Reference: Children (Sons) Of God
Hastings
There are a few passages in the OT in which the term 'sons of God' is applied to angelic beings (Ge 6:1-4; Job 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; cf. Da 3:25 RV). Once the judges of Israel are referred to as 'gods,' perhaps as appointed by God and vested with His authority (but the passage is very obscure; may the words be ironical?), and, in parallel phrase, as 'sons of the Most High' (Ps 82:6, cf. Joh 10:34; also, Ps 29:1; 89:6 Revised Version margin).
With these exceptions, the term, with the correlative one of 'Father,' designates the relation of men to God and of God to men, with varying fulness of meaning. It is obvious that the use of such a figure has wide possibilities. To call God 'Father' may imply little more than that He is creator and ruler of men (cf. 'Zeus, father of gods and men'); or it may connote some phase of His providence towards a favoured individual or nation; or, again, it may assert that a father's love at its highest is the truest symbol we can frame of God's essential nature and God's disposition towards all men. Similarly, men may conceivably be styled 'children of God' from mere dependence, from special privilege, from moral likeness, or finally from a full and willing response to the Divine Fatherhood in filial love, trust, and obedience. It is, therefore, not surprising that the Scripture facts present a varying and progressive conception of God as Father and of men as His children.
I. In the OT.
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And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the ground, and daughters were born to them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair. And they took to them wives of all that they chose. read more. And LORD said, My spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he also is flesh. Yet shall his days be a hundred and twenty years. The Nephilim were on the earth in those days. And also after that, when the sons of God came to the daughters of men, and they bore sons to them, the same were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.
And thou shall say to Pharaoh, Thus says LORD, Israel is my son, my first-born,
and in the wilderness, where thou have seen how that LORD thy God bore thee, as a man bears his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came to this place.
And thou shall consider in thy heart, that, as a man chastens his son, so LORD thy God chastens thee.
Ye are the sons of LORD your God. Ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For thou are a holy people to LORD thy God, and LORD has chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.
They have dealt corruptly with him. [They are] not his sons, [it is] their blemish, a perverse and crooked generation. Do ye thus requite LORD, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father who has bought thee? He has made thee, and established thee.
He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness. He compassed him about. He cared for him. He kept him as the apple of his eye. As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings. He took them. He bore them on his pinions. read more. LORD alone led him, and there was no foreign god with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth, and he ate the increase of the field, and he made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil out of the flinty rock, butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, and rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat, and of the blood of the grape thou drank wine. But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. Thou have grown fat. Thou have grown thick. Thou have become sleek. Then he forsook God who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
Thou are unmindful of the Rock that begot thee, and have forgotten God who gave thee birth. And LORD saw, and abhorred, because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. read more. And he said, I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end shall be. For they are a very perverse generation, sons in whom is no faithfulness. They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God. They have provoked me to anger with their vanities, and I will move them to jealousy with a non-nation. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
And Joshua rose up early in the morning. And they moved from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, and they lodged there before they passed over. And it came to pass after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp,
And Joshua said to the sons of Israel, Come here, and hear the words of LORD your God. And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite,
At that time LORD said to Joshua, Make for thee knives of flint, and circumcise again the sons of Israel the second time.
Now it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before LORD, that Satan also came among them.
Again it came to pass on the day when the sons of God came to present themselves before LORD, that Satan came also among them to present himself before LORD.
when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
I will tell of the decree. LORD said to me, Thou are my son, this day I have begotten thee.
Ascribe to LORD, O ye sons of the mighty, ascribe to LORD glory and strength.
A father of the fatherless, and a judge of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
Surely God is good to Israel, to such as are pure in heart.
If I had said, I will speak thus, behold, I would have dealt treacherously with the generation of thy sons.
I said, Ye are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High.
For who in the clouds can be compared to LORD? Who among the sons of the mighty is like LORD,
He shall cry to me, Thou are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation. I also will make him first-born, the highest of the kings of the earth.
Like as a father pities his sons, So LORD pities those who fear him.
I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Keep not back. Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the end of the earth,
For thou are our Father, though Abraham knows us not, and Israel does not acknowledge us, thou, O LORD, are our Father, our Redeemer, from everlasting is thy name.
