The Spirit Of AdoptionSample

Adoption is mentioned in Ephesians 1:5. “In love he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace.” There are three things I want to point out from this passage about being adopted by God. Each day in your study on this topic you can meditate on one of these three beautiful truths highlighted for you in this wonderful Scripture portion.

These three things are just what you would expect if you read Romans 11:36. “From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.” All things, including adoption, are from God and through God and to God. That is what I see in this passage from Ephesians 1:5, 6.

First adoption is “from him”— meaning adoption is from God. “In love he predestined us for adoption.” So adoption was part of a God’s plan. It was his idea, his purpose. It was not an afterthought. He didn’t discover one day that against his original plan and foreknowledge that humans had sinned and orphaned themselves in the world, and then came up with the idea of adopting them into his family. No, Paul says, he predestined adoption. He planned it all along even before man had fallen into sin.

In fact, verse 4 makes that plain: “He chose us in him [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” Before the creation of the world, and before we existed, God in His eternal wisdom looked on us men and women in our need and sinfulness, and he looked upon his Son Jesus crucified and risen as the only all sufficient atonement for our sin. Therefore, God Himself chose all those who accept Jesus as Lord and Saviour to be “holy and blameless” in Him. And to that end he “predestined us for adoption.” It happened before the creation of this world.

So the first thing you need to know about your adoption into God’s family through Christ is that God chose you and predestined you in love for adoption before the foundation of the world. God’s love for you and its expression in your adoption into his eternal family of joy did not start in this world. It reaches back to eternity. So when Paul says, “From him are all things” (Romans 11:36) he includes your adoption, and meant that before the foundation of the world God had predestined you to be His child.

Therefore your adoption is not based on your fitness, your worth, or your distinctiveness. It is rooted in God’s eternal purpose and grace. And that means that your adoption is not fragile or tenuous or uncertain. God will not adopt and then find out that you are not worthy and disown you. He knows you are unworthy. And still He chose you and predestined you for adoption. This is the first unshakable truth that you must be grounded in.

Remember: YOU WERE PREDESTINED BY GOD FOR ADOPTION EVEN BEFORE THIS WORLD WAS CREATED!