Adoption means _ the placing of a son_. It is a legal metaphor
as regeneration is a physical one. It is a Roman word, for adoption
was hardly, if at all, known among the Jews. It means the taking
by one man of the son of another to be his son, so that that son
has the same position and all the advantages of a son by birth.
The word is Pauline, not Johannine. The word is never once used
of Christ. It is used of the believer when the question of rights,
privileges, and heirship are involved. It is peculiarly a Pauline
word (Gal. 4:5; Rom. 8:15, 23; 9:4; Eph. 1:5). John uses the word
"children," not "sons," because he is always speaking of sonship
from the standpoint of nature, growth, and likeness (cf. 1 John
3:1, R. V.).
Exodus 2:10 and Heb. 11:24, furnish two splendid illustrations of
the Scriptural sense and use of adoption.