But now, O LORD, thou are our Father. We are the clay, and thou our potter, and we are all the work of thy hand. Be not angry very severely, O LORD, nor remember iniquity forever. Behold, look, we beseech thee, we are all thy people. read more. Thy holy cities have become a wilderness. Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised thee, is burned with fire, and all our pleasant places are laid waste. Will thou restrain thyself for these things, O LORD? Will thou hold thy peace, and afflict us very severely?
As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.
They shall come with weeping. And I will lead them with supplications. I will cause them to walk by rivers of waters, in a straight way in which they shall not stumble. For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn.
I have surely heard Ephraim bemoaning himself [saying], Thou have chastised me, and I was chastised as a calf unaccustomed [to the yoke]. Turn thou me back, and I shall be turned back, for thou are LORD my God. Surely after that I was turned back. I repented, and after I was instructed, I smote upon my thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded, because I bore the reproach of my youth. read more. Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I do earnestly remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy upon him, says LORD.
He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no harm. And the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods.
When LORD spoke at the first by Hosea, LORD said to Hosea, Go, take to thee a wife of whoredom and children of whoredom, for the land commits great whoredom, departing from LORD. So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived, and bore him a son.
And [LORD] said, Call his name Lo-ammi, for ye are not my people, and I will not be yours. Yet the number of the sons of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. And it shall come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people, it shall be said to them, Th
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? and if I am a master, where is my fear? says LORD of hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. And ye say, How have we despised thy na
Have we not all one father? Has not one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God.
Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shall love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, read more. so that ye may become sons of your Father in the heavens, because he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and makes rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
so that ye may become sons of your Father in the heavens, because he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and makes rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if ye love those who love you, what reward have ye? Do not even the tax collectors the same? read more. And if ye only greet your friends, what do ye extra? Do not even the tax collectors this way? Ye therefore shall be perfect, even as your Father in the heavens is perfect.
Be careful not to do your charity before men in order to be seen by them, otherwise ye have no reward from your Father in the heavens.
But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
Look to the birds of the sky, because they sow not, nor do they reap, nor gather into barns, and your heavenly Father feeds them. Are ye not more valuable then they?
Jesus having responded at that time, said, I extol thee, O Father, Lord of the heaven and the earth, because thou hid these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to the childlike.
Jesus having responded at that time, said, I extol thee, O Father, Lord of the heaven and the earth, because thou hid these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to the childlike.
Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
And having gone forward a little, he fell on his face praying, and saying, My Father, if it be possible, may this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I want, but as thou.
And whenever ye may stand praying, forgive, if ye have anything against any man, so that also your Father in the heavens will forgive you your trespasses.
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, despairing nothing, and your reward will be great. And ye will be sons of the Most High, because he is good toward the ungrateful and bad. Become ye therefore merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
And having turned to the disciples, he said, All things were delivered to me by my Father. And no man knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son wants to reveal him.
And he said to them, When ye pray, say, Our Father in the heavens, hallowed be thy name. May thy kingdom come, may thy will happen on the earth as also in heaven.
If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more the Father from heaven will give Holy Spirit to those who ask him?
And Jesus, having sounded out in a great voice, said, Father, into thy hands I entrust my spirit. And having said these things, he expired.
But as many as did accept him, to them he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were begotten, not from blood, nor from a will of flesh, nor from a will of man, but from God. read more. And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.
No man has ever seen God. The only begotten Son, being in the bosom of the Father, that man reported him.
Jesus answered and said to him, Truly, truly, I say to thee, If any man is not begotten from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus says to him, How can a man be begotten, being old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's belly, and be born? read more. Jesus answered, Truly, truly, I say to thee, If any man is not begotten from water and Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is begotten from the flesh is flesh, and that which is begotten from the Spirit is spirit.
That which is begotten from the flesh is flesh, and that which is begotten from the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said to thee, ye must be begotten from above. read more. The wind blows where it will, and thou hear the sound of it, but know not from where it comes, and where it goes. So is every man who is begotten from the Spirit.
