Quotes: Adoption
c. AD 56 — Paul the Apostle
“You have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’”
Significance: Adoption grants believers a new family identity and intimate access to God.
c. AD 56 — Paul the Apostle
“In love He predestined us for adoption to Himself as sons through Jesus Christ.”
Significance: Adoption is God’s loving, predetermined plan to make sinners His children.
c. AD 90 — John the Apostle
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.”
Significance: Adoption is a display of God’s lavish love.
c. AD 96 — Clement of Rome
“We are called children of the covenant, whom He has loved from the beginning.”
Significance: Adoption roots believers in God’s covenantal fatherhood.
AD 185 — Irenaeus of Lyons
“Through the Word, we receive adoption, becoming sons of God.”
Significance: Adoption comes through union with Christ, the eternal Son.
AD 325 — Athanasius of Alexandria
“The Son of God became man so that we might receive adoption as sons.”
Significance: Adoption is possible only because Christ shares His sonship with us.
AD 386 — Augustine of Hippo
“He who was Son by nature made us sons by grace.”
Significance: Adoption is a gracious gift, not a natural right.
AD 418 — Augustine of Hippo
“By His mercy we are made children of God, who were children of wrath.”
Significance: Adoption transforms our status from judgment to belonging.
AD 451 — Council of Chalcedon
“Through the incarnation, we are adopted into the family of God.”
Significance: Adoption flows from Christ’s true humanity and divinity.
AD 1095 — Anselm of Canterbury
“By the Son’s obedience, we are adopted as sons of the Father.”
Significance: Adoption is grounded in Christ’s obedient life.
AD 1274 — Thomas Aquinas
“Adoption is the communication of a likeness of natural sonship by grace.”
Significance: Adoption gives believers a real share in Christ’s sonship.
AD 1517 — Martin Luther
“Through faith we become the children of God and heirs with Christ.”
Significance: Adoption grants believers full inheritance rights.
AD 1536 — John Calvin
“God gives us the Spirit of adoption, sealing our sonship in Christ.”
Significance: Adoption is confirmed inwardly by the Spirit’s witness.
AD 1647 — Westminster Confession
“All those justified, God vouchsafes to make partakers of the grace of adoption.”
Significance: Adoption is a distinct blessing following justification.
AD 1678 — John Bunyan
“The adopted child of God may call Him Father with boldness.”
Significance: Adoption grants confident access to God in prayer.
AD 1741 — Jonathan Edwards
“By adoption, God brings sinners into His family and gives them His name.”
Significance: Adoption bestows identity, belonging, and divine favor.
AD 1765 — John Wesley
“The Spirit of adoption is the inward testimony that we are God’s children.”
Significance: Adoption is experienced through the Spirit’s assurance.
AD 1857 — Charles Spurgeon
“Adoption gives us the rights of children, but regeneration gives us the nature of children.”
Significance: Adoption is a legal act distinct from the new birth.
AD 1957 — Martyn Lloyd‑Jones
“Adoption is the highest privilege of the gospel.”
Significance: Adoption surpasses even justification in relational intimacy.
AD 2009 — John Piper
“Adoption is God making enemies into sons and daughters with full inheritance.”
Significance: Adoption is the climactic expression of God’s redeeming love.
See also: Bible Verses
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