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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When mankind began to multiply on the earth and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were beautiful, and they took any they chose as wives for themselves. read more. And the Lord said, "My Spirit will not remain with mankind forever, because they are corrupt. Their days will be 120 years." The Nephilim were on the earth both in those days and afterwards, when the sons of God came to the daughters of man, who bore children to them. They were the powerful men of old, the famous men.
Then you will say to Pharaoh: This is what the Lord says: Israel is My firstborn son.
And you saw in the wilderness how the Lord your God carried you as a man carries his son all along the way you traveled until you reached this place.
Keep in mind that the Lord your God has been disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son.
"You are sons of the Lord your God; do not cut yourselves or make a bald spot on your head on behalf of the dead, for you are a holy people belonging to the Lord your God. The Lord has chosen you to be His special people out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
His people have acted corruptly toward Him; this is their defect-they are not His children but a devious and crooked generation. Is this how you repay the Lord, you foolish and senseless people? Isn't He your Father and Creator? Didn't He make you and sustain you?
He found him in a desolate land, in a barren, howling wilderness; He surrounded him, cared for him, and guarded him as the pupil of His eye. He watches over His nest like an eagle and hovers over His young; He spreads His wings, catches him, and lifts him up on His pinions. read more. The Lord alone led him, with no help from a foreign god. He made him ride on the heights of the land and eat the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from flintlike rock, cream from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat; you drank wine from the finest grapes. Then Jeshurun became fat and rebelled- you became fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
You ignored the Rock who gave you birth; you forgot the God who brought you forth. When the Lord saw [this], He despised [them], provoked [to anger] by His sons and daughters. read more. He said: "I will hide My face from them; I will see what will become of them, for they are a perverse generation- unfaithful children. They have provoked My jealousy with [their] so-called gods; they have enraged Me with their worthless idols. So I will provoke their jealousy with an inferior people; I will enrage them with a foolish nation.
Joshua started early the next morning and left Acacia Grove with all the Israelites. They went as far as the Jordan and stayed there before crossing. After three days the officers went through the camp
Then Joshua told the Israelites, "Come closer and listen to the words of the Lord your God." He said, "You will know that the living God is among you and that He will certainly dispossess before you the Canaanites, Hittites, Hivites, Perizzites, Girgashites, Amorites, and Jebusites
At that time the Lord said to Joshua, "Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelite men again."
One day the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them.
One day the sons of God came again to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them to present himself before the Lord.
while the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
I will declare the Lord's decree: He said to Me, "You are My Son; today I have become Your Father.
Give the Lord-you heavenly beings- give the Lord glory and strength.
A father of the fatherless and a champion of widows is God in His holy dwelling.
God is indeed good to Israel, to the pure in heart.
If I had decided to say these things [aloud], I would have betrayed Your people.
I said, "You are gods; you are all sons of the Most High.
For who in the skies can compare with the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings is like the Lord?
He will call to Me, 'You are my Father, my God, the rock of my salvation.' I will also make him My firstborn, greatest of the kings of the earth.
As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him.
I will say to the north: Give [them] up! and to the south: Do not hold [them] back! Bring My sons from far away, and My daughters from the ends of the earth-
Yet You are our Father, even though Abraham does not know us and Israel doesn't recognize us. You, Lord, are our Father; from ancient times, Your name is our Redeemer.
Yet Lord, You are our Father; we are the clay, and You are our potter; we all are the work of Your hands. Lord, do not be terribly angry or remember [our] iniquity forever. Please look-all of us are Your people! read more. Your holy cities have become a wilderness; Zion has become a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and beautiful temple, where our fathers praised You, has been burned with fire, and all that was dear to us lies in ruins. Lord, after all this, will You restrain Yourself? Will You keep silent and afflict severely?
As a mother comforts her son, so I will comfort you, and you will be comforted in Jerusalem.
They will come weeping, but I will bring them back with consolation. I will lead them to wadis [filled] with water by a smooth way where they will not stumble, for I am Israel's Father, and Ephraim is My firstborn.
I have heard Ephraim moaning: You disciplined me, and I have been disciplined like an untrained calf. Restore me, and I will return, for you, Lord, are my God. After I returned, I repented; After I was instructed, I struck my thigh [in grief]. I was ashamed and humiliated because I bore the disgrace of my youth. read more. Isn't Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Whenever I speak against him, I certainly still think about him. Therefore, My inner being yearns for him; I will truly have compassion on him. [This is] the Lord's declaration.
