Chapter Four--Access, Adoption

Lesson Four ACCESS, ADOPTION

Access

The word "access" is from the Greek prosagoge, literally meaning "a leading or bringing into the presence of (pros, to, ago, to lead)." Polybius used prosagoge to express the bringing up of engines against a besieged town (X.41, 1; IX.10, 9); theofbringingupshipstotheshore(X.1,6); the bringing up of cattle into the stall (XII.4, 10). In Herodian 11.58 the word is used to describe a leading up, carrying up in solemn procession. Associated with its New Testament usage is the thought of freedom to enter through the assistance of another. It is used in Romans 5:2; Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:12. An examination of each of these passages will contribute to our understanding of prosagoge as it relates man to God and as it portrays the work of Christ on man's behalf.

1. "Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; through whom also we had our access by faith into this grace wherein we stand; and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God" (Romans 5:1-2).

The access spoken of here that men enjoy through Christ is into divine grace, the unmerited favor of God that makes them acceptable to Him and gives them the "hope of the glory of God." Thayer observes concern-ing this passage that it describes "that friendly relation with God whereby we are acceptable to him and have assurance that he is favorably disposed toward us."

In the technical sense prosagoge was used by the later Greek writers to designate "a landing stage." Plutarch writes of a general who called his troops together on land in front of the sea where there was no prosagoge, no place for ships to put in (Aemilius 13). The word is similarly used in the papyri, concerning which Moulton and Milligan observe, "This would agree with Pallis on Romans 5:2, who thinks that charin [grace] is there pictured as a haven and that prosagogen[access] means 'approach' in a nautical sense." It is comforting to know that from the storm-tossed sea of sin the human soul can find through Christ a safe haven of rest and assurance in the precious grace of God. The faithful Christian ever realizes that were it not for his pilot Jesus Christ who guided him safely out of the sea of sin into the haven of God's grace, he would surely have made shipwreck of his life.

2. "For through him [Christ] we both have our access in one Spirit unto the Father" (Ephesians 2:18).

The perfect tense prosagogen used here (also in Romans 5:2) desig-nates the idea of permanency. By the efficacy of the Lord's atoning act all those who accept Him as their high priest, whether Jew or Gentile, have continual, unremitting access to the Father. See Hebrews 4:14-16. The access to the Father portrayed in Ephesians 2:18 is in the Spirit. All who accept the "access" power of Christ, to be brought to God through Him, are given the Holy Spirit, who dwells and rules in them (Acts 2:38; Romans 5:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:8). Only those who have the Spirit, who live under His power and influence, truly have Christ and thus enjoy continual access to the Father through Him (Romans 8:9-10; Galatians 2:20; 1 John 3:24).

3. ". . . Christ Jesus our Lord: in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him" (Ephesians 3:11-12).

Boldness and confidence characterize the approach of souls to God who have genuine faith in Christ. In Christ, through His merits, they can approach God without fear. Heinrich Meyer makes the comment con-cerning this passage, "It is rather the free, joyful mood of those reconciled to God, in which they are assured of divine grace (the opposite: fear of God's wrath)." See Hebrews 3:6; Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 10:19; Hebrews 10:35; 1 John 2:28; 1 John 3:21; 1 John 4:17; 1 John 5:14.

The verb prosago, which is the base of prosagoge, the word translated as "access," in its transitive use means "bring (forward), bring someone to someone." In its intransitive use it means "approach." Thus we see that one who has access (prosagoge) to God is one who is brought to or approaches (prosago) God.

Prosago is used five times in the New Testament, four of which are quite ordinary. In Matthew 18:24 it refers to the debtor who was "brought" to the king whom he owed 10, 000 talents. In Luke 9:41 it is the word Jesus used in His command to the father of the epileptic boy "Bring,hitherthyson."In Acts 16:20 it refers to Paul and Silas being "brought" into the presence of the magistrates in Philippi. In Acts 27:27 it is used for a ship "drawing near" to land in a storm. Prosago is used only once to describe the special work of Christ: "Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit" (1 Peter 3:18). The Christ through whom we have access (prosagoge) to God is the One who brings (prosago) us to God.

We can better understand the meaning of prosago in the work of Christ, and thus the meaning of its counterpart prosagoge, by noting its use outside the New Testament.

