God the Holy Spirit, Mentor's Guide, MG14

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G O D T H E H O L Y S P I R I T

III. The Holy Spirit Adopts Us

In the Roman world, adoption was “the process by which a person was transferred from his natural father’s power into that of his adoptive father; and it consisted in a fictitious sale of the son, and his surrender by the natural to the adoptive father” ( International Standard Bible Encyclopedia , Vol. One, p. 54).

A. Why we need to be adopted by God

Rom. 9.26 And in the very

place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,” there they will be called “sons of the living God.”

1. Following Adam’s sin, all human beings came under the authority of evil (1 John 3.8). In one passage, Jesus even speaks about those who have not accepted him as having the devil for their father (John 8.44). This is why the Bible speaks about conversion as a change in authority from darkness to light, or from being under the power of the devil to coming under the power of God.

Paul’s argument for Gentile salvation is based on an implicit adoption argument. They were not actually God’s people but rather must be brought into kinship relationship by a deliberate decision of God.

2. Since we are by nature “children of wrath” (Eph. 2.3), we cannot claim a natural place in the family of God. Instead, we must be brought into his family through adoption.

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B. Adoption is a work of the Holy Spirit.

1. Rom. 8.14-17

2. Eph. 2.18-19 (cf. Rom. 8.9)