Experience of Grace #6 - Adoption
Description
In "Adoption," Dr. Kurt Bjorklund unpacks Romans 8:12–17 to reveal that coming to faith in Jesus Christ means being adopted into God's family — with debts forgiven, a new identity, and an irrevocable inheritance. If guilt, shame, or spiritual uncertainty marks your life, this message will transform how you experience grace.
Summary & Application
What It Means to Be Adopted by God
Have you ever received a gift that turned out to be far better than you expected? That's the question Kurt opened with in his message this past weekend — and it's the right lens for approaching Romans 8:12–17. Most of us don't spend much time thinking about spiritual adoption. But according to this passage, being adopted into God's family through faith in Jesus Christ is one of the most significant gifts a person can receive. And like any great gift, it takes time to understand just how good it really is.
Romans chapters 1–5, Kurt explained, are about the gift of grace. Chapters 6–11 are about the experience of grace. The gift comes first. But you can only fully experience what you don't yet fully understand — and most of us have barely scratched the surface of what adoption means.
From Romans 8:14–17, Kurt drew out five concrete benefits of being adopted into God's family.
1. Adopted Sons Have Their Debts Forgiven
The first benefit isn't stated explicitly in the text, but it's woven into its historical background. In the first century, adoption was often extended to people in desperate circumstances — sometimes those who had been indentured as slaves. When a father adopted someone, all of that person's debt was immediately forgiven or absorbed by the new family.
Kurt put it plainly: "Whatever you have done, whatever debt you have incurred, when you become an adopted son, it is paid for by your new heavenly Father." That's the theological logic behind forgiveness — not just that sins are overlooked, but that the debt has been fully settled. Martin Luther captured how difficult this truth is to internalize: "To convince our hearts that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God is one of the hardest things to do." Paul returns to this theme again and again throughout Romans, approaching it from every angle, because we need to hear it more than once.
2. Adopted Sons Have Status
Verse 15 says the Spirit we received is not a spirit of fear or slavery, but one that "brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'"
"Abba, Father" — essentially Daddy, Father, Daddy God — is not the language of formal distance. It's the language of a child who has unrestricted access to their parent. Kurt connected this to Psalm 23:1: "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." The God of the universe — the Lord — is also a personal shepherd and caregiver. That combination of cosmic authority and intimate care is exactly what the language of adoption is meant to communicate.
What strikes Kurt about this status is that it's given, not earned. He referenced a piece about the rise of recreational endurance running, where less competitive runners began joining marathons and obstacle races in large numbers. The cultural shift, the author argued, came from "uncoupling performance from identity." You no longer have to be fast to call yourself a runner. "That is exactly what happens when you understand adoption and status as given," Kurt said. You come to God not because you've earned access, but because you've been named.
3. Adopted Sons Have Responsibility
Adoption isn't only about privilege — it carries weight. In the first century, sons didn't typically leave home to build their own careers. They worked within the family business, representing the family name in everything they did. Sonship meant orientation, not just status.
Kurt described what Christian writer Paul David Tripp identifies as trends that erode this sense of responsibility: attending church only when it benefits you, remaining anonymous and never truly known, opting out of service entirely, or reducing faith to a means of achieving personal goals. Against all of that, adoptive sonship calls for something different — total involvement, bearing the family name, living by a code that matters more than outcomes.
A striking example: during the 2013 NCAA Tournament, player Kevin Ware suffered a catastrophic leg fracture on live television. While most of his teammates looked away, his teammate Luke Hancock ran to him, sat with him on the floor, and prayed with him as the arena fell silent. When asked why, Hancock said simply, "I just didn't want him to sit there alone." That's what it looks like to carry responsibility beyond yourself.
4. Adopted Sons Have an Inheritance
Romans 8:17 makes a remarkable claim: "Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ."