In the Septuagint prosago is used for bringing sacrificial victims to God. Thus it is the word used for bringing to God something entirely dedicated to Him and His service. "And he shall bring the bullock into the door of the tent of meeting before Jehovah; and he shall lay his hand upon the head of the bullock, and kill the bullock before Jehovah" (Leviticus 4:4). See Leviticus 8:14.

Prosago is also used in the Septuagint for bringing selected men into the presence of Jehovah in order for them to be ordained as priests. "And Aaron and his son thou shalt bring unto the door of the tent of meeting . . ." (Exodus 29:4). In secular Greek prosago is commonly used for "introducing" a speaker into the presence of the assembly of the people (demos) or into the senate or council (boule). It is also commonly used for "introducing" ambassadors to the gathering of the populace when they came to seek terms and for "bringing" a person into a court before a judge. Thus prosago is regularly used for introducing a person into the presence of a higher authority. Translated from the papyri are the following quotations: "Cronion, who now happens to be in Alexandria, will bring them before his highness the high-priest;" "I present my supplication with full con-fidence."

The most special use of prosago in secular Greek is for "introducing a person into the presence of a king" or of "securing for a person the privilege of an interview with a sovereign." Xenophon, the famous Greek historian of Athens, relates how chained prisoners were "brought into the presence" of king Cyrus (Cyropaedia 111.2, 12). He further tells how Cyrus expected anyone who desired anything from him to get into the good graces of his friends so that through them he could ask for a prosagoge, "an introduction to the royal presence" (Cyropaedia VII.5, 45). He relates how Sacus, the cup-bearer, had the work of "introducing" (prosago) to one Astyages those who had business with him and of keep-ing out those whom he did not wish to admit (Cyropaedia 1.3, 8). In fact , there was an official in the Persianprosagocourtcalledtheintroducer,-geus, whose responsibility it was to introduce people into the king's presence.

All the foregoing uses of prosago shed light on the work of Jesus in bringing men to God. Jesus, who suffered for us as our sin-offering, is the person who brings us to God for salvation and redemption so that our lives may consequently be dedicated as a sacrifice to the service of God (Romans 12:1; 1 Peter 2:5). He is the person who introduces us lowly human beings into the infinitely higher presence of the living God, the heavenly King. Can we think prosagogeus of Jesus better than the introducer,,who presents us before God that we may receive divine grace and the living hope of being brought into His presence again when we shall see Him face to face in heaven?

Adoption

The word "adoption" is translated from huiothesia (huios, a son thesis,a placing),signifying place and condition of a son given to whom it does not naturally belong.

From the papyri we cite: "We agree, Heracles and his wife Iscarion on the one part, that we have given away to you, Horion, for adoption our son Patermouthis, aged about two years, and Horion on the other part, that I may have him as my son so that the right proceeding from succession to my inheritance shall be maintained by him." Among Greek profane writers from Pindar downwards, thetos huios"adopted, is son," regularly huiothesia, which is found form of.

In the New Testament huiothesia designates the privilege of sonship that God bestows on all who give themselves to Christ. It occurs only in the writings of Paul. While other New Testament writers frequently and emphatically refer to our blessings, privileges and duties as children of God, only Paul uses this special term huiothesia to portray our rela-tionship to God as sons by adoption. As one who was a Roman citizen and exposed to Greek culture, Paul was evidently informed concerning the customs of adoption among the Greeks and Romans. Thus it is highly probable that he had this at least partially in mind in his use of the word huiothesia.

In both Greek and Roman practice, adoption was a technical term for an act that had specific legal and social effects. The Romans especially maintained the rights of fathers over their children as virtually despotic; and these rights did not cease when the sons came of age, or had families of their own, but could only be terminated during the father's lifetime by certain legal proceedings, similar to those by which slaves were sold or redeemed. The same term. (mancipatio) was applied to any process of this kind, whether one parted with his son, his slave, or his goods. Thus a man could not be transferred from one family to another, or made the son of any Roman citizen, without a formal legal act. If he was not under the authority of a natural father, he could be put in the position of the son of another by an act of the sovereign people gathered together in their religious capacity. This transaction was known by the term arrogatio while,the taking by one man of the son of another was denoted by the term adoptio. Adoption, when thus legally performed, put a man in every respect in the same position of a son by birth of him who had adopted him so that he possessed the same rights and owed the same obligations.

