# “Our understanding of Christianity cannot be better than our grasp of adoption” by J.I. Packer

- Link: https://tollelege.net/2020/07/18/our-understanding-of-christianity-cannot-be-better-than-our-grasp-of-adoption-by-j-i-packer/
- Published: 2020-07-18T12:00:38-05:00
- Author: tollelege

“The gift of sonship to God becomes ours not through being born, but through being
born again. ‘_As many as received Him_, to _them_ He gave the power to become the
sons of God, even to them that believe on His name: which were born, not of blood,
nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God’ (John 1:12-13)

Sonship to God, then, is a gift of grace. It is not a natural but an _adoptive_ 
sonship, and so the New Testament explicitly pictures it. In Roman law, it was a
recognized practice for an adult who wanted an heir, and someone to carry on the
family name, to adopt a male as his son—usually at age, rather than in infancy, 
as is the common way today.

The apostles proclaim that God has so loved those whom he redeemed on the cross 
that he has adopted them all as his heirs, to see and share the glory into which
his only begotten Son has already come.

‘God sent forth His Son… to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive
the adoption as sons” (Galatians 4:4-5): we, that is, who were ‘foreordained unto
adoption as sons by Jesus Christ unto Himself” (Ephesians 1:5 RV).

‘Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be
called the sons of God… when He appears, we shall be like Him, for we shall see 
Him as He is’ (1 Jn 3:1-2).

You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak 
of it as a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator. In the same way, you
sum up the whole of New Testament religion if you describe it as the knowledge of
God as one’s holy Father.

If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much
he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father.

If this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and
his whole outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very
well at all.

For everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, 
and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to
merely Jewish, is summed up in the knowledge of the Fatherhood of God.

‘Father’ is the Christian name for God. Our understanding of Christianity cannot
be better than our grasp of adoption.”

–J.I. Packer, [_Knowing God_](https://www.amazon.com/dp/0830816518?tag=toletaupanre-20)(
Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 1973), 181-182.

More quotes from [J.I. Packer](https://tollelege.net/category/ji-packer/) · More
on [Adoption](https://tollelege.net/category/adoption/)