Children Of God
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament [1]
Children Of God —The teaching of Jesus Christ about the children of God cannot be understood apart from His teaching about the Fatherhood of God: indeed, it is from the latter standpoint that it must be approached. In such an approach the main positions seem to be as follows:—
(1) Jesus asserts absolutely the fatherly nature of God. His use of the name ‘Father’ implies that the fatherly nature is eternal in God. God does not become Father; He is ‘the Father.’ All knowledge of God is deficient which does not ‘know the Father’ ( Matthew 11:27, John 14:6-11). This fatherly nature of God necessarily manifests itself in all God’s dealings. He cannot be other than Father, and ‘he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust’ ( Matthew 5:45).
(2) This eternal Fatherhood in God is complemented by an eternal Sonship in God. Jesus used habitually the name ‘My Father.’ It implied a special relationship between the Father and Himself, which is summed up by John, ‘The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father’ ( John 1:18).
(3) The fatherly heart of God does not rest satisfied in the eternal Sonship in God. He desires the response of filial love from all who are capable of giving it (cf. esp. Luke 15:1-32, John 4:23). Jesus assumed that the filial attitude is expected from all men. This is implied in His method of teaching. The Divine Fatherhood is woven into its texture. Therefore the picture of God the Father is offered to everybody, with its necessary appeal to the hearer to enjoy the filial relationship. Since the outlook of the gospel is universal, the sonship may be universal. Even ‘publicans and sinners’ may enjoy the filial feeling.
(4) But Jesus taught plainly that this filial attitude is not general amongst men. He told the Jews that they were of their father the devil ( John 8:44), and distinguished ‘the good seed, the sons of the kingdom,’ from ‘the tares, the sons of the evil one’ ( Matthew 13:38); cf. also Matthew 23:13-33.
(5) Certain conditions are laid down as essential to the enjoyment of the filial relationship to God. These conditions are usually described by Jesus in terms of character. The children of God are ‘peacemakers,’ are those who love their enemies, and who do the will of the Father (cf. Matthew 5:9; Matthew 5:44; Matthew 12:50): they ‘do good and lend, never despairing,’ and are ‘merciful’ ( Luke 6:35-36). But in the discourses in John’s Gospel, Jesus Himself is offered as a touchstone for the filial relationship (cf. John 8:42-47). In this connexion the demand for the new birth must be noticed. Jesus connected entrance into that Kingdom which He came to found, with being ‘born anew’ ( John 3:3); He demanded that His disciples should be converted and become as little children if they would enter the Kingdom ( Matthew 18:3 ||). It may fairly be said that in the mind of Jesus there is an intimate connexion between these two modes of teaching. The moral character befitting the children of God is secured by the new birth ‘of water and of the Spirit’ ( John 3:5).
From these propositions we can gather the teaching of Jesus about the children of God. The relationship is apprehended by Jesus ethically, not physically. To identify Divine sonship with human birth brings the relationship down to the physical sphere. Jesus kept it in the religious sphere. The Fatherhood of God is an ethical attitude eternally present in the Godhead; man’s Divine sonship is his ethical response to this Divine Fatherhood. God is ever waiting to welcome men as sons, and to give them the position of sons at home (Luke 15). But their assumption of this filial position depends upon their adoption of the filial attitude, ‘I will arise and go to my father.’ As Wendt says, ‘God does not become the Father, but is the heavenly Father, even of those who become His sons.… Man is a true son of God … from the fact of his comporting himself as a son of God’ ( Teaching of Jesus , i. p. 193).
This religious attitude which betokens Divine sonship, includes four elements, ( a ) Children of God love their heavenly Father. Love is the golden bond in all home relationships. Jesus declares it to be the sovereign law in the true relationship between man and God. For He taught that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord our God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength ( Matthew 22:37, Luke 10:27). When claiming to have come forth from God, He said to the Jews: ‘If God were your father ye would love me,’ where love of Himself is identified with love of the Father whom He revealed.
