Are we all God's children?
by Luke Wayne
3/14/17

Not everyone is a child of God, at least not in any sense that most people mean when they say such things. It is very common to hear people claim, "We are all God's children." By this, they generally mean that God has the same familial relationship with and parental obligation to every human being equally. Everyone is guaranteed a positive connection with God and even a birthright of sorts by which God is obligated to bless them in certain ways as their natural-born, loving Father. Some groups, like Mormonism, even go so far as to claim that we are God's children in the literal sense of his biological offspring. They teach that God procreated with his wife (or wives) in heaven and we are the result of that procreation. We are, they assert, the actual physical descendants of God; His literal children and the same species or type of being as He is. None of these claims are biblical or true.

Creation and Fatherhood

God is the creator of all things, including us. In a figurative way, we can call Him the "Father of creation" in the same sense that Henry Ford is the "father of the automotive industry" or that George Washington and John Adams are "founding fathers of the United States." But this is not a relational, familial, or literal sense.

Acts 17:28-29 , for example, says that all men are "God's children," specifically in that God "made the world and all things in it" ( Acts 17:24 ) and that "He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth" ( Acts 17:26 ). Paul's argument here is not that humans are literally God's biological offspring or even that we have a special relationship with God like a father does with a child. Paul's only point is that "we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man" ( Acts 17:29 ). Since we are a thing that God created, we ought not to think of God as something that we can create. Since God formed us, it is foolish to worship something we ourselves can form. Paul points back to the creation of men (as well as the heavens, the earth, and everything in them) and argues from this that idolatry is foolish, even sinful. This passage, however, does not identify God as the Father of humanity in any sense beyond that of the rest of creation.

God is elsewhere called the "Father" of the lights in the heavens ( James 1:17 ), yet no one thinks this means that the sun, moon, or stars are literally God's offspring or that they have a special family relationship with God. They are His creations. He made them and therefore in a sense He can be called their "Father," but not in a biological, reproductive, familial, or relational sense. The word "father" in such contexts is a figurative reference to God as their (and our) maker.
Paul and God's Adopted Children
Paul often opens his letters to the churches with phrases like "God our Father" ( Romans 1:7 ; 1 Corinthians 1:3, etc), but these phrases apply to believers, not to all humanity. Indeed, Paul explicitly teaches that we become God's children by adoption. God lovingly takes in those who are in Christ as His children even though we are not rightfully His children at birth.

"But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law,
that we might receive the adoption as sons," ( Galatians 4:4-5 ).
"He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will" ( Ephesians 1:5 ).

The idea that individuals become children of God by the grace of adoption, rather than by right of birth is also repeated in Paul's letter to the Romans ( Romans 8:15-23 , 9:4-8 ). He elsewhere explains to congregations of Christians:
"For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus" ( Galatians 3:26-28 ).

God took men of the Jewish and Gentile nations and made from them one new people in Christ. Those are the people whom God has adopted. They have become His children by a gracious act of redemption. They were not born God's children and had no special right to be such. Paul carefully distinguishes between the children of God and the unbelieving world:
"Do all things without grumbling or disputing; so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent,
children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I will have reason to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain" ( Philippians 2:14-16 ).
You were not born a child of God. You only become one by God's grace through faith in Christ Jesus. You enter into the family of God by adoption, not by natural birth.

John and Becoming God's Child
John expresses the same idea when he writes:
"He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" ( John 1:11-13 ).

John also explains:
"See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him." ( 1 John 3:1 ).

John makes a distinction between the world and the children of God. Not all men are God's children, only those He has made His own by grace. John records Jesus' own words to those who claimed to be God's children but did not believe in Jesus:
"If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you cannot hear My word.
You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father" ( John 8:42 ).

Those who rejected Christ did so because they were not God's children, but the children of the devil. These words may sound harsh, but they are the very words of Christ. We cannot ignore them. By nature, by birth, we are children of Satan. We are rebellious and lost citizens of the sinful and dying world with familial connections only to the evil one. We are not natural-born members of the household of God. John likewise explains:
"By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother" ( 1 John 3:10).
The children of God are a distinct people, not the whole of mankind. We also see in John's gospel:
"Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, and not for the nation only, but in order that He might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad," ( John 11:51-52 ).
This parallels closely with Jesus' earlier words about those who are and are not His sheep. He explains His role in gathering the scattered flocks that belong to Him:
"I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me, even as the Father knows Me and I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; I must bring them also, and they will hear My voice; and they will become one flock with one shepherd," ( John 10:14-16 ).

