Adopted by God’s Grace

by Bruce Mills

This past Sunday, I preached on Romans 8:14-17a, which is one of the great passages in Scripture on the believer’s spiritual adoption.  It says, “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ.” 

This passage is rich in theological truth, but it becomes even more incredibly rich to us when we understand what Paul’s Roman readers would have understood when they heard those words.  I am convinced that an understanding of the historical setting into which Scripture was written will greatly aid in our understanding of what the author was communicating to his readers, and this passage is a perfect illustration of that.  Specifically in regard to this passage, understanding the Roman adoption process sheds tremendous light on these few precious verses.  I know that many of those who heard my sermon on Sunday expressed to me that learning the procedures and consequences of an adoption in ancient Rome brought them fresh understanding regarding this biblical expression of our relationship to God.

In the first century when Paul was writing this, adopted children were, in many cases, more honored than natural children.  In virtually all cases, it was seen as an act of honor to be adopted, because that child—who was born into a world filled with illegitimate children and orphaned children—that child could say, “I was chosen by someone.  I wasn’t just born into a family where what you get is what you get…I was chosen.” 

So being adopted was a noble thing.  An adopted son was deliberately chosen by the adopting father to perpetuate that father’s name and to inherit that father’s estate.  And when a father in the Roman world didn’t have a son, he would go find the noblest available son and adopt him and give him all the rights and privileges of a natural born son. 

The adopted son was in no way inferior. In fact, he may have been chosen because he was deemed to be superior to the natural born son.  There were many Roman fathers who had sons who, in their eyes, didn’t measure up to their qualifications to inherit their estate, so they went out and found one that did.  So an adopted son may have received more affection from his father than a naturally born son and he may well have represented his father’s moral standards more perfectly than that man’s natural sons.

And that’s the whole point of biblical adoption, which is that we become children of God by sovereign divine choice.  We are the preferred choice of God.  On the basis of free and voluntary election, God has chosen us to be adopted as His sons.  We will never be condemned because God has chosen us to be His children forever by His free grace and His uninfluenced sovereignty.  He will never disinherit us. We have been lifted to this place of honor and He will fulfill in us His good purposes.

Let me explain some more about adoption in the Roman world. The process of adoption was far more serious and more difficult due to the Roman law known as Patria Potestas, a Latin phrase meaning “the father’s power.”  And under Roman law, the father had absolute power over his family, including the power of life and death.  When a child was born, if the father did not want the child, he would abandon the infant outside, to be exposed to the weather, which, depending on the time of the year, may kill the child within a few hours. In fact, the early church took to heart the biblical instruction about caring for orphans in their distress (James 1:27) and began to take in the abandoned babies from around the city—a large number of which were girls because every Roman father wanted a son to whom he would pass on his inheritance.

But please don’t think that all Roman fathers were so callous and heartless. Most female babies were raised in their own homes by their natural parents, but among those babies who were abandoned, virtually all of them were females or were deformed in some way. So Roman fathers had the absolute power of disposal and control within their family, and there was absolutely no recourse that could be taken against him.

Also, in regard to his father, a Roman son never came to age.  No matter how old he was, he was still under Patria Potestas, as were the daughters also.  No matter how old they were, they were still under the absolute control of the father. 

This made adoption into a family a very difficult and very serious matter unless the person was an illegitimate child or an orphan, because Roman law provided that a man could adopt the son of another man only if the natural father agreed to allow that to occur. And because the father maintained his Patria Potestas over his son for life, he could give up his son for adoption at any age—even well into adulthood.

For example, if a wealthy man saw a boy or young man that, for whatever reason, he wanted to adopt as his own son, and that son belonged to another father (usually a poor man), he had to go through a very formidable operation to get that person to pass out from under the Patria Potestas of the natural father into the Patria Potestas of the adoptive father.

There were two steps.  The first one was called Emancipatus, from which we get our English word “emancipation.”  It is a compound word consisting of the Latin prefix ex- meaning “out of” and the Latin word mancipium meaning “ownership” or “slavery.” In other words, “out of ownership” or “out of slavery.” And Emancipatus was carried out as a symbolic sale of sorts.  If the natural father would agree to let his son be adopted by another man, there was a ceremony in which there was a symbolic sale of the son to the other man. They used scales and coins in the process, and they went through the ceremony three times.  Twice the father symbolically sold the son and twice he bought him back, and then the third time he didn’t buy him back and the natural father’s Patria Potestas over that son was broken. 

After the sale there was ceremony called Vindacatus, which is a Latin word meaning “to lay claim to.” The adopting father went to the Roman magistrate and presented a case for the actual legal transference of the person to be adopted into his own Patria Potestas.  And when all of this was complete, the adoption was official. 

Now there were four main consequences to a Roman adoption:

1. The adopted person lost all rights in his own family and gained all rights in his new family.  He gained all the rights of a fully legitimate son in his new family. 

2. He became full heir to his new father’s estate even if there were other natural sons. If there were no other sons at the time of his adoption, but other natural sons were born afterward into the family, it did not affect his right as the primary son.  He could not be disinherited; his rights were inalienable.