( b ) Children of God obey their heavenly Father. This is implied in all Jesus’ exhortations to men to do the will of God. It is clearly stated in these sentences: ‘Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, the same is my brother, and sister, and mother’ ( Matthew 12:50); ‘Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven’ ( Matthew 7:21); cf. also Matthew 21:31; Matthew 24:45 ||.
( c ) Children of God trust their heavenly Father. This mark of Divine sonship is emphasized in the Sermon on the Mount. Jesus exhorts His disciples not to be as the Gentiles, but to rely upon their heavenly Father’s knowledge of their needs and His desire to help them. Anxiety must be banished from the hearts of God’s children, who are fed and clothed by their Father ( Matthew 6:25-34, Luke 6:22-34).
( d ) Children of God try to be like their heavenly Father. They are to be perfect, even as their heavenly Father is perfect ( Matthew 5:48). This must not be interpreted, as it often is, ‘Be as perfect as your Father.’ Its exhortation is to take the fatherly character of God as the standard of perfection. ‘Be ye perfect, even as He is perfect.’ The Father loves all men: let His children do likewise. By thus taking the fatherly character of God as the standard, His children will fulfil the second great law, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself’ ( Matthew 22:39). The natural man adopts other ideals of perfection; but the children of God try to be like their Father.
Jesus gave immortal expression to the desires characteristic of the children of God, in ‘the Lord’s Prayer.’ That prayer is put into the lips of those who can say ‘Our Father which art in heaven.’ It includes all the marks of God’s children that have been found elsewhere in the teaching of Jesus. The hallowing of the Father’s name implies the sanctification of His children after His likeness. The prayer ‘Thy will be done’ lifts us to the loftiest level of obedience. Only those who trust God can pray ‘Give us our daily bread,’ and can limit their desires for material good to such humble bounds. The prayer breathes throughout the spirit of love: that spirit is the warp into which the weft of the petition is woven.
The blessings enjoyed by the children of God are all the good that Jesus Christ came on earth to offer to men. This good is summed up in the phrase ‘the kingdom of God’ or ‘the kingdom of heaven.’ All the children of God are members of that Kingdom; cf. Matthew 13:38; Matthew 18:3-10. The Kingdom is God’s proffered blessing: ‘It is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom’ ( Luke 12:32). The Kingdom includes the blessings of forgiveness ( Matthew 6:14 ||); of guardian care ( Matthew 6:33); of the Holy Spirit ( Luke 11:13); of eternal life ( John 5:21-26; John 17:3); and finally, the enjoyment of the Father’s house ( Matthew 25:34, John 14:2-3).
This identification of the blessings enjoyed by the children of God with the good of the Kingdom, leads naturally to the statement that the ethical attitude characteristic of the children of God can be secured by faith in Jesus Christ. He not only spoke of Himself as the Son of God; He also declared that His revelation of Sonship made son-ship possible to men. Considerable importance attaches to the solemn words in Matthew 11:27 ‘All things have been delivered unto me of my Father: and no one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal him.’ They declare that the knowledge of the Father must be experimental. Only one who has lived as a son can know the Father. Men do not know God primarily as Father. They think of Him as King, as Judge, as Law-Giver; and because they are sinners they cannot know Him purely as Father. The shadow of the broken Law falls across God’s face, making it appear the face of a judge, and falls upon the attitude of men, chilling it into that of servants. But ‘the Son’ knows God as Father. He has no fear of Him as Judge; He claims to be Himself the King in the kingdom of God ( Matthew 25:40); He is conscious that He has never broken God’s law. Therefore He can know God as the Father; and He is able to reveal God to men as Father. Jesus does this by ransoming captive spirits from the bondage of sin and death ( Matthew 20:28), by persuading them to trust the fatherly love of God, and by strengthening them to break away from the self-life in favour of the life of surrender ( Matthew 16:24-27 ||).
