Booklet: Sonship

“BIBLE ADOPTION: What is it and whom does it concern, Israel or the Church of today?”

The subject of this booklet is adoption and how the word is used in the Scriptures. The writer begins with two verses:

” ‘Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory….’ –Romans 9:4

” ‘Having predesetinated us unto the adoption of children….’ –Ephesians 1:5

“Both these statements were penned by the Apostle Paul, who, indeed, is the only New Testament writer to employ the word here translated adoption.

“At first sight the apostle seems to contradict himself, for after stating specifically, in his letter to the Romans, that the adoption and the glory pertain to Israel, he writes to Gentiles, in his Ephesian letter, saying that God has ‘predestinated us unto the adoption of children.’

“In order to arrive at a solution to this problem we must first determine the meaning of the New Testament word adopted.”