He exclaimed, "Look! I see four men, not tied, walking around in the fire unharmed; and the fourth looks like a son of the gods."
When the Lord first spoke to Hosea, He said this to him: Go and marry a promiscuous wife and [have] children of promiscuity, for the whole land has been promiscuous by abandoning the Lord. So he went and married Gomer daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and bore him a son.
Then the Lord said: Name him Not My People, for you are not My people, and I will not be your God. Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And in the place where they were told: You are not My people, they will be called: Sons of the living God.
When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called My son.
"A son honors [his] father, and a servant his master. But if I am a father, where is My honor? And if I am a master, where is [your] fear of Me? says the Lord of Hosts to you priests, who despise My name." Yet you ask: "How have we despised Your name?"
Don't all of us have one Father? Didn't one God create us? Why then do we act treacherously against one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Blessed are the peacemakers, because they will be called sons of God.
"You have heard that it was said, Love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, read more. so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
so that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. For He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Don't even the tax collectors do the same? read more. And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary? Don't even the Gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.
"Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of people, to be seen by them. Otherwise, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
But if you don't forgive people, your Father will not forgive your wrongdoing.
Look at the birds of the sky: they don't sow or reap or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you worth more than they?
At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to infants.
At that time Jesus said, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because You have hidden these things from the wise and learned and revealed them to infants.
Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom. Anyone who has ears should listen!
Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, "My Father! If it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will."
And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven will also forgive you your wrongdoing. [
But love your enemies, do what is good, and lend, expecting nothing in return. Then your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is gracious to the ungrateful and evil. Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
All things have been entrusted to Me by My Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son desires to reveal Him."
He said to them, "Whenever you pray, say: Father, Your name be honored as holy. Your kingdom come.
If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him?"
And Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into Your hands I entrust My spirit. " Saying this, He breathed His last.
But to all who did receive Him, He gave them the right to be children of God, to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood, or of the will of the flesh, or of the will of man, but of God. read more. The Word became flesh and took up residence among us. We observed His glory, the glory as the One and Only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
No one has ever seen God. The One and Only Son- the One who is at the Father's side- He has revealed Him.
Jesus replied, "I assure you: Unless someone is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." "But how can anyone be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked Him. "Can he enter his mother's womb a second time and be born?" read more. Jesus answered, "I assure you: Unless someone is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Whatever is born of the flesh is flesh, and whatever is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not be amazed that I told you that you must be born again. read more. The wind blows where it pleases, and you hear its sound, but you don't know where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.
No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day.
He said, "This is why I told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted to him by the Father."
"Our father is Abraham!" they replied. "If you were Abraham's children," Jesus told them, "you would do what Abraham did. But now you are trying to kill Me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do this! read more. You're doing what your father does." "We weren't born of sexual immorality," they said. "We have one Father-God." Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you would love Me, because I came from God and I am here. For I didn't come on My own, but He sent Me.
and not for the nation only, but also to unite the scattered children of God.
Jesus told 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, you are in Me, and I am in you.
"Don't cling to Me," Jesus told her, "for I have not yet ascended to the Father. But go to My brothers and tell them that I am ascending to My Father and your Father-to My God and your God."
But these are written so that you may believe Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and by believing you may have life in His name.
For in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, 'For we are also His offspring.' Gk poet.
and was established as the powerful Son of God by the resurrection from the dead according to the Spirit of holiness.
All those led by God's Spirit are God's sons. For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father!" read more. The Spirit Himself testifies together with our spirit that we are God's children, and if children, also heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ-seeing that we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is going to be revealed to us. For the creation eagerly waits with anticipation for God's sons to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to futility-not willingly, but because of Him who subjected it-in the hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of corruption into the glorious freedom of God's children. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together with labor pains until now. And not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits-we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies.
And not only that, but we ourselves who have the Spirit as the firstfruits-we also groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. Now in this hope we were saved, yet hope that is seen is not hope, because who hopes for what he sees? read more. But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience.
For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.
That is, it is not the children by physical descent who are God's children, but the children of the promise are considered seed.
As He also says in Hosea: I will call "Not-My-People," "My-People," and she who is "Unloved," "Beloved." And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not My people, there they will be called sons of the living God.
And it will be in the place where they were told, you are not My people, there they will be called sons of the living God.
for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.
But I ask, "Did Israel not understand?" First, Moses said: I will make you jealous of those who are not a nation; I will make you angry by a nation that lacks understanding.
Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed.
for you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Now I say that as long as the heir is a child, he differs in no way from a slave, though he is the owner of everything. Instead, he is under guardians and stewards until the time set by his father. read more. In the same way we also, when we were children, were in slavery under the elemental forces of the world. But when the completion of the time came, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba, Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.
Now you, brothers, like Isaac, are children of promise.
He predestined us to be adopted through Jesus Christ for Himself, according to His favor and will, to the praise of His glorious grace that He favored us with in the Beloved. read more. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace that He lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure that He planned in Him for the administration) of the days of fulfillment-to bring everything together in the Messiah, both things in heaven and things on earth in Him. In Him we were also made His inheritance, predestined according to the purpose of the One who works out everything in agreement with the decision of His will, so that we who had already put our hope in the Messiah might bring praise to His glory. In Him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation-in Him when you believed-were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit. He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory.
He is the down payment of our inheritance, for the redemption of the possession, to the praise of His glory. This is why, since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all the saints, read more. I never stop giving thanks for you as I remember you in my prayers. [I pray] that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, would give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. [I pray] that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the glorious riches of His inheritance among the saints,
so that you may be blameless and pure, children of God who are faultless in a crooked and perverted generation, among whom you shine like stars in the world.
For to which of the angels did He ever say, You are My Son; today I have become Your Father, or again, I will be His Father, and He will be My Son ?
But we do see Jesus- made lower than the angels for a short time so that by God's grace He might taste death for everyone-crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death. For it was fitting, in bringing many sons to glory, that He, for whom and through whom all things exist, should make the source of their salvation perfect through sufferings. read more. For the One who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father. That is why He is not ashamed to call them brothers, saying: I will proclaim Your name to My brothers; I will sing hymns to You in the congregation. Again, I will trust in Him. And again, Here I am with the children God gave Me. Now since the children have flesh and blood in common, He also shared in these, so that through His death He might destroy the one holding the power of death-that is, the Devil- and free those who were held in slavery all their lives by the fear of death. For it is clear that He does not reach out to help angels, but to help Abraham's offspring. Therefore He had to be like His brothers in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For since He Himself was tested and has suffered, He is able to help those who are tested.
In struggling against sin, you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. And you have forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons: My son, do not take the Lord's discipline lightly, or faint when you are reproved by Him; read more. for the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and punishes every son whom He receives. Endure it as discipline: God is dealing with you as sons. For what son is there whom a father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline-which all receive-then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had natural fathers discipline us, and we respected them. Shouldn't we submit even more to the Father of spirits and live? For they disciplined us for a short time based on what seemed good to them, but He does it for our benefit, so that we can share His holiness. No discipline seems enjoyable at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it yields the fruit of peace and righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Therefore strengthen your tired hands and weakened knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but healed instead.
Every generous act and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights; with Him there is no variation or shadow cast by turning. By His own choice, He gave us a new birth by the message of truth so that we would be the firstfruits of His creatures.
Pure and undefiled religion before our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself unstained by the world.
With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men who are made in God's likeness.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. According to His great mercy, He has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
And if you address as Father the One who judges impartially based on each one's work, you are to conduct yourselves in reverence during this time of temporary residence.
since you have been born again-not of perishable seed but of imperishable-through the living and enduring word of God.
So rid yourselves of all wickedness, all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and all slander. Like newborn infants, desire the unadulterated spiritual milk, so that you may grow by it in [your] salvation, read more. since you have tasted that the Lord is good. Coming to Him, a living stone-rejected by men but chosen and valuable to God- you yourselves, as living stones, are being built into a spiritual house for a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it stands in Scripture: Look! I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and valuable cornerstone, and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame! So the honor is for you who believe; but for the unbelieving, The stone that the builders rejected- this One has become the cornerstone, and A stone that causes men to stumble, and a rock that trips them up. They stumble by disobeying the message; they were destined for this. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His possession, so that you may proclaim the praises of the One who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.
For everything that belongs to the world-the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride in one's lifestyle-is not from the Father, but is from the world.
No one who denies the Son can have the Father; he who confesses the Son has the Father as well.
If you know that He is righteous, you know this as well: everyone who does what is right has been born of Him.
Dear friends, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him as He is.
Everyone who has been born of God does not sin, because His seed remains in him; he is not able to sin, because he has been born of God.
Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent also loves his child.
because whatever has been born of God conquers the world. This is the victory that has conquered the world: our faith.
The victor will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son. But the cowards, unbelievers, vile, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars-their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."