The close connexion between this great word and the gracious invitation which follows it ( Matthew 11:28-30), must not be overlooked. That invitation shows the universality of Christ’s outlook. The Son is willing to reveal the Father to all . But the connexion explains the personal note in the invitation. Jesus does not say ‘Go to the Father’; He says ‘Come unto me, and I will give you rest.’ This is because He is the revealer of the Father; and the rest He offers is rest in the Fatherhood of God. The chapter describes the discouragements that darkened the noon of His ministry. He found rest to His own soul in the Father: ‘I thank thee, O Father … Even so, Father’ ( Matthew 11:25-26). This rest He desires to give to others. The only way in which men can come to the Father is by coming to Himself.
Two things are implied. One is that the Fatherhood of God is made accessible to men in Jesus Christ. He is the appointed trysting-place where men are sure to meet their heavenly Father. He was lifted up as an ensign ( Isaiah 11:10; Isaiah 11:12): when the nations see Him they know where to seek God. The children of God are scattered on the dark mountains of ignorance. Jesus is the trysting-place where they are gathered at the feet of their heavenly Father ( John 11:52). If men come to Him, the see the Father. The other fact is that Jesus gives men knowledge of the Father by teaching them to live as God’s children must live. They must be meek and lowly in heart (cf. Matthew 5:3-5); He can make them so. They must also learn obedience to the Fathers will. He offers to teach them this, saying with marvellous condescension, ‘Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.’ He is wearing the yoke of obedience to the Father, and He finds it ‘easy.’ A yoke is made for two. Jesus invites each man desiring to be a son of God to put his shoulder under the other end of His own yoke. Then he will walk in step with the great Elder Brother. Thus learning from Jesus, he will become a worthy child of God.
This great word has special significance because it forms a link between the Synoptic teaching and the teaching of Jesus in John’s Gospel. There the enjoyment of filial privileges is made to depend upon man’s relation to the Son (see especially John 5:19-47; John 6:28-40; John 8:19; John 8:23-56). The words declaratory of the love of God in sending the Son to save men are variously assigned to Jesus and to the Evangelist. But even if they are the Evangelist’s reflexion upon the words of Jesus, they do no more than sum up the teaching of the Lord in the chapters quoted above.
In particular, it may be noted that Jesus claimed kinship with the Father because ‘I do always the things that are pleasing to him’ ( John 8:29). This is in harmony with His reference to men who do the Father’s will, as His ‘brethren’ ( Matthew 12:50). Men who accept His revelation of God and duty become His brethren; all these ‘brethren’ are related to God as His children. They comport themselves in a befitting manner, which is essentially different from the self-centred conduct of unregenerate men. This filial demeanour is gained by faith in Jesus as the Saviour. He offers Himself to men as the Redeemer, through whom they can break away from sin and adopt the filial attitude toward God ( Matthew 23:8, John 10:15; John 10:25-29).
This conception of the teaching of Jesus on this subject is expressed by the Evangelist John in the striking sentence, ‘As many as received him, to them gave he the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name: which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God’ ( John 1:12-13). Here men are described as becoming children of God by believing on the name of Jesus. They attain the dignity by a new birth that is from above. Their natural birth does not make them children of God. Before they stand in this relationship they must receive a Divine energy. This energy is brought to them by the Word made flesh, who offers Himself to the world. Moreover, this reception of Christ is a continuous exercise of faith (τοῖς πιστεύουσιν), implying an attitude Godward that is maintained from day to day.
If an illustration may be permitted, it would seem that Jesus represents men as like Robinson Crusoe’s first canoe. It was designed to float in the water and was capable of doing so: but it could not get into the sea. So it lay on the shore like a log. Man is designed for fellowship with God, and is capable of living in filial relationship with Him. But before he can realize this destiny, he must be carried away from his native selfishness and be launched on the sea of Divine love. Jesus Christ is the mighty deliverer who can lift men out of death in sin and bring them to the Father. When men believe on Him, this purpose is fulfilled. They realize their destiny and become children of God. Then they spread their sails to the wind of heaven, and have ‘life that is life indeed.’
