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
And it shall be when man begins to multiply upon the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, And the sons of God will see the daughters of Adam that they are good, and they will take to them wives of all which they chose. read more. And Jehovah will say, My spirit will not forever be low in man, for that he is flesh and his days were one hundred and twenty years. Giants were in the earth in these days, and also after that, when the sons of God shall come in to the daughters of man and they shall bring forth to them which are men of old, men of name.
And say thou to Pharaoh, So said Jehovah, my first-born son is Israel.
And in the desert where thou sawest that Jehovah thy God lifted thee up, as a man will lift up his son, in all the way that ye went till your coming to this place.
And know thou with thy heart that as a man will chastise his son, Jehovah thy God chastises thee.
Ye the sons of Jehovah your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, and ye shall not put baldness between your eyes for the dead. For thou a holy people to Jehovah thy God, and Jehovah chose in thee to be to him for a people of acquisition above all people which are upon the face of the earth.
He acted wickedly to him; not his sons their blot: A generation perverted and crooked. To Jehovah will ye recompense this, A people foolish and not wise? He thy father: did he not buy thee? He made thee, and he will protect thee.
He will find him in the land of the desert, In a waste howling desolation: He will encompass him about; he will teach him, He will keep him as the pupil of the eye. As the eagle he will arouse his young brood, He will brood over his young birds; He will spread out his wings, and will take them; He will lift them up upon his wings: read more. Jehovah alone will lead him, And no strange god with him. He will cause him to ride upon the heights of the land; He shall eat the produce of the field; And he shall suck honey from the rock, And oil from the flint of the rock Curdled milk of the cow, and milk of the sheep, With the fat of lambs, And rams, sons of Bashan, and he goats, With the fat of kidneys of wheat; Thou shalt drink wine, the blood of the grape. And Jeshurun will be fat and will tread down: Thou wert fat, thou wert thick, thou wert covered; And he will reject God having made him, And he will despise the Rock of his deliverance.
Thou wilt forsake the Rock begetting thee, And thou wilt forget God setting thee free. And God will see and will reject, From the irritating of his sons and his daughters read more. And he will say, I will hide my face from them; I will see what shall be after them: For they a generation of perverseness, Sons no faith in them. They made me jealous with not God; They irritated me with their vanities: And I will make them jealous with not a people; With a foolish nation will I irritate them.
And Joshua will rise early in the morning; and they will remove from Shittim and they will come even to Jordan, he and all the sons of Israel, and they will pass the night there before they will pass over. And it will be from the end of three days and the scribes will pass through in the midst of the camp.
And Joshua will say to the sons of Israel, Come near here and hear the words of Jehovah your God. And Joshua will say, By this ye shall know that the living God is in the midst of you; and destroying, he will destroy from your face the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Hivite and the Perizzite and the Girgashite and the Amorite and the Jebusite.
In that time Jehovah said to Joshua, Make to thee swords of stone, and turning back, circumcise the sons of Israel the second time
And the day will be and the sons of God will come to stand before God, and also the adversary will come in the midst of them.
And the day will be and the sons of God will come to stand before Jehovah, and the adversary also will come in the midst of them to stand before Jehovah.
In the rejoicing together of the stars of morning, and all the sons of God will shout for joy?
I will recount for a law of Jehovah: He said to me, Thou my son; this day I begat thee.
Chanting of David. Give to Jehovah, ye sons of God, give to Jehovah glory and strength.
A father of orphans and a judge of widows, God in his holy habitation.
Chanting to Asaph. Surely God is good to Israel, to the clean of heart
If I said, I will recount thus; behold, I transgressed against the generation of thy sons.
I said, Ye are gods; and the sons of the Most High all of you.
For who in the cloud shall be compared to Jehovah? shall he be likened to Jehovah among the sons of God?
He shall call me, Thou my father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation, Also I will give him the firstborn, the highest to the kings of the earth.
As a father compassionating over his sons, Jehovah compassionated those fearing him.
Say to the north, Thou shalt give, and to the south thou shalt not withhold: bring in my sons from far off, and my daughters from the extremities of the earth;
For thou our Father, for Abraham knew us not, and Israel will not recognize us: thou Jehovah our Father redeeming us; thy name from eternity.
And now, O Jehovah, thou our Father; we the clay and thou forming us; and we all the work of thy hand. Thou wilt not be angry, O Jehovah, even greatly, and not forever wilt thou remember iniquity: behold, look now, Ye are all thy people. read more. The cities of thy holy place were desert; Zion was a desert., Jerusalem a desolation. The house of our holy place and our glory where our fathers praised thee, was for a burning of fire, and all our precious things were for desolation. For these wilt thou refrain thyself, O Jehovah? wilt thou be silent, and wilt thou humble us even greatly?
