What It Means to Be Adopted by God, Part 2 of 2

Last week, we concluded with Jerry Bridges’ three precious things adoption means for the Christian:[1]

  • We have been brought into close personal relationship with Him.
  • We have confident and ready access to Him.
  • We receive the full rights of sons.

Let’s now illustrate these three meanings in various ways by taking a deep dive into the infamous story of the prodigal son. As you’ll see, this story is actually about two sons (Luke 15:11), and perhaps the very best title for the story is “the parable of the Father’s Love.”[2]

In this section of Luke, we learn about “the yearning God” and His heart for the lost.[3] The sons in the story represent two common paths to God, both of which miss His heart.[4] The first son, the prodigal, represents “the tax collectors and sinners” or the path of irreligious free expression and experimentation. We might think of this son as “Oscar Goes Wild.” The second son, the elder brother, represents “the Pharisees and scribes” or the path of religion that’s intoxicated with its own goodness. This kind of religion can’t get excited about God’s scandalous love or extravagant parties for sinners. We might think of this son as “Manny Moralist.” Tim Keller in his wonderful little book The Prodigal God lays out how both prodigals and elder brothers equally need God:

“Jesus does not divide the world into the moral ‘good guys’ and the immoral ‘bad guys.’ He shows us that everyone is dedicated to a project of self-salvation, to using God and others to get power and control for themselves. We are just going about it in different ways…The gospel of Jesus is not religion or irreligion, morality or immorality, moralism or relativism, conservatism or liberalism… In the gospel’s view, everyone is wrong, everyone is loved, and everyone is called to recognize this and change.”[5]

Bridges’ three meanings above are especially illuminated in the restoration of the prodigal son. Here the father commands to give the son several gifts, including a robe, a ring, shoes, and a fatted calf. In his classic, Rediscovering the Parables, Joachim Jeremias helps us appreciate the culture behind these symbols:

  • Robe: This was “a mark of high distinction,” and that “when a king wants to honor a deserving official, he presents him with a costly robe . . . the son is treated as a guest of honor.”[6]
  • Ring:  This is “a signet-ring” and “the gift of a ring signified the bestowal of authority.”[7]
  • Shoes: In the setting of this story, these “are a luxury, worn by free men” meaning that “the son is no longer to go about barefoot like a slave.”[8] Again, this ties in well with Rom 8:15 and Gal 4:7 cited in Part 1, giving us a perfect picture of what it looks like to be released from a spirit of slavery. To use an image from Harry Potter, we are not Dobby the house-elf, reticent to ask for anything and constantly cowering in craven fear lest we are beaten again. No, again, we have confident and ready access to God. It’s like the image of Jack Kennedy’s son playing under his desk. There is no need to think that we are taxing God, or that He does not want us around, for he “has a big house with plenty of room to spare (John 14:1–6; cf. Jer 3:19). There is no need to be fearful, for God will run to us, throw his arms around us, and kiss us when we return from our prodigal wanderings (Luke 15:20).”[9]
  • Fatted calf: The father’s last order is to kill the fatted calf. Jeremias again gives us access to their culture, noting that “as a rule meat is rarely eaten,” and it is only “for special occasions [that] a fatted calf is prepared. Its killing means a feast . . . the festal reception of the returning son to the family table”![10]

[1] Bridges, The Gospel for Real Life, 144.

[2] Joachim Jeremias, Rediscovering the Parables (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1966), 101.

[3] Ladd, A Theology of the New Testament, 84. Of note, there are three stories about something that’s lost in Luke 15: a lost coin, a lost sheep, and a lost son.

[4] See 15:1-2 for the two audiences.

[5] Tim Keller, The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith (New York: Dutton, 2008), 44-45.

[6] Joachim Jeremias, Rediscovering the Parables, 102-103.

[7] Ibid., 103.

[8] Ibid.

[9] “Father, Fatherhood” in Dictionary of Biblical Imagery, ed. Ryken, Leland and Wilhoit, James C. and Longman, Tremper III (Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 1998), 276.

[10] Ibid.