Most of us hold this loosely, treating heaven as a vague future possibility rather than a concrete inheritance. But Kurt pushed on this: "Think about how differently you would be able to endure the hardships of this life if you truly believed that to your core." Revelation 21:4 describes what that inheritance looks like — no more tears, no more death, no more mourning, crying, or pain. Everything made new.
An unnamed author put it this way: "All of our best days lie ahead of us. And one day all of our worst days will be behind us." If that's true — and Scripture says it is — then present suffering doesn't get the last word.
5. Adopted Sons Have an Irrevocable Sonship
Finally, verse 16: "The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children." First-century adoption, Kurt noted, was a formal, multi-step legal process — and once completed, it could not be undone. The status was permanent. It could not be revoked.
That's the security available to those who have trusted Christ. You were not brought into the family on probation.
Questions for Reflection
Which of the five benefits of adoption — forgiven debt, given status, responsibility, inheritance, or irrevocable sonship — is hardest for you to actually believe and live from day to day? What might it look like to take one small step toward receiving that truth more fully this week?
Kurt described several patterns — consumerism, anonymity, opting out of service — that can quietly erode our sense of responsibility as adopted members of God's family. Which of those patterns, if you're honest, has the most traction in your own life right now?
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William Barclay - Paraphrased three times
On adoption in the first century: debts were forgiven or paid by the new father upon adoption.
On sonship and responsibility: in the first century, sons worked in the family business rather than leaving to pursue their own careers.
On the irrevocability of adoption: the formal multi-step adoption process, once completed, rendered the status permanent and unable to be taken away.
Martin Luther
"To convince our hearts that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God is one of the hardest things to do."
Austin Murphy - Parphrased
On the shift in distance running culture: a spike in marathons and endurance races driven by less serious runners who "uncoupled performance from identity," no longer requiring speed to claim the identity of an endurance athlete.
Paul David Tripp - Paraphrased
Identifies four trends pulling Christians away from responsibility: "consumerist" Christianity (attending only what benefits you), "pub culture" Christianity (anonymous, surface-level engagement), "ministry-free church culture" (only receiving, not participating), and "American Dream Christianity" (using God and church to pursue personal dreams).
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Opening Prayer
God, as we are gathered this weekend, we ask, as we so often do, that you would speak to each of us wherever we are coming from — whether our weeks have been filled with great highs or significant lows. I ask that my words would reflect your Word in content, tone, and emphasis. We pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Introduction
Have you ever been given a gift and, after receiving it, realized the gift was far better than you first thought? Or have you ever received a gift and then discovered it actually produced stress or obligation rather than joy or relief?
I was thinking about this because we are in this series, “The Experience of Grace.” The way it is structured, Romans chapters 1 through 5 are really about the gift of grace, and then chapters 6 through 11 are about the experience of grace. The gift precedes the experience. But sometimes we have a gift and we don’t understand how great it is — or sometimes it really isn’t great.
So I asked my wife: what gifts have you been given that were either better than you thought, or somehow not great? Here is what she said. She said, “That time you gave me Moleskin before I went on an international trip — that was a great gift.” I heard that and thought, I’ve got to raise my gift-giving game substantially. But the reason she said it is that I got this little pack and said, “Take this with you — you’ll be thankful at some point.” She went on a big hiking trip and the Moleskin — the little padded strips you put on your feet when you have blisters so you can keep walking — was a lifesaver. So, a great gift. As I said, I need to raise my game a little.
Then I asked: what about something you were given that, after receiving it, you realized wasn’t as great? She said, “Do you remember when people used to give friendship bread?” It was a bread starter. You would get it, make bread, eat some with cinnamon, and then keep a little of the starter to give to somebody else — and the cycle never ended. She said it was stressful because people kept giving her the bread starter, and she didn’t feel like she could throw it away. It was a gift that created stress.
