Knowing God

by J.I. Packer

Our first point about

adoption is that it is the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification.

justification—by which we mean God’s

forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance for the future—is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not in question. Justification is the primary blessing, because it meets our primary spiritual need.

We all stand b...

under God’s judgment; his law condemns us; guilt gnaws at us, making us restless, miserable, and in our lucid moments afraid; we have no peace in ourselves because we have no peace with our Maker. ...

of a restored relationship with God, more than we need anything else in the world; and this the gospel offers us b...

justification through the cross of Christ is expounded first

and made basic to everything else.

justification is the primary blessing, so it is the fundamental blessing, in the sense that everything else in our salvation assumes it, and rests on it—adoption

included.

Adoption is higher, because of the richer relationship with God that it involves.

Justification is a forensic idea, conceived in terms of law, and viewing God as judge.

In justification, God declares of

penitent believers that they are not, and never will be, liable to the death that their sins deserve, because Jesus Christ, their substitute and sacrifice, tasted death in their place on the cro...

at the cost of Calvary, is wonderful enough, in all conscience—but justification does not of itself imply any intimate or de...

Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship—he establishes us as his children and heirs.

To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is a greater.

The

Doctrine of Justification, by James Buchanan:

According to the Scriptures, pardon, acceptance, and adoption, are distinct privileges, the one rising above the other in the order in which they have been stated . . . while

the first two properly belong to (the sinner’s) justification, as being both founded on the same relation—that of a Ruler and Subject—the

the third is radically distinct from them, as being founded on a nearer,...

endearing relation—that between a Fathe...

There is a manifest difference between the position of a servant and a friend—and also between ...

The privilege of adoption presupposes pardon and acceptance, but is higher than either;

This is a higher privilege than of Justification, as being

founded on a closer and more endearing relation—“Behold!

We do not fully feel the wonder of the passage

from death to life which takes place in the new birth till we see it as a transition, not simply out of condemnation into acceptance, but out of bondage and destitution into the “safety, certainty, and enjoyment” of the family of God.

The Wesleys’ Conversion Hymn,”

Where shall my wondering soul begin?

How shall I all to heaven aspire? A slave redeemed from death and sin, A brand plucked from eternal fire, How shall I equal triumphs raise, Or sing my great Deliverer’s praise?

O how shall I the goodness tell, Father, which thou to me hast showed? That I, a child of wrath and hell, I should be called a child of God, S...

Blest with this antepast ...

One more thing must be added to show how great is the blessing of adoption—namely, this: it is a blessing that abides.

experts drum into us these days that the family unit needs to be stable

But things are not like that in God’s family. There you have absolute stability and security; the parent is entirely wise and good, and the child’s position is permanently assured.

The very concept of adoption is itself a proof and guarantee of the

preservation of the saints, for only bad fathers throw their children out of the family, even under provocation; and God i...

Our second point about adoption is that the entire

Christian life has to be understood in terms of it.

It is clear that, just as Jesus always thought of himself as Son of God in a unique sense, so he always thought of his followers as children of his heavenly Father,

The writer to the Hebrews assures us that the Lord Jesus regards all those for whom he has died, and whom he makes

into his disciples, as his brothers.

As our Maker is our

Father, so our Savior is our brother, when we come into the family of God.

Sermon on the Mount. Often called the charter of God’s kingdom, this sermon could equally well be described as the royal family code,

First, then, adoption appears in the Sermon as the basis of Christian conduct.

It is often noted that this is an ethic of responsible freedom,