The word uiJoqesiva is a compound with two parts: a noun

uiJov" meaning son, and qesiva, derived from the verb

tivqhmi, meaning to set, put, or place. Therefore uiJoqesiva
literally means setting someone as a son or putting someone in
the place of a son. Most translators and lexicographers con-
sider the human situation when defining uiJoqesiva, and in
the human situation, setting or placing someone as a son
means adoption; hence, they translate and define the word
as adoption.
2
In English sonship refers to one who has
the status of a son. This word is better than adoption,
which as Byrne points out, does not do justice to the
sense of an abiding status (293). While sonship does not
fully convey what the Greek word implies, it is closer to
the Greek word and preferable to adoption, especially in the
light of the revelation of the Bible.
UiJoqesiva was not used much before the writing of the
New Testament
3
, so it appears to be a word that had
meaning primarily for the early church. When Romans
8:15, 23; 9:4; Galatians 4:5, and Ephesians 1:5 are viewed
together, it is clear that uiJoqesiva refers to a process which
begins with predestination and ends with the redemption
of our body.
A Judicial Procedure
The natural way that children are brought into being is
through birth. But once birth has taken place, human be-
ings can only be set as a son or put into the place of a son
in a family other than their birth family through the judi-
cial procedure of adoption. When uiJoqesiva occurs in
literature prior to the New Testament, mostly in inscrip-
tions, it does have the meaning of adoption, because it
refers to the judicial procedure of making someone a son
who has already been born the son of someone else. Un-
fortunately, when many people come to the Bible and are
confronted with the notion that believers are also sons of
God, they consider, according to this judicial procedure,
that this also must take place through adoption.
being
A
lthough uiJoqesiva was not used by Greek translators
of the Old Testament, the concept of human beings
sons of God is present in the Old Testament. The
people of Israel are considered sons of God on a few occa-
sions (Exo. 4:22; Deut. 14:1; 32:19; Isa. 63:16). In
addition, eschatologically or prophetically the people of
Israel are also called the sons of the living God (Hosea
1:10), and Davids offspring is called Gods son (2 Sam.
7:14; Psa. 2:7; cf. 89:26-27). Based on the use of
uiJoqesiva in Greek inscriptions and the human procedure
of adoption, writers such as James Scott consider that
these Old Testament references, especially Exodus 4:22
and 2 Samuel 7:14, are cases of divine adoption. How-
ever, when 2 Samuel 7:14 is considered with Psalm 2:7,
You are My Son; today I have begotten You, this clearly
must be viewed as a promise of divine begetting rather
than divine adoption. While some consider this as a bor-
rowing of coronation rites from other Near Eastern
cultures, the New Testament writers understood this as a
October 2000 39
G L O S S A
Sonship or Adoption as Sons?
I
n the New Testament the nature of the relationship
between the Triune God and the regenerated believers
is a matter of great significance. The believers under-
standing of this relationship has a great impact on their
experience of the realities of Gods economy. The princi-
pal characterization of this relationship is conveyed in the
thought of the believers being sons of God (Rom. 8:14;
Gal. 3:26). This is commonly accepted by Christians, but
an exact understanding of how the believers are sons of
God is not as clearly understood. This lack of clarity derives,
in part, from the translation of the word uiJoqesiva in the
New Testament.
The word uiJoqesiva (lit., setting one as a son) occurs
five times in the New Testament (Rom. 8:15, 23; 9:4;
Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5) and has been translated in the
majority of English versions as adoption as sons. This trans-
lation is unfortunate because adoption conveys the
impression to most English readers that the way one
becomes a son of God is through a judicial procedure.
An alternate translation, sonship, which occurs in a few
versions
1
, carries the notion in English of one who has
the status of a son. The translation of uiJoqesiva as sonship
is preferable since it conveys the sense of the abiding
status of being a son, although it does not fully capture
the notion that uiJoqesiva also involves a process. This
article investigates the meaning and use of the word
uiJoqesiva and alternate ways of understanding how this
takes place, whether by a judicial procedure or through a
divine, organic process.
The Meaning and Use of the Word uiJoqesiva
reference to Christ being begotten as the firstborn Son of
God in His resurrection (Acts 13:33; Heb. 1:5).
I
n view of the above, the passages where Israel is called
Gods son are better considered as an indication of Gods
paternity in His creation (cf. Acts 17:28-29) and selection
of Israel. The verses in which Israel or Davids offspring
are to be considered Gods son (at some time future to the
utterance) are best interpreted as promises of divine sonship
which are fulfilled in the New Testament (Rom. 9:26;
2 Cor. 6:18; Heb. 1:5; Rev. 21:7). Thus, these Old Testa-
ment passages are best taken not as indicators of divine
adoption, but rather as a reflection of God as the source of
Israel in creation and a reflection of His aspiration to have
many sons sharing in His life and nature. This could be
fulfilled only after the incarnation of His only begotten
Son, who after passing through human living and death be-
came the firstborn Son of God in resurrection. In
resurrection He, as the last Adam, became the life-giving
Spirit in order to regenerate the believers and make them
the many sons of God. This transpires not through a judicial
procedure of adoption but through an organic process
which consummates in the believers full growth and matu-
rity as manifested sons of God (Rom. 8:19).
