Adoption Defined

Adoption is a beautiful word. To a believer, adoption is part of our identity. The word has two main connotations that clearly depict what a believer has in Christ: acceptance and security.

Acceptance

In Ephesians 1:4-7, the apostle Paul says, “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: 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. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.”

This week, my husband used an illustration in a chapel service at our school. He asked the students to rate themselves on a level 1-10 on how their behavior currently was pleasing or not pleasing. Not many believed they were a perfect 10, but some rated themselves between a 10 and a 5. Several students were really honest and said they were well below a 5. He then asked the students to rate their acceptance with God. Many thought their behavior was linked to how much God loves and accepts them. He then proceeded to tell them that they would rank a 10 every single time on the level that God accepts them. My husband wanted these students to realize that God cannot love them more than He currently does, and nothing they do will cause Him to love them less. We have 100% complete acceptance from our Heavenly Father.

As a child of God, we are accepted into His family based on our identity in Jesus Christ. It is not based on our behavior that we merit some extra acceptance or extra love. Just as a child is born into a family, he can do nothing to win his parents favor, so it is when we are reborn into the family of God. His love and acceptance is not based on anything we do or don’t do—it is simply based on the family we have been born into. Our Christianity is not a ladder system of us earning certain levels or degrees of acceptance to a Holy God. We are accepted and loved because we are His.

Security

But another picture of adoption is in the word security. Ephesians 1:13 “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise.”

On adoption day, a family stands before a judge to adopt a child that has been entrusted to them. The judge will grant and seal that adoption. The child will get a new birth certificate with their new name and a new social security number. That adoption is final: it is sealed.

When a person is saved, the Holy Spirit seals us into the family of God. The Bible tells us that a believer is as secure as an object held in Jesus’ hand secured by God’s hand wrapped around Jesus’ hand. This is not an identity that can be taken away from a Christian—this is eternal security in the refuge and family of God.

Adoption is a beautiful picture of what our Heavenly Father has offered to us—acceptance and security.