I tell you this because today we are in Romans 8, verses 12 through 17 — a section that speaks about adoption. My guess is that very few of us woke up this week and thought, “What is really significant is the gift of adoption that God has given me.” In fact, most of us have not thought about adoption as a spiritual concept unless we have studied Romans or explored it elsewhere. But this is one of the gifts God has given through Jesus Christ. This gift — and the experience of living as an adopted child of God — is something that can revolutionize our lives if we truly grasp it.
Scripture: Romans 8:12–17
“Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation — but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. For if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live. For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God. The Spirit you received does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’ The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
I want to read a little of Romans 8:12–13, comment on it, and then in verses 14 through 17, I think we can see five benefits of adoption.
Verse 12 says, “Therefore, brothers and sisters, we have an obligation.” That is a word we don’t love. No one likes to be obligated. As I have probably said several times during this series, this is one of the reasons some people don’t like church or Christianity — they don’t want to be obligated to anything. But Paul says very simply: we have an obligation, but it is not to the flesh, to live according to it. In other words, not just to live however we please. “For if you live according to the flesh, you will die.” He is summarizing what he has been saying throughout Romans 8:1–11. “But if by the Spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body, you will live.”
A note on translation: we use the NIV (New International Version, 2011) as our teaching text. This is one place where I am not entirely thrilled with it. It translates the word “son” as “child” throughout this passage. You might say that is an academic debate among translators. But I think it has significance. In that culture, a “son” was one who had the ability to inherit and who was given higher honor. If we simply say “children” and don’t go back to understand what was happening, we miss something in the imagery. Metaphors in the Bible are meant to carry significance. For example, if you are a follower of Jesus, you are called both “Son of God” and “child of God” — both are true and both appear in Scripture. All Christians are also called “the bride of Christ.” That metaphor means something. If you level it by saying “spouse of Christ,” you lose the picture of a bride being presented spotless before her groom. So the “son” language is significant — and again, this is for any person of any gender who has come to faith in Jesus Christ.
Five Benefits of Adoption
1. Adopted Sons Have Their Debts Forgiven
The first benefit is not seen directly in this text but is found in its historical background. William Barclay, who has written extensively on the New Testament, notes that one of the things that happened when a son was adopted into a family in the first century was that his debts were immediately forgiven or paid by the new father.
This is a little hard for us to fully understand today because even adopted children in our culture often come from a place of relative advantage. But in that world, people who were adopted often came from a place of complete desperation — they may have been indentured to someone as a slave. When someone adopted them, all of that debt would disappear.
What this means for us is this: if you have come to Jesus Christ and are an adopted son, your past debt, your current debt, your future debt — it is all taken care of by your heavenly Father. Adoption communicates that you don’t earn your place. It is given to you. Some of us have been able to live most of our lives without feeling the full weight of our sin. But some of us have had moments that left us feeling that weight entirely. What this picture says is that whatever you have done, whatever debt you have incurred, when you become an adopted son, it is paid for by your new heavenly Father.
Martin Luther once wrote: “To convince our hearts that we have forgiveness of sins and peace with God is one of the hardest things to do.” Paul keeps coming back to this theme in different ways, over and over, taking it from a different angle, saying: here is another way to think about what God has done. If you get it, you know that your debts are forgiven.
2. Adopted Sons Have Status
Verse 15 says: “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear. Rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship. And by him we cry, ‘Abba, Father.’”
“Abba, Father” basically communicated the idea of “Daddy — Father, Daddy God.” This is not a phrase you use for someone you hold at a distance with reverence. It is saying, in essence, that you now have the ability to come to the God of the universe the way a child comes to their dad — simply, openly, asking for what you need.
In many ways, this connects to Psalm 23:1: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” That is an antithetical phrase. “The Lord” means one who holds absolute rule — the God of the universe. “Shepherd” was a relatively low-level role that cared for animals. To say “The Lord is my shepherd” is essentially like saying the God of the universe is my caregiver. Not to diminish caregivers, but to say: that level of personal, hands-on care comes from the very God of the universe.