An Organic Process
The fact that sonship, the making of believers into mature
sons of God, is an organic process can be seen in numer-
ous places in the New Testament. The five occurrences of
uiJoqesiva, when viewed together, clearly indicate that
uiJoqesiva refers to a process. This process begins in Ephe-
sians 1:5 with the predestination of the believers unto
sonship. In the Old Testament this sonship was the unique
privilege of Israel, as is mentioned in Romans 9:4. In the
New Testament sonship is received by the redeemed be-
lievers according to Galatians 4:5, and this includes the
receiving of the spirit of sonship mentioned in Romans
8:15. Finally, in Romans 8:23 the believers eagerly await
sonship, the consummation and maturation of the process
of becoming a manifest son of God, the redemption of
their body. Brendan Byrne points out the tension that ex-
ists between the present and future aspects of uiJoqesiva in
Romans 8 (if uiJoqesiva is viewed as adoption). This can
be resolved by an understanding of a real but hidden
status of uiJoqesiva in the present, attested by the Spirit
(vv. 15-16) and the public revelation of this status at the
time when believers will share the bodily resurrection of the
Firstborn Son of God (v. 29; cf. Phil. 3:20 1) (293).
In addition, the vocabulary used to describe the believers
is the same as that used to describe human beings in the
natural process of birth, growth, and maturation in the
stages of human life. At the beginning of the process the
believers are referred to as newborn babes (brevfh1 Pet.
2:2; cf. 1 Cor. 14:20), followed by infants (nhvpioi
1 Cor. 3:1; Heb. 5:13), children of God (tevknaJohn
1:12; Rom. 8:16-17), sons of God (uiJoivRom. 8:14;
Gal. 3:26; 4:6-7; Heb. 12:7), brothers of the firstborn
Son of God (Rom. 8:29; Heb. 2:12; John 20:17), and
heirs of God (Rom. 8:17; Gal. 4:7). Many verses in the
New Testament indicate that God imparts His divine life
into His redeemed and makes them a new creation (2 Cor.
5:17; Gal. 6:15) and indeed His very children (cf. John
1:12). Human beings can be regenerated (ajnagennavw
1 Pet. 1:3, 23; palingennavwTitus 3:5), born again or
born from above (gennavw a!nwqenJohn 3:3), and born
of water and the Spirit (vv. 5-6). God genuinely begets
sons by a divine birth (1:13; 1 John 2:29; 3:9; 4:7; 5:1,
4, 18). Believers receive the divine eternal life (zwhv John
3:16; 1 John 5:12-13) and partake of the divine nature
(fuvsi"2 Pet. 1:4). They grow with the growth of
God (Col. 2:19, cf. 1 Pet. 2:2; Eph. 4:15-16) unto full
growth, or maturity (tevleioiCol. 1:28; 4:12; Heb.
5:14; 1 Cor. 14:20).
The use of uiJoqesiva and the words used to describe the
believers experiences clearly indicate that sonship is an or-
ganic process rather than a judicial procedure. To convey
the impression that believers become sons of God merely
through a judicial procedure, as most translators imply and
commentators reinforce, neglects the use of the word in
the New Testament as well as Gods ability not only to
re-create but also to regenerate human beings with His
divine life and make us His sons in life and nature.
by Roger Good
Notes
1
For example, all five verses in the Berkeley version, and in
Romans 8:15 in the NIV, RSV, and Jerusalem Bible.
2
The word adopt from the Latin ad-opto means to take one
by choice, taking one (in the place of a child). In its root mean-
ing it actually is quite close to the Greek. However, the notion
that the word adoption conveys to the modern reader is that of a
judicial procedure.
3
In pre-New Testament use it occurs mostly in inscriptions
dating back only as far as the second century BC. In these in-
scriptions it is used to refer to the judicial procedure of
adoption, which is the only way humanly one could be set or
put into the place of a son.
Works Cited
Byrne, Brendan. Rev. of Adoption as Sons of Godan
Exegetical Investigation into the Background of UIOQESIA
in the Pauline Corpus. Ed. James M. Scott. Journal of
Theological Studies 44 (April 1993): 288-294.
Scott, James M., ed. Adoption as Sons of Godan Exegetical
Investigation into the Background of UIOQESIA in the Pau-
line Corpus. Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen
Testament 2.48 (1992): xv+353.
40 Affirmation & Critique