| Back to Home Page | Back to Book Index |

Sonship

Adoption(Eph.1:5; Rom. 8:15)

I heard of some youngsters who were teasing an adopted boy at school. They said to him ‘You aren’t the real son of your father.’

He stood it as long as he could but at last fleshed back at them ‘All I can say is that my father chose me and your folks couldn’t help accepting you.’— Harold Wildish

CHILDREN OF GOD.

Ⅰ. We are children of God instrumentally by faith in Christ “ Ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal.3:26).

Ⅱ. We are children of God by birth as to our right. “As many as received Him to them gave He power to become the sons of God” (John 1:12 13).

Ⅲ. We are children of God by acknowledgment for He acknowledges us as such. “ We should be called children of God and such we are” (1.John 3:1.R.V.).

Ⅳ. We are children of God by adoption as to our security. “ Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children” (Eph.1:5).

Ⅴ. We are children of God consciously because He by the Spirit in the Word tells us so. “ Because ye are son God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying Abba Father” ( Galatians 4:6).

Ⅵ. We are children of God manifestly before the world as we walk in practical obedience to Him. “ As obedient children not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance” (1. Peter 1:14-17).

Ⅶ. We are children of God in reality as we are led by the Spirit. “ As many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God” (Rom.8:14).

── F.E. Marsh《Five Hundred Bible Readings》