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.
See Verses Found in Dictionary
It happened, when men began to multiply on the surface of the ground, and daughters were born to them, that God's sons saw that men's daughters were beautiful, and they took for themselves wives of all that they chose. read more. Yahweh said, "My Spirit will not strive with man forever, because he also is flesh; yet will his days be one hundred twenty years." The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when God's sons came in to men's daughters. They bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
You shall tell Pharaoh, 'Thus says Yahweh, Israel is my son, my firstborn,
and in the wilderness, where you have seen how that Yahweh your God bore you, as a man does bear his son, in all the way that you went, until you came to this place."
You shall consider in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so Yahweh your God chastens you.
You are the children of Yahweh your God: you shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead. For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.
They have dealt corruptly with him, [they are] not his children, [it is] their blemish. [They are] a perverse and crooked generation. Do you thus requite Yahweh, foolish people and unwise? Isn't he your father who has bought you? He has made you, and established you.
He found him in a desert land, in the waste howling wilderness. He surrounded him. 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 feathers. read more. Yahweh alone led him. There was no foreign god with him. He made him ride on the high places of the earth. He ate the increase of the field. He caused him to suck honey out of the rock, oil out of the flinty rock; Butter of the herd, and milk of the flock, with fat of lambs, rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, with the finest of the wheat. Of the blood of the grape you drank wine. But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked. You have grown fat. You have grown thick. You have become sleek. Then he forsook God who made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation.
Of the Rock who became your father, you are unmindful, and have forgotten God who gave you birth. Yahweh saw [it], and abhorred [them], because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters. read more. He said, "I will hide my face from them. I will see what their end shall be; for they are a very perverse generation, children 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. I will move them to jealousy with those who are not a people. I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
Joshua rose up early in the morning; and they moved from Shittim, and came to the Jordan, he and all the children of Israel. They lodged there before they passed over. It happened after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp;
Joshua said to the children of Israel, "Come here, and hear the words of Yahweh your God." Joshua said, "Hereby you shall know that the living God is among you, and that he will without fail drive the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Hivite, and the Perizzite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Jebusite out from before you.
At that time, Yahweh said to Joshua, "Make flint knives, and circumcise again the children of Israel the second time."
Now it happened on the day when God's sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, that Satan also came among them.
Again it happened on the day when the God's sons came to present themselves before Yahweh, that Satan came also among them to present himself before Yahweh.
when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
I will tell of the decree. Yahweh said to me, "You are my son. Today I have become your father.
Ascribe to Yahweh, you sons of the mighty, ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength.
A father of the fatherless, and a defender of the widows, is God in his holy habitation.
Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
If I had said, "I will speak thus;" behold, I would have betrayed the generation of your children.
I said, "You are gods, all of you are sons of the Most High.
For who in the skies can be compared to Yahweh? Who among the sons of the heavenly beings is like Yahweh,
He will call to me, 'You are my Father, my God, and the rock of my salvation!' I will also appoint him my firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth.
Like a father has compassion on his children, so Yahweh has compassion on those who fear him.
I will tell the north, 'Give them up!' and tell the south, 'Don't hold them back! Bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth --
For you are our Father, though Abraham doesn't know us, and Israel does not acknowledge us: you, Yahweh, are our Father; our Redeemer from everlasting is your name.
But now, Yahweh, you are our Father; we are the clay, and you our potter; and we all are the work of your hand. Don't be furious, Yahweh, neither remember iniquity forever: see, look, we beg you, we are all your people. read more. Your holy cities are become a wilderness, Zion is become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our beautiful house, where our fathers praised you, is burned with fire; and all our pleasant places are laid waste. Will you refrain yourself for these things, Yahweh? Will you hold your peace, and afflict us very severely?
As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted in Jerusalem."
