“Adoptionism” is the title of one of the most ancient Christian heresies. The doctrine
claimed not that Jesus is lord from birth but that Jesus became the Son of God at his
baptism, as merely a man elevated to divine status, adopted by God. Obviously, this
teaching strips away the precious glory of the incarnation, denying that Jesus is, was and
will always be the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity. It undermines the truth
that in the fullness of time, God sent His son, born of a woman, born under the law, to
redeem us (Gal. 4:4-5). No, Jesus didn’t become the Son of God; He is the Son of God,
begotten, not made.
And yet, even in this distorted teaching, there is a whisper of truth: divine adoption. Not
of Christ, but of us—unworthy sinners, who, through faith in Jesus, are brought into the
family of God. Ephesians 1:5 tells us that God “predestined us for adoption to Himself as
sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of His will.”
In Christian baptism, it is not as though we suddenly become deserving of God’s love.
Rather, it is the public sign of what God has done by grace: He has taken those who were
far off—gentiles, strangers, enemies—and brought us near by the blood of Christ,
adopting us into the covenant people of God, a family that existed long before we
showed up. This family, called by grace through faith, began with Abraham, and in Christ,
we are grafted in as heirs of the promise (Rom. 11:17; Gal. 3:29).
Jesus was not adopted at His baptism; He came into the world as the eternal Son of
God, fully God and fully human, to accomplish the redemption that makes our adoption
possible: His perfect sonship is the foundation of our fraternity. Christ came not merely
to save sinners; He came to bring us into the family of God, to call us brothers and sisters
and make us co-heirs with Him (Rom. 8:16-17).
We are no longer orphans. No longer strangers. We are adopted, and that fact is as
eternal and unshakable as the love of God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Maranatha, Jordy