And yet He also explains that there are those who reject Him precisely because they are not His sheep:
"You do not believe because you are not of My sheep. My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand" ( John 10:26-28 ).
Even in John 20:17 , where Jesus speaks to Mary Magdalene of "My Father and your Father," He is speaking to a believer, one of His faithful followers. This by no means implies that God is everyone's Father. John clearly draws a line between those who have become children of God through Christ and those who remain in the world and are not God's children. This is identical to Paul's teaching that God makes believers His children by adoption.

The Covenant of Israel and God's Fatherhood
Just as the New Testament speaks of those who have come into fellowship with God through Christ as God's adopted children, the Old Testament uses father/child language of God's covenant relationship to Israel. God told Moses to declare to Pharaoh that "Israel is my son," ( Exodus 4:22 ) and to Jeremiah He said, "I am a father to Israel," ( Jeremiah 31:9 ). The people of Israel were slaves in Egypt, but God set His special, fatherly love on them. He redeemed them and made them His own.
"You are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth. The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt" ( Deuteronomy 7:6-8 ).
When Israel went astray, God said to Ezekiel:
"Then He said to me, 'Son of man, I am sending you to the sons of Israel, to a rebellious people who have rebelled against Me; they and their fathers have transgressed against Me to this very day. I am sending you to them who are stubborn and obstinate children, and you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord God’" ( Ezekiel 2:3-4 ).
Through the prophet Malachi, God reminds Israel how He has destroyed other nations but has always restored Israel because of His covenant love for them. He then says to them:
"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. Then if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is My respect?’ says the Lord of hosts to you, O priests who despise My name" ( Malachi 1:6 ).

In the same way, Malachi goes on to write:
"Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously each against his brother so as to profane the covenant of our fathers?" ( Malachi 2:10 ).

Some people appeal to this verse to claim that Malachi is saying that God is a father to every human being He created. This could not be further from the truth. When Malachi speaks of the brotherhood of his readers and the Fatherhood of God over them all, he is speaking to them uniquely as Israelites distinct from the nations. God created Israel as a nation and people unto Himself. This is the creation to which Malachi appeals here. Notice the very next verses:
"Judah has dealt treacherously, and an abomination has been committed in Israel and in Jerusalem; for Judah has profaned the sanctuary of the Lord which He loves and has married the daughter of a foreign god. As for the man who does this, may the Lord cut off from the tents of Jacob everyone who awakes and answers, or who presents an offering to the Lord of hosts" ( Malachi 2:11-12 ).

To the same people to whom Malachi writes "Do we not all have one father? Has not one God created us?" he also immediately rebukes them for marrying "the daughter of a foreign god." People outside the covenant of Israel were not God's children. They were children of the false gods whom they served. Far from teaching the universal fatherhood of God, Malachi actually teaches that God is Father only to those with whom He has voluntarily entered into that relationship. Those in covenant fellowship with God are adopted as His children. Others are not God's children. Most of the time people ignore this distinction in reading the Old Testament and draw flawed conclusions by reading every human being into verses that simply don't apply to them.
Even in the New Testament, in places like
Matthew 23:9 , where Jesus is addressing not only His disciples but the larger crowds He still says "Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven." Some point out, "You see! Jesus was talking to the crowds and told them all that God was their Father!" We have to remember, however, that this was a crowd of Jews. There was a covenantal sense in which they understood God as the Father of their nation. We also have to remember that Jesus isn't telling them to deny their birth parents. This section is a rebuke on the scribes and Pharisees. People are not to call such religious leaders their spiritual fathers, rabbis, or lords. "Father" here is figurative. In no way does this passage imply that God is the literal or relational father of every human being everywhere.

