Weekly Devotional 6-12-23 Not all God’s Children
You have probably heard it said, “We are all God’s children.” Is such a statement credible? Not according to the Scriptures. The apostle John, writing about Jesus said, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name” (John 1:11-12). According to this passage those who believed (believe) in Jesus were (are) given the right to become the children of God. One does not need to become what one already is.
A few years later John wrote, “7Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. 8He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose, the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. 9Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. 10In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God” (1 John 3:7-10a). In this letter, John speaks about those who are children of God and those who are children of the devil.
Jesus said of the Pharisees, “42 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. 43Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. 44You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do” (John 8:42-47). Jesus plainly qualifies these Pharisees as being the children of the devil, not the children of God.
The apostle Paul prefacing his letter to the Ephesians said of himself and his fellow Christian Jews, “3Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, 4just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, 5having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, 6to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:3-6). Paul’s claim was that he and his companions were predestined to be adopted as sons of God. One does not need to be adopted as a son if he were (is) a son already.
To another group of people (the Galatians) Paul wrote, “26For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. 27For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise” (Galatians 3:26-29). Paul’s qualification of being a child of God was (is) being one by faith in Jesus Christ.
Clearly, the Bible does not teach that all persons are the children of God. On the contrary, it teaches that all who are not in Christ Jesus are the children of the devil. This is affirmed by God’s judgment against Satan in the Garden of Eden. He said, “15 I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). The Seed of the woman speaks of the man Jesus who would, centuries later, be the offspring of Mary and God the Holy Spirit; but the verse also speaks about Satan’s seed. That seed is identified in Scripture as being all those who are outside of God; more directly, those who are outside of Jesus Christ.
God is glorified in and by the adoption process. He first calls, then regenerates, then justifies and then glorifies all those who become His children (Romans 8:28-30). Furthermore, He will also be glorified by His judgment against those who are the children of Satan.
Jesus said, “27My sheep (God’s Children—my insertion) hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. 28And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. 29My 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. 30I and My Father are one” (John 10:27-30).
Based on the passages cited above, are you sure of your relationship? Are you a child of God or are you a child of Satan?
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