As a man whom his mother shall comfort him, so will I comfort you; and in Jerusalem ye shall be comforted.
In weeping will they come, and I will lead them in mercies; I will cause them to go to the streams of waters in a straight way; they shall not stumble in it: for I was to Israel for a father, and Ephraim he is my first-born.
Hearing, I heard Ephraim being thrust away: Thou didst correct me, and I shall be corrected as a calf not being taught: turn me back and I shall be turned back, for thou Jehovah my God. For after my being turned back I was comforted; and after my knowing I struck upon the thigh: I was ashamed and also disgraced for I bore the reproach of my youth. read more. Is Ephraim a precious son to me? if a child of delights? for whenever my speaking against him, remembering, I shall remember him yet; for this the bowels were put in motion to me compassionating, I will compassionate him, says Jehovah.
{ He answered and said, Lo, I see four men loose going about in the midst of the fire, and there is no hurt in them: and the aspect of the fourth like to the Son of God.}
The beginning of the word of Jehovah by Hosea. And Jehovah will say to Hosea, Go, take to thee a wife of fornication and children of fornication; for the land committing fornication, will commit fornication from after Jehovah. And he will go and take Gomer, daughter of Diblaim; and she will conceive and bring forth to him a son.
And he will say; Call his name, Not my people: for ye are not my people, and I will not be to you. And the number of the sons of Israel was as the sand of the sea which shall not be measured and shall not be numbered: and it was in the place which it shall be said to them, Ye are not my people, and it shall be said to them, Ye the sons of the living God.
When Israel was a child, and I loved him, and I called for my son out of Egypt
A son will honor the father, and the servant his lord; and if I a father, where mine honor? and if I their lord, where my fear? said Jehovah of armies to you, O priests despising my name. And ye said, In what did we despise thy name?
Is there not one father to us all? is there not one God creating us? wherefore shall we deal faithlessly each against his brother, to profane the covenant of our fathers?
Happy they making peace: for they shall be called sons of God.
Ye have heard that it has been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy. But I say to you, Love your enemies, praise them cursing you, do well to them hating you, and pray for them threatening you, and driving you out. read more. So that ye might be sons of your Father, which in the heavens: for he makes his sun rise upon evil and good, and rains on the just and unjust.
So that ye might be sons of your Father, which in the heavens: for he makes his sun rise upon evil and good, and rains on the just and unjust. For if ye love them loving you, what reward. have you? do not also the tax collectors the same? read more. And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye above ordinary? and do not the tax collectors the same? Therefore, be ye perfected, as your Father which is in the heavens is perfected.
Attend ye not to do your justice before men, to be seen to them; and if otherwise ye have no reward from your Father which in the heavens.
But if ye should not let go to men their faults, neither will your Father let go your faults.
Look ye upon the fowls of heaven; for they neither sow, nor reap, nor collect into stores; and your heavenly Father nourishes them. Do ye not rather differ from them
In that time Jesus having answered, said, I acknowledge to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for thou hast hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to children.
In that time Jesus having answered, said, I acknowledge to thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for thou hast hidden these things from the wise and intelligent, and revealed them to children.
Then shall the just emit a brilliant light as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He having ears to hear, let him hear.
And having gone forward a little, he fell upon his face, praying, and saying, My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me: but not as I will, but as thou.
And when ye stand praying, let go, if ye have any thing against any one : that also your Father, he in the heavens, might let go to you your falls.
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing back; and your reward shall be much, and ye shall be sons of the Highest; for he is kind to the graceless and evil. Be ye therefore compassionate, as also your Father is compassionate.
All things were delivered me by my Father: and none knows who is the Son, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and to whomsoever the Son would wish to reveal.
And he said to them, When ye pray, say, Our Father he in the heavens, Holy be thy name. Let thy kingdom come. Let thy will be, as in heaven, also upon the earth.
If then ye, being evil, know to give good gifts to your children; how much more the Father, be from heaven, will give the Holy Spirit to them asking him ?
And Jesus having cried with a great voice, said, Father, into thy hands will I commit my spirit: and having said these, he expired.
And as many as received him, he gave them authority to be the children of God, to them believing on his name: They were not born of bloods, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. read more. And the Word was flesh, and dwelt with us, (and we beheld his glory, as the glory of the only born of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
None has seen God at any time; the only born Son, he being in the bosom of the Father, he has declared.
Jesus answered and said to him, Amen, amen, I say to thee, Except any one be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus says to him, How can a man be born, being an old man? he cannot come in a second time to his mother's belly, and be born. read more. Jesus says to him, Truly, truly, I say to thee, Except any one be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot come into the kingdom of God. That born of flesh is flesh; and that born of the Spirit is spirit.
