– Loving treatment given by God to the Israelites, the children of the Lord.
This adoption will reach its perfection in the NT by the Christian’s solidarity with the Only Begotten Son of the Father:
Deut 14:1 : You are the children of the Lord your God.
Ex 4,22-23 : Thus says the Lord: Israel is my firstborn son.
Jer 31,9 : I will lead them […] in paths where they will not stumble, because I am to Israel like a father.
Hos 11 :1 : Israel was still a child, and I loved him already, and out of Egypt I called my son.
1Jn 3,1-3 : Consider with what love the Father loved us, that we should be called children of God.
Jn 8, 14-17 : My judgment is according to the truth, because I am not alone, but with me is the Father who sent me.
– In a proper sense, applied to Jesus:
Jn 1:18 : No one has ever seen God. The only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has revealed it.
Jn 3:18 : He who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
Jn 5,17-18 : But he said to them: “My Father continues to act until now, and I act too”.
Jn 16:32 : Behold, the hour is coming, and it has already come […] and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
Col 1,15-16 : He is the image of the invisible God, the Firstborn of all creation.
Heb 4:14 : So we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.
1Jn 4:15 : Everyone who proclaims that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.
– And by divine adoption to all who receive the Spirit:
Rm 8,15-17 : But you received the spirit of adoption by which we cry: Abba! Dad!
Gal 5:18 : If, however, you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
Eph 1 :5 : In his love he predestined us to be adopted as his children by Jesus Christ.
1Jn 3,1-2 : Consider with what love the Father loved us, that we should be called children of God.