No man can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
And he said, Because of this I have said to you that no man is able to come to me, if it is not given to him from my Father.
They answered and said to him, Abraham is our father. Jesus says to them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye would do the works of Abraham. But now ye seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this. read more. Ye do the works of your father. They said therefore to him, We were not begotten from fornication. We have one Father, God. Therefore Jesus said to them, If God were your Father, ye would love me, for I came forth and have come from God. For, neither have I come for myself, but he sent me.
And not for the nation only, but also that he might gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
Jesus says to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father, except by me.
In that day ye will know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Jesus says to her, Do not touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father. But go to my brothers, and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and my God and your God.
But these are written, so that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing ye may have life in his name.
For in him we live, and move, and exist, as also some of the performers from you have said, For of him we are also offspring.
He who was designated Son of God in power, according to a spirit of holiness, from a resurrection of the dead--Jesus Christ our Lord--
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For ye did not receive a spirit of bondage again for fear, but ye received a spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. read more. The Spirit itself testifies with our spirit, that we are children of God. And if children, also heirs, heirs indeed of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer jointly, so that we may also be glorified jointly. For I reckon that the sufferings of the present time are not comparable to the glory that is going to be revealed for us. For the eager expectation of the creation is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creation was made subject to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it in hope. Because the creation itself will also be freed from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation is groaning and travailing together until now. And not only so, but also ourselves who have the first fruit of the Spirit. And we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.
And not only so, but also ourselves who have the first fruit of the Spirit. And we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved to hope. But hope that is seen is not hope. For what is seen, why also hope for that? read more. But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait through patience.
Because whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be of similar nature of the form of his Son, in order for him to be the firstborn son among many brothers.
Because whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be of similar nature of the form of his Son, in order for him to be the firstborn son among many brothers.
who are Israelites, of whom is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the lawgiving, and the divine service, and the promises,
That is, the children of the flesh, these are not children of God, instead, the children of the promise are reckoned for seed.
As also he says in Hosea, I will call those not my people, my people, and her who was not beloved, beloved. And it will be in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people, there they will be called, sons of the living God.
And it will be in the place where it was said to them, Ye are not my people, there they will be called, sons of the living God.
For there is no distinction of a Jew and also of a Greek, for the same Lord is of all men, being rich toward all those who call upon him. For every man, whoever may call upon the name of Lord will be saved.
But I say, did Israel, no, not know? First Moses says, I will provoke you to jealousy toward a non-nation. Toward a foolish nation, I will make you angry.
But before faith came we were kept in custody under law, having been confined for faith that was going to be revealed.
For ye are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
But I say the heir, for as long a time as he is a child, differs nothing from a bondman though he is lord of all. Instead he is under stewards and managers until the time appointed from the father. read more. And so when we were children, we were in bondage under the rudiments of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born from a woman, born under law, so that he might redeem those under law, so that we might receive the sonship. And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So that thou are no longer a bondman but a son, and if a son, then an heir through Christ.
So that thou are no longer a bondman but a son, and if a son, then an heir through Christ.
Now we, brothers, who correspond to Isaac, are children of promise.
Who predestined us for sonship through Jesus Christ for himself, according to the desire of his will, for appreciation of the glory of his grace, by which he blessed us in him who is beloved. read more. In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of transgressions, according to the wealth of his grace, which he abounded for us in all wisdom and intelligence. Having made known to us the mystery of his will according to his desire, which he purposed within himself for an administration of the fullness of the times. To gather together all things in the Christ, things in the heavens and things upon the earth, in him in whom also we obtained an inheritance. Having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the deliberation of his will. For us to be for appreciation of his glory, men who have first hoped in the Christ. In whom ye also, having heard the word of the truth, the good-news of your salvation, in whom also having believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise, which is a pledge of our inheritance for the redemption of the acquired possession, for appreciation of his glory.
which is a pledge of our inheritance for the redemption of the acquired possession, for appreciation of his glory. Because of this I also, having heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love for all the sanctified, read more. I cease not expressing thanks for you, making remembrance of you in my prayers. So that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowledge of him, having the eyes of your heart enlightened. For you to know what is the hope of his calling, and what is the wealth of the glory of his inheritance in the sanctified.
so that ye may become blameless and pure children of God, blameless in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world.