That born of flesh is flesh; and that born of the Spirit is spirit. Thou shouldest not wonder that I said to thee, Ye must be born from above. read more. The wind, where it wills, blows, and its voice thou hearest, but thou knowest not whence it comes, and where it goes: so is every one having been born of the Spirit.
None can come to me, except the Father having sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day.
And he said, Therefore have I said to you, that no one can come to me, except it be given him of my Father.
They answered and said to him, Abraham is our Father. Jesus says to them, If ye were Abraham's children, ye had done Abraham's works. And now ye seek to kill me, a man who has spoken to you the truth, which I heard from God: this did not Abraham. read more. Ye do the works of your father. Then said they to him, We have not been born of fornication; for we have one Father, God. Then said Jesus to them, If God were your Father, ye had loved me: for I went forth from God, and came; for I have not come of myself, but he sent me.
Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said; Ye are gods?
And not for the nation alone, but that also the children of God, scattered, should be gathered into one.
Jesus says to him, I am the way, and the truth, and the life: no one comes to the Father, except by me.
In that day shall ye know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
Jesus says to her, Touch me not; for I have not yet ascended to my Father: and go thou to my brethren, and say to them, I ascend to my Father, and your Father; to my God, and your God.
But these have been written, that ye might believe that Jesus is Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life in his name.
For in him we live, and move, and are; as certain of the composers among you have said, For we also are his race.
Determined the Son of God in power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the rising up of the dead of Jesus Christ our Lord:
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God. For ye have not received the Spirit of servitude again for fear; but have received the Spirit of adoption as a son, in which we cry, Abba, Father. read more. The Spirit itself testifies with our spirit, that we are children of God: And if children, also heirs; truly heirs of God, and coheirs of Christ; if indeed we suffer together, that we may be also glorified together. For I reckon that the sufferings of the time now not worthy of the glory about to be revealed in us. For the anxious expectation of the creation awaits the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subject to vanity, not voluntarily, but by him having subjected in hope, That also the creation itself be freed from servitude of corruption to the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that all creation groans together and travails together until now. And not only, but also they having the first fruits of the Spirit, and we ourselves groan in ourselves, waiting for the adoption as a son, the redemption of our body.
And not only, but also they having the first fruits of the Spirit, and we ourselves groan in ourselves, waiting for the adoption as a son, the redemption of our body. For by hope were we saved: but hope being seen is not hope: for what any one sees, why does he also hope? read more. And if what we see not, we hope for, by patience we wait.
For whom he before knew, he also before determined of the form of the image of his Son, for him to be first born in many brethren.
For whom he before knew, he also before determined of the form of the image of his Son, for him to be first born in many brethren.
Who are Israelites; whose the adoption as a son, and the glory, and covenants, and legislation, and divine worship, and solemn promises;
That is, The children of the flesh, these not the children of God: but the children of the solemn promise are reckoned for seed.
As also he says in Hosea, I will call not my people my people; and the not loved, loved. And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, Ye not my people; there shall they be called the sons of the living God.
And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, Ye not my people; there shall they be called the sons of the living God.
For no distinction is of the Jew and also of the Greek: for the same Lord of all being rich to all calling upon him. For every one whoever should call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But I say, Did not Israel know? First Moses says, I will make you jealous of not a nation, and by a shortsighted nation will I anger you.
And before faith came, we were guarded under the law, shut up to faith about to be revealed.
For we are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
And I say, for as long time as the heir is a child, he differs nothing from a servant, being lord of all; But is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. read more. So also we, when we were children, were subjugated under the world's elements: And when the completion of the time was come, God sent his Son, born of woman, born under the law, That he might redeem them under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So that thou art no more a servant, but a son: and if a son, also an heir of God through Christ.
So that thou art no more a servant, but a son: and if a son, also an heir of God through Christ.
And we, brethren, as Isaac, are children of promise.
Having determined us beforehand for adoption as a son by Jesus Christ to him, according to benevolence of his will, To the praise of the glory of his grace, in which he rendered us acceptable in the beloved. read more. In whom we have redemption by his blood, the letting go of faults, according to the riches of his grace; In which he abounded to us in all wisdom and intelligence; Having made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his benevolence which he purposed in himself: For the arrangement of the completion of the times, to unite in a whole all things in Christ, both the things in the heavens, and the things upon earth; in him: In whom also we were cast by lot, determined beforehand according to the purpose of him performing all things according to the counsel of his will: For us to be to the praise of his glory, who before hoped in Christ. In whom ye also, having heard the word of truth, the good news of your salvation: in whom also having believed, ye were sealed by the holy Spirit of solemn promise, Which is the pledge of our inheritance for the redemption of the acquisition, to the praise of his glory.
