SALVATION-ADOPTION
A man adopts
one for his son and heir that does not at all resemble him; but whosoever God
adopts for His child is like Him; he not only bears His heavenly Father’s name,
but His image (Col. 3:10).
A Puritan Golden Treasury,
compiled by I.D.E. Thomas, by permission of Banner of Truth, Carlisle, PA. 2000, p. 11.
Adoption is a
greater mercy than Adam had in paradise.
Who is to
have authority in the matter of gracious adoption? The
children of wrath? Surely not; and yet all men are such! No, it stands
to reason, to common sense, that none but the parent can have the discretion to
adopt.
C.H. Spurgeon
Sermons, 10.488.
Leading implies following; and those who are
enabled to follow the guidance of the Divine Spirit are most assuredly children
of God, for the Lord ever leads His own children. If, then, you are following
the lead of God’s Spirit, you have one of the evidences of Sonship.
C.H.
Spurgeon
We are people
who have received a new name through adoption. Furthermore, the adoption, no
matter how much it makes us feel good, was not intended primarily for that
purpose. In the New Testament, adoptions brought glory to the person who adopts,
not the one who is adopted. Adoption brings glory to God.
Edward T. Welch
When People are Big and God is Small, P&R
Publishing, 1997, p. 161. Used by Permission.
Properly
understood, adoption is one of the most precious, heartwarming, and practical of
all our theological beliefs… [It] focuses our attention on a relational image
and points us to the joy and assurance that comes from receiving a father who
loves us and a family with whom we can enjoy our new freedom in Christ.
Iain Duguid
The Family of God, Tabletalk, March 2007, p. 8. Used
by Permission of Ligonier Ministries.
Our
adoption as sons of God…comes through union with Christ and cannot be
experienced apart from it. In Christ, and in Him alone, we receive the adoption
that gives us an undeserved share in the promises that were made to Him and the
privileges that He has earned as God’s Son (Gal. 3:29). Indeed, the reason that
Christ came to this earth was so that He might give us adoption as God’s sons
(Gal. 4:5).
Iain Duguid
The Family of God, Tabletalk, March 2007, p. 10. Used
by Permission of Ligonier Ministries.
The
Word of God is clear; it is not that we have accepted God; rather, He has
accepted us into His family.
Burk Parsons
Accepted in the Beloved, Tabletalk, March 2007, p. 2. Used by Permission of
Ligonier Ministries.
Nobody
is born into this world a child of the family of God. We are born as children
of wrath. The only way we enter into the family of God is by adoption, and that
adoption occurs when we are united to God’s only begotten Son by faith. When by
faith we are united with Christ, we are then adopted into that family of whom
Christ is the firstborn.
R.C. Sproul
The New Birth, Tabletalk, March 2007, p. 7. Used by
Permission of Ligonier Ministries.
As God’s dear children, we, who are by grace adopted, are called into the fellowship of suffering, soon enough to be followed by stupendous glory, with the only begotten Son. The suffering precedes the glory; the cross precedes the crown, both in the order of experience of the eternal Son of God and also in that of adopted sons and daughters of God.
Douglas Kelly
Partakers of Holiness, Tabletalk, Oct.
2004, p. 38, Used by Permission.