Metaphors of the Mystery - Part 5
Identity, You Are a Child and a Son of God
One of the clearest ways the New Testament describes the believer is this: you are a child of God, and you are a son of God.
This is not empty religious language. It is identity language. It tells you who you are now because of Christ.
Many believers know they are forgiven. Many know they are saved. Many know they have eternal life. But many have not stopped to think carefully about what it means to belong to God as His child, and to stand before Him as His son.
The New Testament does not present salvation merely as the cancellation of guilt. It presents salvation as birth, relationship, and family placement. God did not simply pardon you. He brought you into His family.
That changes how you read the Bible, how you pray, how you approach God, and how you see yourself.
You Became God’s Child by Birth
You did not become God’s child by church attendance. You did not become God’s child by self-improvement. You did not become God’s child by religious effort. You became God’s child by being born of God.
John 1 (KJ2000)
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
That verse settles the matter. This identity does not come from natural descent. It does not come from human decision. It does not come from fleshly effort. It comes from God.
This is why the New Testament speaks so often about being born again, born of the Spirit, and born of God. Christianity begins with birth. Conduct matters, but conduct flows from identity. You do not act like God’s child in order to become one. You act like God’s child because you already are one.
John writes with amazement about this truth.
1 John 3 (KJ2000)
1 Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knows us not, because it knew him not.
This is one of the great wonders of redemption. The Father has bestowed love on us in such a way that we are called the sons of God. This is not exaggeration. This is not merely sentiment. This is present reality.
Child Speaks of Life and Relationship
When the New Testament calls you a child of God, it points to life, origin, and relationship.
God is now your Father. You belong to Him. You are in His family. You are not an outsider trying to gain access. You are not a stranger trying to earn acceptance. You are family.
This matters because many believers still approach God as though they were servants on probation. They think of Him as distant. They think prayer is an attempt to persuade a reluctant God. But the language of the New Testament is much warmer and much stronger than that.
Romans 8 (KJ2000)
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
This is family language. This is the language of closeness. The believer does not stand before God in bondage and fear. The believer comes before God as one who knows Him as Father.
This does not make us casual or irreverent. It makes us secure. A believer who knows he is a child of God does not run from God in shame every time he misses it. He runs to God. He repents, yes. He receives correction, yes. But he does so as a child coming to a Father.
Son Speaks of Standing and Inheritance
In the New Testament, the word son often carries the idea of recognised standing, legal placement, and inheritance. When Scripture says you are a son of God, it is speaking about more than affection. It is speaking about your place in the family.
This is important, because sonship in the New Testament is not about gender. It is about status in Christ. Every believer, male or female, has received this standing.
Galatians 3 (KJ2000)
26 For ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
That is plain and direct. You are a son of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Then Paul goes further and explains how this happened.
Galatians 4 (KJ2000)
4 But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6 And because ye are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7 Therefore thou art no more a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
That is one of the strongest sonship passages in the New Testament.
Notice the flow. Christ came. Christ redeemed. We received the adoption of sons. The Spirit of His Son now lives in our hearts. We are no longer slaves, but sons. And if sons, then heirs.
The gospel does not merely rescue you from something. It brings you into something. It brings you into sonship.
Adoption Means Full Placement
When modern readers hear the word adoption, they sometimes think only in emotional terms. But Paul is speaking about placement with full rights.
God did not bring you halfway into His house. He did not save you and then keep you at a distance. He did not receive you as a tolerated outsider. He gave you full family standing in Christ.
That is why Romans 8 says what it says.
Romans 8 (KJ2000)
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if indeed we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
This passage uses both ideas, children and sons. That is not accidental.
Children speaks of birth and relationship. Sons speaks of standing and inheritance.
And both are true of the believer.
You are born of God, so you are His child. You have received the adoption of sons, so you stand before Him with the rights of sonship.
Sonship Changes How You Live
This truth is not meant to sit in your notebook as doctrine only. It is meant to shape daily Christian living.
A person who knows he is a child of God will pray differently. He will not beg like a stranger. He will approach God with reverence and confidence.
A person who knows he is a son of God will think differently. He will not see himself as abandoned, unwanted, or spiritually homeless. He knows where he belongs.
A person who knows he is a child and son of God will also live differently. He knows he bears the family likeness. He knows the Spirit leads him. He knows holiness is not an attempt to qualify for the family, but the outworking of life in the family.
This is why Romans 8:14 links sonship with being led by the Spirit.
Romans 8 (KJ2000)
14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Sons resemble their Father. Sons are responsive to His Spirit. Sons do not define themselves by the flesh, by fear, or by their old life.
Sonship Also Changes How You See Other Believers
If God is your Father, then other believers are not just fellow church attendees. They are your brothers and sisters.
This means pride has no place. Ethnic arrogance has no place. Class superiority has no place. Bitterness and contempt have no place. We have one Father. We came in by one Christ. We were born of one Spirit.
The family of God is not built on natural background, education, ethnicity, class, or social status. It is built on the new birth.
Do Not Think Like a Slave Again
This is one of Paul’s main burdens in Galatians 4. He wants believers to stop thinking like slaves when God has made them sons.
A slave fears dismissal. A son knows he belongs.
A slave serves to gain acceptance. A son serves because he is accepted.
A slave thinks only of labour. A son thinks in terms of relationship, purpose, and inheritance.
This is why the New Testament keeps pressing us to see what Christ has done. The work of Christ did not merely improve your position. It changed your identity.
You are not merely a forgiven sinner trying to stay afloat. You are a child of God. You are a son of God.
Live in the Strength of this Identity
When guilt speaks, answer with sonship.
When fear speaks, answer with sonship.
When inferiority speaks, answer with sonship.
When religion tries to push you back into bondage, answer with sonship.
God is your Father. You are His child. You are His son in Christ. You belong in His presence. You have received His Spirit. You are an heir of God through Christ.
This is not a minor detail of the gospel. This is one of the ways the New Testament teaches you to understand yourself as a new creation.
You are a child and son of God.
And when that truth settles in your heart, you will stop living like a spiritual orphan.
Continue in grace!