The scope of this article does not include the general teaching of the Epistles on this topic. But a brief reference must be made to that teaching in so far as it involves a distinct reference to Jesus Christ. In general it may be said that the teaching of the Epistles reproduces all the main features of the teaching of Jesus. The children of God are possessors of a new life that has come to them by faith in Jesus Christ: Romans 8:1-14, Galatians 2:20, 1 John 2:23; 1 John 5:13. This new life manifests itself in a new moral state befitting God’s children and due to the power of Christ: Galatians 5:16-26, Ephesians 2:1-10, Colossians 3:5-10. In this connexion it may be noted that Christians are called ‘children of light,’ who before becoming Christians were ‘children of disobedience,’ suffering ‘the wrath of God’ ( Ephesians 2:2; Ephesians 5:6, Colossians 3:6). Thus Christ is the Saviour through whom the children of God are reborn and morally renewed.
In particular, three descriptions of God’s children are connected with aspects of Christ’s work. (α) As Redeemer, He secures man’s adoption into the family of God ( Romans 8:14-16, Galatians 3:23 to Galatians 4:6). This ‘adoption’ has been interpreted, in connexion with the antithesis between sonship and servitude, to denote the emancipation of sons enslaved by sin. This is the shade of meaning prominent in Galatians. In Romans the idea of adoption of those not previously sons is emphasized. In both eases, however, the adoption is due to the redeeming work of Jesus Christ, ministered to men by the Holy Spirit. The word ‘adoption’ is not used in Hebrews. But the idea is found there in the figure of the Author of salvation leading many sons to glory ( Hebrews 2:10). (β) As High Priest, Jesus secures access to the Father for all who come unto God by Him ( Ephesians 2:18, Hebrews 7:24-25). This priesthood is exercised by Him as our ‘Brother,’ and was granted to Him in view of His experience of our temptations ( Hebrews 2:17; Hebrews 4:15). (γ) As King, Jesus Christ bestows a rich inheritance upon all His brethren. The children of God are ‘joint-heirs with Christ’ ( Romans 8:17).
In regard to this whole question, it should be remembered that in all probability our human speech cannot describe adequately relations that reach into the eternal, and concern God. The figure of ‘children’ is an analogy rather than an exact parallel. Therefore we should be misunderstanding the teaching of Jesus if we pressed the analogy too far and sought to discover the exact counterpart of each element of the human relation in that which we bear to God. Also it is important to recall that Jesus was not concerned with abstract relations. His purpose was practical and religious, and He used terms just so far as they served that purpose. His terminology was consistent; it may not seem conclusive on all points that suggest themselves to abstract reasoning.
Literature.—Articles in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible on ‘God, Children of,’ ‘Jesus Christ,’ ‘Romans,’ and ‘Regeneration’; Commentaries on the NT, especially those of Sanday-Headlam, Westcott, and Lightfoot; Fairbairn, Christ in Modern Theology ; Watson, The Mind of the Master ; Bruce, Kingdom of God , and St. Paul’s Conception of Christianity ; Wendt, Teaching of Jesus ; Beyschlag, NT Theology ; Coe, Religion of a Mature Mind , 187–216, Education in Religion and Morals , 65 ff., 373 ff.; Dalman, Words of Jesus ; Stevens, Christian Doct. of Salvation , and Theol. of NT .
