Adoption, in

Christian theology Christian theology is the theology – the systematic study of the divine and religion – of Christianity, Christian belief and practice. It concentrates primarily upon the texts of the Old Testament and of the New Testament, as well as on Ch ...

, is the reception of a believer into the family of

God In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...

. In the Reformed '' ordo salutis'' ("order of

salvation Salvation (from Latin: ''salvatio'', from ''salva'', 'safe, saved') is the state of being saved or protected from harm or a dire situation. In religion and theology, ''salvation'' generally refers to the deliverance of the soul from sin and its c ...

"), adoption is usually regarded as a step immediately subsequent to justification. As a theological word, adoption has similar connotations to the act of parents who legally take responsibility for a child who was not originally born to them. There are three references in the

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

to God "adopting" () Christians as his own children ( Galatians 4:5, Romans 8:15 and Ephesians 1:5) and one reference to God adopting the "people of Israel" (Romans 9:4). Adoption as a theological term introduces a relational dimension to the consequences of salvation. Adoption as a theological concept is also another consequence of the 'legal' act of justification, alongside redemption and

reconciliation Reconciliation or reconcile may refer to: Accounting * Reconciliation (accounting) Arts, entertainment, and media Books * Reconciliation (Under the North Star), ''Reconciliation'' (''Under the North Star''), the third volume of the ''Under the ...

. The

Old Testament The Old Testament (OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible, or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

precedent for this term comes from the story of Mephibosheth, who despite not being part of Davidic family was included in the Royal inheritance (2 Samuel 9:7-13). Adoption is an important feature of Reformation theology as demonstrated by article 12 of the

Westminster Confession of Faith The Westminster Confession of Faith, or simply the Westminster Confession, is a Reformed confession of faith. Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it becam ...

:'The Westminster Confession of Faith' ''Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics'', http://www.reformed.org/documents/wcf_with_proofs/ Retrieved 15 June 2009.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Adoption (Theology) Christian soteriology Christian terminology Adoption and religion

See also

References