Chapter 12 - Of Adoption

Understanding The Westminister Confession of Faith
Chapter 12: Of Adoption

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God. (John 1:12-13)

The verse above teaches us that every true child of God becomes one, not by some legal process by which he is “adopted,” but by the new birth. That is the only way to become part of the family of God.

Chapter 12 of the WCF teaches that those whom God justifies will be made “partakers of the grace of adoption.” They are “taken into the number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God.” They are “pitied, protected, provided for, and chastened by him as by a father … sealed to the day of redemption … as heirs of everlasting salvation.”

The word “adoption” is translated from the biblical Greek term which appears only in Romans 8:15, 23; 9:4; Galatians 4: 5 and Ephesians 1: 5. It is a compound word formed from “son,” and “to place.” Therefore its meaning is: “to place as a son,” “to give to one the position of a son.”

The Baker’s Evangelical Dictionary of biblical theology describes adoption as the “Act of leaving one’s natural family and entering into the privileges and responsibilities of another.” In the Bible, adoption is one of several family-related terms used to describe the process of salvation and its subsequent benefits. God is a father who graciously adopts believers in Christ into his spiritual family and grants them all the privileges of heirship. Salvation is much more than forgiveness of sins and deliverance from condemnation; it is also a position of great blessing. Believers are children of God!

The believer’s adoption as a child of God was determined by God from eternity: God “predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ.” This adoption is not the result of any merit on the part of the believer, but solely the outworking of God’s love and grace (See Ephesians 1:5, 7).

For the true child of God, what this means is this: when we are adopted into the family of God, we are freed or released from the slavery of sin and the law and become a free heir of God. For the heir, the inheritance includes the promise of the ultimate privilege of being like him (1 John 3:2) and being conformed to the glorious body of Christ (Phil 3:21).

Today, the challenge for us is to do what the apostle Peter in 1 Peter 2:16 urges us to do: “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.”

To God be the Glory,
Rev. Robert Chew