Adopted: A Past-Tense Verb Not a Present-Day Adjective
Justin Taylor Blog | July 27, 2012
Russell Moore:As I've written in the book, God used this experience to upend my whole life. He taught me much about his Fatherhood, much about the gospel, much about community, and much about the mission of the church. But people sometimes ask me, "In the years since, what have you learned about becoming a family through adoption?"You can read the whole thing here, which also includes reflections on the lessons learned from the difficulties of adoption.
The main thing is that convictions forged there in the July heat of the former Soviet Union have only crystallized more. As the father of five now, some by that adoption and some by the more typical way, I'm as convinced as ever that adoption, into a family or into the Family of God, is "real." There is no such thing in God's economy as an "adopted child," only a child who was adopted into the family. "Adopted" defines how you came into the household, but it doesn't define you as some other sort of family member. In the Book of Romans, Paul defines all Christians, both Jew and Gentile, as having received a common "spirit of adoption" (Rom. 8:15; 9:4).
For those who want to explore more about the practice and theology of adoption with like-minded folks, remember that the national Together for Adoption conference is happening this September in Atlanta.
Comments:
July 27, 2012 at 01:15 PM
"There is no such thing in God’s economy as an “adopted child,” only a child who was adopted into the family."
This is a wonderfully stated truth. I remember hearing that JI Packer once stated the simplest description of a Christian is this: "one who has God as their Father." Quoting this and speaking on adoption CJ Mahaney added that our understanding of adoption is critical to our whole understanding of what it means even to be a Christian cf. 1 John 3 viz. having the full rights and privileges of sons in God's household. What a Saviour!
August 7, 2012 at 01:58 PM
[...] Adopted: A Past-Tense Verb, Not a Present-Tense Adjective: Good thoughts from one of my favorite seminary professors. [...]
a wife and a mama
July 27, 2012 at 01:36 PM
Thank you for posting this. I was just talking to my mom about how we want to communicate my son's story to him without him living his whole life feeling as though he is different because he is an adopted child. It is hard to know the balance between rejoicing in the story God wrote for him and pressing him into to something too much and hindering him. I wasn't sure how to go about that and came on your blog and this was the first thing I saw....thanks!