02.34. Adoption, and the Order of Grace Application of Redemption, in the Several Parts of ...
Chapter 34
Adoption, and the Order of Grace Application of Redemption, in the Several Parts of Justification, Regeneration, and Sanctification.
1. To what classes of creatures is the term “sons,” or “children of God,” applied in the Scriptures, and on what grounds is that application made?
1st. In the singular it is applied, in a supreme and incommunicable sense, to the Second–Person of the Trinity alone.
2nd. In the plural, to angels, (1) because they are God’s favored creatures, (2) because as holy intelligences they are like him.–Job 1:6; Job 38:7.
3rd. To human magistrates, because they possess authority delegated from God, and in that respect resemble him.–Psalms 82:6.
4th. To good men as the subjects of a divine adoption. This adoption, and the consequent sonship it confers is twofold, (1) general and external, Exodus 4:22; Romans 9:4; (2) special, spiritual and immortal.–Galatians 4:4-5; Ephesians 1:4-6.
2. What is the adoption of which believers are the subjects in Christ; and what relation does the conception which this word represents in Scripture sustain to those represented by the terms justification, regeneration, and sanctification?
Turretin makes adoption a constituent part of justification. He says that in execution of the covenant of grace God sovereignty imputes to the elect, upon their exercise of faith, the righteousness of Christ. The imputing of Christ’s righteousness was the fulfilling of the whole law, precept as well as penalty. Therefore, it is on this legal ground, under the covenant of works, that his people are both remitted of the penalty and legal right to all the promises conditioned upon obedience. Upon the ground of this sovereign imputation God judicially pronounces the law, in its federal relations, to be perfectly satisfied with regard to them, i. e., he justifies them, which involves two things, 1st, the remission of the penalty due to their sins,
2nd, the endowing them with rights and relations which accrue from the positive fulfilment of the covenant of works by Christ in their behalf. This second constituent of justification he calls adoption, which essentially agrees with the definition of adoption given in our “Con. Faith” chapter 12.; “Larger Catechism,” Q. 74; “Shorter Catechism,” Q. 34. Turretin, 50. 16, Q. 4 and 6. The great Amesius (1633), in his “Medulla Theological,” ch. 28 represents Adoption as a new grace in advance of justification, and not an element in it. A gracious sentence of God, whereby a believer, having been justified, is accepted for Christ’s sake into the relation and rights of sonship.
It appears, however, to us that the words “Adoption” and “Sonship,” as used in Scripture, express more than a change of relation, and that they are more adequately conceived of as expressing a complex view, including the change of nature together with the change of relation, and setting forth the new creature in his new relations. The instant a sinner is united to Christ in the exercise of faith, there is accomplished in him simultaneously and inseparably, 1st, a total change of relation to God, and to the law as a covenant, and,
2nd, a change of inward condition or nature. The change of relation is represented by justification; the change of nature is represented by the term regeneration. REGENERATION is an act of God originating by a new creation a new spiritual life in the heart of the subject. The first and instant act of that new creature, consequent upon his regeneration, is FAITH, or a believing, trusting embrace of the person and work of Christ. Upon the exercise of faith by the regenerated subject, JUSTIFICATION is the instant act of God, on the ground of that perfect righteousness which the sinner’s faith has apprehended, declaring him to be free from all condemnation and to have a legal right to the relations and benefits secured by the covenant which Christ has fulfilled in his behalf. SANCTIFICATION is the progressive growth toward the perfected maturity of that new life which was implanted in regeneration. ADOPTION presents the new creature in his new relation; his new relations entered upon with a congenial heart, and his new life developing in a congenial home, and surrounded with those relations which foster its growth, and crown it with blessedness. Justification is wholly forensic, and concerns only relations, immunities, and rights. Regeneration and sanctification are wholly spiritual and moral, and concern only inherent qualities and states. Adoption comprehends the complex condition of the believer as at once the subject of both.
3rd. What is the order of grace in the application of redemption ?
I. The two principles which fundamentally characterize Protestant Soteriology are––
1st. The clear distinction between the change of relation signalized by justification, and the change of character signalized by regeneration and sanctification.
2nd. That the change of relation, the remission of penalty, and the restoration to favor involved in justification, necessarily precedes, and renders possible, the real moral change expressed by regeneration and sanctification. The continuance of judicial condemnation precludes the exercise of grace. Remission of punishment must precede the work of the Spirit. We are pardoned in order that we may be good, never made good in order that we may be pardoned.
“It is evident that God must himself already have been secretly favorable and gracious to a man, and must already have pardoned him forum divinum(Divine pardoning), for the sake of Christ and his relation to human nature, to be able to bestow upon him the grace of regeneration. In fact viewed as actus Dei forensis there was of necessity that it should be regarded as existing prior to man’s consciousness of it, nay prior to faith.”–Dr. J. A. Dorner’s “Hist. Prot. Theo.,” Vol. 2., pp. 156, 160.
II. Hence the apparent circle in the order of grace. The righteousness of Christ is said to be imputed to the believer, and justification to be through faith. Yet faith is an act of a soul already regenerated, and regeneration is possible only to a soul to whom God is reconciled by the application of Christ’s satisfaction.
