Adoption

One of the unusual if not unique aspects of the Christian faith is the concept of adoption. We think of "the universal fatherhood of God," and in the sense that He made us all it's true, but in a relational sense, the Bible tells us that some of us are "of your father, the devil" (John 8:44) and others are adopted ... by God (Eph 1:5). Those who come in faith are received by God as sons and heirs with Christ. "If you belong to Christ," Paul wrote, "then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise" (Gal 3:29). In Galatians we read

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" (Gal 4:4-6)

I was reading some of this and wondered what the Jewish mind did when it heard "adoption," so I looked up the Jewish tradition on adoption. I found something interesting.

According to Jewish tradition, a child whose mother is Jewish is also Jewish, but a child whose father is Jewish but mother is gentile is not. The remedy for this is adoption. This would have been the case, for instance, for Boaz, a Jew, whose wife, Ruth, was a Moabitess. When she had Obed, presumably Boaz would have done this procedure to make Obed a full Jew. The process requires what they term a "conversion ceremony." This ceremony includes "immersion" -- a ritual cleansing -- and circumcision. They call it a "symbolic rebirth." Isn't that interesting? I find it fascinating because to become a child of God we have to convert. We have to come to Christ in faith, being immersed into His death (Rom 6:3-6). It is what they call "symbolic rebirth," or, in Jesus's words, "born again." Jesus said it had to be in water and in Spirit (John 3:5). One final interesting note. On circumcision, Paul wrote, "In Him [Christ] you were also circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in the removal of the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ, Col 2:12  having been buried with Him in baptism" (Col 2:11-12). Paul refers to baptism as this removal of the flesh -- Christian circumcision. One other point of note. Under Jewish tradition, an adoption cannot be annulled. Once adopted, always adopted.

The ramifications are various. If the Christian faith has, as a centerpiece, adoption as sons of those who are not God's children, the process is to come in faith to Christ wherein we are immersed -- and we have a symbolic immersion to show it outwardly -- and are born again to sonship. We are not in a direct line, but we are adopted into the family. Adoption is not a matter of works or being worthy; it's a matter of the Father's choice. And adoption cannot be undone. You cannot be adopted, unadopted, readopted (and, yes, I just made up those two last words because they don't exist). Once we are adopted, we are adopted for life. Interesting parallels between Jewish tradition, biblical truth, and the Christian faith.