Thomas Boston
Shorter Catechism Answer 34: Adoption is an act of God’s free grace, whereby we are received into the number, and have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God.
Those that make up that number into which we are received by adoption are: our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, the holy angels, and the saints in heaven and earth (Heb 2:11, Eph 3:15). “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb 12:22,23).
All these are the sons of God. Jesus Christ is the Son of God, by eternal generation: “I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto Me, Thou art My Son, this day have I begotten Thee” (Ps 2:7). “And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father” (John 1:14). The holy angels are the sons of God, by creation in His image, which is confirmed on them: “The morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” (Job 38:7); compared with: “That in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him” (Eph 1:10). The saints are the sons and daughters of God, by spiritual marriage with Christ, by adoption, and by regeneration: (Ps 45:10, and Eph 1:5). “Whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. In this the children of God are manifest” (1 John 3:9,10). And by adoption we are made sons of God too (Eph 1:6, Gal 4:4,5).
The peculiar dignity of our Lord Jesus Christ among that number is that He is the first-born, the eldest brother (Rom 8:29, Col 1:18). The pre-eminence He has among His brethren, as He is the first-born, is that His is the dominion and headship of the family, the priesthood, the blessing, and the double portion: Christ was faithful “as a Son over His own house” (Heb 3:6). “Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren; that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people” (Heb 2:17). “Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into Thy lips: therefore God hath blessed Thee for ever. . . . Thou lovest righteousness, and hatest wickedness: therefore God, Thy God, hath anointed Thee with the oil of gladness above Thy fellows” (Ps 45:2,7).
The blessing is peculiarly His, though all His brethren are blessed too, inasmuch as He is the prime receptacle of the blessing, from whence it is conveyed unto His brethren, who are blessed only in Him: “And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great, and thou shall be a blessing. And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse them that curseth thee: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed” (Gen 12:2,3); compared with: “And the scripture foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed” (Gal 3:8). “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ” (Eph 1:3). “Wherefore God also hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a name which is above every name: that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth” (Phil 2:9,10), compared with, “That, in the dispensation of the fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him” (Eph 1:10).
The advantage we have by the dignity of sonship to God is that thereby we have a right to all the privileges of the sons of God: “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:17). The privileges of the sons of God are: access to Him as a Father, His fatherly pity, protection, provision and correction, and the eternal inheritance: in Christ Jesus our Lord “we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of Him” (Eph 3:12), compared with: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name” (Matt 6:9). “Like as a father pitieth his children; so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him” (Ps 103:13). “In the fear of the Lord is strong confidence: and His children shall have a place of refuge” (Prov 14:26). “Wherefore if God so clothe the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, what shall we eat? or what shall we drink? or wherewithal shall we be clothed? for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things” (Matt 6:30-32). “Whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom He receiveth” (Heb 12:6, and Rom 8:17).
Our right to these privileges by adoption is not our only right to them. We have another right to them also by our justification: “The just shall live by his faith” (Hab 2:4). “That being justified by His grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life” (Titus 3:7). “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ; by whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom 5:1,2). The difference between these two rights to these privileges lies here: that our right to them by justification is our fundamental right, while our right to them by adoption is an honorary right of inheritance superadded thereto: “By the righteousness of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. . . . By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous” (Rom 5:18,19). “As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name” (John 1:12).
The earnest of the eternal inheritance, which God gives to His adopted children till they come to the full possession of it, is the spirit of adoption (Rom 8:15, compared with Eph 1:13,14). The Spirit of adoption is the Spirit of His Son, sealing them with the Son’s image and working in them a son-like disposition and affection towards God: “And because ye are sons, God hath sent the Spirit of His son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father” (Gal 4:6), compared with, “In whom [Christ] ye 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, which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of His glory (Eph 1:13,14), and, “But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor 3:18). And that is done, on and in them, in their sanctification: “Now He which establisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God: who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts” (2 Cor 1:21,22). “Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written, not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart” (2 Cor 3:3, and v 18).
Carnal men may say prayers, but they cannot pray. It is natural for man to dread wrath, but it is supernatural in man to dread holiness. We know nothing of life until we are born, so we know nothing of life until we are born again. There will be no cry to be saved till the beginning of salvation has created that cry in our hearts.
Rowland Hill