Like the Roman practice of adoption, our adoption as sons of God has certain legal implications. In the state of sin, men are not God's natural children in the spiritual sense. They are described as being "by nature children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3). Jesus designates their spiritual father as the devil: "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father it is your will to do" (John 8:44). As sinners, having transgressed the law of God, they deserve eternal death (Romans 6:23). But when they seek spiritual redemption by faith in Christ, the loving, gracious God adopts them as His sons through the merits of Christ, who paid the price of their redemption in His death on the cross, thus meeting the legal demands set forth by divine law. As God's legally adopted sons they enjoy the same rights and privileges as Christ, who is the only Son of God inherently, described in John 3:16 as God's "only begotten Son." In being "justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus" (Romans 3:23), they enjoy a salvation that includes more than the wiping clean of their sinful state, a mere "not guilty," but the gracious intention of the heavenly Father to treat them as saved sons , brothers of Christ and fellow heirs with Him. "We are sons by grace; He is so by nature" (Augustine).

This concept of adoption in no way contradicts the New Testament portrayal of Christians as being children of God by spiritual birth (John 3:3-5; 1 Peter 1:23). Christians are at one and the same time born children of God and His sons by adoption. The Greek word teknon, child, akintikto, beget, gives prominence to the fact of birth in describing a member of God's family, whereas huios, usually rendered as "son" in the American Standard Version, stresses the dignity, character, and privi-leges of the relationship. The New Testament never refers to the adoption of a child (teknon), but only to huiothesia, the adoption of a son (huios). The new birth is necessary in becoming a member of God's family because man must be regenerated in changing from the carnal state to the spiritual state, thus to partake of the nature of the divine Father. But in satisfying the demands of divine justice through the redeeming power of Christ the Saviour and in receiving the rights and privileges of full-grown sons, it is necessary that man also be adopted into God's family.

Let us now examine the New Testament passages in which huiothesia, adoption, is used.

1. "For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father" (Romans 8:15).

The leading of the Spirit of God mentioned in the previous verse, which is the proof of sonship or adoption, does not produce in God's sons the feeling of servitude and fear that was characteristic of their former state in the bondage of sin, but rather a consciousness of the affection, love, and confidence that pertains to members of God's family; not the servile, trembling spirit of slaves, but the calm trust of those who know they are sons of God and can confidently cry, "Abba, Father." Cf. 2 Timothy 1:7.

2. "And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body" (Romans 8:23).

The apostle here indicates that the work of redemption will not be finished until the resurrection. Although the full price of our redemption , the blood of Christ, is already paid, corruption and the grave have not yet surrendered the bodies which at the coming of Christ will be changed into redeemed, incorruptible bodies, fit for the heavenly realm (1 Corin-thians 15:51; 2 Corinthians 5:1-4; Php 3:21). Cf. Luke 20:36. When the Lord comes again, the sons of God will then enjoy the full privileges of their adoption into God's family.

3. ". . . Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the cove-nants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises" (Romans 9:4).

Paul's reference here to the adoption which belongs to Israel is in accordance with Exodus 4:22, "Israel is my son." Cf. Hosea 11:1. The Israelites were adopted by God in the sense that they were brought into a special relationship with Him not enjoyed by other peoples (Deuter-onomy 14:2).

4. "But when the fulness of time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons" (Galatians 4:4-5).

In the context of these verses Paul draws a contrast between those under the law and those under grace. Under the law they are considered as children under age, but under grace they are adopted by God to be con-sidered as full-grown sons. Under the law they are considered as bond-servants, in spiritual bondage, but under grace they are redeemed, spirit-ually emancipated, by Christ to be considered as those who have the rights of sonship, heirs of the heavenly Father. Carefully read Galatians 4:1-7.

5. "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ ...having foreordained us unto adoption as sons through Jesus Christ unto himself, according to the good pleasure of his will" (Ephesians 1:3; Ephesians 1:5).

Here Paul stresses the fact that our adoption as sons of God is through the instrumentality of Jesus Christ since He is the channel through whom we receive all spiritual blessings from God. His sacrifice on the cross makes possible our redemption from the bondage of sin so that we can become sons of God. When sinners believe in Christ as the Redeemer, to put Him on in baptism, they then appropriate the power of the cross to be adopted as God's sons. See Galatians 3:26-27.

Questions

• I. Discuss each New Testament passage in which prosagoge is used.

• How does the secular use of prosago cast light on its reference in 1 Peter 3:18 to the work of Christ?

• What is the meaning of huiothesia?

• Discuss the difference in the New Testament concepts of the new birth and adoption.

• Discuss all the New Testament passages in which huiothesia is used.