Conclusion
While we all have one maker to whom we owe our gratitude, allegiance, and exclusive worship, God is not inherently the Father of every man and woman. We are not His literal, biological children, and we are not guaranteed any special relationship to Him merely by right of birth. If anything, our sinful hearts make us, by nature, children of wrath, of our false gods, and indeed, of the devil. It is only by God's grace through the redemptive work of Jesus Christ received by faith alone that we are blessed with the opportunity to become children of God by adoption.

Cc Barrister

solite3:
Cc Barrister

"But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God"
(i.e. but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name)
- John 1:12

John 1:12 above, is the answer to the long and short of your "Are We All God's Children?" question, solite3.

solite3, I am 110% quite sure, you know that, some, even after death when they, live and direct, come face to face with Jesus, will still defiantly refuse to accept, receive and believe Jesus Christ, hmmm? That they will rather go to hell than to accept, receive and believe Jesus Christ, hmm?

Interesting, dont quote me

Please someone explain to him that even those who do not accept God as their Father were still sired by God so he stops with this ignorance as if he was there when God was siring anyone!

It's after all not up to a child who the daddy is, nor who the child's brothers and sisters are!

MuttleyLaff:
"But to all who believed Him and accepted Him, He gave the right to become children of God"
(i.e. but as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name)
- John 1:12
John 1:12 above, is the answer to the long and short of your "Are We All God's Children?" question, solite3.
solite3, I am 110% quite sure, you know that, some, even after death when they, live and direct, come face to face with Jesus, will still defiantly refuse to accept, receive and believe Jesus Christ, hmmm? That they will rather go to hell than to accept, receive and believe Jesus Christ, hmm?

Not all who believe are children of God. Rather, it is those who go on to become that are.

10 The Word was already in the world. The world was made through him, but the world did not know him.
11 He came to the world that was his own. And his own people did not accept him.
12 But some people did accept him. They believed in him, and he gave them the right to become children of God.
13 They became God’s children, but not in the way babies are usually born. It was not because of any human desire or plan. They were born from God himself. - John 1 vs 10 - 13

The right to become something does not bestow on one the title itself. Rather it bestows admission into the process to earn the particular title.

Kobojunkie:
Not all who believe are children of God. Rather, it is those who go on to become that are.
The right to become something does not bestow on one the title itself. Rather it bestows admission into the process to earn the particular title.

Those who don't believe must be slaves of God, since we are told God created all.

budaatum:
■ Those who don't believe must be slaves of God, since we are told God created all.

I am afraid I do not follow at all.

Why should those who don't believe be considered slaves of a God they don't serve when instead it is those who are children of God that are called to live as slaves of God?

Kobojunkie:
I am afraid I do not follow at all.

Why should those who don't believe be considered slaves of a God they don't serve when instead it is those who are children of God that are called to live as slaves of God?

I'm hard to follow, as you well know.

Who is doing your "considering"? You, or God who would use believers and unbelievers regardless of their considering?

And why would children of God consider themselves slaves of a God they refer to as Father?

budaatum:
■ I'm hard to follow, as you well know.
●Who is doing your "considering"? You, or God who would use believers and unbelievers regardless of their considering?
●And why would children of God consider themselves slaves of a God they refer to as Father?

You submit your will to the Will of God. And you do God's Will rather than
your will, same as Jesus Christ did. Aren't the answers here obvious?

Kobojunkie:
You submit your will to the Will of God. And you do God's Will rather than
your will, same as Jesus Christ did. Aren't the answers here obvious?

A slave does not submit, junkie. Slaves are compelled against their will, unlike Jesus who willingly submitted like a child or some one who buys in would.

budaatum:
■ A slave does not submit, junkie. Slaves are compelled against their will, unlike Jesus who willingly submitted like a child or some one who buys in would.

Really?

slave
/slāv/

1.● a person who is forced to work for and obey another and is considered to be their property; an enslaved person.
● a person who works very hard without proper remuneration or appreciation.
● a person who is excessively dependent upon or controlled by something.
● an ant captured in its pupal state by an ant of another species, for which it becomes a worker.

Slave

Kobojunkie:
Really?
Slave

"A person who is forced", is not "willingly submitting".

