Children Of God

He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him. He came to p his own, and  his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right u to become v children of God, who were born, not of blood  nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God (John 1:10-13).

The world’s population is about 8 billion people. An analysis of the 8 billion presents the below statistics.

Christianity – 2.38 billion
Islam – 1.91 billion
Hinduism – 1.16 billion
Buddhism – 507 million
Folk Religions – 430 million
Other Religions – 61 million
Judaism – 14.6 million
Unaffiliated – 1.19 billion ¹

All these religious affiliations believe in God or a supreme being or power. And they all lay claim to a relationship with God. Excluding atheists, almost all religions believe  human beings are children of God. Christianity however differs from this general belief.

Faith and Trust In Jesus.

Christianity declares only Christians are children of God. We get a bad reputation for saying that. We are charged with arrogance for claiming this. But this is a claim of Scripture. Only those who believe in Jesus and receive him as Saviour are Children

But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12)

Children are in the biological sense, the offspring of a husband and wife or man and woman. From the biological understanding, Children of God then are offsprings of God. But not in the biological sense. John 1:13 tells us that: “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”  In this text, there is a distinction between natural birth and spiritual birth: “born not of blood…but of God” This is a common categorisation the Bible makes of all human beings: “Natural person and Spiritual Person: “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.  The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one (1 Corinthians 2:14-15).

The natural person as described in the text (i) cannot accept or understand spiritual things (ii) Spiritual things are foolishness to them (iii) they are Spiritually ignorant. The natural person in their spiritual ignorance are still living in sin and have no regard for repentance and faith in Jesus. Their understanding is blinded to the truth of the gospel Simply, the natural person is a sinner. They have no thoughts of God. They are  “children of wrath” rather than of God (Ephesians 2:3).

Everyone is either a Child of God or a Child of Wrath. A child of wrath is living in unrepentant sin and have no regard for God. A child of God is one who has put their trust and faith in Jesus and repentance from their sin. They have received him:  “But to all who did receive him…” It is only those who receive Jesus and believe in his name who are children of God. The word received, in the original language means to take or lay hold of. This paints a picture of something we must grab and not let go. God has offered Jesus as the solution to our sins and we must not let him slip by. Take hold of him. And the only way by which we can take hold of him is by believing in him. That means trusting in Jesus and putting our faith in him.


Adoption into God’s Family

Adoption is when a child is brought into a home to become a member of a family who originally was not a child of that family. Adoption is a legal process. In the natural world, an adoption certificate is issued which proves that a child has been adopted and become a member of a new family. And one of the profound ways by which the Scriptures describes our relationship with God is that of adoption.

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:15).

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God (Galatians 4:4-7).

he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will (Ephesians 1:5)

Those who receive or believe in Jesus, he gives them the right, that is the power or authority to call themselves children of God. When a sinner comes to faith in Christ, they are immediately reconciled and added into the family of God. We are like a child who lost both parents and is then picked up by another family by adoption. We were lost spiritually and God through Christ adopted us into his family: “remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” (Ephesians 2:12-13).

In adoption, those who believe become children of God. This is one of the profound truths of Christianity. Enemies become children of God. Rebels are reconciled to God. J.I. Packer,  in his book Knowing God, noted that

[Adoption] is the highest privilege that the gospel offers: higher even than justification… That justification—by which we mean God’s forgiveness of the past together with his acceptance for the future—is the primary and fundamental blessing of the gospel is not in question. Justification is the primary blessing, because it meets our primary spiritual need… But contrast this, now, with adoption. Adoption is a family idea, conceived in terms of love, and viewing God as father. In adoption, God takes us into his family and fellowship—he establishes us as his children and heirs. Closeness, affection and generosity are at the heart of the relationship. To be right with God the Judge is a great thing, but to be loved and cared for by God the Father is a greater.

Born Of God

Receiving and Believing in Jesus is not something we can do by ourselves. Faith to believe is a gift God gives to us. Salvation is all a gift of God (Ephesians 2:8). This is the consistent testimony of Scriptures. Salvation is of God (Revelation 7:10). Again, we note how the verse 13 of John 1 makes a distinction between our natural birth and the spiritual birth: It tells us clearly salvation is not something we can work out” who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” Salvation is not of natural descent. We are not saved because our parents are Christians. We are not saved because of something we do. We are saved because God changed our heart. But of God.

Just as we had no hand in our natural birth, we equally have no hand in our spiritual birth. God will first have to do the work of grace in our hearts before anyone can believe. We have to be born of the Spirit (John 3:5-6). How does God give birth to us? He does that by his word “since you have been born again, not of perishable seed but of imperishable, through the living and abiding word of God” (1Peter 1:23)

Are you a child of God? Not in the sense where everyone thinks every human being is a child of God. But this is in the sense the Bible speaks of here. Have you received Jesus? Have you believed in Jesus?


Note

1. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/religion-by-country