A Study in Adoption
GALATIANS 4:1-7
1 ¶ Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;
2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. (Notice – a change from a servant to a son – this is dealing with a change in relationship to the father, from being like a servant in relationship to now the relationship of a son)
A Study in Adoption
This word “Adoption” has a somewhat different meaning in the scripture as to what we would think of the meaning of the word today.
Adoption according to the English Cambridge dictionary = the action or fact of legally taking another's child and bringing it up as one's own, or the fact of being adopted.
Adoption in the bible sense of what we are dealing with in this study is to do with the son of the father in the family coming to a level of maturity in order to take on a position of adult responsibility in the family. It is to do with the placing of a son which means to place someone positionally in the family who is already in the family, in a mature role of responsibility.
And so that includes dealing with the child in child rearing in order for him to come to that maturity of where he can become positionally placed in the family as an adult son and a benefit to the family – and so in the traditional sense, that is the purpose of the tutor of why the son is under this tutor, this teacher, he has the responsibly to train the child and report the child’s progress to the father. And that is what the Holy Spirit is doing with us in the way that we are being trained in the word and by the trials and testings of life.
I CORINTHIANS 3:1-4
1 ¶ And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
***Paul could see by the way they were acting as to the level of their maturity. He couldn’t feed them on Thunders, Seals, Trumpets and Vials because they were still acting like little fighting children all thinking that their church and pastor was better than all the others – they had popularity problems.
HEAR.YE.HIM_ LIMA.OH FRIDAY_ 57-0125
E-22 But in this day when a son was borned into a home, then he was a son because he was born. Now, many of the Pentecostals, and the Baptists, and Presbyterians, or Nazarenes, they take that as sufficient; that settles it. But it's wrong according to the Word.
Now, this son being born, he was given a tutor. Paul speaks of it in Galatians, and so forth of how a tutor was a raiser or a teacher that was to teach the son. And the father, being his son, he got the very best tutor, teacher that he could find. A man that would raise the child, not according to the things of common ethics of teaching. But to be an obedient child, somebody that the father had confidence in.
E-23 Now, hear it is. I want you to see it. Notice, what a beautiful picture that when a child was born into the Kingdom of God, the Father has given us a Tutor, the Holy Spirit. Not a bishop, but a Holy Spirit, a Raiser.
And this tutor brought word to the father how the child progressed. And so does the Holy Spirit bring to the Father how His church is progressing. Oh, my. How He must dread to tell the Father the way we behave ourselves. Why, sure. All confused, one is this a way and one... Oh, what a disgrace it is. All separated and divided, arguing, and fussing, and disputing over little petty differences: unbelief, unthankful, unholy, without even natural affection when we should be in love with Father.
**It is fairly easy to see what level a person is at by the way they conduct themselves, that’s just natural observation – because little children conduct themselves in a certain way, and that is the same with babes in Christ. That is why you can be a Christian for 30 years and still be a babe in Christ because of your conduct, and so Paul did not want them to remain at that level. You grow in the Lord as your understanding grows just like a child, because a child thinks child thoughts, but when you become a man you change in your thinking.
That is why when we get to I CORINTHIANS 13:10
I CORINTHIANS 13:10
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child (Notice again – your speech and your understanding and the way you think reveals your level of maturity): but when I became a man, I put away childish things. (In other words, your speech and your understanding and the way you think all changed to a higher level)
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
**The purpose of God is to bring his children into the position of what he has pre-ordained us to be in order for us to be of service in his great economy and kingdom and household that is to come.
ISAIAH 14:12-16
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
We witness here a very powerful angel of God falling from a very powerful position of what God had made him for, and we know that that was because he wanted to be something different to that of what God had never designed him or created him to be – God put him in a great position, but he wanted someone else’s position, he was an angel, but yet he wanted to be above the sons of God, he wanted to be greater than the sons of God. This was a very bad thing because it would have upset the entire purpose and economy of God.
**So this is a great lesson for us, because we can only be truly satisfied and blessed by God when we can find and remain in the position and purpose that God has called us too. All that fulfil God’s purpose will have a resurrection,
The sun rises in the morning because it fulfils God’s purpose, the flower rises to life again in the spring time because it fulfils God’s purpose. And we will also rise again if we fulfil God’s purpose in our lives – so this is very important.
EPHESIANS 1:1-6
1 ¶ Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the saints which are at Ephesus, and to the faithful in Christ Jesus:
2 Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
3 ¶ Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ:
4 According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:
5 Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.
Pulpit Commentary – referring to this scripture of verse 5 (modified slightly for ease of understanding)
…Our obedience is not the forced obedience of servants, but the loving obedience of sons. Adoption implies more than a view or opinion that is held or expressed, but a real legal relation to God as his sons (Romans 8:17). The adoption is "by Jesus Christ:" "As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God" (John 1:12). And it is unto or into himself - denoting a movement towards God which terminates in union to Him.
