Reformed Forum John L. Girardeau on Adoption: The Forgotten Glory of the Gospel | Jonathan Master and Matt Holst
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Mar 27, 2026 
Jonathan Master, Reformed theologian and seminary president, gives historical and theological perspective on John L. Girardeau. Matt Holst, pastor at Shiloh OPC, brings pastoral application for counseling and congregational life. They explore adoption as distinct from justification and regeneration. They discuss Adam’s lost sonship, Christ’s filial obedience, adoption’s comfort in suffering, inheritance, and how calling God Father reshapes prayer.
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Adoption Is A Distinct Saving Benefit
- Adoption is a distinct gospel benefit, not reducible to justification or regeneration.
- John L. Girardeau insists adoption has its own grounds, rights, duties, and evidences and is a “grace upon the grace” of justification.
Why Adoption Got Pushed Aside
- Neglect of adoption stems from Reformed emphasis on forensic justification and court imagery.
- Jonathan Master warns that losing adoption flattens the relational/inheritance aspects the New Testament repeatedly emphasizes.
Adoption Emphasizes Inheritance As Well As Relationship
- NT adoption language combines relationship and inheritance, unlike modern adoption focus on relationship alone.
- Jonathan Master notes Greco-Roman adoption primarily conveyed inheritance rights, a motif Paul uses for suffering and glory.
