Are We Currently Adopted by God? *Revised*

By Anthony W. Brooks

**Revision** (the revisions will be in [ ] at the bottom of the post)

About a month ago a video was put up on YouTube titled: Calvinism: Is there a better option?
This video was posted by Dr. Leighton Flowers. Dr. Flowers was delivering a talk over the "Big Three" or the three main texts Calvinists use to defend their faith.
In the first segment Leighton spoke about this verse:
"Ephesians 1:5 he predestined us[b] for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, "

Then he used this as a comparison:
"Romans 8:23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. "

His point being that we are not yet adopted untill we recieve our new bodies and are adopted into the house of God.

This begs the question of just how adopted we are as Children of God? We call ourselves that, "Children of God", but are we actually that? Well, let's go back to Romans 8 for that answer:

Romans 8:9 "You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. 10 But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. 11 If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus[d] from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you. 12 So then, brothers,[e] we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. 13 For if you live according to the flesh you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. 14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons[f] of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him."

Paul here has just ended a 7 1/2 chapter rant over sin and sin nature ending in verse 8... Here he goes into why Christians are so different... Saying we are not in the flesh, but the spirit because the Spirit of God dwells in us, we are given his righteousness, and best of all we are given a current Spirit of adoption... We are the Sons of God, children of God, we call him Abba! Father! The Spirit of God bears witness with ours that we are his children. And when all things come to pass, we will be glorified with him in a new adoption with our new bodies in 8:23.

We cannot ignore preceding context just because it helps us avoid something we don't want to know. Why are we currently his children if we aren't currently adopted? Why do we now call him Abba! Father! If we aren't adopted? Why are our spirits agreeing with his if we aren't called adopted children? It makes no sense...

1 John 3:9-10 says this:

9 No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God's seed abides in him; and he cannot keep on sinning, because he has been born of God. 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.

Do you see the distinction here? We are one of two things, a child of God or a child of the Devil... We cannot be a child of God without that adoption, just saying...

[This post is accurate in defending against the assumptions made in the video it responds to. But it also served as a tool to seek clarification from Dr. Flowers on this subject...
In response to this post, Dr. Flowers stated:

"The perfect tense is past, present and future. I was saved, I am being saved and I will be saved.  Adoption is similar.  My point was simply to show that Paul could simply be speaking of the future hope of adoption, not the past completed action.  If my interpretation is correct, then Paul would just be meaning to say that God has predestined the faithful in Christ (vs 1) to be adopted, not that God has predestined certain individuals to be adopted by effectually making them believe."

When I asked whether the Calvinistic interpretation could be substantiated under the logic he expressed in his response he said:

"It could grammatically mean what the Calvinists says it means but IMO that would blatantly contradict other scriptures."

It seems like Dr. Flowers is being consistent, which is a normal and gracious trait of his. Someone who is honest enough to admit this is humble and charitable.]

Soli Deo Gloria!