Cedarville Magazine, Spring 2018

making sufficient atonement for our sins. Those repenting of their sins and confessing Jesus as Savior experience adoption as sons. Galatians 4:7 speaks to this change of realities as Paul writes, “So you are no longer a slave, but a son.” And in Romans 8:15, the connection is made between the Holy Spirit and the work of adoption as it states, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons ...”. Just as God adopted the slave nation of Israel to make them the children of Israel, God likewise adopts believers, making them sons with all pertaining rights and privileges therein — once slaves to sin, now sons of the Sovereign, redeemed not to fall back into fear, but to enjoy the “Spirit of adoption” (Rom. 8:15). I’ll never forget coming home one afternoon from preaching about 100 miles from home on Sunday. My children and dogs typically greet me with enthusiastic hugs and wagging tails, respectively. It’s the best part of travel. But on this day, only the dogs appeared. I soon learned that my daughter had gotten in trouble for hiding candy wrappers on top of the cabinet in a large decorative bowl. Turns out that we do use those decorative bowls every now and then. I told my daughter to come sit on the couch so we could talk. She walked down the stairs with head and shoulders slumped and her right pinky finger in her mouth. She slid onto the opposite edge of the couch as though she were one with the green leather arm. Even though we sat on the same three-seat couch, her sin separated her from a loving earthly father by distant miles — the same father who would die for her at sunup. As Romans 8 states, we did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but that’s what sin does. Our sin sparks feelings of separation between us and the God who did die for us at sundown and then rose three days later to conquer sin and death, securing a path for salvation. I remember my own adoption well. Spiritually speaking, most would have considered me an unwanted child. Stubborn, prideful, and rebellious, my soon-to-be heavenly Father convicted me of my sinful state, as I sat in the second row, fourth seat from the end during a weekend revival service. That night as streaming tears fell from my cheeks, I repented of my sins and placed my faith in Jesus Christ. Through this new birth, God viewed me as united with Christ. Clothed in Christ’s righteousness, God declared me, a flawed sinner, justified in His eyes. Reconciled to the Father, I experienced firsthand the love of adoption — no longer a slave to my own sin but now a son of the King. SECOND, ADOPTION GRANTS US THE UNDERSTANDING OF GOD AS “FATHER.” Galatians 4:6 states, “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15–16 expresses that we have “received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, Abba! Father!” Remarkably, these two texts, written in Greek, use the Aramaic term “Abba,” bringing to mind Jesus’ prayer in the garden. Mark 14:36 records Jesus saying, “‘Abba, Father,’ all things are possible for you. Remove this cup from me.” Paul retained the Aramaic words that Jesus spoke to His Father. Imagine the startling nature of this revelation in a Jewish culture that reverentially refrained from speaking the n a m e o f t h e i r omnipotent God. The Holy Spirit Cedarville Magazine | 5