The Fatherhood of God and the brotherhood of all men have been affirmed repeatedly by theologians through the years. But the Bible teaches that all men are not by nature members of God’s family. Jesus shocked some of the Pharisees of his day by telling them that their rejection of him revealed that the devil, and not God, was their father (John 8:41–44).
The Bible uses two figures of speech to speak of the necessity and manner for becoming a part of God’s family: new birth and adoption. Although these figures differ in some ways, both emphasize the fact that membership in God’s family involves entering into a new relationship with God which man does not experience simply by virtue of the fact that he is a human being.
Jesus spoke of the need for a new birth in his famous conversation with Nicodemus (John 3:1–8). Even though this Pharisee was a deeply religious man, dedicated to the study of and obedience to the Law of God, it was necessary for him to be born again into God’s family. Man cannot bring about this new birth by his own efforts any more than a baby can cause his own physical birth. Rebirth is something that God initiates and completes and that man can experience only on the basis of faith. It results in a change of status (“You are all the sons of God through faith,” Gal. 3:26) and a change of character (“If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature,” 2 Cor. 5:17). Apart from this spiritual rebirth, man remains outside God’s family.
Paul affirms this truth in saying that God sent forth his son “to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons” (Gal. 4:5). By nature man is a slave, in bondage to sin. Through Jesus Christ he may be adopted as a full member of God’s family with the privilege of access to the father (Rom. 8:15) and the assurance of sharing with Christ himself in the divine inheritance (Rom. 8:17). That which rightfully belongs to Christ as the divine Son of God is shared with those who by faith are the adopted children of God.
Although John does not use the term “adoption” he speaks of the “right to become the children of God” which is given to those who “believe in his name” (John 1:12). Again the privilege of sonship is linked with the necessity of faith.
To speak of all men as God’s children may sound nice, but it simply isn’t true. The biblical ideas of the new birth and adoption make it clear that a man can become a child of God only as he enters the family of God through a personal commitment of himself to Jesus Christ.
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