The local church can play a key role in adoption by educating and orienting its members to its scriptural foundations, to the studies that show the positive outcomes of adoption, to the needs of our society that can be met through adoption, and to the opportunities and ideas for ministry that relate to adoption.
Adoption: An Overarching Theme of the Scriptures
Most of us are at least familiar with the concept of God’s adoption of us when we become Christians. Adoption embodies the biblical theme of the covenant. It is important to see that adoption is more than a legal contract—it is a relationship of promise. In fact, this distinction can be made of all family relationships. The relationship between God and His people is covenantal, not contractual, and God intends that family relationships mirror his covenant relationship with us.
Calvin wrote,
"God's covenant was not made to last only for a few days, or for a short time. When He adopted the children of Abraham, He took them under His keeping forever."
The apostle Paul also uses the adoption analogy in his writings several times. Christians are adopted members of God's family, a privilege originally bestowed exclusively on Israel but through Christ made available to all through faith in him. According to a Roman-Syrian lawbook written in Paul’s era, a man might be able to disown his biological son if he had good reason, but he could never disown his adopted son. The adoption analogy used by Paul was a strong one indeed.
The scriptural image of adoption emphasizes
a) the sovereign character of God in planning our salvation,
b) the newness of the family relationship he establishes,
c) its climate of intimate trust and love and
d) the gracious and immense inheritance our adoption affords us. This scriptural analogy gives us a wonderful picture of God's character and love for us as his children.
Scriptural Principles Can Be Applied to Families
There are several similarities between adoption into God's family and a child's adoption into a human family. First and foremost, adoption is one of only two ways that God has ordained for human families to be built. The relationship of parent to child is a covenantal relationship, bestowed on a family whether through birth or adoption. Just as marriage is modeled after Christ and his bride, the church, so parental love is modeled after God as Father of his people. God's plan for children is that they experience life in the midst of this covenantal relationship between a mother and a father.
The Scriptures give us examples of birth mothers making adoption plans (Jochebed and Moses, Exodus 2:10), families formed through adoption (Mordecai and Esther, Esther 2), and exhortations to care for orphans. Perhaps the most profound example of adoption in the Scriptures is Joseph's adoption of Jesus. It should not surprise us that God desired for Jesus to have an earthly father, consistent with His plan for marriage and parenthood. The lineage of Jesus, as prophesied in the Old Testament, is fulfilled through Joseph (see Matthew 1:1-17). Joseph is fully and completely Jesus' father—participating in his naming, protecting him from danger by traveling to Egypt, teaching him a trade and presenting him at the temple.
Scriptural images can deepen our understanding of God's covenant family and His love for us. A true understanding of adoption gives us an overwhelming sense of permanence; God's permanent relationship to his children, and the permanent relationship of adopted children in their families.
This article is the first in a four-part bulletin insert series on adoption made available to churches by Presbyterians Protecting Life. The series is free to download here. You are permitted to print copies for distribution to your congregation.
PPL seeks to equip and encourage the local church to support adoption. Churches can play a role in adoption by encouraging young women in crisis pregnancies to consider adoption, providing resources to couples who desire to build or grow their family through adoption, and helping children here and abroad who wait for permanent families. We publish written materials on adoption and network with pastors and lay people interested in adoption issues. For more information, visit our website page on adoption or contact us.
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