This status is also seen throughout the book of Acts in the various names used for followers of Jesus. Interestingly, the word we use most often — “Christian” — was used only three times in the entire New Testament. What was used more frequently: “believers” (Acts 5:14), speaking to conviction; “brothers” (Acts 6:3), speaking to deep community; “disciples” (Acts 9:1), speaking to cause and commitment; and “saints” (Acts 9:13), speaking to status. Significantly, the letters to the churches would open with something like “to the saints at...” and then go on to correct everything those people were doing wrong. In other words, “saint” was not a title earned by good behavior. It was a given status, not an earned status.
A writer named Austin Murphy wrote about how distance running has changed in the last ten to fifteen years. He noted a huge spike in marathons, half marathons, tough mudders, and other endurance races, and concluded it wasn’t because there were more serious runners — it was that less serious runners were coming out for events they never used to participate in. He said that in the decade-long battle between competitive and non-competitive runners, the non-competitive runners won a decisive victory. They did it by what he calls “uncoupling performance from identity.” You no longer need to be fast to call yourself an endurance athlete. That change, he says, has been really positive for running culture.
I love that phrase: uncoupling performance from identity. Because that is exactly what happens when you understand adoption and status as given. You can go to God not because you have earned it, but because the Lord of the universe is your caregiver. You can say “Abba, Father — you have adopted me. I may not have earned this status in any way, but I can come, and I have brothers, and I am marked by what I believe and by the status you have given me.”
3. Adopted Sons Have Responsibility
Verse 15 again: “The Spirit you received does not make you slaves so that you live in fear. Rather, the Spirit you received brought about your adoption to sonship.”
William Barclay, in discussing this, notes that in the first century a son generally did not grow up and leave home to pursue his own career elsewhere. Sons worked as part of the family business. To be a son — even an adopted son — meant you were working to extend and represent the family’s business in a substantial way. Sonship meant something about how you oriented your life. You accepted that responsibility as part of your identity.
I saw an article recently about how Princeton University is reversing a 100-plus-year tradition of unproctored exams. They had an honor code. At the bottom of every exam, students would write that they had not acted dishonestly or given or received help. The university took students at their word. But according to the article, there has been a 90% increase in reported cheating incidents at Princeton since 2022, with speculation that the rise of AI is a significant factor. About 45% of students report knowing someone who has cheated, and some 30% admit to cheating themselves. The university has concluded it can no longer trust the honor code and is implementing oversight. What has happened, they say, is that people have moved from living by an honor code to no longer feeling the need for one.
From a spiritual standpoint, the idea here is that if you become part of the family of God, you have an honor code that is more important to you than the results you get. That is what it means to take on the responsibility of an adopted son — to say, “My life isn’t just about what is best for me.”
In 2013, Kevin Ware was playing for the University of Louisville in the NCAA Tournament when he suffered a horrific leg fracture. It was so graphic that it wasn’t replayed on television. Most of his teammates looked away, waiting for medical staff. But one player, Luke Hancock, ran out onto the floor and sat with his injured teammate, stayed with him in the pain, and even prayed with him as the whole arena stood in stunned silence. In the week that followed, he was asked why he did it. He said simply: “I just didn’t want him to sit there alone.” The point is that when you are part of a team — a family — you have a responsibility that is bigger than just yourself in the moment.
Paul David Tripp has written about trends in the church today that move us away from this sense of responsibility. He identifies what he calls “consumerist” Christianity — where people attend only the events that benefit them and sample from different churches. He describes “pub culture” Christianity, where you are not really known and not engaging with people at a meaningful level — you just come and go and no one knows what is real with you. He talks about “ministry-free church culture,” where people say they don’t need to participate, only receive. And “American Dream Christianity,” where the whole point of engagement is to have God and church help you get what you dream of. His point is that what we are truly called to is total involvement. The idea of adoptive sonship is not only a benefit — it brings responsibility.
4. Adopted Sons Have an Inheritance
Verse 17: “Now if we are children, then we are heirs — heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory.”
