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by adoption should be carefully distinguished from the moral sonship of believers, their sonship
by regeneration and sanctification. They are not only adopted to be children of God, but are
also born of God. Naturally these two cannot be separated. They are mentioned together in
John 1:12; Rom. 8:15.16; Gal. 3:26,27; 4:5,6. In Rom. 8:15 the term huiothesia (from huios and
tithenai) is used, which literally means “placing as a son,” and in classical Greek is always
employed to denote an objective placing in the status of a child. The following verse contains
the word tekna (from tikto, “to beget”), which designates believers as those who are begotten
of God. In John 1:12 the idea of adoption is expressed by the words, “But as many as received
Him, to them gave He the right (exousian edoken) to become children of God.” The Greek
expression here used means “to give legal right.” Immediately thereafter, in the 13th verse, the
writer speaks of ethical sonship by regeneration. The connection between the two is clearly
brought out in Gal. 4:5,6 . . . “that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are
sons (by adoption), God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
That Spirit regenerates and sanctifies us and prompts us to address God full of confidence as
Father.
b. The right to eternal life.
This element is virtually included in the preceding one. When
sinners are adopted to be children of God, they are invested with all the legal filial rights, and
become heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, Rom. 8:17. This means first of all that they
become heirs of all the blessings of salvation in the present life, the most fundamental of which
is described in the words, “the promise of the Spirit,” that is, the promised blessing in the form
of the Spirit, Gal. 3:14; and in the slightly different phrase, “the Spirit of His Son,” Gal. 4:6. And
in and with the Spirit they receive all the gifts of Christ. But this is not all; their inheritance also
includes the eternal blessings of the future life. The glory of which Paul speaks in Rom. 8:17
follows after the sufferings of the present time. According to Rom. 8:23 the redemption of the
body, which is there called “the adoption,” also belongs to the future inheritance. And in the
ordo salutis of Rom. 8:29,30 glorification connects up immediately with justification. Being
justified by faith, believers are heirs of life eternal.
E. THE SPHERE IN WHICH JUSTIFICATION OCCURS.
The question as to the sphere in which justification occurs, must be answered with
discrimination. It is customary to distinguish between an active and a passive, also called an
objective and a subjective, justification, each having its own sphere.
1. ACTIVE OR OBJECTIVE JUSTIFICATION.
This is justification in the most fundamental sense of
the word. It is basic to what is called subjective justification, and consists in a declaration which
God makes respecting the sinner, and this declaration is made in the tribunal of God. This
declaration is not a declaration in which God simply acquits the sinner, without taking any