ADOPTION (υἱοθεσία, G5625, placing as a son). Based on a Gr. term of the same meaning. The act of adoption is the conclusion of any action by which any person, usually a son, is brought into a new family relationship where he now has new privileges and responsibilities as a member of the family, and at the same time loses all previous rights and is divested of all the previous duties of his former family relationship. Depending on the simplicity or complexity of the society in which provision is made for adoption, the legal process is more or less complex. The process has been discovered in practically every culture and has been adapted in a wide variety of ways in practically every contemporary society.

1. Ancient background. Relevant to Biblical usage are the practices primarily of Greece and Rome. Adoption was sometimes extended to slaves as in the case of Moses in Egypt (Exod 2:10), but was extended in Greece and Rome primarily to citizens. In Gr. practice the adoptive father, because of lack of natural offspring and desiring to perpetuate his family, or because of deep affection for one whom he had come to know in other relationships, or perhaps for religious reasons, could in his lifetime or by his will extend to a son of another family the privileges of his own family in perpetuity. There was a condition, however, that the person adopted accept the legal obligations and religious duties of the new father. In Rom. practice the relationship between the father and son was more severe and more binding because of their understanding of paternal authority (patria postestas). The emphasis was on the father’s power, and the son’s relationship was almost that of a slave. Thus in adoption the person adopted was transferred from his natural father’s power to the power and control of the adoptive father. In understanding this transfer, one should think of it more in terms of a “sale” akin in some sense to a redemptive act or, more exactly, a ransom.

2. Hebrew background. The term was unfamiliar in Pal. in so far as life there reflected Heb. rather than pagan practices. The Heb. Law Codes made no mention of adoption. The Gr. does not occur in the LXX and in fact, no term corresponding to υἱοθεσία, G5625, exists in the Heb. language. The substitute for adoption in the Heb. culture depended on their peculiar and careful laws regarding tribal possessions (Num 27:8-11). The risk of childlessness was solved in part by the Levirate Law (q.v.) or by polygamy, and in some periods of history by easy divorce. One may reflect on Sarah and Hagar, Rachel and Bilhah, Leah and Zilpah (cf. Gen 16:2; 30:4-9). One may infer from the inheritance for Ephraim and Manassah, sons of Joseph, that Jacob in some sense “adopted” his grandsons (Gen 48:5), although it is more likely that this was Jacob’s way of giving Joseph a double portion of the inheritance which was to be distributed under Joshua. This may also have been the transfer of Reuben’s rights to Joseph because of the sin of Reuben (Gen 49:4, 22, 26). Other examples of adoption in the OT are that of Moses by the Egyp. princess (Exod 2:10), Genubath, possibly (1 Kings 11:20), and Esther by Mordecai (Esth 2:7, 15). Significantly all these cases were outside Pal. and outside the normal operations of the Mosaic Code.

3. Pauline usage. Adoption is a theological concept only in the NT and only in the epistles of Paul (Rom 8:15, 23; 9:4; Gal 4:5; Eph 1:5). The word “adoption” is used primarily in Galatians 4:5, “so that we might receive adoption as sons.” In Ephesians 1:5 the idea is clearly set forth: “He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ.” In the passages in Romans, Paul covers the concept more by circumlocution: “children of God” (Rom 8:16); and with reference to Israel, “to them belong the sonship” (9:4); and he throws other light on the word in Romans 8:23: “adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Although a Jew, Paul knew the customs of Greece and Rome. As nearly as it can be judged, he had no particular form of adoption in mind. He found readily at hand the Rom. idea of patria potestas when he was emphasizing man’s release from the slavery of sin and found the Gr. idea congenial when he was emphasizing the relationships and gifts of sonship; thus the deliverance from debt and the liberty of sons. In general he made the following emphases: (1) The process rests in the free act of God who adopts man and it is all of grace; (2) men are redeemed or “bought out” of their previous slavery into the new life as sons of God; (3) by the operation of the Spirit of God men have the assurance of this new relationship and in the experience of sonship they can with Christ cry, “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36; Rom 8:15). The whole idea of adoption or sonship is set forth by Paul in such a way that one may see that the new relationship toward the Father is diametrically opposed to the spirit of bondage (8:15). The support of this experience is specifically Christian. Wi th adoption the Spirit awakens and confirms the experience of sonship within us. Only those who have been truly adopted by God know that they are “children of God.” It is in the assurance of this experience that one speaks to the Father as Christ spoke to Him, in full confidence, and in the approach which only one could make who knows himself to be a part of the family.