J. Edward Roberts.
Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology [2]
See Adoption
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia [3]
Introduction: Meaning of Terms
I. Old Testament Teaching
1. Mythological Survivals
2. Created Sonship
3. Israel's Collective Covenant Sonship
4. Individual and Personal Relation
5. Universalizing the Idea
II. New Testament Teaching
1. Physical and Limited Sonship Disappears
2. As Religious Experience, or Psychological Fact
(1) Filial Consciousness of Jesus
(2) Communicated to Men
3. As Moral Condition, or Ethical Fact
4. As State of Being, or Ontological Fact
(1) Essence of Christ's Sonship
(2) Men's Sonship
5. As Relation to God, or Theological Fact
(1) Eternal Generation
(2) The Work of Grace
Introduction: Meaning of Terms
Children (Sons and Daughters) of God ( בּני , benē and אלהים , benōth 'ĕlōhı̄m , literally "sons and daughters of God"; τέκνα θεοῦ , tēkna theoú , and υἱοί θεοῦ , huioı́ theoú ): so the King James Version; but the Revised Version (British and American) translates the latter Greek phrase more accurately "sons of God." Tekna contains the idea of origin or descent, but also that of personal relation, and is often used metaphorically of "that intimate and reciprocal relationship formed between men by the bonds of love, friendship, trust, just as between parents and children" (Grimm-Thayer). Huioi , too, conveys the ideas of origin, and of personal relation, but the latter in the fuller form in which it appears in mature age. "The difference between huios and teknon appears to be that whereas teknon denotes the natural relationship of child to parent, huios implies in addition to this the recognized status and legal privileges reserved for sons" (Sanday and Headlam, on Romans 8:14 ). This difference obtains, however, only in a very general sense.
The above phrases denote the relation in which men are conceived to stand to God, either as deriving their being from Him and depending upon Him, or as standing in that personal relation of intimate trust and love toward Him which constitutes the psychological fact of sonship. The exact significance of the expression depends upon the conception of God, and particularly of His Fatherhood, to which it corresponds. It therefore attains to its full significance only in the New Testament, and its meaning in the Old Testament differs considerably, even though it marks stages of development up to the New Testament idea.
I. Old Testament Teaching
The most primitive form of the idea appears in Genesis 6:1-4 , where the sons of God by marrying the fair daughters of men become the fathers of the giants.
1. Mythological Survivals
These were a subordinate order of Divine beings or demi-gods, and the title here may mean no more, although it was probably a survival of an earlier idea of the actual descent of these gods from a higher God. The idea of a heavenly court where the sons of God come to present themselves before Yahweh is found in quite late literature ( Job 1:6; Job 2:1; Job 38:7; Psalm 29:1; Psalm 89:6 ). In all these cases the phrase implies a certain kinship with God and dependence upon Him on the part of the Divine society around Him. But there is no evidence to show whether the idea of descent of gods from God survived to any extent, nor is there any indication of a very close personal relationship. Satan is unsympathetic, if not hostile. In one obviously polytheistic reference, the term implies a similarity of appearance ( Daniel 3:25 ). In a secondary sense the titles "gods," and "sons of the Most High" are given to magistrates, as exercising God's authority ( Psalm 82:6 ).
2. Created Sonship
The idea of creation has taken the place of that of procreation in the Old Testament, but without losing the sense of sonship. "Saith Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me ... concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands" ( Isaiah 45:11 ). Israel acknowledges the absolute sovereignty of God as her Father and Maker ( Isaiah 64:8 ). Israel's Maker is also her Husband, and by inference the Father of her children ( Isaiah 54:5 ). Since all Israel has one Father, and one God created her, the tribes owe brotherly conduct to one another ( Malachi 2:10 ). Yahweh upbraids His sons and daughters whom He as their Father bought, made and established. "He forsook God who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.... Of the Rock that begat thee thou art unmindful, and hast forgotten God that gave thee birth" ( Deuteronomy 32:6 , Deuteronomy 32:15 , Deuteronomy 32:18 ). These passages reveal the transition from the idea of original creation to that of making and establishing Israel as a nation. All things might be described as children of God if creation alone brought it to pass, but Israel stands in a unique relation to God.