Thus the satisfaction and merit of Christ is the antecedent cause of regeneration, and on the other hand the participation of the believer in the satisfaction and merit of Christ (his justification) is conditioned on his faith, which is the effect of his regeneration. We must have part in Christ so far forth as to be regenerated, in order to have part in him so far forth as to be justified. This is not a question of order in time, because regeneration and justification are gracious acts of God absolutely synchronous. The question is purely as to the true order of causation; Is the righteousness of Christ imputed to us that we may believe, or is it imputed to us because we believe? Is justification an analytic judgment, that the man is justified as a believer though a sinner, or is it a synthetic judgment, that this sinner is justified for Christ’s sake ?
III. The solution is to be sought in the fact that Christ impetrated the application of his salvation to his “own,” and all the means, conditions, and stages thereof, and that this was done in pursuance of a covenant engagement with the father, which provided for application to specific persons at certain times and under certain conditions. The relation from birth of an elect person to Adam, and to sin and its condemnation, is precisely the same with that of all his fellow–men. But his relation to the satisfaction and merits of Christ, and to the graces they obtain, is analogous to that of an heir to an inheritance secured to him by will. As long as he is under age the will secures the initial right of the heir de jure. It provides for his education at the expense of the estate in preparation for his inheritance. It determines the previous installments of his patrimony to be given him by his trustees. It determines in some sense his present status as a prospective heir. It determines the precise time and conditions of his being inducted into absolute possession. He possesses certain rights and enjoys certain benefits from the first. But he has absolute rights and powers of ownership only when he reaches the period and fulfills the conditions prescribed therefor in the will. Thus the merits of Christ are imputed to the elect heir from his birth so far forth as they constitute the basis of the gracious dealing provided For him as preparatory to his full possession.
Justification is assigned by Protestant theologians to that final mental act of God as Judge whereby he declares the heir in full possession of the rights of his inheritance, henceforth to be recognized and treated as the heir in possession, although the actual consummation of that possession is not effected until the resurrection. Christ and his righteousness are not given to the believer because of faith. faith is the conscious trusting receiving of that which is already given. Our Catechism, Ques. 33, says, “Justification is an act of God’s free grace, wherein he pardoneth all our sins, and accepteth us as righteous in his sight only for the righteousness of Christ (1) imputed to us, and (2) received by faith alone.”
Regeneration and consequently faith are wrought in us for Christ’s sake and as the result conditioned on a previous imputation of his righteousness to that end. Justification supervenes upon faith, and implies such an imputation of Christ’s righteousness as effects a radical and permanent change of relationship to the law as a condition of life.
4. What is represented in Scripture as involved in being a child of God by this adoption?
1st. Derivation of nature from God.—John 1:13; James 1:18;1 John 5:18.
2nd. Being born again in the image of God, bearing his likeness. –Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 3:10; 2 Peter 1:4.
3rd. Bearing his name.––l John 3:1; Revelation 2:17; Revelation 3:12.
4th. Being the objects of his peculiar love.–John 17:23; Romans 5:5-8; Titus 3:4; 1 John 4:7-11.
5th. The indwelling of the Spirit of his Son (Galatians 4:5-6), who forms in us a filial spirit, or a spirit becoming the children of God, obedient, 1 Peter 1:14; 2 John 1:6; free from sense of guilt, legal bondage, fear of death, Romans 8:15; Romans 8:21; 2 Corinthians 3:17; Galatians 5:1; Hebrews 2:15; 1 John 5:14; and elevated with a holy boldness and royal dignity, Hebrews 10:19; Hebrews 10:22; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 4:14.
6th. Present protection, consolations, and abundant provisions Psalms 125:2; Isaiah 66:13; Luke 12:27-32; John 14:18; 1 Corinthians 3:21; 1 Corinthians 3:23; 2 Corinthians 1:4.
7th. Present fatherly chastisements for our good, including both spiritual and temporal afflictions.–Psalms 51:11-12; Hebrews 12:5-11.
8th. The certain inheritance of the riches of our Father’s glory, as heirs with God and joint heirs with Christ, Romans 8:17; James 2:5; 1 Peter 1:4; 1 Peter 3:7; including the exaltation of our bodies to fellowship with him.–Romans 8:23; Php 3:21.
5. What relation do the three .persons of the trinity sustain to this adoption, and into what relation does it introduce us to each of them severally? This adoption proceeds according to the eternal purpose of the Father, upon the merits of the Son, and by the efficient agency of the Holy Ghost.–John 1:12-13; Galatians 4:5-6; Titus 3:5-6. By it God the Father is made our Father. The incarnate God–man is made our elder brother, and we are made–(1) like him; (2) intimately associated with him in community of life, standing, relations, and privileges; (3) joint heirs with him of his glory.––Romans 8:17; Romans 8:29; Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 4:15. The Holy Ghost is our indweller, teacher, guide, advocate, comforter, and sanctifier. All believers, being subjects of the same adoption, are brethren–Ephesians 3:6; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 5:1.