4. Parallel concepts. In the classical theological treatment of the Order of Salvation (Ordo Salutis) various classical terms arise—union with Christ, regeneration, conversion, repentance, faith, justification, sanctification, perseverance, glorification. An understanding of adoption is clarified by comparing the term with some of these other terms. Union with Christ is the inclusive and covering concept, and there is in adoption this idea of oneness in the family of God; those who are adopted are “joint heirs with Jesus Christ.” In regeneration it is assumed that this is the secret operation of the Holy Spirit paralleling the more popular figure, “new birth,” which defines especially the origin and initiation of the Christian life, the establishment of a new life principle. Adoption, however, is insistent not only that there is a new quality of life, but also that this quality of life carries with it a conscious experience of the new relationship. Even if one should hold to baptismal regeneration, adoption must still move beyond this event to the emphasis on personal assurance. Some authors treat adoption as a variation or subheading of justification by faith. Justification is a forensic term not having to do with the righteous acts of a saved man but with the fact that God has declared a man to be righteous and treats him as such; and there is no question that this takes place through the finished work of Christ. Men are declared righteous in the presence of God not because they live righteously but because of Christ’s righteousness. Adoption emphasizes more exactly the experience of the father-son relationship as against the judge-prisoner relationship. It is the embracing and restoration of the prodigal son. It is not so much the analogy of the judge setting the prisoner free as it is a father restoring his son—the robe, the ring, the feast, the celebration (cf. Luke 15:22ff.). As over against sanctification, which is a valid concept suggesting the process by which a believer is made more holy, one must emphasize again that the experience of adoption continues to move along with the activity of sanctification at every level of sanctity. The emphasis in adoption is always an ethical one and although it has been initiated and is constantly sustained through God’s grace, it throws light constantly upon response in the conscious experience of the believer. Glorification will be fulfillment and completion of that which is already being experienced by the believer.

5. The universal dimension. Two passages (Rom 8:18ff.; Eph 1:5) are not, of course, “universalist” in any sense of the word but lead one to a wider appreciation of what is involved in adoption. “He destined us in love to be his sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” The lamb was slain from the foundation of the world, and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God is Father according to His nature and the essence of His love and grace is externally His expression of His love toward His creatures. Potentially, then, from all eternity the Father has been destining man to adoption, and reflections of this expression of this nature are already seen in His relationship to Israel (cf. Rom 9:3; Exod 4:22; Deut 14:1; 32:6; Jer 31:9; Hos 11:1). God by His own nature could not be something less than Father, but only when the cross had answered His demands of holiness was it made possible for the Father to receive men as sons. The Spirit testifies to this sonship. Thus, the Triune God is in man’s adoption—the Father according to His nature, the Son according to His redemptive act, the Holy Spirit in His assuring presence. Paul boldly affirms that the whole creation is awaiting “the adoption of the sons of God.” Even nature’s faults will be redeemed and creation itself will be set free from that same bondage and futility which came upon all God’s creation because of the sin of man. The adoption of sons is a necessary step toward the new heaven and the new earth. See Children of God.

Bibliography A. H. Strong, “Justification,” Systematic Theology (1907), 857, passim, 793-896; ISBE (1939), 58-60; W. H. Russell, JBL, LXXI (1952), 233, 234; HERE, I (1962), 105-115; IDB, I (1962), 48, 49; Grimm-Thayer, Greek Lexicon; Lightfoot, Galatians; Sanday, Romans; IB, q.v. relevant Scripture passages.