3. Israel's Collective Covenant Sonship
The covenant relation of God with Israel as a nation is the chief form in which man's sonship and God's fatherhood appear in the Old Testament. "Israel is my son, my firstborn" ( Exodus 4:22 ); "When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt" ( Hosea 11:1 ). And to be children of God involves the obligation to be a holy people ( Deuteronomy 14:1 , Deuteronomy 14:2 ). But Israel has proved unworthy of her status: "I ... have brought up children, and they have rebelled against me" ( Isaiah 1:2 , Isaiah 1:4; Isaiah 30:1 , Isaiah 30:9 ). Yet He will have pity upon them: "for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn" ( Jeremiah 31:9 , Jeremiah 31:20 ). Israel's unworthiness does not abolish the relation on God's side; she can therefore return to Him again and submit to His will ( Isaiah 63:16; Isaiah 64:8 ); and His pity exceeds a mother's love ( Isaiah 49:15 ). The filial relation of Israel to God is summed up and symbolized in a special way in the Davidic king: "I will be his father, and he shall be my son" ( 2 Samuel 7:14 = 1 Chronicles 17:13; compare 1 Chronicles 22:10; 1 Chronicles 28:6; Psalm 2:7 ).
4. Individual and Personal Relation
God's fatherhood to collective Israel necessarily tends to develop into a personal relation of father and son between Him and individual members of the nation. The children of Israel, whatever their number, shall be called "the sons of the living God" ( Hosea 1:10 ). Yahweh's marriage relation with Israel as a nation made individual Israelites His children ( Hosea 2:19 , Hosea 2:20; Jeremiah 3:14 , Jeremiah 3:22; compare Isaiah 50:1; Ezekiel 16:20 , Ezekiel 16:21; Ezekiel 23:37 ), and God's ownership of His children, the individual members of the nation, is asserted (compare Psalm 127:3 ). Chastisement and pity alike God deals forth as Father to His children ( Deuteronomy 1:31; Deuteronomy 8:5; Psalm 103:13 ), and these are intimate personal relations which can only obtain between individuals.
5. Universalizing the Idea
In another direction the idea of God as the father of Israel tends to be modified by the inclusion of the Gentiles. The word "first-born" (in Exodus 4:22 and Jeremiah 31:9 , Jeremiah 31:20 ) may be only an emphatic form of expressing sonship, or it may already suggest the possibility of the adoption of the Gentiles. If that idea is not present in words, it is an easy and legitimate inference from several passages, that Gentiles would be admitted some day into this among the rest of Israel's privileges ( Isaiah 19:25; Isaiah 65:1; Zechariah 14:16 ).
II. New Testament Teaching
1. Physical and Limited Sonship Disappears
As the doctrine of Divine fatherhood attains its full spiritual and moral significance in the New Testament, so does the experience and idea of sonship. All traces of physical descent have disappeared. Paul's quotation from a heathen poet: "For we are also his offspring" ( Acts 17:28 ), whatever its original significance, is introduced by the apostle for the purpose of enforcing the idea of the spiritual kinship of God and men. The phrase "Son of God" applied to Christ by the Roman centurion ( Matthew 27:54; Mark 15:39 ) may or may not, in his mind, have involved the idea of physical descent, but its utterance was the effect of an impression of similarity to the gods, produced by the exhibition of power attending His death. The idea of creation is assumed in the New Testament, but generally it is not prominent in the idea of sonship. The virgin birth of Jesus, however, may be understood as implying either the creative activity of the Holy Spirit, or the communication of a preëxistent Divine being to form a new human personality, but the latter idea also would involve creative activity in the physical realm (compare Luke 3:38 : "Adam (son) of God"). The limitations of the Old Testament conception of sonship as national and collective disappear altogether in the New Testament; God is father of all men, and of every man. In potentiality at least every man and all men are sons of God. The essence of sonship consists in a personal experience and moral likeness which places man in the most intimate union and communion with God.
2. As Religious Experience, or Psychological Fact
(1) Filial Conciousness of Jesus
Divine sonship was first realized and made manifest in the consciousness of Jesus ( Matthew 11:27 ). For Him it meant unbroken personal knowledge of God and communion with Him, and the sense of His love for Him and of His satisfaction and delight in Him ( Matthew 3:17; Matthew 17:5; Mark 1:11; Mark 9:7; Luke 3:22; Luke 9:35 ). Whether the "voice out of the heavens saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" was objective or not, its message always dwelt in the filial consciousness of Jesus. The Father's love was to Him a source of knowledge and power ( John 5:20 ), the reward of His self-sacrifice ( John 10:17 ) and the inspiration of His love for men ( John 15:9 ).
