When couples struggle with fertility, one option for them to expand their family is adoption.
It’s a great joy when there’s a new member of the family! Often there are celebrations, parties, and, perhaps, once upon a time, the fathers may have even had cigars with bands that said either “boy” or “girl” on them.
So, it always seems odd to me when someone introduces one of their children to me and then adds, “he’s adopted.”
Not all couples do this, but I have seen it happen. Does this mean that being adopted isn’t full membership into the family? I wouldn’t think so.
So, if that child is a full member of the family, why mention it?
SOMETIMES PEOPLE LIKE TO POINT OUT OTHERS DON’T BELONG
While I’m sure the parents meant well, there are some other sorts of families, or organizations, that like to keep outsiders on the outside. In other words, they want to let the world know that some members of the community don’t fit in, and if they joined they would be “adopted” at best.
In many ways, this was the sort of tension that existed in the early Church. There were those who grew up in the Jewish community that Christianity had sprung from, and there were those who were “adopted” into this new Jewish faith – the early Gentile Christians.
BUT ROME WAS DIFFERENT AND DIVERSE!
Rome, the capital of the empire, was different though. This was a community that was separated both from the Jewish Church in Jerusalem, and many of the Gentile Churches founded by Paul in the Greek world.
The Church in Rome had both Jews and Gentiles – worshipping together, under one roof!
PAUL WRITES TO ROME TO ENCOURAGE THEM
Even though Paul had not yet visited the Roman Church, he decides to write to them, and encourage them to continue to be a witness of Jesus Christ.
They are a witness that the gospel is about different people coming together around Christ – as a family – to remember Christ’s crucifixion.
When Paul writes to them, he stresses that both the Jew and the Gentile are on level footing before God. In short, it doesn’t matter what your background is, or what sort of blood runs in your veins.
IT’S NOT HERITAGE THAT MATTERS, IT’S FAITH
After demonstrating that both Jews and Gentiles have messed up (his full argument shall be saved for another post), he then comes to a problem.
If one isn’t a part of God’s family through birth, or circumcision, how do you get in? How does one sign up to be on God’s team?
Paul’s answer is that it’s by trusting that Jesus is the crucified messiah, and believing that Jesus is the one Lord who becomes our rule – or example – for our lives.
In fact, Paul says this is exactly how Abraham, the patriarchal father of all Israel, himself became an Israelite!
ABRAHAM WAS THE FATHER OF ALL BY FAITH
Everyone had assumed that Abraham was a Jew because he was circumcised, but Paul shocks them all and says NOPE – that’s NOT how it works!
Abraham is a Jew because he trusted and had faith in God.
Here’s what Paul says,
Is this blessing pronounced only upon the circumcise [the Jew], or also upon the uncircumcised [the Gentile]? We say that faith was reckoned to Abraham as righteousness. How then was it reckoned to him? Was it before or after he had been circumcised? It was not after, but before he was circumcised. He received circumcision as a sign or seal of the righteousness which he had by faith while he was still uncircumcised. The purpose was to make him the father of all who believe …it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants–not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham, for he is the father of us all… (Rom 4:9-13, 16 RSV)
Paul appropriately points out that Abraham was “adopted” by God BEFORE he was circumcised!
Abraham became a father because of his faith. If circumcision did anything, it was only a reminder of his faith…a sign of his faith and trust in God.
FAITH IS KEY FOR MAKING US GOD’S FAMILY
Just as faith made Abraham the father of a great a family, so too does faith make us a part of a great family – God’s family.
- Our baptism counts for nothing, if we don’t have faith.
- Our personal beliefs count for nothing if our faith in God doesn’t guide our actions.
It’s putting our full trust and faith in the promises of God, offered through Jesus Christ, that brings us into communion with him.
It’s our faith that has the power of transformation – a transformation that births us into a life new!
This is life everlasting!
P.S. IT’S ALL ABOUT EXERCISING OUR FAITH
Some people believed that their heritage saved them. They believed that by being circumcised they were “in” and others were “out.”
Paul challenges this assertion in his letter to the Romans. He says that it’s one’s faith that makes them a child of God.
We have faith when we trust in God, and when the self-emptying example of the crucified Christ guides our lives.
Come and be transformed through faith this Sunday at St. Elias (10:30, 2001 Asbury Rd, Dubuque)(or your nearest Orthodox Church).
TO READ MORE ABOUT PAUL, AND HIS SECOND LETTER TO THE CORINTHIANS, CLICK HERE.