And I doubt you'd want to argue that Jesus was forced.

budaatum:
"A person who is forced", is not "willingly submitting". And I doubt you'd want to argue that Jesus was forced.

Is this selective blindness or something? There is presented there—courtesy of the oxford dictionary — more than 1 definition to the word slave.

slave
/slāv/

1.● a person who is forced to work for and obey another and is considered to be their property; an enslaved person.
● a person who works very hard without proper remuneration or appreciation.
● a person who is excessively dependent upon or controlled by something.
● an ant captured in its pupal state by an ant of another species, for which it becomes a worker.

Slave

Kobojunkie:

Why should those who don't believe be considered slaves of a God they don't serve?

I feel certain that a God who created everything and everyone would find a way to make all it's creatures serve it regardless of their belief, or the unbelieving trees and the animals wouldn't serve it, and I'd argue they do.

Kobojunkie:
When instead it is those who are children of God that are called to live as slaves of God?

This last bit is your own selective understanding I'd say, because there are many verses in the book that would enable some to choose to be children rather that slaves, and even verses that would make some choose to be gods.

budaatum:
■ I feel certain that a God who created everything and everyone would find a way to make all it's creatures serve it regardless of their belief, or the unbelieving trees and the animals wouldn't serve it, and I'd argue they do.
This last bit is your own selective understanding I'd say, because there are many verses in the book that would enable some to choose to be children rather that slaves, and even verses that would make some choose to be gods.

The point here is Scripture has it that

▢ Only those who submit and obey the Will of God go on to become Children of God aka slaves/servants of God
▢ Those who have nothing to do with God at all live out their lives as sons of men.

Kobojunkie:
Is this selective blindness or something?

Well, let's check and see, shall we?

slave
/slāv/

1.● a person who is forced to work for and obey another and is considered to be their property; an enslaved person.

While it can be argued that God must own all that is created, God does not force anyone to work. You are given freewill to choose.

It can also, note, be argued that God may use it's creatures against it's creation's will, like a tool.

● a person who works very hard without proper remuneration or appreciation.

"Everlasting life" is renumeration from God that no one is forced to work very hard for, and it's not the only renumeration and appreciation God blesses with neither.

● a person who is excessively dependent upon or controlled by something.

And this is precisely why slavery it is not, since no one in their right senses is "excessively dependent upon or controlled by something", or they'd be those for whom manna falls from heaven.

● an ant captured in its pupal state by an ant of another species, for which it becomes a worker.

We are discussing humans, I hope.

budaatum:
■ Well, let's check and see, shall we? While it can be argued that God must own all that is created, God does not force anyone to work. You are given freewill to choose. It can also, note, be argued that God may use it's creatures against it's creation's will, like a tool. "Everlasting life" is renumeration from God that no one is forced to work very hard for, and it's not the only renumeration and appreciation God blesses with neither. And this is precisely why slavery it is not, since no one in their right senses is "excessively dependent upon or controlled by something", or they'd be those for whom manna falls from heaven. We are discussing humans, I hope.

Are you attempting to argue with the dictionary on the definition of the word Slave or what?

Kobojunkie:
The point here is Scripture has it that

▢ Only those who submit and obey the Will of God go on to become Children of God aka slaves/servants of God .

That is the point of the Scripture you wish to select and how you wish to understand it, since some would not aka "Children of God" to "slaves of God" to "servants of God".

▢ Those who have nothing to do with God at all live out their lives as sons of men.

Are you willfully ignoring the fact that God might choose to have quite a lot to do with these so called sons of men, whom, because they do not willingly submit, fit the definition of slave that you posted?

Kobojunkie:
Are you attempting to argue with the dictionary on the definition of the word Slave or what?

If anything, I am discussing with you your own understanding of what you read in the dictionary and in Scripture.

budaatum:
■ If anything, I am discussing with you your own understanding of what you read in the dictionary and in Scripture.

I am sorry, but I am not that jobless!

Kobojunkie:
I am sorry, but I am not that jobless!

It is not "jobless" to reflect on one's understanding, for that is how you'd learn.

budaatum:
■ That is the point of the Scripture you wish to select and how you wish to understand it, since some would not aka "Children of God" to "slaves of God" to "servants of God".
■ Are you willfully ignoring the fact that God might choose to have quite a lot to do with these so called sons of men, whom, because they do not willingly submit, fit the definition of slave that you posted?