Sonship meant for Him His Messianic mission ( Matthew 16:16 , Matthew 16:17 ). It involved His dependence on the Father and His obedience to Him ( John 5:19 , John 5:30; John 8:29 ), and a resulting confidence in His mission ( Luke 5:36; Luke 10:36 , Luke 10:37 ). It filled Him with a sense of dignity, power and glory which the Father gave Him, and would yet give in larger measure ( Matthew 26:63 , Matthew 26:14; Matthew 16:27; John 17:5 ).
(2) Communicated to Men
Jesus communicated His own experience of God to men ( John 14:9 ) that they also might know the Father's love and dwell in it ( John 17:26 ). Through Him and through Him alone can they become children of God in fact and in experience ( John 1:12; John 14:6; Matthew 11:27 ). It is therefore a distinctively Christian experience and always involves a relation of faith in Christ and moral harmony with Him. It differs from His experience in one essential fact, at least in most men. It involves an inner change, a change of feeling and motive, of ideal and attitude, that may be compared to a new birth ( John 3:3 ). Man must turn and return from disobedience and alienation through repentance to childlike submission ( Luke 15:18-20 ). It is not the submission of slaves, but the submission of sons, in which they have liberty and confidence before God ( Galatians 4:6 ), and a heritage from Him for their possession ( Galatians 4:6 , Galatians 4:7; Romans 8:17 ). It is the liberty of self-realization. As sons they recognize their kinship with God, and share his mind and purpose, so that His commands become their pleasure: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous" ( 1 John 5:3 ). They have boldness and access to God ( Ephesians 2:18; Ephesians 3:12 ). With this free union of love with God there comes a sense of power, of independence of circumstances, of mastery over the world, and of the possession of all things necessary which become the heirs of God ( Matthew 6:26 , Matthew 6:32; Matthew 7:11 ). "For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world" ( 1 John 5:4 ). They learn that the whole course and destiny of creation is for the "revealing of the sons of God" ( Romans 8:19 , Romans 8:21 ).
3. As Moral Condition, or Ethical Fact
Christ's sonship involved His moral harmony with the Father: "I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love" ( John 15:10; John 8:53 ). He accomplished the work which the Father gave Him to do ( John 17:4; John 5:19 ), "becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross" ( Philippians 2:8 ). And sonship makes the same demand upon men. The peacemakers and those who forgive like God are His children ( Matthew 5:9 , Matthew 5:45; Luke 6:35 ). "For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these (and these only) are sons of God" ( Romans 8:14 ). God will be Father to the holy ( 2 Corinthians 6:18 ). The test and mark of the children of God is that they do righteousness and love the brethren ( 1 John 3:10 ). They are blameless and harmless, without blemish, in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation ( Philippians 2:15 ). Therefore their ideal of life is to be "imitators of God" and to walk in love even as Christ did ( Ephesians 5:1 ). Sonship grows to its consummation as the life grows in the likeness of Christ, and the final destiny of all sons is to be ever like Him ( 1 John 3:2 ).
4. As State of Being, or Ontological Fact
Sonship is properly and primarily a relation, but it may so dominate and transform the whole of a man's life, thought and conduct as to become his essential being, the most comprehensive category under which all that he is may be summed up.
(1) Essence of Christ's Sonship
It is so that the New Testament comprehends the person of Christ. Everything that He did, He did as God's son, so that He is the Son, always and ever Son. In the beginning, in the bosom of the Father, He is the Only Begotten (which see) Son ( John 1:1 , John 1:18 ). He is born a Son of God ( Luke 1:35 ). He begins life in the things of His Father ( Luke 2:49 ). His whole life is that of the beloved Son ( Matthew 3:17; Matthew 17:5 ). As Son of God He dies ( Matthew 26:63; Luke 22:70; Matthew 27:40 , Matthew 27:43; compare John 5:18 ). In His resurrection He was declared to be the Son of God with power ( Romans 1:4 ); as Jesus the Son of God He is our great high priest in heaven ( Hebrews 4:14 ), and in the glory of His father He will come to judge in the last day ( Matthew 16:27 ).
