Children of God
“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:1-3).
When my daughter was still young she once told me that she would sometimes lay awake at night replaying past events in which she had misbehaved, and the feeling of guilt would overwhelm her and prevent her from being able to sleep. Her comment really struck me. I loved her so much, and I probably wouldn’t even remember the things she did in the past for which she now carries around like a burden. Moreover, if I couldn’t remember them, nor charge anything to her account, why was she still beating herself up about them? Her comment struck me because I realized that we do this very thing every day in our spiritual lives: we remember our past sins and how we used to live and who we used to be.
And Satan loves to take this role in our lives. Throughout the Scriptures he appears as the accuser, and the one who makes us question the authority of God’s promises. His first appearance in the garden shows him questioning God’s word—“Has God said…” (Gen. 3:1-4). In Zechariah 3:1-2 we read about a vision of Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, with “Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.” I will speak more on this later. In Matthew, during the temptation of Christ, the Devil provokes Jesus by questioning him; “If You are the Son of God…” (Matt. 4:3). This seems to be the Devil’s main preoccupation since in Job we read that he goes “to and fro on the earth and walks up and down on it” (Job 1:7). 1 Peter makes a similar statement: “Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8). Further, we are told that Satan “accuses them day and night before our God” (Rev. 12:10). Lastly, since this characteristic of Satan is consistently displayed throughout the scriptures, let us “not be outwitted by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his designs” (2 Cor. 2:11).
We hope for future sonship while doubting our own salvation. But notice what John says, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God, and so we are” (1 John 3:1). We must remember that the redeemed saint, the now justified sinner, is now an adopted member of God’s family, transformed into co-heirs with Christ. Satan would love to distract you from this fact, indeed, more than distract he would like to cause you to doubt your own salvation by reminding you of your former state.
And if you’re expecting the world to give you confirmation of your sonship in these moments of doubt, don’t anticipate any comfort there since “The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him” (verse 1). If they did not recognize Christ in the flesh, they will not recognize the Spirit dwelling in you.
Moreover, John makes it clear that we should not think of this adoption as some future event: “Beloved, we are God’s children now” (verse 2). Think of that. God the Father looks on you as a son or daughter. And if even unregenerate parents love their children, and we who are sinful (evil) can love our children with an unfailing devotion, how much more so does God perfectly love us? (Matt. 7:9-11). How many times have we disobeyed our parents and yet they never stopped loving us? How many times can our children do things that displease us, and yet our love for them never halts or falters? Likewise, that is how God views His children. Take all the sins for which you currently beat yourself up over and place them on your son and see if you love him any less. “But,” one may object, “we are not holy, and so the things that offend God may not offend us.” And I would say, “you are correct.” Which is why we should not look to ourselves or others for confirmation, but to Christ. Because Christ is perfect and holy, God the Father looks at his son and sees perfection. And even though we are far from perfect, in fact, “nothing good dwells” in us (Rom. 7:18), yet by faith in Christ His righteousness is looked at in place of our wickedness.
This is where the doctrine of Justification comes in. Very briefly, Justification means to “formally pronounce just or legally declare righteous. Justification refers not to a change of moral character, but to a change of legal status; though allowing, yes, insisting, that a radical change of character invariably accompanies it. It is a legal change from a state of guilt and condemnation to a state of forgiveness and acceptance; and this change is owing solely to a gratuitous act of God, founded upon the righteousness of Christ (they having none of their own) being imputed to His people.”[i] It’s not that we are lovable or worthy in and of ourselves, or that we have anything of merit within ourselves, but because Jesus Christ is righteous and obeyed the Law perfectly, His righteousness is pronounced on our behalf by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8). This exchange is illustrated in Zechariah 3:1-5:
“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satanstanding at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brandplucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.”
Christ Jesus takes our filthy garments, removes our iniquity, and then clothes us with pure vestments. It is interesting that the word “pure” is used here again as it is in 1 John 3:3. Knowledge of this should cause our hearts to melt. This knowledge is what caused David to rejoice in Psalm 32:
“Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit” (verses 1 &2).
And
“Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart!” (verses 10 & 11).
Your sins are washed away in the blood of Christ. Not only are they washed away, but they are also no longer remembered: “I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins” (Isa. 43:25). And likewise, just as I love my daughter I do not “keep a record of wrongs” (1 Cor. 13:5).
The doctrine of Justification and Adoption always go hand in hand, and I would also include by extension the Doctrine of the Perseverance of the Saints. If a redeemed saint is always a redeemed saint (perseverance), and if a redeemed saint is a child of God, then it also logically follows that a child of God will always be so. When I talk about Perseverance, I’m referring to the “P” in “TULIP,” the acronym for the Doctrines of Grace (The Five Points of Calvinism). “The Bible teaches that all those who are savingly joined to Jesus Christ are kept and preserved for His eternal kingdom (I did not say all who make a profession). But all who are savingly joined to Jesus Christ. Romans 8:29, 30; 35, 38, 39, ‘For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these he also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’ Our Lord’s illustration of this doctrine is found in John 10:26-29, ‘But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you. My sheep hear My voice and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My Father’s hand, My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.’”[ii] The passage from 1 John is really about Adoption. It is very important to understand this, lamentably, neglected doctrine. What is Adoption? “It is taking a stranger into the relationship of a son and heir; as Moses was the adopted son of King Pharaoh’s daughter, so we who were strangers and aliens (Eph 2:12) has God taken and made sons and heirs with Christ Jesus. Not only has God the Father chosen us in Christ Jesus before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him (v4), but He has in love predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself.”[iii]
The following are some verse that speak of adoption:
Galatians 4:4-7: “But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”
Romans 8:14-17: “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.”
