D.M.Lloyd-Jones Eph 1,5 Adoption

Adoption ‘Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will.’ Ephesians 1,5 The opening word of this verse reminds us of its intimate connection with what has gone before, where we have seen that the purpose of salvation is to destroy the work of the devil, and to restore us to a condition where we can stand again before God holy and without blame in love and have communion with Him as Adam had before the Fall. But it does not stop at that. In this fifth verse the Apostle leads us on to something yet more glorious. It is as if we were climbing up a staircase to some wonderful high tower. We reach a kind of platform with a glorious view than which nothing greater seems to be possible. One would have thought that nothing could be added to the previous statement; but the Apostle does add to it, and he does so because he feels that he has not yet told us everything about ‘the exceeding riches’ of God’s grace. So, he goes on to tell us of a further truth, namely, that we have been ‘predestinated unto the adoption of sons. Not only do we stand before God, but we also stand before Him as His sons, as His adopted sons. Here, again, is something which is truly staggering in its glory. How important it is that we should take these statements slowly and not rush over them in a superficial manner as is so often done. Each statement here has its own individual message; and if we are to appreciate it fully and rejoice in it as we are meant to do, we must pause and analyze and look at each truth and gaze upon it and allow its rich message to penetrate our minds and hearts. We must ever guard against the danger of being content with a mere knowledge of the letter of the Scriptures and of failing to discover its principles and doctrines. A superficial analysis of the books of the Bible is finally useless unless we realize the rich content of these individual statements. Indeed, if we make a thorough analysis of any one of these New Testament Epistles we shall gain a good grasp of the main elements of Christian truth. Furthermore, to grasp the teaching of one Epistle helps us to go on to another and so we are able to understand the teaching of the entire Bible. It is truly astonishing to note how we encounter most of the primary essential doctrines of the Christian faith here in the very introduction to the Epistle to the Ephesians. The particular statement with which we are about to deal is not merely a repetition of what the Apostle has been saying, it is something new, something additional. Let us note two points in connection with the translation. The Authorized (King James) Version reads thus: ‘Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ.’ This is one of those instances where the Authorized Version, unfortunately, is not as good as the English Revised Version translation which reads, ‘Having foreordained us unto adoption as sons. The word is ‘sons’, and not as the Authorized Version has it, ‘children’. The American Revised Standard Version likewise has ‘sons’; but most astonishingly we find that the Revised Standard Version, which is so popular at the present time, leaves out the term ‘adoption’ for no reason whatsoever. When it translates precisely the same word in chapter 8 of the Epistle to the Romans and chapter 4 of the Epistle to the Galatians, it uses the term ‘adoption’, but here it omits it. This reminds us of the importance of using and handling all these new modern translations most carefully and judiciously. The next matter that must engage our attention is to note that the Apostle introduces a new term. In the previous verse he has said, ‘According as he hath chosen us’; but now he writes about God ‘having predestinated us. Is this but a distinction without a difference? The answer is that it is not so. The Apostle is not simply repeating himself by using a slight variation; he is really saying something new, something different. There is an important difference between ‘chosen’ and ‘predestinated’. To predestinate means to determine beforehand, to declare beforehand. The Apostle means by this term that this was God’s ultimate plan; it refers to the plan itself. ‘Chosen’ on the other hand emphasizes the way or the means or the method or the mode by which that plan has been put into operation and has been accomplished. The difference between the two terms is the difference between the plan, the thing pre-determined, thought out and purposed in the mind of God, and the execution of it. So, we are confronted by the staggering statement that ‘before the foundation of the world’, it was God’s plan and purpose that certain members of the fallen race of Adam - who had fallen right away from Him and become aliens in their minds and who were under His wrath and deserved nothing but perdition - should become His sons. That is God’s original purpose and plan in redemption. We have already seen that the Apostle states these things in a certain definite order, and whenever we think of salvation and redemption, we should always keep in the forefront of our minds that God’s original decision, or determination, was that certain members of that fallen race should stand before Him as His sons. In order to carry out that determination it was obviously essential that God should ‘choose’ and select certain people who should be brought to that glorious destiny. It is equally obvious that certain things had to be done to those people to fit and prepare them for their destiny. And that, as we have seen, was that they should become ‘holy and without blame in love’. So, we see the intimate and logical connection between these things. There is the original purpose, and in order to bring that purpose to pass certain people have to be taken hold of and made holy, because without being holy they could not possibly stand in the presence of God. In other words, we have a further insight through this additional statement in the fifth verse into why the Apostle says that we have been chosen unto holiness - ‘that we should be holy and without