(2) Men's Sonship
Unlike Him, men's moral sonship is neither eternal nor universal. Are they therefore sons in any sense always and everywhere? All children are heirs of the kingdom of God and objects of the Father's care ( Luke 18:16; Matthew 18:10 ). But men may turn away from the Father and become unworthy to be called His sons ( Luke 15:13 , Luke 15:19 ). They may become children of the devil ( 1 John 3:10; John 8:44 ), and children of wrath ( Ephesians 2:3 ). Then they lose the actuality, but not the potentiality, of sonship. They have not the experience or character of sons, but they are still moral and rational beings made in the image of God, open to the appeal and influence of His love, and able to "rise and go to their Father." They are objects of God's love ( John 15:13; Romans 5:8 ) and of His gracious search and seeking ( Luke 15:4; John 11:52 ). But they are actual sons only when they are led by the Spirit of God ( Romans 8:14 ); and even so their sonship will only be consummated in the resurrection ( Romans 8:23; Luke 20:36 ).
5. As Relation to God, or Theological Fact
In the relation of father and son, fatherhood is original and creative. That does not necessarily mean priority in time.
(1) Eternal Generation
Origen's doctrine of the eternal generation of Christ, by which is meant that God and Christ always stood in the relation of Father and Son to one another, is a just interpretation of the New Testament idea that the Son "was in the beginning with God" ( prós tón Theón ). But Jesus was conscious of His dependence upon the Father and that His sonship was derived from Him ( John 5:19 , John 5:36 ). Still more manifest is it that men derive their sonship from God. He made them for Himself, and whatever in human nature qualifies men to become sons of God is the free gift of God. But men in their sin and disobedience could not come to a knowledge of the Father, had He not "sent forth his Son ... that we might receive the adoption of sons" ( Galatians 4:4 , Galatians 4:5 ): "Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God" ( 1 John 3:1 ); "God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son" (which see) who gave men "the right to become children of God, even to them that believe on his name" ( John 3:16; John 1:12 ). It is not the children of the flesh but the children of the promise who are children of God ( Romans 9:4 ). The mere act of birth does not constitute men into children of God, but His covenant of free grace must be added. God being essentially Father made men and the universe, sent His Son and His Spirit, "for the revealing of the sons of God." But they can only know the Father, and realize their sonship when they respond to His manifestation of fatherly love, by faith in God and obedience to Him.
(2) The Work of Grace
The question whether sonship is natural and universal or conditional upon grace working through faith, does not admit of a categorical answer. The alternatives are not strict antitheses. God does all things as Father. To endow man with rational and moral nature capable of his becoming a son was an act of love and grace, but its whole purpose can be communicated only in response to faith in Christ. But a natural sonship which is not actual is meaningless. A man's moral condition and his attitude toward God are the most essential elements of his nature, for a man's nature is just the sum total of his thoughts, acts and states. If these are hostile or indifferent to God, there is nothing left that can have the reality or bear the name of son. For if the word son be used of mere creaturehood and potentiality, that is to give it a meaning entirely different from New Testament usage. All men by nature are potential sons, because God has made them for sonship and does all things to win them into their heritage. Men may be sons of God in a very imperfect and elementary manner. The sharp transitions of Pauline and Johannine theology are rather abstract distinctions for thought than actual descriptions of spiritual processes. But Paul and John also contemplate a growth in sonship, "till we all attain unto the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a full-grown man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" ( Ephesians 4:13 ). See Sons Of God .
For lit. and further discussion, see special articles on Adoption; God; Jesus Christ .
