Children of God
"Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!" (1 John 3:1) In this Bible passage, John enthusiastically describes the family relationship that exists between God and those who are members of His church. In a very general way, it is true that the whole of creation could be called "children of God", because we were all made by Him. (cp. Acts 17:24-29) But what John is describing here is a much more intimate relationship involving those who have been "born of Him" (1 John 2:29) and not simply created by Him.
Jesus told Nicodemus, "unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3) But what does it mean to be "born again"? We are all born into the world physically in the same way, but there is a second birth - a spiritual birth - that takes place when we receive and obey Jesus Christ through the word of truth in His gospel. Peter wrote that those who have "purified their souls in obeying the truth...have been born again, not of perishable seed but imperishable, through the word of God which lives and abides forever..." (1 Peter 1:22-23)
Those who obey the gospel and are born of God have a hope that others do not have! The spiritual children of God are the sole heirs of the promised inheritance - eternal life in the glory of Heaven! Paul writes, "...as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. ...and if children, then heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together." (Romans 8:14-17) Christ has already been glorified, and God is waiting to glorify His other "adopted" children as well.
The church of the New Testament is that group of people who are the "children of God" because they obey Him as their Father. The church of the New Testament is that group of people who have been "added daily" by the Lord as He has saved them. (Acts 2:47) Everyone has "the right to become children of God" by receiving and obeying Jesus, whom God sent into the world to communicate the Father's will to us and to die for our sins. (John 1:12; Hebrews 1:1-3) When we obey Jesus then, we are obeying God as Father, because God sent Him into the world to teach us what we must do to be saved and inherit eternal life. (John 6:40)
