Incarnation and Adoption

Order of Service

• Hymn — Joy to the World
• Call to Worship — Hebrews 4:14-16
• Hymn — Joy to the World
• Prayer of Invocation
• Confession of Sin — Isaiah 53
• Assurance of Pardon — Ephesians 1:7
• Scripture Reading — Isaiah 9:1-7
• Hymn — Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
• Pastoral Prayer
• Doxology
• Offertory Prayer
• Hymn — Of the Father's Love Begotten
• Sermon
• Pastoral Prayer
• Hymn — Good Christian Men, Rejoice
• Benediction
• Doxology

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Sermon Title: Incarnation and Adoption

Scripture: Galatians 4:1-7

I. The Incarnation Brings a Human Adoption

A. Paul's phrase "born of woman" (Galatians 4:4) echoes the proto-gospel of Genesis 3:15, pointing not to one specific woman but to generic, representative womanhood

1. "Woman" recalls Eve, fashioned from Adam, whose Hebrew name (Isha) derives from Ish (man), just as Adam (Adam) derives from Adamah (ground)
2. Adam renames Eve "mother of all living" after the fall and after the promise of Genesis 3:15, signaling that humanity plunged into death will be restored through the offspring of the woman

B. The "woman" of Genesis 3:15 is fulfilled progressively through redemptive history

1. Eve → Sarah → Rebekah → Tamar → Rahab → Ruth → Bathsheba → Mary
2. Each bears a "son of promise" until in the fullness of time the Son of God himself is born of woman

C. Union with the Son born of woman grants believers a new family history

1. The Old Testament is not merely ancient history for believers — it is their own family record
2. As Romans 9:5 states, from Israel's race according to the flesh comes the Christ, through whom Gentiles are grafted in
3. Stories of God's providential rescue — Moses, Mordecai, Esther — become the believer's own story of salvation

II. The Incarnation Brings a Legal Adoption

A. The Son was "born under the law" (Galatians 4:4), specifically the Mosaic law given to Israel

1. Luke 2:21 records Jesus's circumcision on the eighth day, consecrating him to full covenant obligation
2. Jesus is not named until after his circumcision; the name Jesus ("the Lord is salvation") is given by the angel and defines his mission

B. Jesus undergoes a second, final "circumcision" at the cross (Colossians 2), cut off for our sins, completing the legal transaction

1. At the cross he declares Tetelestai — "It is finished" — the debt paid in full, the final signature signed
2. Mankind, held captive by the law's condemnatory power, is legally transferred from the domain of darkness into the household of God

C. The legal reality of adoption is robust and permanent

1. Adopted children who struggle to feel they truly belong need the full biblical doctrine: believers are lawfully sons of God, lawfully heirs of the kingdom
2. Abraham is truly and legally the believer's father; Christ is truly and legally the believer's elder brother
3. Satan cannot reclaim what the Father has legally secured: Tetelestai — it is finished

III. The Incarnation Brings a Spiritual Adoption

A. Christ is called Son of Man because he is born of woman, and Son of God because he is born of the Spirit

1. At Jesus's baptism (Mark 1), the Spirit descends and the Father speaks to the Son: "You are my beloved Son, with you I am well pleased" — the Spirit confirms to Christ in the flesh his divine sonship
2. That same Spirit now confirms to believers' hearts that they are sons of God, so that with Christ they cry Abba, Father

B. The Spirit does not make us sons; rather, because we are sons, the Father sends the Spirit of his Son into our hearts (Galatians 4:6)

1. Herman Bavinck: sonship is the ground for receiving the Spirit, and the Spirit is the means by which believers become conscious of their sonship — these are reciprocal, not contradictory
2. The heir, even while under guardians, remains an heir; the adopted child, even before the legal work is completed, is already written on the adoptive parent's heart

C. Election grounds adoption before time; the Spirit applies it in time

1. Ephesians 1:4-5: in love the Father predestined us for adoption through Christ before the foundation of the world
2. In the fullness of time the Spirit is sent to confirm in our hearts what we have always been in the Father's heart — sons of God, heirs of the kingdom of heaven, through the Son born of woman, born under the law, born of the Spirit