For to which of the heavenly agents did he ever say, Thou are my Son, today I have begotten thee? And again, I will be to him for a Father, and he will be to me for a Son?
But we see Jesus who has been made a little something less than the heavenly agents, who, because of the suffering of death, has been crowned with glory and honor, so that by the grace of God he would taste of death for every man. For it was fitting for him, through whom are all things, and because of whom are all things, having brought many sons to glory, to make the pathfinder of their salvation fully perfect through sufferings. read more. For both he who sanctifies and those being sanctified are all of one, because of which reason he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, I will declare thy name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation I will sing praise to thee. And again, I will be a man who has trusted in him. And again, Behold, I and the children that God has given me. Since therefore the children have partaken of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might make him who has the power of death impotent, that is, the devil. And he might liberate these, as many as throughout all their lifetime were deserving of bondage, with a specter of death. For he certainly did not embrace heavenly agents, but he embraced the seed of Abraham. Therefore he was obligated to be made like his brothers in accordance with all things, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things toward God, in order to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered, having been tempted, he is able to help those being tempted.
Ye have not yet resisted as far as blood, struggling against sin. And have ye forgotten the exhortation that reasons with you as with sons, My son, do not disparage the chastening of Lord, nor become disheartened when punished by him? read more. For whom Lord loves he chastens. And he whips every son whom he receives. Because of chastening ye endure; God is treating you as with sons, for what son is there whom a father does not chasten? And if ye are without chastening, of which all have become participants, then ye are bastards, and not sons. Besides, we indeed have had chastisers--the fathers of our flesh--and we were turned around. Shall we not much more be subordinate to the Father of the spirits, and we will live? For those men indeed for a few days chastened us according to that which seemed good to them, but he for that which is advantageous, in order to be partakers of his holiness. But of course no chastening for the present seems to be of joy but of sorrow, yet afterward it yields peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore lift up the drooping hands, and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be turned away, but may be healed instead.
Every good gift and every perfect endowment is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation nor shadow of turning. Having deliberated, he begot us by the word of truth for us to be a certain first fruit of his creatures.
Pure religion and undefiled from God and the Father is this, to go help the orphaned and the widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
By it we bless the God and Father, and by it we curse men, who were made according to a likeness of God.
Blessed is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who begot us again according to his abundant mercy for a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
And if ye call on a Father, him who judges impartially according to each man's work, live the time of your sojourn in fear.
begotten again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God that lives and remains into the age.
Therefore, having put off all evil and all deceit and hypocrisies and envies and all evil speaking, as newborn babes, long for the genuine intellectual milk, so that ye may grow by it, read more. if indeed ye have tasted that the Lord is excellent. Coming to whom, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but with God chosen, precious, ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. It is therefore contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, chosen, precious. And he who believes in him will, no, not be shamed. To you therefore who believe is the preciousness, but for men who disobey, A stone that the builders rejected, this became the head of the corner, and, A stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, men who stumble at the word, being disobedient, for which also they were set. But ye are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for an acquired possession, so that ye might broadly proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Men formerly not a people, but now are a people of God. Men who had not obtained mercy, but who now have obtained mercy.
Men formerly not a people, but now are a people of God. Men who had not obtained mercy, but who now have obtained mercy.
Because everything in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the arrogance of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Every man who denies the Son, also does not have the Father.
If ye know that he is righteous, know ye that every man doing righteousness has been begotten of him.
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet made known what we will be. But we know that whenever he is made known we will be like him, because we will see him as he is.
Every man who has been begotten of God is not doing sin, because his seed abides in him, and he cannot sin, because he has been begotten of God.
Beloved, we should love each other. Because love is of God, and every man who loves has been begotten of God, and knows God.
Every man who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten from God, and every man who loves him who begot, also loves him who has been begotten from him.
Because everything that has been begotten from God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that overcomes the world, our faith.
He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be God to him, and he will be a son to me. But for the cowards, and unbelieving, and sinful, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.