| “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” |
| —Galatians 4:4-5 |
Please allow me to begin this blog post with a very personal story.
As a child, my mother would often hold me on her lap and tell me the story of how she and my dad came to adopt me. She told me that she and my dad had wanted a child very much. After praying about this child for several years, they decided to see if they could find him. She told me that one of her good friends from our church had successfully gone on a search for a son and found one. This encouraged her and dad to do the same.
So, she told me they left their home and drove south for many miles. They finally came to a town where they learned that a baby boy had recently been born whose birth mother was unable to keep him. She and my dad gladly offered to take this boy home and raise him as their very own son. “And that, my sweet boy,” she would say, “is how you came to be our son. You see, we chose you. Out of all the boys we could have chosen, we chose you. That makes you very special and deeply loved.”
This sweet, sweet story marked my childhood. I always knew I was adopted. I also knew I had been chosen. When I was very young, I didn’t fully understand what that meant. But, I could certainly sense the warmth of love from my mom and dad.
It’s important that I share that story with you. Some people do not understand how important that word “adoption” is to all of us who follow Jesus. Even when we read the word in the Bible, we don’t always grasp how special we are. The Apostle Paul tried to express this important concept to those in the church at Galatia when he wrote these words, as recorded in Galatians 4:4-5:
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
The glory of the Season of Advent is wrapped in a cloak of God’s enduring love. He chose us before the foundation of the earth to belong to Him. By sending His one and only Son, Jesus, to die in our place on that cruel Roman cross of torture and death, God made the provision for our adoption as sons.
I’ve written many times that in the New Testament Koine Greek language, the use of seemingly masculine terms does not at all match the shortsightedness of our current culture’s politically correct speech. Masculine sounding terms do not always indicate male gender. For example, in the passage above, the construction in New Testament Koine Greek could easily be properly translated: “…to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to female sonship and male sonship.” This distinction is important because in the culture of the time, “sonship” meant the ability to inherit all the rights, privileges, and wealth of the Father.
Our adoption as children of the Most High God is an absolutely marvelous truth of the Season of Advent. Through our adoption, we have become heirs of God’s Kingdom. How blessed we are to belong to the God who loves us with His everlasting, unfailing, undying love. As we begin this day, let’s allow our souls to fill up with joy at the reality of this great adoption.
Based on a blog originally posted on Wednesday, December 14, 2016