So, nevermind that Scripture, from beginning to end, regards those who are of God, Servants/Slaves of God, you wish to impose instead your special interpretation on it and then force it on me?

2. Which God? The one roaming around in your tin can there or the God of Israel whose intentions were declared and written thousands of years before your tin can come into existence?

Again, I am not that jobless. If you don't have anything sensible to say, I suggest we call it a day.

budaatum:
■ It is not "jobless" to reflect on one's understanding, for that is how you'd learn.

Well, you need to do a lot of it on your own there since your understanding runs counter to the thousands-of-years-old writings of Scripture. Let me know when you have finally caught up. .

For those who arrive here, my point is twofold.

The first being that the God we read about in the Holy Bible uses everyone and everything regardless of belief.

The second is that your own personal relationship with God will differ if you aka yourself to be a slave of God or a servant of God or a child of God.

This seems yet another attempt to pick a verse out of context to assert a meaning not intended by the speaker.

31 Again the Jews there picked up stones to kill Jesus.
32 But he said to them, “The many wonderful things you have seen me do are from the Father. Which of these good things are you killing me for?”
33 They answered, “We are not killing you for any good thing you did. But you say things that insult God. You are only a man, but you say you are the same as God! That is why we are trying to kill you!”
34 Jesus answered, “It is written in your law that God said, ‘I said you are gods.’
35 This Scripture called those people gods—the people who received God’s message. And Scripture is always true.
36 So why do you accuse me of insulting God for saying, ‘I am God’s Son’? I am the one God chose and sent into the world.
37 If I don’t do what my Father does, then don’t believe what I say.
38 But if I do what my Father does, you should believe in what I do. You might not believe in me, but you should believe in the things I do. Then you will know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” - John 10 vs 31 - 38

From the above we see two things. Those to whom the statement "you are gods" applies are

▢ those who are under God's Law
▢ and received God's message aka live their lives in submission and obedience to God's Will rather than theirs.

Kobojunkie:


This seems yet another attempt to pick a verse out of context to assert a meaning not intended by the speaker.
From the above we see two things. Those to whom the statement "you are gods" applies are

▢ those who are under God's Law
▢ and received God's message aka live their lives in submission and obedience to God's Will rather than theirs.

I have no argument there, as the "Ye are Gods" was to show that different relationship do exist than "slaves of God".

budaatum:
■ I have no argument there, as the "Ye are Gods" was to show that different relationship do exist than "slaves of God".

Stop lying!

Those who are classified as gods as the same who are submitted to God as His servants aka slaves.

Kobojunkie:
Stop lying!

Those who are classified as gods as the same who are submitted to God as His servants aka slaves.

I'll take it that aka is how you choose to understand it. For me, there's a difference between a slave relationship and that of a child, and I'd be wary of anyone who aka's them.

budaatum:
■ I'll take it that aka is how you choose to understand it. For me, there's a difference between a slave relationship and that of a child, and I'd be wary of anyone who aka's them.

You can't rewrite scripture to suit the narrative you prefer you know. When you are gone, scripture will still be here with the same message fof those after you. Scripture is meant to be everlasting and that same God who calls us gods is the same God will judge all of those who are in His Kingdom and condemn to eternal damnation those of them whose works do not meet up with His standard of righteousness in the end.

So, Yes, children are gods but they are also slaves/servants who are expected to do the bidding of their master or face the eternal consequence of rejecting the command given them. If you don't like it, what you ought to do is not desperately search for ways to water down the script but abandon ship entirely. Find yourself another God -- apart from the God of Israel --- to suit your delicate needs.

YES. WE ALL HAVE THE BLOODY SERPENT'S GENE UNTIL WE BECOME BORN AGAIN. LORD HAVE MERCY.

Kobojunkie:

So, Yes, children are gods but they are also slaves/servants who are expected to do the bidding of their master or face the eternal consequence of rejecting the command given them.

Guess you can aka children to slaves for yourself, but for many, slaves are not children, and slaves are definitely not gods.