They shall come with weeping; and with petitions will I lead them: 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 [thus], You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a calf unaccustomed [to the yoke]: turn me, and I shall be turned; for you are Yahweh my God. Surely after that I was turned, I repented; and after that I was instructed, I struck on my thigh: I was ashamed, yes, even confounded, because I did bear 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 on him, says Yahweh.
He answered, Look, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are unharmed; and the aspect of the fourth is like a son of the gods.
When Yahweh spoke at first by Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, "Go, take for yourself a wife of prostitution and children of unfaithfulness; for the land commits great adultery, forsaking Yahweh." So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; and she conceived, and bore him a son.
He said, "Call his name Lo-Ammi; for you are not my people, and I will not be yours. Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which can't be measured nor numbered; and it will come to pass that, in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'
"When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.
"A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If I am a father, then where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is the respect due me? Says Yahweh of Armies to you, priests, who despise my name. You say, 'How have we despised your name?'
Don't we all have one father? Hasn't one God created us? Why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God.
"You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I tell 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. that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust.
that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Don't even the tax collectors do the same? read more. If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Don't even the tax collectors do the same? Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
"Be careful that you don't do your charitable giving before men, to be seen by them, or else you have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
But if you don't forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
See the birds of the sky, that they don't sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you of much more value than they?
At that time, Jesus answered, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.
At that time, Jesus answered, "I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that you hid these things from the wise and understanding, and revealed them to infants.
Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.
He went forward a little, fell on his face, and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire."
Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father, who is in heaven, may also forgive you your transgressions.
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back; and your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High; for he is kind toward the unthankful and evil. Therefore be merciful, even as your Father is also merciful.
Turning to the disciples, he said, "All things have been delivered to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is, except the Father, and who the Father is, except the Son, and he to whomever the Son desires to reveal him."
He said to them, "When you pray, say, 'Our Father in heaven, may your name be kept holy. May your Kingdom come. May your will be done on Earth, as it is in heaven.
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?"
Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit!" Having said this, he breathed his last.
But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become God's children, to those who believe in his name: who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. read more. The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him.
Jesus answered him, "Most certainly, I tell you, unless one is born anew, he can't see the Kingdom of God." Nicodemus said to him, "How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb, and be born?" read more. Jesus answered, "Most certainly I tell you, unless one is born of water and spirit, he can't enter into the Kingdom of God! That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Don't marvel that I said to you, 'You must be born anew.' read more. The wind blows where it wants to, and you hear its sound, but don't know where it comes from and where it is going. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit."
No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.
He said, "For this cause have I said to you that no one can come to me, unless it is given to him by my Father."
They answered him, "Our father is Abraham." Jesus said to them, "If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham. But now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth, which I heard from God. Abraham didn't do this. read more. You do the works of your father." They said to him, "We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father, God." Therefore Jesus said to them, "If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven't come of myself, but he sent me.
and not for the nation only, but that he might also gather together into one the children of God who are scattered abroad.
Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
Jesus said to her, "Don't hold me, for I haven't yet ascended to my Father; but go to my brothers, and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'"
but these are written, that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in his name.
'For in him we live, and move, and have our being.' As some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also his offspring.'
who was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God. For you didn't receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, "Abba! Father!" read more. The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God; and if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which will be revealed toward us. For the creation waits with eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to vanity, not of its own will, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself also will be delivered from the bondage of decay into the liberty of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groans and travails in pain together until now. Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body.
Not only so, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, the redemption of our body. For we were saved in hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for that which he sees? read more. But if we hope for that which we don't see, we wait for it with patience.
For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
For whom he foreknew, he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;
That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as a seed.
As he says also in Hosea, "I will call them 'my people,' which were not my people; and her 'beloved,' who was not beloved." "It will be that in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' There they will be called 'children of the living God.'"
"It will be that in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' There they will be called 'children of the living God.'"
For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him. For, "Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved."
But I ask, didn't Israel know? First Moses says, "I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, with a nation void of understanding I will make you angry."
But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, confined for the faith which should afterwards be revealed.
