ADOPTION The place of adoption in the ordo salutis may be derived from an exegesis of John 1:12–13: To as many as received [ἔλαβον, elabon] him, to them he gave the right [ἐξουσίαν, exousian] to become children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were begotten [ἐγεννήθησαν, egennēthēsan], not by blood, nor by the will of the flesh, nor by the will of the husband, but by God. The first thing that should be noted in this passage is that the act of “receiving” Christ (an aorist)