07 Mar '05 20:09>
Question: "Are we all God's children, or only Christians?"
Answer: The Bible is clear that all people are God’s creation (Colossians 1:16) but that only those who are born again are children of God (John 1:12: John 11:52: Romans 8:16: 1 John 3:1-10).
In Scripture the lost are never referred to as children of God. Ephesians 2:3 tells us that before we were saved we were “by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” Romans 9:8 says that “those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God.” Instead of being born as God’s children we are born in sin, which separates us from God and aligns us with Satan as God’s enemy (James 4:4; 1 John 3:8). Jesus said “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me” (John 8:43). Then a few verses later in John 8:44 Jesus told the Pharisees that they were “of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.” The fact that those that are not saved are not children of God is also seen in 1 John 3:10, “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”
We become children of God when we are saved because we are adopted into God’s family through our relationship with Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:5-6; Ephesians 1:5). We see this clearly in verses like Romans 8:14-17. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children 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.” Those that are saved are children “of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26) because God has “predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:5).
Recommended Resource: The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D.A. Carson.
http://www.gotquestions.org/all-God-children.html
Answer: The Bible is clear that all people are God’s creation (Colossians 1:16) but that only those who are born again are children of God (John 1:12: John 11:52: Romans 8:16: 1 John 3:1-10).
In Scripture the lost are never referred to as children of God. Ephesians 2:3 tells us that before we were saved we were “by nature children of wrath, just as the others.” Romans 9:8 says that “those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God.” Instead of being born as God’s children we are born in sin, which separates us from God and aligns us with Satan as God’s enemy (James 4:4; 1 John 3:8). Jesus said “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me” (John 8:43). Then a few verses later in John 8:44 Jesus told the Pharisees that they were “of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do.” The fact that those that are not saved are not children of God is also seen in 1 John 3:10, “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”
We become children of God when we are saved because we are adopted into God’s family through our relationship with Jesus Christ (Galatians 4:5-6; Ephesians 1:5). We see this clearly in verses like Romans 8:14-17. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father." The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children 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.” Those that are saved are children “of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26) because God has “predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will” (Ephesians 1:5).
Recommended Resource: The Difficult Doctrine of the Love of God by D.A. Carson.
http://www.gotquestions.org/all-God-children.html