] the Apostle Paul pointed to, so we as the children of God may look forward, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.”[82]

In collaboration with Paul, the Hebrew author agreed, “Since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they (the saints in the distant past, including those under the old covenant) should not be made perfect.”[83] In other words, it would take all the saints throughout redemptive history to make “a perfect man,” the complete man, to fulfill the goal in God’s desire to create “man” in His image and likeness.[84]

The Apostle John wrote, “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.”[85] “What we will be has not yet appeared,” but the perfect man has been revealed. He has been revealed to those who have been given the gift of faith.[86] “But as many as did receive him, to them he gave authority to become sons of God—to those believing in his name.”[87] As God’s children (sons and daughters), we see that man[88] revealed in Jesus of Nazareth.[89]

In the concept of the perfect man, Jesus is “the head of the body”[90] that has been raised up from out of death. He is the man who “will never die again; as death no longer has dominion over him.”[91] Jesus is the man who has been “made a life-giving spirit.”[92]

Today Jesus sits at the Right Hand of God,[93] waiting until God makes of his enemies a footstool.[94] And like Jesus, we also wait for that day, the day of resurrection, when we will be found like him.[95]

It is in course of redemptive history “that the whole creation groans,”[96] “until we all attain,”[97] as the sons and daughters of God,[98] “eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.”[99]

The resurrection will include the saints of all ages, and will take place on the last day of this age.[100] Upon the resurrection of the saints, when corruption becomes incorruption and mortality becomes immortality,[101] all of creation will sing[102] the praises of God for the consummation of the completed man.[103] On that day, the completion of the whole body[104] will be realized, and so will the children of God be revealed. The revealing is that great hope and expectation the Apostle Paul reminds his readers, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.”[105]

 

In conclusion, “the Spirit of Adoption”[106] is the profound truth regarding how the Father inducts children into the household of God.[107] On the more personal level, the Spirit of adoption is that means by which God makes known to His chosen people those who are His, because they have been given the ability to cry out, “Abba Father.”

Jesus led the way as he was the first of the order of the new man. And being the man that he was, the Son of the most High God, Jesus revealed the intimate reality of what it meant to be a child of God when he cried out on the eve of his death, “Abba, Father.”[108]