¶ The Biblical Foundation of Divine Adoption
Welcome to Slaking Thirst, a podcast that's all about bringing the thirst deep within our hearts for love and communion to the heart of Christ, a divine heart, who is seeking our love and communion in return. The hope is that the two thirsts would meet, and both thirsts would be slaked. Friends, good morning. I want to hone in on this.
Incredible reading we have this morning from Paul to the Romans. This section of this letter is exquisitely beautiful. And in particular, I want to focus on one line. Paul says that we've received a spirit of adoption. The spirit of adoption through which we cry, Abba, Father, right? Okay. Why did Paul say, That we've received a spirit of adoption. Why use that phrasing? Why not just say we've received a spirit of sonship or we've been made into...
children of God or were now sons of God or daughters of God. Why did he use the phrase spirit of adoption? He used the phrase adoption. He used that specifically because of what that word meant and what it implied. within the cultural context in which Paul was writing. So just as it is today, you know, adoption is a very intricate, complicated legal process. It was back in the ancient world, too.
It was a very intricate, complicated legal process that had great implications, obviously, for the one adopted. Like, if the person adopted, if he or she had debts... Let's just say if they had debts. The debts were wiped clean with the adoption. They became co-inheritors with the... All the naturally born children, they had all the same titles, rights, responsibilities, duties, all of it. It was a fundamental change in their identity, right? The old person, the orphan had debts.
I'm now adopted. I'm not that person anymore, right? That person is gone. Here's the thing, though, that we don't really appreciate or understand in our modern context, because in the ancient world... There was no presumption of permanency when it came to parentage. So within the cultural milieu in which Paul's writing, he knows and everyone knows that the head of the family, the paterfamilias, had total control and authority over his family.
That if his wife has a baby, if he sees the baby and sees there's something wrong, there's some deformity, or there's some birthmark I don't like, or if it's the wrong sex or gender, whatever it is, if it's the wrong whatever, Father, with no impunity, he could just take the baby to the edge of the hill, leave the baby outside to be exposed to death. And that's what he could just do. However, however... There was no such exception for children who were adopted.
Why? Because the thinking was, in the ancient world, you knew what you were getting into. You knew what you were, quote unquote, bringing into your world. There was no possibility. To abandon the child. In other words, in the ancient world, to say, I've been adopted, is another way of saying, my father will never abandon me. My father will never abandon me.
¶ Your Unshakable Identity in Christ
This is what happens at our baptism. This scripture, this becomes our reality. You've received a spirit of adoption. through which you now cry, Abba, Father. We gained a father who will never abandon us. We became adopted sons and daughters who cannot be abandoned. And yet, and yet... So many of us live perpetually as if we're still orphans, as if we're still auditioning for a place, for a part in the family, as if...
We screw up one more time and we're out. This orphan spirit is what's often more dominant in our souls than the spirit of adoption. Like, I just think there's so many people who carry this fear that says, But I've done so much. I've screwed up so much. I continually screw up so much. I've squandered it. I've forfeited it. That very thinking that we are plagued with is the very reason why...
Earlier in Luke's Gospel, Jesus gives us that beautiful parable of the prodigal son. The error in the son's mind the whole time was his thinking that I had forfeited it. I had blown it. I am no longer worthy to be called a son. I'll come back, I'll make my apology speech, and I'll just settle for being a slave. You do not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear.
He received a spirit of adoption. He comes home to his father, and the whole time the father has been aching for his son to come home. You can't forfeit it. You can't blow it. Because you've received a spirit of adoption. So friends, I just want to invite us today to confront in our own hearts this orphan spirit dynamic versus this sonship, daughterhood, this adoption spirit. You belong to him. You are in his heart. You cannot be abandoned. You won't be abandoned. Amen.
To listen to more homilies, talks, and reflections from Fr. Ryan and Fr. Patrick, please check out slakingthirst.com and consider becoming a subscriber to the Slaking Thirst YouTube channel.