blame before him in love’. Paul places holiness first because he is thinking of our sonship, our ultimate destiny. While it is most important that we should hold each of these truths in our minds separately and in orderly fashion, we must not think of them so much in terms of a time or chronological sequence, because all these things were in the mind of God at one and the same time. God sees the end from the beginning; and this is not a time arrangement but a logical arrangement - the original predetermination, the original choosing to sonship. But someone may ask, ‘If that is the logical order, why does Paul put ‘chosen’ and ‘holiness’ before ‘predestination’? The answer is that from the experiential standpoint ‘chosen’ and ‘holiness’ come before the adoption as sons. The Apostle was writing a pastoral letter to a number of Christian people, many of whom were slaves and servants, in order that he might establish their faith. So, he writes in a manner which will be most helpful to them. A simple way therefore of testing yourself as to whether you are a child of God, and whether you have a spiritual mind, is to ask yourself whether all this seems to you to be a waste of time, or whether you see in it the most wonderful and glorious thing you have ever looked at in the whole of your life. Paul here brings us face to face with the most astounding thing that even Almighty God has planned and done for us. As you look into the scheme and plan do you delight in it? A child always delights in looking at his father’s plan and purpose; and you and I have the privilege through the Scriptures of having a glimpse of the plan of God. If this means nothing to you, it means that you are a ‘natural’ man, not a ‘spiritual’ man. As the Apostle says, ‘The natural man received not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him’; he sees nothing in them and is utterly bored by them. What do these things mean to you? They were written to very simple people, and we are meant to grasp and understand and rejoice in them. In the next place we proceed to look at this central term ‘adoption’. ‘Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children’. This term ‘adoption’ is a most interesting one. The Apostle Paul is the only writer in the New Testament who uses it, and there is little doubt but that he borrowed it from Roman law. It is a term, an idea, of which Jews knew nothing. It was no part of their legal system; but it was a term Used by the Romans. Now the Apostle Paul was a Roman citizen, and he had lived in that atmosphere; so he naturally uses this term. Under Roman law adoption secured for the adopted child a right to the name and to the property of the person by whom he had been adopted. The moment a child was adopted by a person, that child had the legal right, an absolute legal right, to make such claims. On the other hand, Roman law granted to the person who adopted the child all the rights and privileges of a father. It worked both ways. The Apostle obviously uses the term in order to convey the particular idea of the place or status of a son. It is a purely forensic or legal term. It is important that we should grasp this because we cannot really enter into the privilege of our position as God’s sons unless we understand what adoption means. It is a term that emphasizes relationship and standing, it also emphasizes rank and distinction. We are familiar with certain ranks of society, certain distinctions in society which confer privileges because of the position, or the rank or the status that one holds. This New Testament term embodies this meaning. It is a legal term which defines standing or status, rank, privilege, and position. Its emphasis is not upon the nature of the child so much as upon the rank of the child. Of course, the nature is very important; but the term adoption does not emphasize that. Let me illustrate. If you say of a person that he is an adopted child, you are saying that he is not in a blood relationship to a certain man and woman. He has not a natural connection with them, but he has been legally adopted by them; he stands as their child though he does not actually partake of their nature. It is this distinction which the Apostle employs here, and obviously it is an important one. The nature of the Christian as a new man in Christ, as a son, is determined not by adoption but by regeneration. We become children of God because we are born again, because we have become ‘partakers of the divine nature’, because the Holy Spirit enters into us, because we are born from above, because we are a new creation. Receiving this we become the children of God. But that is not conveyed by the term ‘adoption’ which does not place the emphasis upon the common nature which we have, but entirely upon the legal standing, upon the rank, upon the position; and upon the privileges that come from that position. In other words, adoption can be defined as the proclaiming of the new creature in his new relationship to God as a son. By adoption, then, we become sons of God and are introduced into and given the privileges that belong to membership of God’s family. Again, someone may ask: ‘Why did the Apostle introduce this term and what exactly is the difference between it and regeneration; why did he differentiate and distinguish between them?’ The answer is provided in the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians, verses 1-5. The Apostle’s argument there runs thus: ‘Now I say That the heir, as long as he is a child, different nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; but is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law. . . that we might receive the adoption of sons.’ Observe the distinction which Paul draws. A child is born of his parents, and he has the nature of the parents in him; and because of that he is in a sense ‘lord of all’. But while he is still a child, he is little different from a servant. Indeed, he is under tutors, servants, who can correct and can punish, and who can teach him. They seem to be superior to him and as a child he may be afraid of this tutor, or that particular servant. He is a true child; he is not adopted; but he is not of age. But ‘adoption’ means that when that child comes of age, a declaration is made concerning his status and position as heir. He is no more a son than he was before, but there is a difference all the same. He now has a certain standing, and his relationship to the governors and teachers has become different. They nowaddress him as ‘master’. His relationship to his parents in a fundamental sense has not been changed as regards his blood and nature it remains exactly what it was. Yet from the standpoint of rank and legal position he is in a different position. We can now see why the Apostle uses this particular term ‘adoption’. It is as if he was not content with saying that we have become children of God by the second birth; he wants us to realize where we stand, and what our rank and privileges are. This is why it is so difficult to understand why those who were responsible for the translation given in the Revised Standard Version should leave out the term. Theological and spiritual understanding are clearly as important in the work of translation as linguistic proficiency, and arguably they are more important. Let us then proceed to consider something of the privileges of our position as sons of God. That we may enjoy these is the final and the ultimate end of redemption. There is nothing higher than this. Our adoption is the highest expression even of God’s love. I speak carefully, and with reverence when I assert that this statement and the parallel statements in the eighth chapter of Romans and the fourth chapter of the Epistle to the Galatians are the highest expression of the love of Almighty God. There is nothing higher than this, as is clear from the Apostle John’s way of stating it: ‘Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God’ (1 John 5,…). The world has nothing comparable to it. It is very much interested in greatness and in praise, interested in great men. It praises great men and showers its honors upon them. It talks about privileged positions and status and rank and honor. But all that the world knows in that respect is inevitably fading and transient. ‘Change and decay in all around I see’. The world’s honors are decaying honors; they only last while you are in this life and world. You cannot take them with you through death and the grave. The fashion of this world is passing away. What our Lord Himself said about such things and such people was, ‘Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.’ Let them make the most of it while they have it in this world. Look at Dives and Lazarus; what a contrast! Dives has everything that the world can give - food and drink and honor and position. But he finds in death that he has nothing, while the poor man Lazarus, the beggar who was lying at his gate in this world full of sores, has everything in the next world. The world knows nothing about true honor and riches. It does not understand or appreciate them. Tell a man of the world that he can become a child, a son of God, and it means nothing to him. He is not interested in what he calls pie-in-the-sky, and he does not understand it. The world did not understand the Son of God when he was here; it dismissed Him as a carpenter; it saw no glory in Him. But His true disciples understood, and they said with John, ‘We beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.’ They saw the glory shining forth though He assumed the form of a servant. This divine glory kept breaking through; and they saw it. Some of them saw it on the Mount of Transfiguration, and they saw it elsewhere. And the glory which is given by adoption to the children of God is similar to that glory. As the hymn-writer says, it is By this dark world unknown. The world does not know it’s truly great men, its real heroes. Our history books indicate that the men who are given rewards by the world, generally did not count in a spiritual sense, whereas the men who are truly great were laughed at and ridiculed in their day and generation. The glory God gives is an unseen glory, but it is a real glory because it is given by Him. Let me mention some of its manifestations in the privileges which we are given as adopted sons of God. The first is that we bear the Name of God; we are children of God, we are members of His family. Paul reminds us of this at the end of the second chapter of this Epistle - we are ‘of the household of God’. Are you feeling dejected, are you feeling ignored, are you discouraged by the fact that the world does not know you? Do you feel that you do not matter, nor does it matter what men may do to you? Let them despise and forsake you, and ignore you and all you do; ignore them, and with Horatius Bonar sing: Men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not. The Master praises: - what are men? You are a child of God; God’s Name is upon you, Christ’s ‘new name’, as the Book of Revelation puts it. His new name is written upon you, and if you feel despised and dejected, join the hymnwriter in praying: Write Thy new Name upon my heart, Thy new best Name of Hove. It is already there; God Himself has written it because He has adopted you. You have a legal right to it; you can claim it. So, lift up your heart and obey the exhortation of John Cennick: Children of the Heavenly King, As ye journey sweetly sing. Hold up your head, you have a glory the world knows nothing of, a glory that will never fade away. It is indestructible and undefiled. Heboid the amazing gift of love The Father has bestowed On us, the sinful sons of men, To call us sons of God. The next thing we have to realize is that we are given the Spirit of the Son of God Himself, the only begotten Son. Paul states this again gloriously in Galatians 4, verses 4-6: ‘When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying Abba, Father.’ Because we are sons we have this privilege, that God has sent forth into our hearts the very selfsame Spirit that was in His only begotten Son. When the Lord Jesus Christ was here in this world as a man, He was given the Holy Spirit. We are told that ‘God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him’ (John 3:34). He was enabled to do what He did by the Spirit, and we are told that because we are sons, God puts into us the same Spirit that was in His only begotten Son. What a privilege! We are in the same world and subject to the same contradiction of sinners. In His earthly life He was misunderstood by people, persecuted by people, tempted in all points like as we are, yet without sin. All that we have to endure He endured, and He went through it all triumphantly. It was the Spirit that enabled Him to do so, and the same Spirit is in us. He had to pray as we do; He was dependent upon this power as we are. He determined to live as a man, and He did so in that way. But again, because we are sons, we are ‘heirs of God and join theirs with Christ’. If you are interested in honors and possessions realize that because you are a child of God, you are an heir of God. Adoption confers the legal right to property. We are ‘heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ’. ‘Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven’: ‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth’ (Matthew 5:3, 5). Moreover, we have a definite and certain hope of the completion of our final redemption. Paul assures us of this in Romans 8, verse 2 3: ‘And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.’ In other words, the argument is that because I am a son of God, I can be certain that a day is coming when even my body shall be redeemed. My spirit, my soul, is redeemed but my body is still a body of sin. It is not yet redeemed but it will be, and I am sure of that because I am a son of God. My sonship is an absolute guarantee of the blessing. That in turn guarantees the coming of a day when we shall be enjoying what is called ‘the glorious liberty of the children of God’, when we shall be free from sin and ‘all that defiled’ in ‘new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness’ (2 Peter 3:13). It is all secure because God is my Father, and I am His child. And it is because He is my Father and I am His child that I know that ‘the very hairs of my head are all numbered’, that nothing can happen to me apart from God. I know that neither hell nor any other power shall ever be able to separate me from the love of Christ. I am His son, and He will never forsake me. He cannot do so. I have a guarantee that though everything is opposed to me in this world I shall go steadfastly on; He will lead me on because I am His child, His son. The Apostle goes even further in writing to the Corinthians, and says: ‘Know ye not that ye shall judge the world?’ and then adds that: ‘Know ye not that ye shall judge angels?’ (1 Corinthians 6:2-3). We are destined to judge angels because we are sons and children of God. We are higher than the angels. They are but ‘ministering spirits. There is a day coming when we shall be judging the angels of God in all their brightness and purity. We shall be raised to that level because we are sons of God. That is the great argument of the second chapter of the Epistle to the Hebrews. The Christ was made for a time a little lower than the angels; but God has raised us up to a level above the angels. Do you realize these privileges? Were we all to do so we would never be guilty of a spirit of bondage and of fear. Have we got this ‘Spirit of adoption’ in us? Do we cry ‘Abba, Father’? Do we realize these things and rejoice in them? That is to test whether we are being led by the Spirit. ‘For as many as are led by the Spirit of God’, says Paul in Romans 8:14, ‘they are the sons of God.’ Let us pause and contemplate these things. Let us arouse we to a realization through the Spirit of what adoption means and the things that follow from it. Let us spend less time with the newspapers and with all the talk about worldly honors. Let us face these things; they belong to us. We, as Christians, have been predestinated to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ unto God Himself. Praise be unto God for having looked upon us miserable, damned sinners, and for having raised us up to such an indescribable height of glory. IO Higher than Adam ‘Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, ‘To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.’ Ephesians ,5-6 We must remind ourselves that in verses 4, 5 and 6 the Apostle is concerned to show us the part the Father plays in this great redemption which we enjoy. He will go on to show the part played by the Son, and subsequently the part played by the Holy Spirit; but he starts with the Father, ‘The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ’, and we have seen that that includes our adoption as God’s sons and all the privileges that come to us as the result of it. But we cannot leave this great subject at this point, because the moment we look at it carefully we find that certain principles are implied in this statement which are vital to the Christian position, and which, if we neglect or misunderstand them, may very well militate against our well-being. As Christians we are still in this world, and we are surrounded by enemies and antagonists. The fact that we become Christian does not mean that everything is going to be plain and clear, that we shall have no difficulties, and that there will be no dangers and pitfalls along our pathway. One cannot read the New Testament without seeing that very early in the history of the Church errors began to creep in, heresies began to arise, and some went astray in their doctrine, and misunderstood certain aspects of the truth. Indeed, it can be said that most of the New Testament Epistles were written because of this. They were written to correct misunderstandings and errors; and that is why we ourselves are considering these things. We are still in the same position. Our interest in these things is not merely theoretical. This same Apostle Paul reminds