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I’m writing these words from an apartment in Bogota, Colombia where our family is residing for the next few weeks to finalize the adoption of our son. Words really cannot capture the surreal beauty and heavy weight of everything this represents. One of the highest joys in this entire process has been a new perspective on the overwhelmingly beautiful love that God has for us in Christ. None of us are naturally born into the family of God. We are adopted through the work of Christ.

In his book, Knowing God, J.I. Packer writes beautifully about the theological significance of adoption. He says, J.I. “Adoption is . . . the highest privilege that the gospel offers . . . In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship—he establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with God the Judge [justification] is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father [adoption] is a greater.”[1]

This week on the blog we’ll examine what a glorious truth it is to be adopted in Christ. We’ll examine Ephesians 1:3-14, a passage filled with such depths that the best we’ll do here is to merely skim the surface. But I pray as we examine the theological riches of adoption you will grow in your love for God and your amazement in the Gospel.

 

[1] J.I. Packer, Knowing God (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1973), 206–7.