Are we all God's children?
No doubt many of you would have heard some people saying: “But we are all God’s children”. I think this is mostly an honest mistake, but it is still just that, a mistake. We are all God’s creation but we are not all God’s children. Scripture is clear on this issue.
In John 8:44 Jesus says to the Pharisees, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” In verse 47 he adds, “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” If we were all “God’s children” why would Jesus tell the Pharisees “ye are of your father the devil”? Furthermore, why would he add, “because ye are not of God”? He certainly doesn’t mean they were not created by God. As politically incorrect as it sounds, Jesus identified two categories of people: children of the devil and children of God. John makes this point again in 1 John 3:10 (ISV), “This is how God’s children and the devil’s children are distinguished. No person who fails to practice righteousness and to love his brother is from God.” If “we are all God’s children” why would we the Scriptures say, “This is how God’s children and the devil’s children are distinguished”?
In the opening of the Gospel of John we learn who have the right to be called the children of God: “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” (John 1:12-13). According to scripture it is very simple. If you have the Son, you have life and you are a child of God. If you do not have the Son then you do not have life and are a child of the devil. It’s not very politically correct but it cannot be watered down. Such is the nature of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In John 8:44 Jesus says to the Pharisees, “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.” In verse 47 he adds, “He that is of God heareth God’s words: ye therefore hear them not, because ye are not of God.” If we were all “God’s children” why would Jesus tell the Pharisees “ye are of your father the devil”? Furthermore, why would he add, “because ye are not of God”? He certainly doesn’t mean they were not created by God. As politically incorrect as it sounds, Jesus identified two categories of people: children of the devil and children of God. John makes this point again in 1 John 3:10 (ISV), “This is how God’s children and the devil’s children are distinguished. No person who fails to practice righteousness and to love his brother is from God.” If “we are all God’s children” why would we the Scriptures say, “This is how God’s children and the devil’s children are distinguished”?
In the opening of the Gospel of John we learn who have the right to be called the children of God: “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” (John 1:12-13). According to scripture it is very simple. If you have the Son, you have life and you are a child of God. If you do not have the Son then you do not have life and are a child of the devil. It’s not very politically correct but it cannot be watered down. Such is the nature of the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