John 1:12-13: “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: which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.”
“The Scriptures teach that regeneration gives us the nature of children—His children (2 Peter 1:4); adoption gives us the rights of children, to call God our Father, “Abba, Father,” my Father. We then are partakers of both of these, for we are sons by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. When faith realizes the cleansing power of the blood of the Lord Jesus, and lays hold upon the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus, then the justified man becomes a son and a child. “Whom he called, them he also justified,” and the calling is a call to the Father’s house, and to a recognition of sonship. Believing brings forgiveness and justification through our Lord Jesus; it also brings adoption, for it is written, “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.” This is not a privilege granted to assurance or growth in grace: but is a blessing which belongs to him who has the smallest degree of faith: a blessing that belongs to every one of God’s elect, whether they have just been born again, or have been in grace for years. “Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus (Gal 3:26).”[iv]
I want to draw our attention to the last line of the verse from 1 John 3. “And everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). In other words, it is through the knowledge that we are God’s children that we purify ourselves, not through some works-based obligation but through a loving filial obedience. This is not a license to sin presumptuously, and it would be wicked to take away that conclusion. That would be equivalent to asking “would my father or mother sill love me if I robbed a bank? Yes? Good, then I’ll go rob a bank.” Instead this knowledge should create in us a desire to please Him and do what he commands (you are God’s child if you keep his commandments, John 14:15).
This will keep the child of God from sinning (not perfectly, of course), but the heart is changed. And the result of this new heart and knowledge that we are His children causes us to purify ourselves.
It should be stated plainly that the things I described are only true for the children of God. It should also be stated clearly that we are not all God’s children, despite what some bad preachers may incorrectly say. We are only children with others if we are found in Adam (Adam being our father), but the new birth makes us members of Christ’s family (John 3:1-8). Those merely born of Adam are still under the curse of the Law. Jesus boldly made this distinction when he said, “you are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires” (John 8:44). The majority of the world are members of Satan’s family (Matt. 13:38-39). In Malachi 3 we are told that there is a “book of remembrance,” from which we “shall see the distinction between the righteous and wicked, between the one who serves God and the one who does not serve him” (Mal. 3:16-18). Therefore, it is clear that we are not all God’s children. For those who are not God’s children, nothing but wrath and condemnation will be their end. But the true child of God will receive peace and mercy.
The child of God may often feel the presence of sin within himself, but he will hate it and feel at war with it. We will never be done with this sinful body until we are united to Christ in Heaven. Until then, we will feel what Paul expressed in Romans: “For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate…So Now it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me” (Romans 7:15-17). If you are a child of God, then you are loved. And if you are a child of God then you are so even now. Take comfort in the fact that your heavenly father loves you with a perfect and insurmountable love. You are loved despite your unworthiness, through the perfect redemptive work of His Son on the cross on our behalf. Our children come into the world and we instantly love them, we love them even before they are born.
The Puritan writer William Gurnall well said that “He chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. O, how must God love that creature he has carried so long in the womb of his eternal purpose!” Remember these things when Satan tries to “sift you like wheat” (Luke 22:31). When he tries to cause doubt, when he raises questions in your mind, and when he tries to accuse you before the Father.
In summation:
You are God’s child now. Just as we love our children, even before they are born, God loves His children, we are told, before the foundation of the world. When our children do come into the world we love them unfailingly, and God loves His children with a perfect love. And all the privileges and inheritance that is Christ’s as God’s Son is also ours because when God adopts us into his family, that is, takes us out of Satan’s family and joins us to His, we become His children and joint-heirs with Christ. Why is that important to know? Because Satan will accuse you as I described above, and your own memories of your past sins will condemn you and make you feel defeated. Satan exploits this and takes advantage of it whenever it’s presence is discovered in a saint. Why should we be mindful of this? Because if Satan convinces you that you are not a true child because of your sins you may give up the battle. You will feel defeated and be ready to give up the fight. A child who feels that his parents don’t love him, they don’t care what he does, what happens to that child? He is a delinquent. He rebels. He becomes like all the degenerates of the world. Why? Because he knows that no one cares, he feels that he is not loved. Yet, take a child that knows that they are loved. Impress upon them that they are a loved child, and usually this will inspire in them a motivation to please their parents. This is what John means when he says that “everyone who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he is pure.” Satan would like you to feel that you are a disowned child, because then hopefully, you would start acting like one. Even the world demonstrates this truth. Look at children who are raised by an absent mother, with a father in jail, never taught to fear God. What kind of child will they produce? A demon. Yet look at the children of homes where Christ is taught, where the Bible is read, where love is displayed daily. Our Father is God. We are not the children or product of a derelict parent. We are loved as children by a holy and perfect God. And some of us on earth have had cruel parents, absent fathers and mothers; rejoice if you are now an adopted son or daughter of God. “See what kind of love the Father has given to us.” Just as Moses was adopted into a king’s household, we have been adopted into the household of the King of kings. And even if we were to be adopted into an earthly king’s house it would mean nothing in comparison to being an adopted member of God’s family.
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:3-5).
[i] The Doctrine of Justification, AW Pink, page 4
[ii] Faith, Assurance, and Perseverance of the Saints, Reisinger, page 16
[iii] Adoption, L.R. Shelton, Jr., page 1
[iv] Adoption, L.R. Shelton, Jr., page 1
