Adopted Identity

The question arises in how we move from the commonly held identity of 'sinners in need of a savior' into the in Christ, adopted identity and all its implications.  We are 'sinners saved by grace,' yes this is true a soteriology statement, but is this who I am in Christ?  Are we moving from the realization (our sinfulness / need for a savior / understanding forensic justification), abate truism, to living out the identity of adopted sons whom cry out 'Abba, Father?'  Paul brings us to the conclusion that we are all sinners in need of a savior (Romans 1:18–3:20), but Paul does not stop at the need for salvation, he goes on to explain how we've been set free from the bondage of sin (Romans 7), moving towards our status as adoption children of God (Romans 8:15-16; Galatians 4:6).

Who we are 'in Christ' seems to become distorted in the Christian country club churches, driven by the agendas of successful people (patrons) who set the bar based on life performance: you are what you do, what you've accomplished, and you are your success in culture (infiltrating the church).  Christianity becomes a superficial system of moral and spiritual principles for people who are looking to gain an edge in life (participation is a way of earning God's favor, motivating the divine to help you get the life you desire), or by virtue seeking (seeking virtues) which gives one control / autonomy / freedom over one's life.  Instead of 'new life' [a different way of living] they teach 'better life' [abundant material living], and instead of born again (Spiritual transformation) they often teach self-betterment (a modified psychologically based individiation) which trivializes the change we find occurring in the biblical doctrine of conversion.

A strong argument can be made (seeing it already has been made countless times) that the gospel declares who Jesus is, His lordship, and then we are to understand the implications of His lordship.  When you remove the implications of His lordship, such as 'movement towards a new way of living,' it tends to collapse into what Willard had called the 'gospel of sin management.'  Ephesians 4 is a perfect example, where Paul is telling the church 'you must no longer live as the Gentiles' (Eph 4:17), describing the state of the darkened mind the Gentiles possess (Eph 4:18-19; cf Rom 1:26-28), exhorting them to the 'way of life' they were taught as they were gospeled (heard about Christ) and discipled (were taught in him) in (Eph 4:20-21), and to take of this old self so they can put on the new self (Eph 4:22-24) in participating with the Holy Spirit's renewal of their mind.  The problem is that when we skip from 'stop living like the Gentiles' to the therefor in v. 25-28 of 'now you have to stop sinning or you'll give the devil a foothold in your life,' we leave out the new life people are supposed to be living.  As a friend says, "we've been sold a ticket to heaven (God's reign) but haven't been told how to get on, sit on, or even how get along, whether on or looking for the train."

I've enjoyed how Billings' used a Kierkegaard's Anti-Climacus parable in The Sickness unto Death to illustrate our reluctance/resistance to this new adopted identity; "adoption by the King is such a radical notion, we resist it. We would rather have the occasional brush of God’s presence, or a relic of his solidarity with us, so that God can be an appendage of our identity. But God wants more than that; he wants our lives, our adopted identity. By bringing us into the new reality of the Spirit, we can call out to God—Abba, Father—as adopted children united to Christ. Yet there are few things more countercultural than this process of adoption—losing your life for the sake of Jesus Christ, to find it in communion with the Triune God."  (Billings, J. Todd. Union with Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church. Kindle Loc. 425-429).