Why did redemption have to come before our adoption as sons?
Redemption had to precede adoption because adoption as sons could never happen without the price of redemption being paid. Christ came to shed His blood and pay the full price, redeeming those under the law, and this payment had to be one of the first processes in the plan of salvation. Otherwise, Satan would still claim us.
Les teaches that Galatians 4:5 shows Christ came, made of the woman, first to be King of Israel. When Israel rejected that, His eternal purpose was to go the way of the cross, shed His blood, and pay the full price of redemption—paid in full. He first redeemed those under the law, Israel, but it did not stop there; it spread to the whole human race. Paul writes to Gentiles that we might receive the adoption of sons, which could never happen without the price of redemption. Les explains that redemption therefore had to be one of the first processes in the plan of salvation, because otherwise Satan would still claim us as his own. Romans 3 likewise declares God is just and the justifier of the one who believes.
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.