Mankind as God’s Children (Jn 1:13)

Mankind as God’s Children (Jn 1:13)

(Before going back to our spiritual journey, let me take this opportunity to inform you, Dear Readers, that we are shifting back to the Catholic version of the Bible – the New American Bible.  Our use of the NLT version has been fruitful so far.  However, as I continue to read the NAB version, I personally find it more appealing to me and my own personal journey.  So, unless otherwise specified, I will be quoting the NAB version of the Bible, copyrighted by Thomas Nelson, Inc. in 1969, to be more specific.)

In our previous article, we talked about God adopting mankind to be His children through Jesus Christ.  To wit,

“But to those who did accept Him He gave the power to become children of God, to those who believe in His name,”

In verse that follows we read:

“…who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man’s decision but of God.”

†Father God, we thank you for welcoming us in Your loving arms.  Like children we were hungry for love and thirsty for compassion, we come to You and did not turn away Your face from us.  You welcome us instead, clothed us with Your mercy, fed us with Your love and comforted us with Your peace.  Loving Father, we thank You, that by sending Your most precious son, Jesus Christ, to suffer for our sins, we were given the opportunity to have a home, Your home, with You as our father, Jesus your first born as our brother and the Church our Mother.  We praise and glorify You Father, both now and forever. Amen.†

Expecting a child, especially your first born, is a very exciting and wonderful feeling.  All the anxieties and gladness being mixed together is just overwhelming and unexplainable.  The thought of having another human life being entrusted at your care is a very joyful experience.  I don’t know how to explain or how to describe it.  How could a life that is so precious, so sacred and so fragile be placed at the control of filthy and undeserving hands? What is it that God has seen in me to place such responsibility upon my shoulders?  Nevertheless, the excitement that I have can never be contained nor can it be extinguished.  This child, this baby that my wife is carrying in her womb, is the child that I always longed for.  Blood of my blood, flesh of my flesh. 

If I, a mortal, who have waited only for about two years for my child, cannot contain this excitement and joy, how much more God who have waited for His children hundreds even thousands of years to come to Him? 

Creations. People. Children.

I am yet to find a part of the Old Testament wherein it could be read that God calls mankind His children.  If ever the term “sons of God” was used in the Old Testament, it could hardly be pointed out as referring to human beings.  There are still theological debates and discussions as to who the sons of God are as referred to in the Old Testament.  But, from the New Testament, we know who these sons of God are. 

Verse 13, as we can see above, tells us that mankind reproduces mankind through these three natural causes: (1) by natural generation, (2) by human choice, and (3) by a man’s decision.  Therefore, a human is a child to another human.  But our being children of God is not the result of any human or physical means.  It is by the Spirit of God that we became children of God – first and foremost by accepting Jesus Christ. We do not become children of God by our own merits.  We do not make ourselves children of God because of our choices or decisions, but because it is God who decided to take us as His children through Christ.  Man cannot say, “God make me your son.”  But it is God who calls us, “Listen and accept my son Jesus and you will be partakers of my kingdom, be my adopted sons and daughters.”  We do not become children of God because we wanted it, but because God willed it. 

In John 3:5-6, Jesus explained this to a Pharisee named Nicodemus.  “Amen, amen, I say to you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. What is born of flesh is flesh and what is born of spirit is spirit.”

Just as adopted children became part of the family through papers and legalities, man becomes a child of God through Jesus.  This brings me to the question, “If the adopted children share in the responsibilities within their adopted homes, don’t we have roles to play as well as children of God?”