Which is the pledge of our inheritance for the redemption of the acquisition, to the praise of his glory. For this, I also, having heard the faith among you in the Lord Jesus, and love to all the holy, read more. Cease not returning thanks for you, making remembrance of you in my prayers; That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, might give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in his knowledge: The eyes of your understanding enlightened; for you to know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the holy ones,
That ye be complete and pure, children of God, blameless in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation, among whom ye appear as luminaries in the world;
For to which of the angels once said he, Thou art my Son, I have this day begotten thee? And again, I will be to him for Father, and he shall be to me for Son?
But we see Jesus, made some little while less than angels by the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; so that by the grace of God he should taste of death for all. For it became him, for whom all things, and by whom all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to perfect the chief of their salvation by sufferings. read more. For be consecrating and they being consecrated all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, Saying, I will announce thy name to my brethren, in the midst of the church will I praise thee. And again, I will be confident in him. And again, Behold I and the young children which God gave me. Since therefore the young children participated in flesh and blood, he also likewise participated with them; that by death he might leave unemployed him having the strength of death, that is, the devil; And deliver them, as many as by fear of death were always to live bound by slavery. For certainly he lays not hold of angels; but of the seed of Abraham he lays hold. Wherefore in all things it was necessary to be made like to the brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful chief priest in things towards God, in order to propitiate for the sin of the people. For in that he himself has suffered, having been tempted, he is able to help the tempted.
Ye have not yet resisted until blood, fighting against sin. And ye have totally forgotten the entreaty which is spoken to you as to sons, My son, neglect not the instruction of the Lord, nor be enervated being rebuked by him: read more. For whom the Lord loves he corrects, and he chastises every son which he receives. If ye endure correction, God treats you as sons; for who is the son which the father corrects not? And if ye are without correction, of which all are partakers, then are ye spurious, not sons. Since we truly have fathers of our flesh instructors, and we were influenced: shall we not rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and we shall live? For they truly for a few days, according as it seemed to them, corrected; but he for profit, in order to partake in his holiness. And truly every correction for the present seems not to be for joy, but grief: and later it returns the peaceful fruit of justice to them being exercised by it. Wherefore set upright the relaxed hands, and palsied knees; And make straight wheel-ruts to your feet, lest the lame thing turned aside; and it should rather be healed.
Every good donation and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom not one change, or shadow of turning. Having willed he brought forth by the word of truth, for us to be some first fruit of his creatures.
Religion pure and unpolluted before God and the Father is this, To take a view of the orphans and widows in their pressure, to keep himself free from stain from the world.
With it we praise the God and Father; and with it we curse men, those made according to the similitude of God.
Praised the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy having begotten us again to a living hope, by the rising up of Jesus Christ from the dead,
And if ye call upon the Father, judging without distinction of persons according to the work of each, in fear be occupied in the time of your sojourning:
Begotten again, not of corrupted seed, but uncorrupted, by the word of God, living and remaining forever.
Therefore setting aside all wickedness, and all artifice, and dissimulation; and envies, and all calumnies, As new born babes, long for the sincere milk pertaining to the word, that ye might be nourished with it: read more. If ye have tasted that the Lord is good. To whom approaching, a living stone, truly disapproved of by men, and chosen by God, highly valued, And ye yourselves are built, as living stones, a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to bring up spiritual sacrifice; acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it holds in the writing, Behold, I place in Zion a corner stone, chosen, highly valued: and he believing on him shall not be ashamed. Therefore honour to you believing: and to the unbelieving, the stone which the builders disapproved of has become the head of the corner, And a stone of stumble, and rock of offence, they disbelieving the word stumble: to which also they were set. And ye a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for acquisition; so that ye should proclaim the excellencies of him having called you out of darkness into his wonderful light: Who once not a people, and now the people of God: they not commiserated, and now commiserated.
Who once not a people, and now the people of God: they not commiserated, and now commiserated.
For every thing which in the world, the eager desire of the flesh, and the eager desire of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
Every one denying the Son, neither has the Father: he acknowledging the Son, has also the Father.
If ye know that he is just, ye know that every one doing justice has been born of him.
Dearly beloved, now are we the children of God, and it has not yet been manifested what we shall be: and we know that, if he be manifested, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Every one born of God does not sin; for his seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, for he has been born of God.
Dearly beloved, we should love one another: for love is of God; and every one loving has been born of God, and knows God.
Everyone believing that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God: and every one loving him having begotten, loves him also begotten of him.
For everything begotten of God conquers the world: and this is the victory having conquered the world, our faith.
He conquering shall inherit all things; and I will be God to him, and he shall be son to me. But to the cowardly, and unbelieving, and to the abominable, and murderers, and to fornicators, and charmers, and to idolaters, and to all the lying, their part in the lake burning with fire and sulphur: which is the second death,