GALATIANS 4:1-5 opening scripture
1 ¶ Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; Why is he no different than a servant? Because of his attitude toward obedience to the Father’s will. Your attitude towards obedience to the word is what the Holy Spirit measures you by.
2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. (That is why we are under the Holy Spirit by the revelation of this hour who is the tutor – the teacher, “Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth” John 16:13 – the inner teacher)
3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:
4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Pulpit Commentary …Our obedience is not the forced obedience of servants, but the loving obedience of sons.
PROVERBS 29:21
21 ¶ He that delicately bringeth up his servant from a child shall have him become his son at the length.
Many commentary’s look at this scripture in a negative sense in that the servant was treated too softly and grows up desiring to be an heir – that is what Lucifer wanted to do, but if we look at this at an attitude level we see that a servant that is born a servant (and can never become a son) if he is treated in a loving way can so come to love his master that he begins to serve him out of love (as would a son that has come to a proper maturity in relationship to his father) and not just out of duty.
Abraham had trained servants, raised in his own house at the time when he rescued Lot.
GENESIS 14:14-16
14 And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan.
15 And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.
16 And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.
A.HIDDEN.LIFE_ CHICAGO.IL THURSDAY_ 55-1006A
E-20 I noticed in the Bible one time, speaking just for a few moments now. In the Old Testament when a son was borned into a home, he was a son when he was borned. He become a son when he was borned into a home. And the ordinary, typical, oriental home in those days, the son was giving a place and a tutor that raised the child. Paul beautifully speaks of it in the New Testament, that how the tutor was to raise the child, and we were... The law was a tutor to bring us to Christ.
But then, that child when he was borned was in type of the church today, the borned again by the Holy Spirit. And I believe that God has been tutoring His church, bringing it up, raising it up, to it's time now for something else to happen. The church ought to be grown by this time. But many of us, who ought to be teaching others, are yet desiring the sincere milk of the Bible. See? We need someone to teach us, when we should be teachers. And to that I bow my head in shame, that I should know more about God than I do.
E-21 Now, here is one thing that I do believe, that when a child... The Bible speaks back there, that when the child had been raised, the tutor kept the Father posted on the conduct of the child. Now, the Tutor in this manner has been the Holy Spirit to the Pentecostal and the church. The Holy Ghost that give...
And remember, the child, no matter what would ever take place, it was borned a child; it will always be a child. And when a man is borned of the Holy Ghost, he becomes a child of God, for it is actually a second birth, a regeneration, that creates something in the man that wasn't there to begin with. When every man is borned into the household of faith, he becomes a child. Then the Holy Spirit follows this man and brings word to God how he is progressing.
E-22 Now, after this child become of age... Now, he's still a child. But if the child was reckless, and never paid any attention, and wasn't so interested in the Father's work, that child never become adopted to that family. But if he was a correct child, a good child, and loved the work of his father, and was interested, and tried to do all he could to progress his father's work, then the tutor brought that word to the father, and there was what's called the placing of the son or as Paul gives it in--over in Galatians, "the adoption." That we was predestinated into the adoption of children by Jesus Christ, the adoption.
Now, the same son that was born into a family could be adopted into the same family, or placed in the same family, or give a position in the family that he was borned into. And I do believe that that is the work of the Holy Spirit today among the church, is trying to place in the church positionally apostles, teachers, prophets, and so forth, as... And we've seen many false alarms and so forth moving amongst the people, which only indicated that the real genuine adoption was at hand. I believe it. God has to place into the church. That's the business of God, not of man.
E-23 Now, when this boy became of age, and when he was ready then for his adoption, and he had proved by--the tutor had told the Father that this boy was eligible for adoption, he was taken out into a public place, and there he was robed with a--a robe (a honor robe, perhaps purple, or some color of royalty), and was set up, and the whole city, all the people around about, seen the Father adopt his own son into the family. And then when he was adopted into the family, already a son, already a child, already a heir of grace, but placed in the family... You get it. Now, when he was placed in the family and given his position, then that boy's name on a check was just as good as his father's name on the check.
Now, I believe that that is the time that the church has arrived at today, that the next great move in the church is for God, after we've seen the false alarms... But now, God will place in His church correctly, apostles, prophets, teachers, evangelists, not man-made seminary boughten, but God will place into the church. Not theology run-overs and overnights, but God will place in the church, as God has chosen, as the Holy Ghost has tutored this church and raised it up. And in there God will adopt into His--into the position His sons. They're already His sons, but whether they are worthy of the position that He has for them.