'Child' in the Bible

The circumstances of the birth of Jesus Christ were these. After his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, before they were united in marriage, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit.

But while he was contemplating this step, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to bring home your wife Mary, for she is with child through the Holy Spirit.

"Mark! The maiden will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call His name Immanuel" --a word which signifies 'God with us'.

He then directed them to go to Bethlehem, adding, "Go and make careful inquiry about the child, and when you have found him, bring me word, that I too may come and do him homage."

When they were gone, and angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Rise: take the babe and His mother and escape to Egypt, and remain there till I bring you word. For Herod is about to make search for the child in order to destroy Him."

"Rise from sleep, and take the child and His mother, and go into the land of Israel, for those who were seeking the child's life are dead."

So he roused himself and took the child and His mother and came into the land of Israel.

Here they brought to Him a paralytic lying on a bed. Seeing their faith Jesus said to the paralytic, "Take courage, my child; your sins are pardoned."

Brother will betray brother to death, and father, child; and children will rise against their own parents and will put them to death.

So He called a young child to Him, and, bidding him stand in the midst of them,

Whoever therefore shall humble himself as this young child, he it is who is superior to others in the Kingdom of the Heavens.

And whoever for my sake receives one young child such as this, receives me.

And alas for the women who at that time are with child or have infants!

He goes in. "Why all this outcry and loud weeping?" He asks; "the child is asleep, not dead."

To this their reply is a scornful laugh. He, however, puts them all out, takes the child's father and mother and those He has brought with Him, and enters the room where the child lies.

So she went home, and found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

And taking a young child He made him stand in their midst, then threw His arms round him and said,

"Whoever for my sake receives one such young child as this, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not so much me as Him who sent me."

In solemn truth I tell you that no one who does not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will by any possibility enter it."

"Rabbi," they said, "Moses made it a law for us: 'If a man's brother should die and leave a wife, but no child, the man shall marry the widow and raise up a family for his brother.'

And alas for the women who at that time are with child or have infants!

But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren; and both of them were far advanced in life.

And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and were going to call him Zechariah, after his father.

All who heard the story treasured it in their memories. "What then will this child be?" they said. For the lord's hand was indeed with him.

And you moreover, O child, shall be called Prophet of the Most High; For you shall go on in front before the Lord to prepare the way for Him,

And the child grew and became strong in character, and lived in the Desert till the time came for him to appear publicly to Israel.

to have himself registered together with Mary, who was betrothed to him and was with child.

And when they saw the child, they told what had been said to them about Him;

Led by the Spirit he came to the Temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus to do with regard to Him according to the custom of the Law,

Symeon blessed them and said to Mary the mother, "This child is appointed for the falling and the uprising of many in Israel and for a token to be spoken against;

And coming up just at that moment, she gave thanks to God, and spoke about the child to all who were expecting the deliverance of Jerusalem.

And the child grew and became strong and full of wisdom, and the favour of God rested upon Him.

When they saw Him, they were smitten with amazement, and His mother said to Him, "My child, why have you behaved thus to us? Your father and I have been searching for you in anguish."

He, however, took her by the hand and called aloud, "Child, awake!"

and a man from the crowd called out, "Rabbi, I beg you to pity my son, for he is my only child.

And Jesus, knowing the reasoning that was in their hearts, took a young child and made him stand by His side

and said to them, "Whoever for my sake receives this little child, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives Him who sent me. For the lowliest among you all--he is the greatest."

Then He turned to them and said, "Which of you shall have a child or an ox fall into a well on the Sabbath day, and will not immediately lift him out?"

"'Remember, my child,' said Abraham, 'that you had all your good things during your lifetime, and that Lazarus in like manner had his bad things. But, now and here, he is receiving consolation and you are in agony.

I tell you in solemn truth that, whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a little child will certainly not enter it."

"Alas for the women who at that time are with child or who have infants; for there will be great distress in the land, and anger towards this People.

"Sir," pleaded the officer, "come down before my child dies."

If a child is circumcised even on a Sabbath day, are you bitter against me because I have restored a man to perfect health on a Sabbath day?

He who is a child of God listens to God's words. You do not listen to them: and why? It is because you are not God's children."

A woman, when she is in labour, has sorrow, because her time has come. But when she has given birth to the babe, she no longer remembers the pain, because of her joy at a child being born into the world.

At this time Moses was born--a wonderfully beautiful child; and for three months he was cared for in his father's house.

For this reason I have sent Timothy to you. Spiritually he is my dearly-loved and faithful child. He will remind you of my habits as a Christian teacher--the manner in which I teach everywhere in every Church.

When I was a child, I talked like a child, felt like a child, reasoned like a child: when I became a man, I put from me childish ways.

Now I say that so long as an heir is a child, he in no respect differs from a slave, although he is the owner of everything,

But we see that the child of the slave-girl was born in the common course of nature; but the child of the free woman in fulfilment of the promise.

For it is written, "Rejoice, thou barren woman that bearest not, break forth into a joyful cry, thou that dost not travail with child. For the desolate woman has many children--more indeed than she who has the husband."

Yet just as, at that time, the child born in the common course of nature persecuted the one whose birth was due to the power of the Spirit, so it is now.

But you know Timothy's approved worth--how, like a child working with his father, he has served with me in furtherance of the Good News.

While they are saying "Peace and safety!" then in a moment destruction falls upon them, like birth-pains on a woman who is with child; and escape there is none.

To Timothy my dearly-loved child. May grace, mercy and peace be granted to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.

You then, my child, must be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.

To Titus my own true child in our common faith. May grace and peace be granted to you from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Saviour.

I entreat you on behalf of my own child whose father I have become while in my chains--I mean Onesimus.

Through faith the child Moses was hid for three months by his parents, because they saw his rare beauty; and the king's edict had no terror for them.

Since you know that He is righteous, be assured also that the man who habitually acts righteously is a child of His.

He who is habitually guilty of sin is a child of the Devil, because the Devil has been a sinner from the very beginning. The Son of God appeared for the purpose of undoing the work of the Devil.

No one who is a child of God is habitually guilty of sin. A God-given germ of life remains in him, and he cannot habitually sin--because he is a child of God.

By this we can distinguish God's children and the Devil's children: no one who fails to act righteously is a child of God, nor he who does not love his brother man.

We are not to resemble Cain, who was a child of the Evil one and killed his own brother. And why did he kill him? Because his own actions were wicked and his brother's actions righteous.

The man who is beginning to know God listens to us, but he who is not a child of God does not listen to us. By this test we can distinguish the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.

Dear friends, let us love one another; for love has its origin in God, and every one who loves has become a child of God and is beginning to know God.

Every one who believes that Jesus is the Christ is a child of God; and every one who loves the Father loves also Him who is the Father's Child.

For every child of God overcomes the world; and the victorious principle which has overcome the world is our faith.

We know that no one who is a child of God lives in sin, but He who is God's Child keeps him, and the Evil one cannot touch him.

My dear friend, do not follow wrong examples, but right ones. He who habitually does what is right is a child of God: he who habitually does what is wrong has not seen God.

And a great marvel was seen in Heaven-- a woman who was robed with the sun and had the moon under her feet, and had also a wreath of stars round her head, was with child,

His tail was drawing after it a third part of the stars of Heaven, and it dashed them to the ground. And in front of the woman who was about to become a mother, the Dragon was standing in order to devour the child as soon as it was born.

She gave birth to a son--a male child, destined before long to rule all nations with an iron scepter. But her child was caught up to God and His throne,

And when the Dragon saw that he was hurled down to the earth, he went in pursuit of the woman who had given birth to the male child.