“But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.”
John 1:12
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Subsections
God is Father to All People by Creation
Union to Christ: Fount of Adoption
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Order of Contents
Articles 6+
Books 4
Father Loves Son more than the Adopted 1
Historical 3
Latin 2
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Articles
1500’s
Vermigli, Peter Martyr – ‘Of the Adoption of the Sons of God’ in The Common Places… (London: Henrie Denham et al., 1583), pt. 3, ch. 3, ‘Of Faith and the Certainty thereof; and how faith may agree with fear’, pp. 79-82
Calvin, John – 1. ‘The Benefits of Christ made available to us by the Secret Operation of the Spirit’ in Institutes of the Christian Religion tr. Henry Beveridge (1559; Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1845), vol. 2, bk. 3, pp. 85-92
Beza, Theodore – pp. 88-89 in A Book of Christian Questions & Answers… (London, 1574)
Olevian, Caspar – An Exposition of the Apostle’s Creed (London, 1581), pt. 2
Why the Scripture calls Him ‘the only begotten,’ seeing all we which believe are the sons of God
Olevian (1536–1587) was a significant German reformed theologian, and has been said to be a co-author of the Heidelberg Catechism along with Zacharias Ursinus (though this has been questioned).
Ursinus, Zachary – The Sum of Christian Religion: Delivered… in his Lectures upon the Catechism… tr. Henrie Parrie (Oxford, 1587), “I believe in his only Son”
1. How Many Ways Men are called ‘Sons’
. A Type or Figure of the Sons of God
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1600’s
Perkins, William – A Case of Conscience, the Greatest that ever was, How a Man may know whether he be the Child of God, or No, Resolved by the Word of God an appendix to A Golden Chain (Cambridge: Legat, 1600)
Ames, William – ch. 28, ‘Adoption’ in The Marrow of Theology tr. John D. Eusden (1623; Baker, 1997), bk. 1, pp. 164-67
Ames (1576-1633) was an English, puritan, congregationalist, minister, philosopher and controversialist. He spent much time in the Netherlands, and is noted for his involvement in the controversy between the reformed and the Arminians. Voet highly commended Ames’s Marrow for learning theology.
Turretin, Francis – Institutes of Elenctic Theology, tr. George M. Giger, ed. James Dennison Jr. (1679–1685; P&R, 1994), vol. 2, 16th Topic
4. ‘Does justification consist only in the remission of sins? Or does it embrace also adoption and the right to life? The former we deny and affirm the latter.’ 656
5. ‘What is the adoption which is given to us in justification?’ 666
van Mastricht, Peter – ch. 7, ‘The Adoption of those to be Redeemed’ in Theoretical Practical Theology (2nd ed. 1698; RHB), vol. 5, pt. 1, bk. 6
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1700’s
à Brakel, Wilhelmus – 35. ‘The Adoption of Children’ in The Christian’s Reasonable Service, vol. 2 ed. Joel Beeke, trans. Bartel Elshout Buy (1700; RHB, 1992/1999), pp. 415-39
a Brakel (1635-1711) was a contemporary of Voet and Witsius and a major representative of the Dutch Further Reformation.
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1800’s
Buchanan, James – ‘The Spirit’s Work as the Spirit of Adoption’ being pt. 3, ch. 2 of The Office & Work of the Holy Spirit (Edinburgh, 1842), pp. 454-88
Girardeau, John – ‘The Doctrine of Adoption’ being the last chapter of his Discussions of Theological Questions
Girardeau’s contribution to the discussion throughout church history regarding the Doctrine of Adoption is worth the price of the book. Girardeau is persuasive in arguing that Adoption is a distinct act from Justification and that Adam was naturally a son of God by creation (as well as unbelievers), following Thomas Crawford in his prominent Scottish debate with Robert Candlish over the Fatherhood of God. For a systematic exposition and Biblical defense of Girardeau’s doctrine of Adoption, see this article by Travis Fentiman.
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1900’s
Murray, John – ‘Adoption’ 29 paragraphs
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2000’s
Fentiman, Travis – ‘John L. Girardeau’s Doctrine of Adoption: a Systematic & Biblical Defense’ (2014) 20 pp.
This is a systematic exposition and Biblical defense of Girardeau’s doctrine of Adoption. It argues that Adoption is both distinct from Regeneration and Justification, that Adam was by creation naturally a son of God (Luke 3:38), and that unbelievers are as well (though not spiritually), as God is the Father of all people by creation (Heb. 12:9, Eph. 3:15).
