What does it mean to be a child of God?

The heart of God is the source, but God has His own means of bringing us into His family. "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons" (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.) There are two or three important statements in these words. First, that those who received Christ, or believed on His name, are actually born of God. More indeed than this. The very manner of the statement is exclusive of all human agency or claims. With the Jew descent from Abraham, born "of blood," went for a great deal, as it brought him into the number of the chosen people. But now that Christ is come, natural descent has no pre-eminence, it is indeed totally set aside, and nothing will avail except being born of God. It is not only therefore, as theologians speak, adoption, blessed and wonderful grace as this would be; it is more, it is an actual new birth, the result of the action of sovereign and divine power by which those who are the subjects of it become partakers of a new nature and a new life. It is thus that John, speaking in the abstract confining his attention entirely to the character of this new nature, without respect to the old, the Adam nature, which all believers still possess), says, "Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for His seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God." (1 John 3:9.) Yes, nothing short of this — born of God — is the truth; but while of God, if we would come to the special character of the action, it is of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the divine agent by whom this wondrous change is effected, according to the scripture already adduced, "born of water and of the Spirit."

This is the Old Testament idea of children, which reaches out after the New Testament idea, but without being able to attain the blessedness of this, founded as it is upon a new creation, a new life and nature, where no fall can again mar what the sovereign grace of God has accomplished. Children of God there were, of course, from the beginning; but now for the first time they are given to take the place of children, owned as such because they have so believed on Christ's name as to have received Him. What underlies this and justifies it is that they are the subjects of a true divine work. They are born again, not of blood — the way of natural birth; not of the will of the flesh, — man in his fallen condition; nor of the will of man — even when renewed; but of God, and God only.

But this new life given of God is not merely a moral change, — a ceasing to do evil and learning to do well. It is a real new element of being in the believer, though it may be impossible to define; and no wonder, for natural life is impossible to define. By it we are actually, not putatively, the children of God, — really born of Him: "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:13.)

But this new life given of God is not merely a moral change, — a ceasing to do evil and learning to do well. It is a real new element of being in the believer, though it may be impossible to define; and no wonder, for natural life is impossible to define. By it we are actually, not putatively, the children of God, — really born of Him: "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." (John 1:13.)

Believers are brought to God. They are made His children, formed in His nature, and graced in His life. They are constituted righteous as He is righteous. They know God, and they know that they know Him by keeping His commandments. They are in God, and they know that also by keeping His word. These things are not merely by stated communications, although they have it on the authority of holy scripture. Such communications are received in a new nature, and by the Spirit of God, and bring a certainty beyond anything in the sphere of nature. For man in nature such words could have no meaning, but for those brought to God in Christ, they are spirit and life. To man at his best the Lord had to say, "Ye must be born again," and later it was said to the saints, "Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever" (1 Peter 1:28). By this mysterious work of the Spirit in the soul of man, there is planted a new nature which gives a capacity to know and love God, the One who has thus acted from His own side, and from Whom all the blessing comes. In this new nature we come into the relationship of children of God, from which we can know the blessedness of holding communion with Him, and "at-homedness" with divine Persons, in all the sweetness of the home of everlasting love.

This prepared the way for the manifestation of a new thing, men from out of the ruined world separated to a new and incomparably nearer relationship with God, to whom, as many as received Christ (for it is no question of "every man" here), He gave right or title to enter the place of God's children, to those that believe on His name. Nor is this a mere external position of honour, into which sovereignty might choose, so as to maintain by adoption family name and grandeur. It is a real communication of life and nature, a living birth-tie.16 They were τέκνα Θεοῦ, God's children. It is not that they had been better than others. They had been once alienated, and enemies in mind by wicked works. They believed on Christ's name; they were born of God. It was a work of Divine grace through faith. Receiving the Word, they were begotten of God. Natural generation from either side, effort of one's own, influence of another however exalted, had no place here.

It is as born of God that we have become the children of God. The natural generation of Adam, of Abraham, of David, or of any other have no place here; nor does any one become a child of God by his own desire or power. God, in His sovereignty brings this generation into being, by His word and His Spirit, as Scripture shows (John 3:3-8; 1 Peter 1:23; James 1:18).

It will be well for the reader to seize this important distinction. It is of great practical value. We do not become children by separation from the world, "For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." "As many as received him, to them gave he power [or authority, exousia] to become children (tekna) of God, 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." (Gal. 3:26; John 1:12-13.) "Of his own will begat he us by the word of truth." (James 1:18.) We become children by new birth which, thanks be to God, is a divine operation, from first to last. What had we to do with our natural birth? Nothing. And what have we to do with our spiritual birth? Clearly nothing.

A Christian is a child of God by new birth and faith in Christ. "Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:26). He thus knows God as his father, so the apostle John wrote: "I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father" (1 John 2:13). Wonderful privilege indeed!

In verses 1 and 2 the word "sons of God" must be changed to "children of God. "John never speaks of "sons of God" in his message. It is in the writings of Paul the Holy Spirit speaks of believers as "sons and heirs." But John unfolds the truth that believers are in the family of God by the new birth, hence the use of the word "children" to denote the community of nature as born of God. As children of God we are partakers of the divine nature. It is the love of the Father which has bestowed this upon all who believe. And most emphatically the Spirit of God assures us through the pen of John, "Now we are the children of God." There can be no doubt about it, it is our present and known position, because having believed on Him we are born again and are in possession of eternal life.