Hello and welcome to another five good minutes where I answer your theological questions in five minutes or less. Today’s question is, are we all children of God? Stay tuned.
Perhaps you’ve heard that expression used by someone or maybe you’ve used it yourself that we’re all God’s children. Is that true biblically? You see, for we must speak biblical language. It’s not just enough to be nice to people and say what sounds good. We must speak the truth. We cannot speak lies to people. So, are we all God’s children? And the answer is no, we’re not. Now, Dan, that’s offensive. Well, I’m sorry, but the truth does offend. What does the Bible say then? Who are we by nature? Who are we defined as then? If we’re not all God’s children, well, it is true to say, first of all, that we’re all created by God. There’s no doubt about that. God has knit us together in our mother’s wombs. That’s all of humanity. There’s no human being that’s been created that is apart from God’s creation. Amen. However, to be God’s child is far different. It is far, much more intimate and much more something much more that’s realized in your faith. How does the Bible describe us? Well, first of all, the Bible describes us as children of wrath. That doesn’t sound like a child of God. That’s actually a different origin altogether, isn’t it? And Paul says this in Ephesians chapter 2:3. He says, “Among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh.” She’s talking to the believers in Ephesus about their past lives, carrying out the desires of the flesh and the mind, and were by nature the children of wrath like the rest of mankind. What does wrath mean? Wrath is God’s anger towards the wicked, towards sinners, towards their sin. Because we have inherited the sinful nature from Adam and we willfully sin against God. We have this in us that we are under God’s judgment. We’re underneath God’s condemnation from birth. We’re not born God’s child. We’re born someone as an object of his wrath. And this is why Jesus Christ came. Because who are the children of God? Well, it’s what John says in John 1:12. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. You see what it says there? It is those who have received him and believed in his name. It is faith in Jesus Christ alone that makes you a child of God. Anyone can be born physically, but only those who are born spiritually can become a child of God. And this is what we call to be born again. Being born again is God’s decisive work inside of you to make you new. And Paul says the same thing to the Galatians. For in Christ Jesus, you are all sons of God. Now, what’s the qualifier? Through faith, he says, through faith, you’re all sons of God. So, someone who doesn’t have faith in the gospel, someone who doesn’t have faith in Jesus Christ, no, they’re not children of God. They’re children of wrath. Only those who have Jesus Christ are the children of God. And this is because apart from Christ, we’re not just children of wrath, but we’re actually the enemies of God. The Bible says in Romans chapter 5:10, “For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son.” Here speaking to the believers in in Rome, he says, “If while we were enemies, that’s who you were before Jesus. you weren’t just a child of wrath. You were his enemy. That’s much more sobering, much more uh heavy for us to comprehend how we’re born with this sinful nature. In spite of our sin, in spite of us being a child of wrath, in spite of us being an enemy of God, God the Father sent his son to adopt his enemies. That’s at the heart of the gospel. Only God can make his enemies into his children. Isn’t that beautiful? That’s who we were and that’s who we are now in Jesus Christ. But only if you are in Jesus Christ. I pray this has been helpful. Thank you for the question. And this has been another five good minutes.