Adopted Sons

by Christopher Cuddy  

[Introductory note: this article is the second of a three-part series introducing the Church’s teaching on the doctrine of justification.  In the first article Part I we examined the Church’s understanding of the doctrine of original sin.  In this second article we will examine what the Church says about the doctrine of “justification” itself, and how it relates to our daily walk with God.  Next month, in the third article, we will examine how the Catholic and Protestant understandings of justification are similar, different, and how they relate.] 

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I was born an orphan.  For the first three months of my life I had no mother and no father.  I was without a home.  I was without a family.  I was alone. 

I often wonder what would have happened if I had remained an orphan.  Although it is difficult for me to imagine growing up in a Korean orphanage, such would have been my life had I not been adopted.  I would probably have grown up alone; never knowing the love of a true father and mother.  Never knowing what it means to love and to be loved.  Who knows what would have happened... 

By the grace of God, however, I was adopted three months after my birth, and I was brought over to the United States where I was reared in a loving Christian home.  While I was always grateful for my adoption, it wasn’t until I became a Catholic that I began to see how truly blessed I was.  My experience of adoption on a natural level really helped me to see and understand the implications of my supernatural adoption into God’s divine family.  I came to see – in an amazing new way – that families are not simply groups of biological organisms that share similar traits and characteristics.  Quite the contrary: at its core a “family” is not biological and physical but rather it is theological and spiritual.  Why is this?  Well, simply put, it is because God is the Father of a divine family and we are His children.  That’s why Jesus taught us to call God “Father” (see Luke 11:2-4).  Far from giving His disciples a mere title to call God, He was imparting to them a profound truth about the reality of our relationship with God: we are not merely God’s creatures; we are His divine sons!  This is so utterly important for understanding the Catholic view of justification.  This is essential for understanding the Catholic view of life.   

In last month’s article, we saw how Adam and Eve fell from their position as God’s divine son and daughter.  They were created to share in God’s divine life.  They were created to be members of His divine family.  When they sinned, however, they fell from their status as divine sons and rejected God as their Father.  They lost the very special gift of sanctifying grace (God’s life and power in their soul).  In a very real sense, they gave up a part of who they were.  They were not alone in their fallen condition, however.  All of their descendents were born in a state of original sin: they were born without God’s divine life in their souls. They were spiritual orphans.    

Christ changed all of this, however.  Through His incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension we are given an opportunity to be adopted back into God’s divine family.  While Adam and Eve had been created as sons of God who fell through sin, we are given a chance to be recreated (or “reborn”) back into God’s divine family and a life of grace.  This is what the Catholic Church teaches about the doctrine of justification.  At the Council of Trent the Church clearly defined “justification” as the process by which we are both made and declared to be sons and daughters of God.  The Council of Trent says that justification is a “translation from that state in which man is born a child of the first Adam, to the state of grace and of the adoption of the sons of God through the second Adam, Jesus Christ, our Savior”  Council of Trent Session Six, Chapter Four.  Thus, justification is sonship.  It is the process by which we are able to share and participate in Christ’s own divine Sonship and Life.  While we are all born as fallen sons of Adam, Christ made it possible for us to be reborn as divine sons of God. 

The Catholic Church was not making this up.  The idea that justification is sonship is found throughout the Bible.  1 John 3:1 states: “See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.”  This verse clearly states that we are not just “declared” or “called” God’s children, but that we actually become and are His children.  God doesn’t just “say” that we are His sons: His words have power and He actually makes us His children. In Galatians 3:26 St. Paul writes: “in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.”  It is in and through Christ’s own Sonship that we can become sons of God.  In the very next verse St. Paul goes on to say that we have been “baptized into Christ” and through our baptism we have “put on Christ” (Gal. 3:27).  This theme of fatherhood-sonship is also found in Galatians 4:1-7.  Christ saved us from our state as “fallen sons” so that we could be reborn (through baptism) and adopted into God’s divine family. 