For you are all children of God, through faith in Christ Jesus.
But I say that so long as the heir is a child, he is no different from a bondservant, though he is lord of all; but is under guardians and stewards until the day appointed by the father. read more. So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the elemental principles of the world. But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law, that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children. And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba, Father!" So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Now we, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise.
having predestined us for adoption as children through Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his desire, to the praise of the glory of his grace, by which he freely bestowed favor on us in the Beloved, read more. in whom we have our redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he purposed in him to an administration of the fullness of the times, to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens, and the things on the earth, in him; in whom also we were assigned an inheritance, having been foreordained according to the purpose of him who works all things after the counsel of his will; to the end that we should be to the praise of his glory, we who had before hoped in Christ: in whom you also, having heard the word of the truth, the Good News of your salvation -- in whom, having also believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory.
who is a pledge of our inheritance, to the redemption of God's own possession, to the praise of his glory. For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and the love which you have toward all the saints, read more. don't cease to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what are the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
that you may become blameless and harmless, children of God without blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you are seen as lights in the world,
For to which of the angels did he say at any time, "You are my Son. Today have I become your father?" and again, "I will be to him a Father, and he will be to me a Son?"
But we see him who has been made a little lower than the angels, Jesus, because of the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that by the grace of God he should taste of death for everyone. For it became him, for whom are all things, and through whom are all things, in bringing many children to glory, to make the author of their salvation perfect through sufferings. read more. For both he who sanctifies and those who are sanctified are all from one, for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying, "I will declare your name to my brothers. In the midst of the congregation I will sing your praise." Again, "I will put my trust in him." Again, "Behold, here I am with the children whom God has given me." Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might bring to nothing him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might deliver all of them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage. For most certainly, he doesn't give help to angels, but he gives help to the seed of Abraham. Therefore he was obligated in all things to be made like his brothers, that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make atonement for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to help those who are tempted.
You have not yet resisted to blood, striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which reasons with you as with children, "My son, don't take lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by him; read more. For whom the Lord loves, he chastens, and scourges every son whom he receives." It is for discipline that you endure. God deals with you as with children, for what son is there whom his father doesn't discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have been made partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not children. Furthermore, we had the fathers of our flesh to chasten us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live? For they indeed, for a few days, punished us as seemed good to them; but he for our profit, that we may be partakers of his holiness. All chastening seems for the present to be not joyous but grievous; yet afterward it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been exercised thereby. Therefore, lift up the hands that hang down and the feeble knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that which is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow. Of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth, that we should be a kind of first fruits of his creatures.
Pure religion and undefiled before our God and Father is this: to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
With it we bless our God and Father, and with it we curse men, who are made in the image of God.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy became our father again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
If you call on him as Father, who without respect of persons judges according to each man's work, pass the time of your living as foreigners here in reverent fear:
having been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the word of God, which lives and remains forever.
Putting away therefore all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisies, envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn babies, long for the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby, read more. if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious: coming to him, a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God, precious. You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Because it is contained in Scripture, "Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, chosen, and precious: He who believes in him will not be disappointed." For you who believe therefore is the honor, but for those who are disobedient, "The stone which the builders rejected, has become the chief cornerstone," and, "a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense." For they stumble at the word, being disobedient, to which also they were appointed. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light: who in time past were no people, but now are God's people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
who in time past were no people, but now are God's people, who had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, isn't the Father's, but is the world's.
Whoever denies the Son, the same doesn't have the Father. He who confesses the Son has the Father also.
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who practices righteousness is born of him.
Beloved, now we are children of God, and it is not yet revealed what we will be. But we know that, when he is revealed, we will be like him; for we will see him just as he is.
Whoever is born of God doesn't commit sin, because his seed remains in him; and he can't sin, because he is born of God.
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God.
Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God. Whoever loves the Father also loves the child who is born of him.
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith.
He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son. But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."