|
BACK
was the only-begotten Son (John 3:16); we are sons of God by adoption as stated above. It may be noted that John, who emphasises the distinctiveness of Christ’s sonship, uses the word children for ourselves. Paul often uses the word sons for ourselves, emphasising the greatness of the relationship into which we have been brought. However, we need to see that we become partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4), so that it is not men after Adam’s order that receive sonship. There is a change of nature so that adoption in the spiritual sense is not the same as natural adoption, which does not involve a change of nature, though there may be changes affected by nurture, and if the child becomes a Christian there will be changes on account of that. What all this amounts to is that if adopting children is just something we are doing without real reference to God, then we cannot expect Him to bless us in our adopted children. Of course, God is sovereign and we cannot say what He may or may not do, but if we are simply following our own will we cannot expect Him to bring blessing on our actions.
|