Two of my favorite paragraphs in the entire Catechism of the Catholic Church are paragraphs 1996 and 1997  Section 1996-1997.  These sections in the Catechism say that God’s grace is both God’s undeserved favor and His own divine life.  God not only looks upon us as His children, He actually gives Himself to us: He pours His own Life and Power into our empty/sinful souls.  This is what God does as a Father.  This is what we receive as His sons. 

Just as a natural son receives an inheritance from his natural parents, so we - through our life in Christ - receive a heavenly inheritance from our heavenly Father.  Paragraph 2009  Section 2009 of the Catechism states that our adoption into God’s family enables us to share in Christ’s inheritance and makes us “co-heirs” with Jesus.  This is very important.  As sons and heirs of our Heavenly Father, we don’t “obligate” God to gives us eternal life in heaven any more than I “obligate” my own parents to give me an earthly inheritance.  My parents have written me into their will because I am their son and they love me; not because they “owe” me anything.  Our parents leave us an inheritance out of love for us.  It is pure gift.  In the same way, God does not “owe” us heaven, but He gives it to us as a divine inheritance because we are His adopted sons and He loves us.  Our salvation is purely because of the grace and love of God.  God graciously gives to His children what they could never achieve on their own. 

This may be all fine and dandy to read and think about, but how does this affect our everyday lives?  Does this understanding of justification and salvation as sonship have any application on how we live?  Does it really matter? 

Yes!  It matters profoundly, and it affects every aspect of our lives.  It affects how we look at Mass and receive Communion.  If we truly believe that God is our Heavenly Father - and that we are His divine sons - then we will come to see that Mass is not just a boring religious ceremony but rather a heavenly Family meal!  Like any good Father, God feeds and nurtures His children.  God only gives His children the very best (supernatural) food so that they can grow and mature in their faith and relationship with Him.  At Mass we receive “Food from Heaven.”  We eat at our Heavenly Father’s table, and we receive His Life, Power, Strength, and Being.  

Our understanding of God as Father also affects how we pray.  A lot of people are afraid to talk to God.  They think that God is so holy and righteous that He doesn’t want His sinful creatures to even try praying to Him.  But if we realize that God is a loving Father, we do not have to come before Him with a servant’s fear and dread: we can run into His open loving arms as His children.  God is not a cosmic dictator who eagerly awaits the moment when He can annihilate His sinful creatures.  He is a heavenly Father who calls His children to sincere repentance, and He wants them to be filled with His divine Love and Grace.  Nothing is too trivial in God’s eyes.  This is why Jesus taught His disciples to call God Father.  He wants His children to pray to Him about every aspect of their lives.  Our Heavenly Father wants to have an intimate relationship with His adopted children. 

Finally, our understanding of God as Father affects how we live.  God is a Father, and He loves as a Father.  We are God’s adopted sons and daughters, and we should live a life of loving obedience to our Heavenly Father.  Natural parents love their children, and they want what’s best for their sons and daughters.  This is why parents have household rules: they want their children to grow up safely.  As a supernatural Father, God wants what is best for His divine children, and He designs His laws and commandments to help His children mature spiritually and grow closer to Him.  God didn’t arbitrarily conjure up laws to keep His children from having fun.  All of God’s commandments come from His loving desire to give what is best to His children.  He wants to protect them from the harm of sin.  True freedom is only found in the loving guidance and instruction of our Heavenly Father.

In conclusion, God is a Father and we are His adopted sons and daughters.  This is what the Catholic Church teaches about the doctrine of justification.  This is how we are saved.  In the first article  Part I we saw that Adam and Eve were originally created as God’s children, but they rebelled against their heavenly Father and fell into sin.  In this article, we have seen that the Father loved us so much that He sent His own Son to lead us back to the Father so that we could be “adopted” (“reborn”) back into God’s divine family.  In next month’s article, we will look at a few of the Protestant beliefs about justification and examine how they relate to the Catholic view.