FOLV – Facets of Love | Lesson 001

Foundation Texts: Romans 8:15-17; Galatians 4:6-7; 1 John 3:1 (AMPC)

He Called It Adoption Before He Called It Anything Else

There is a Greek word hidden in Romans 8:15 that changes how you understand your whole relationship with the Father. Most translations render it simply as “adoption,” but the compound is worth opening. Huiothesia (Strong’s G5206) — pronounced hwee-oth-ES-ee-ah — is built from huios (son, G5207) and thesis (a setting, a placing). Literally: the placing-as-son. Not the welcoming-of-a-guest. Not the promotion-of-a-servant. A formal legal transaction that repositions you inside a family with full rights of a natural child.

In Roman law — the legal culture Paul was writing into — adoption was permanent and irrevocable. The adopted child received the family name, the family inheritance, and the same standing as any naturally born child. There were no second-tier sons. There was no fine print revoking the arrangement on performance grounds. The father’s legal act sealed it.

“Even as [in His love] He chose us [actually picked us out for Himself as His own] in Christ before the foundation of the world… For He foreordained us (destined us, planned in love for us) to be adopted (revealed) as His own children through Jesus Christ, in accordance with the purpose of His will.” (Ephesians 1:4-5, AMPC)

The Greek word for “foreordained” there is proorizo — to mark out beforehand, to draw the boundary in advance. Your adoption was not Plan B after the fall. It was the Father’s intention before He made the world. The text adds that this was “because it pleased Him” — your adoption gave the Father joy to plan. You are not tolerated in God’s family. You were chosen for it before a single day of your life existed.

Derek Prince drew this distinction clearly: divine adoption is more than forgiveness — it is legal repositioning. Forgiveness removes guilt. Adoption confers status. A pardoned criminal walks free but is not a family member. A forgiven, adopted child of God holds the same legal standing before the Father as the natural Son, Jesus Christ. This is what “fellow heirs with Christ” means in Romans 8:17. Not a portion. Not a conditional share. Joint heirship.

The Cry That the Spirit Starts

Here is what is remarkable about Abba. It is an Aramaic word — a child’s address to their father — that appears only three times in the New Testament. Jesus used it in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36), in the most intense moment of His earthly mission, reaching across the weight of the cross to say Father. Paul uses it in Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6, both times to describe what the Holy Spirit does in the believer’s heart.

Abba (Strong’s G5) carries four distinct registers at once. It is the intimate trust of a small child who knows they are safe. It is the warm respect of a mature child who honors the greatness of their father. It is a divine invitation — the Father’s opening of the family to all who receive the Spirit. And it is an identity declaration, the mark that distinguishes a child of God from a servant of God.

Rick Renner has taught that Abba holds both intimacy and reverence in perfect tension: the confidence of a beloved child and the honor due an infinitely great Father. Get either half wrong and you lose the relationship. Reduce it to casualness and you lose the reverence. Harden it back into distance and you lose the intimacy. Abba holds both, and it is the Spirit who carries it.

This is the point Paul does not want you to miss: you do not work yourself into the revelation of sonship. You do not generate the Abba cry through emotional effort or spiritual striving. Galatians 4:6 (AMPC) is plain: “And because you [really] are [His] sons, God has sent the [Holy] Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba (Father)! Father!” The Spirit does not cry Abba to make you a son. He cries it BECAUSE you already are one. Sonship is the basis for the Spirit’s testimony, not the result of it. The sequence matters enormously.

The confirmation is double-witnessed. Romans 8:16 says “The Spirit Himself [thus] testifies together with our own spirit, [assuring us] that we are children of God.” Two witnesses. The Spirit of God and your born-again spirit declare the same fact simultaneously. There is no ambiguity in that arrangement. You are not hoping you are a child. Two spirits are telling you so.

John G. Lake understood this transition as a shift in motivation — not just a change in status. Religion, he taught, produces workers. Revelation produces sons. The Abba cry marks the believer who has crossed from working for God to living as God’s family. Once you know that your starting position is beloved child rather than aspiring servant, you approach the Father’s throne differently. Dr. Paul Enenche captured it this way: when you know you are the Father’s beloved child, you approach His throne with boldness, knowing you belong there.

Born and Placed: Two Realities, One Position

Huiothesia is the legal transaction — the placing-as-son. But there is another Greek word that shows you something equally important. Teknon (Strong’s G5043), from tikto (to give birth), means the natural child — the one who bears the parents’ nature because they were born from them.

