Who does God say I am?
You are asking the most personal question the Bible answers. Scripture does not leave your identity to your feelings, your past, or other people's verdicts — it states plainly what God calls those who believe in His Son, and it states it as present fact.
Child of God — a settled fact
The first name God gives the believer is a family name, and Scripture leaves no room for doubt about it.
The Christian's FriendIt is very blessed to know it on the authority of the word of God as a divine certainty; but more blessed still to enjoy this new and everlasting relationship by the truth brought home to our hearts in the power of the Holy Spirit. "The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God." Another inspired apostle says, "Beloved, we are God's children now." It is scarcely possible for anything to be stated more simply or more definitely. There is no "if" or "but" in the sentence; no "hoping to be" and no room for the shadow of a doubt.
Loved first
Your place in the family did not begin with your decision. It began in the heart of God, who wanted you.
Edward DennettNot only are believers born of God, but their blessed place and relationship flow from the heart of the Father. "See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God." So the very fact that we are children is the expression of the Father's heart. He desired to have His children for His own satisfaction and joy.
Accepted — and measured by Christ
There is a question underneath "who am I?" — namely, how much does God accept me? Scripture answers by pointing away from you to Christ.
H Forbes WitherbyAccepted — "accepted in the Beloved." Notice these wonderful words, and see how high we have risen! All that the beloved One of God is to God as the Accepted One on high, so is the humblest believer in Him. Christ is personally accepted, and as such He is the object of God's delight — we too, being in Him, are accepted just as Christ is. Christ is the measure of our acceptance before God. We are graced in the Beloved, robed in His beauty, adorned with His perfections.
Righteous — your standing before God
God does not merely overlook what you were. He gives you a righteousness that becomes your very identity in His sight.
J. G. Bellett"The righteousness of God" is its property. The believing sinner takes possession of that at once. That righteousness at once constitutes, so to speak, his person. It makes him what he is. It clothes him. It sets him in his due form and personality before God. And who among His creatures can be more excellent than the one who shines before Him as His own righteousness?
Saint — from the first moment, not the finish line
The Bible's word for a believer is "saint," and it is not a reward for a life well lived. It describes where you stand, not how well you are doing.
Henry Allan IronsideWhen God addresses believers as "saints," that is, separated or holy ones, He is speaking of their standing. When He tells them to be holy as He is holy, He refers to the state of their souls, as shown in their outward ways. We might think no one should be called a saint until he becomes perfectly holy in experience. But that is not God's way. He calls us saints from the first moment of our faith in Christ, and then tells us to live as saints should live. He calls us His children, and then urges us to be obedient children.
A people with a purpose
Identity in Scripture is never only a private comfort. The titles come with a commission.
F. B. HoleWe are "a chosen race, a kingly priesthood, a holy nation, a people for a possession" — as verse 9 has been rendered. We are those whom God has chosen out and separated to Himself. In the coming age the kingly character of our priesthood will be more obvious than it is now, but at present we are commissioned to show forth the praises, the virtue or excellences, of God in this disobedient world.
Rest where doubt cannot reach
If your sense of who you are rises and falls with your mood, you are reading the wrong evidence.
C J DavisHow long would our peace last if it depended on what we were in our own sight? How would it go for the most devout among us if feelings were the test of our acceptance with God? Ever blessed be His name! He has placed us in a higher atmosphere than doubts can touch — surrounded us with defences that no enemy can break through. He sees us in Christ.
Summary
- Loved — your identity starts in the Father's heart, not your performance: being His child is "the expression of the Father's heart."
- Received — you are called a child of God now, with "no 'if' or 'but'... no room for the shadow of a doubt."
- Accepted — the measure is not your progress but Christ Himself: "so is the humblest believer in Him."
- Righteous and holy — righteousness "makes him what he is," and God "calls us saints from the first moment of our faith."
- Sent — chosen and separated to God, you are "commissioned to show forth the praises... of God in this disobedient world."