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Books
1800’s
Crawford, Thomas – The Fatherhood of God: Considered in its General & Special Aspects, & Particularly in Relation to the Atonement (1868) 392 pp.
Crawford, of the Church of Scotland, debated the Fatherhood of God with Robert Candlish of the Free Church of Scotland. Crawford was for God’s Fatherhood towards man by Creation and Candlish was not.
Kennedy, John – ch. 1, pp. 21-38, ch. 2, point 2, pp. 50-52 & ch. 4, section 3 of Man’s Relations to God Buy (1869), pp. 147-75
Kennedy, a famed minister of the Free Church of Scotland in the Highlands, here discusses whether Adam was by creation a son or not in the Garden in chapter one and whether this relation remains under the fall or not in chapter two. In chapter four Kennedy expounds the grounds of our Adoption in Christ, its relation to justification and its relation to Christ’s unique Sonship.
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1900’s
Webb, R.A. – The Reformed Doctrine of Adoption Buy (1947)
Webb was a Southern Presbyterian and theological professor. He was the son-in-law of John L. Girardeau. Both of these men took the basic view of Crawford above, though refined it.
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2000’s
Beeke, Joel – Heirs with Christ: the Puritans on Adoption Buy (RHB)
Includes an extensive puritan bibliography on the subject.
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The Father Loves His Natural Son more than He Loves Adopted Christians
“This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased;”
Mt. 17:5
“Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:”
Phil. 2:9
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Quote
1600’s
Samuel Rutherford
Lex Rex... (1644; Edinburgh: Ogle, 1843), pp. 63-64
“The Popish Prelate [John Maxwell] (ch. 7, p. 87) objects against us… 2. The maxim of the law is, Surrogatus gaudet privilegus ejus cui surrogatur, et qui succedit in locum, succedit in jus. The person surrogated has all the privileges that he has in whose place he succeeds; he who succeeds to the place succeeds to the rights; the adopted son, or the bastard who is legitimated and comes in the place of the lawful born son, comes also in the privileges of the lawful born son.
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Answer: 1. He that is surrogated in the place of another, due to him by a positive law of man, he has law to all the privileges that he has in whose place he is surrrogated, that is true. He who comes in the place of a mayor of a city, of a captain in an army, of a pilot in a ship, or of a pope, has all the privileges and rights that his predecessors had by law. Jus succedit juri, persona jure predita personce jure preditce. So the law, so far as my reading can reach, who profess myself a divine;
but that he who succeeds to the place of a father by nature, should enjoy all the natural rights and privileges of the person to whom he succeeds, I believe the law never dreamed it; for then the adopted son, coming in place of the natural son, has right to the natural affection of the father. If any should adopt Maxwell the prelate, should he love him as the pursuivant of Crail (Maxwell’s father) loved him, I conceive not. Has the adopted son his life, his being, the figure bodily, the manners of the son in whose place he is adopted; or doth he naturally resemble the father as the natural son does? The Prelate did not read this law in any approved jurist…
A natural son is not made a son by the consent of parents, but he is a son by generation…”
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Historical
Article
Trumper, Tim J.R. – ‘The Theological History of Adoption’ in Scottish Bulletin of Evangelical Theology
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Books
Trumper, Tim J.R.
An Historical Study of the Doctrine of Adoption in the Calvinistic Tradition Ref (Univ. of Edinburgh, 2002)
Abstract: “The main aim of the study is to narrate and critically analyse for the first time the theological history of “the good news of adoption” in the Calvinistic tradition – from John Calvin to nineteenth-century Scottish and American Calvinism… In Section One of the first part there is provided the most substantive treatment to date of Calvin’s theology of adoption.”
The Good News of Adoption: a Comparative Study of Calvin and Nineteenth Century Scottish & American Calvinism Ref (Univ. of Edinburgh, 2002)
Abstract: “As the overarching purpose of this thesis is to heighten the profile of Paul’s doctrine of adoption (huiothesia), the study begins with a confessional and literary survey of its widespread historico-theological neglect, together with an enumeration of what the author believes are the fundamental principles under-girding the Pauline doctrine.”
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Latin Articles
1600’s
Voet, Gisbert – 10. Adoption in Syllabus of Theological Problems (Utrecht, 1643), pt. 1, section 2, tract 3 Abbr.
12. Of the Dignity, Liberty, Glory & Privileges of the Sons of God
. In General
. In Specific, in the New Testament After the Appearing of Christ
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