3. According to Roman law, the old life of the adopted person was completely wiped out.  If he had any debts, they were cancelled. If he had any record of crime it was abolished.  They wiped out all the records as if that person had never existed; as if he had never been born.  And the adopted person was regarded as a new person entering a new life with no past. 

4. In the eyes of Roman law, the adopted person was literally and absolutely the son of his new father in every sense.

Now, when we think of our adoption into God’s family in those terms, it’s a marvelously wonderful thing.  We have lost all the rights and all the claims of our past and we’ve gained all the rights and privileges of our new family.  We have become heir to our Father’s estate.  Our past life is obliterated, blotted out, and wiped away and we are literally, absolutely, and permanently the sons of God. 

Throughout the New Testament we see this imagery over and over again that when a person becomes a Christian, he enters into the family of God.  He did nothing to earn it, he did nothing to deserve it, he did nothing to choose it. God the Father, in His amazing love and mercy, has taken the initiative to reach out to him and to draw him into His family and wipe out his past and give him a new life. 

I think the reason that the New Testament uses this imagery of adoption as an illustration of what has happened to us in salvation is because adoption was such a remarkably lofty thing.  To say that you have been born into the family of God is very special, but to say that out of all the people in the world, God Himself chose you, wiped away the record of all of your sin, and gave you full status as a son and joint heir with His Son Jesus Christ, and you will be permanently and forever in that status…that is special beyond our ability to express it.  Praise God for His unsearchable riches in Christ Jesus!

Recognizing a Savage Wolf

by Bruce Mills

In Acts 20:29-30, the apostle Paul warned the elders of the church at Ephesus—and by extension, churches through the years since—with these words: “I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves men will arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.”  Those are extremely serious words, because they inform us that there are those men whose desires are to ravage the church.  They seek to divide and destroy. 

Jesus also warned about such men in Matthew 7:15 when He said, “Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.”  The spiritual leaders of His day wore wool robes (“sheep’s clothing”), so this warning concerned those men who would come, offering spiritual direction and guidance, appearing to be one thing on the outside, when they are actually seeking to devour the flock of God.

So how do we recognize such men so that we can guard the church from their destructive activities and teachings?  Let me give you some guidelines that are helpful in identifying them.

1) First of all, Jesus said we can recognize them by their fruits (Matthew 7:16, 20).  In other words, do they produce the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23) in their lives, or do they produce the fruit of the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21)?  They may not display every one of the fruit of the flesh, but they will produce certain ones; particularly such characteristics as “strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions” (Gal. 5:20).

2) They put great effort into promoting themselves.  Like Diotrophes (3 John 9), they desire to gain a position of prominence and power in the church and will do whatever it takes to do so (3 John 10).

3) They handle the Word of God deceitfully, adulterating its truth to match their own message (2 Cor. 4:2-3).  They invariably reinterpret the Scriptures to justify their fleshly desires and ungodly teaching.

4) They see the Word of God as a means of financial gain (2 Cor. 2:17, 1Tim. 6:5).  Rather than focusing on teaching people the Word in order that the Holy Spirit might apply it to their hearts and they are changed into the image of Christ, these men continually focus on money.  They press their listeners (many of them financially strapped) to give to their ministry, promising that God will grant special miracles to those who have sufficient faith.

5) They reject sound doctrine which promotes godliness (1 Tim. 6:3), choosing rather to promote what Scripture calls “doctrines of demons” (1 Tim. 4:1).  That doesn’t mean that they knowingly promote beliefs which are demonic in origin.  In fact, they would be appalled if someone suggested that their doctrines originate from Satanic forces, but in reality, that is the source of anything they teach which does not concur with Scripture.  Their teachings promote self, and encourage their followers to engage in activities which characterize the fallen flesh.

6) They will exploit their followers with destructive heresies and sensuality to such a degree that the way of the truth is maligned (2 Peter 2:1-3).  The watching world loves to criticize Christians as a bunch of hypocrites and these evil men provide the perfect means for the world to paint all believers with the label of hypocrisy.

7) They use smooth, flattering speech to deceive the hearts of those who are naive and unsuspecting (Rom. 16:18).  In other words, they are smooth talkers.  They sound convincing.  So how is a believer to know whether or not what they are saying is true?  By following the pattern of the Berean Christians in Acts 17:11, who examined the Scriptures daily to see if the things which Paul and Silas were teaching them matched up with God’s Word.  If a man’s doctrine does not match up with Scripture, he is to be rejected.

There are a lot of savage wolves who are ravaging the flock of God.  Be on guard!  Never assume that because a man is or claims to be a pastor or an evangelist that he is a man of God.  He may be one of Satan’s agents, seeking to destroy God’s people.  Study the Word, and if what that man teaches does not concur with sound doctrine, turn away from him.  Listen and follow only those men whose doctrine matches up with Scripture, and thus promotes holy and godly behavior.

The Pastor’s Continual Struggle

By Bruce Mills

I can honestly say from experience that Spurgeon was absolutely correct.  There is never a time when the faithful pastor who desires to impart the truth of God’s Word feels that he has an adequate grasp of the overwhelming sea of living water which it contains.  Rather he feels that because of his own sinfulness and limitations, he can hold only a few small droplets that he has gathered from his studies.  But even then, God’s Spirit compels him to share those miniscule drops with those who listen.