If you are in Christ, adopted into his family, then you have a guarantee of the inheritance of the God of the universe — your heavenly Father. This is an incredible promise, and yet my guess is very few of us think about it, recognize it, or live with any real anticipation of it. We tend to say, “Yeah, there is maybe some future blessing, some heaven someday,” but we don’t see it as the inheritance of the God of the universe who has named you a co-heir and said, “All that I have will be yours.”
Think about how differently you would be able to endure the hardships of this life if you truly believed that to your core. If you believe that your time of hardship will be followed by a time of incredible inheritance, then you can say, “Yes, this may be unpleasant, this may be difficult, this may even feel like a disaster — but this is not the end of the story.” If you don’t really believe it, then when you are in the middle of something hard, you say, “This is a disaster. Where is God?” rather than, “This is just a moment, and there is more ahead that is better than what is behind.”
Revelation 21:1–5 speaks to this inheritance:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people and he will dwell with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’”
The inheritance is this: no more tears. Can you imagine a time when every tear you shed is no longer a thing — when the heartbreak is over? Physical pain, the loss of someone you love, hardship, illness, financial challenges, relational fractures. There will be no more tears, no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
One author put it this way, speaking about the Christian life: “All of our best days lie ahead of us. And one day all of our worst days will be behind us.” Do you believe that? Because if so, it will revolutionize the way you experience the grace of God. It won’t be a gift you say, “Well, that’s kind of nice, I guess” — it will lead you to say, the time in my life filled with pain and tears and mourning is short. The future is filled with the blessings and goodness of God because I have been adopted. My pain is not my story. There will be more in the days ahead.
5. Adopted Sons Have an Irrevocable Sonship
Verse 16: “The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.”
You might wonder: if you were adopted in, can you be put out? William Barclay, in discussing this, notes that adoption in the first century went through a formal multi-step process, and once completed, it was declared irrevocable. Once someone was adopted, the status was permanent — this was their inheritance and it could not be taken away.
Conclusion
I said earlier that my guess is very few of us were sitting around this week thinking about the blessings of adoption. But if you get what this passage teaches, what will happen is that at your core — whether you call it adoption or think of it in those terms or not — you will begin to grow with confidence and joy. And the responsibility we talked about won’t feel onerous. It will feel like, “Why would I want to do anything else?”
So let me ask you: Have you come to a point where you have experienced the grace of Jesus Christ in such a way that you can say, “I am an adopted son of the King of Kings”? John 1 speaks about this very simply: “As many as received him, he gave the right to become children of God.” Jesus says: if you trust me, you become a child of God, and you have these benefits. Anyone can come and say, “God, I acknowledge that I have not been part of your family — that my sin has kept me from you. But because of Jesus and my faith in you, I can become your child. I want to trust in you today.”
And if you have already believed that, are you living in this reality? Are you able to put your sins where God has put them — as far as the east is from the west — or do you still live with them in front of you, carrying guilt and shame? Are you able to say, “That is in the past, because I have had my sins forgiven by my heavenly Father”? Do you live with a sense of status — willing to go to your heavenly Father and say, “Abba, Father”? Do you live with a sense of bearing the family name and having a role to play? Do you live with the hope of the inheritance and the security of an irrevocable sonship that can never be taken from you?
If you do, then the experience of grace will not simply be, “Okay, I got this gift, I guess, and now I have these obligations.” Even though Paul uses the word obligation, it will instead be: “This is something that has been given to me that is beautiful — even better than I anticipated.” And I believe the more you understand Scripture, the more you will crave to understand it, because you will say, “Look at what God has done.” It becomes a celebration of him and his goodness. And it leads us to worship.
Closing Prayer
God, today we ask that you would help us to see the word “obligation” not as something that pushes us toward what brings no joy, but that we would see the benefits of adoption and be drawn to who Jesus is and what he has done. We pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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