The idea that Jesus was adopted as God’s son at some point in his life was an early belief held by various Jewish-Christian groups, such as the Ebionites.
Though it was ultimately ruled as heresy, there are still traces of adoptionism that can be found in the New Testament. Whether or not they were intended to be explicitly adoptionist is another matter, but regardless they carry heavy adoptionist undertones.
And we bring you the good news that what God promised to our ancestors he has fulfilled for us, by raising Jesus; as also it is written in the second Psalm,
‘you are my Son; today I have begotten you.’
–Acts 13.32-33
Here the author of Acts (commonly believed to also be the author of Luke) makes a clear reference to Psalm 2.7 in which God is speaking of the King of Israel as his son. The important word to stress is the word today. Through an adoptionist lens, this verse is declaring that on the day of his ascension, God has adopted Jesus as his son. In my previous post I made the comparison of Elizabeth being made queen on the day of her coronation. Here, Luke is suggesting that Jesus was chosen as God’s son on that particular day, and not until then.
the gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be Son of God with power according to the spirit of holiness by resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord.– Romans 1.3-4
The earliest case in which a NT author describes Jesus as the Son of God comes from Paul’s letter to the Romans. Notice in this passage that he does not say Jesus was pre-existent, or that he was always the son of God. Instead Paul states that Jesus was declared to be God’s son at his resurrection.
So also Christ did not glorify himself in becoming a high priest, but was appointed by the one who said to him; ‘you are my Son, today I have begotten you.’
Again we have a text that stresses the idea that Jesus was not always God’s son, but was instead appointed the title, this time referring to the moment of his baptism. Again we see the reference to Psalm 2.7.
These are just a couple passages that carry adoptionist undertones from the New Testament. There is another verse of interest, Luke 3.22, which does not include adoptionist language, but has been argued originally did. I will cover that in another post.
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