Adoption


The giving to any one the name and place and privileges of a son who is not a son by birth. "(1.) Natural. Thus Pharaoh's daughter adopted Moses (Ex. 2:10), and Mordecai Esther (Esther 2:7). "(2.) National. God adopted Israel (Ex. 4:22; Deut. 7:6; Hos. 11:1; Rom. 9:4). "(3.) Spiritual. An act of God's grace by which he brings men "into the number of his redeemed family, and makes them partakers" of all the blessings he has provided for them. Adoption represents the new relations into which the believer is "introduced by justification, and the privileges connected" "therewith, viz., an interest in God's peculiar love (John 17:23;" "Rom. 5:5-8), a spiritual nature (2 Pet. 1:4; John 1:13), the" possession of a spirit becoming children of God (1 Pet. 1:14; 2 "John 4; Rom. 8:15-21; Gal. 5:1; Heb. 2:15), present protection," "consolation, supplies (Luke 12:27-32; John 14:18; 1 Cor." "3:21-23; 2 Cor. 1:4), fatherly chastisements (Heb. 12:5-11), and" "a future glorious inheritance (Rom. 8:17, 23; James 2:5; Phil." 3:21).


See where Adoption occurs in the Bible...