John uses teknon in 1 John 3:1-2, the third foundation text for this lesson. “See what [an incredible] quality of love the Father has given (shown, bestowed on) us, that we should [be permitted to] be named and called and counted the children of God [teknon]! And so we are!” You are not only legally placed as a son through huiothesia. You have been genuinely born of God’s Spirit. You carry His nature in your recreated spirit. F.F. Bosworth made this distinction clearly: through spiritual birth, you actually carry God’s nature and life in your spirit — not just a legal title, but a shared nature.

John’s instruction in 1 John 3:1 is to SEE — to perceive, to consider with focused attention. The word “quality” in the AMPC translates potapos, which means “of what country” or “of what kind.” John is telling you that what the Father gave you belongs to a different category altogether. This is not ordinary affection upgraded to a higher grade. This is divine agape extended — a love of a different order entirely.

Agape (Strong’s G26) is the third word worth carrying through this lesson. From agapao, it describes love based on deliberate volitional choice, not on emotion or merit. It is self-sacrificing, unconditional, covenant-loyal. And in 1 John 4:8 (AMPC), John goes further: “He who does not love has not become acquainted with God [does not and never did know Him], for God is love.” The Father does not merely have love as an attribute He can deploy. He IS love as His essential nature. When He loves you with agape, He is not deploying an emotion. He is expressing His own being toward you. Smith Wigglesworth taught it this way: agape is God’s nature, not just His feeling — when the Father loves you with agape, His very essence is being directed toward you, unchangeable and eternal.

That is who adopted you. Love itself decided it before the world was made.

The Love That Drew Before You Arrived

The Father’s love for you does not start at your conversion. Jeremiah 31:3 (AMPC) shows its age: “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you and continued My faithfulness to you.” The Hebrew word for love here is ahavah — the Old Testament equivalent of agape — preceded by olam, meaning age-abiding or everlasting. This love has no starting point within time. It predates your need of it.

Kenneth Copeland has put it this way: Abba love is not just God loving us — it is God making us family. When the Father calls you son or daughter, He is declaring that you carry His nature, His name, and His inheritance rights. Billye Brim has made the same observation about the predating love: before you were born, before you sinned, before you even knew you needed love, He chose you. This is love that originates in His heart, not your actions.

Romans 5:8 (AMPC) confirms the direction: “But God shows and clearly proves His [own] love for us by the fact that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Agape does not wait for you to become worthy. The Father demonstrated His love at your worst. The cross is the measure of divine love, not your current spiritual condition.

And Romans 8:38-39 seals what that love can and cannot be undone by: “For I am persuaded beyond doubt (am sure) that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities, nor things impending and threatening nor things to come, nor powers, Nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Paul is not expressing optimism. He is declaring certainty. Nothing in creation holds the power to sever your adoption or terminate your family position. T.L. Osborn taught that agape love creates unshakeable identity — when you know God loves you with agape, circumstances cannot change your value or your security.

Three Things You May Already Be Thinking

Let me answer them directly.

“I don’t feel like God’s child. My sin disqualifies me.” Feeling and fact are not the same category. Romans 8:16 says the Spirit testifies — not your emotional state. Galatians 4:6 says God sent the Spirit because you are His son — sonship precedes the Spirit’s testimony, not the reverse. Roman adoption was not revocable by the child’s behavior; it was secured by the father’s legal act. Your adoption was secured by Christ’s finished work, not by your daily performance. 1 John 1:9 covers the sin question: confess, receive cleansing, stand again in your position.

“I was never loved by my earthly father. I cannot connect with God as Father.” Earthly fatherhood at its best is an imperfect reflection of the Father’s love. At its worst it is a distorted image that requires correction. Ephesians 3:14-15 identifies God as the One from whom all fatherhood derives its name. Your earthly experience is not the standard. God is the standard. He is the perfect Father against whom all others are measured, and He alone is fully qualified to show you what fatherhood means. Your history does not set the ceiling on what the relationship can be.

“I know I am saved, but I do not experience the closeness with the Father that others describe.” Experience follows established truth, not the reverse. Begin declaring your adoption. Speak Romans 8:15-16 aloud. Confess Galatians 4:6 daily. Read 1 John 3:1 and pause on the words “and so we are.” The Holy Spirit confirms what is already true — your declaration creates the atmosphere for that confirmation. The Abba cry often begins as a deliberate, faith-based declaration before it becomes a sustained spiritual experience. Act on the truth. Experience follows.