CHILDREN
of God...
BROTHERS
of
Jesus
A tablet
from the on-going INTERNET BOOK, "The Doctor's
Terrific Tablets"
(
http://www.terrific-tabs.com
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by John
N. Todd III, M. D.
(link)
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article is: http://www.terrific-tabs.com/print_children.htm
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This tablet
interrelates closely with
GOD'S
People; Who Are They?
(link).
9/00; 5/01; 9/01; 12/01; 1/02; 2/02; 3/02; 4/02; 6/02; 9/02;
10/02; 11/02; 12/02; 3/03; 5/03; 6/03; 11/03; 1/04; 7/04;
8/04; 11/04; 1/05; 6/05; 5/06;
6/30/07
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your thoughts to the author
God's
People
(link) -- the
"called", the chosen, the elect, the
"accepted", the "saved" -- are the
"children" of God. There are numerous Biblical
references to those individuals who are
chosen
by God
(see link), and
hence accepted by God as His "children".
Likewise, there are many scriptures that refer to those who
are considered to be the "sons" of God
(doubtless also including the "daughters" of
God). And, there are Biblical verses portraying the "sons"
of God as being "BROTHERS" of
Jesus, and "co-heirs"
with Jesus.
The big question
is: how does one become a child of God?
Godsword (God's word -- the Bible) says that
God "predestines" and "foreknows" those who
are to be His "children", the "brothers" of
Jesus, the "heirs" of God, and "joint
heirs" with Christ.
Note the following Biblical references: (read these out
loud):
Romans 8:
29 (NIV) For those God foreknew, he
also predestined to be conformed to the
likeness of his Son, that He (Jesus) might be the
FIRSTBORN among
MANY BROTHERS.
Ephesians 1: 4 (NEB) "In Christ, He
chose us, before the
world was founded, to be dedicated,
to be without blemish in His sight; and He
destined us -- such was His will
and pleasure -- to be accepted as His
SONS -- through Jesus Christ."
Romans 8: 14 (NRSV) For all who are led by
the
Spirit
of God
(link) are
children of God. 15 For you did not
receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but
you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry,
"Abba! Father!" 16 it is that very
Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we
are children of God, 17
and if children, then heirs -- heirs of
God, and joint heirs WITH
CHRIST.
Same (NIV) Romans 8: 14 Those who are led by the
Spirit of God are SONS of
God. 15 For you did not receive a
spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you
received the Spirit of
SONSHIP. And by Him we cry, "Abba, Father."
16 The Spirit Himself testifies with
our spirit that we are God's
children. 17 Now IF we
are "children" -- then we are
HEIRS -- heirs of
God, and co-heirs with
Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings,
in order that we may also share in His glory.
Hebrews 2: 10 (NIV) In bringing MANY
SONS to glory, it was fitting
that God -- for whom and through
whom everything exists --
should make the author of their salvation perfect,
through suffering. Both the One who makes men
holy, and those who are made holy, are of
the same family. So Jesus is
not ashamed to call them BROTHERS. He says,
(quoting Psalm 22:22) "I will declare your name to
my BROTHERS; in the presence of the
congregation I will sing your praises". And again, "I
will put my trust in Him." And again He says,
"Here am I, and the children God has
GIVEN me" (quoting Isaiah 8: 17 and 18).
Acts 17: 28 (NRSV) For 'In Him (God) we live and
move, and have our being'; as even some of your own poets
have said, 'For WE TOO are
His offspring.' 29 Since
we are God's
offspring, we ought not to think
that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone -- an
image formed by the art and
imagination of mortals.
Galatians 4: 6 (NIV) Because you are
SONS, God sent the
Spirit of His Son into our
hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father."
7 So YOU are no longer
a slave, but a SON; and since you are a
SON, God has made you also an
heir.
Hebrews 12: 5 (NRSV) And you have forgotten the
exhortation that addresses you as children
-- (from Proverbs) "My child, do not regard lightly the
discipline of the Lord, or lose heart when you are
punished by him; 6 for the Lord disciplines those
whom he loves, and chastises every
child whom He accepts." 7
Endure trials for the sake of discipline. God
is treating you as children; for what
child is there whom a parent does not
discipline?
Godspeople
do not become "children
of God" by their own will
and effort and works.... or by the
designation of other
human-beings, or by joining a certain
church, or by any individual's personal
"choosing".... or "decision". Note the following:
John 1:
12 (NRSV) But to all who received Him, who
believed in His name, He gave power to become
children of God, 13
who were born, NOT of blood, or of the
WILL of the flesh, nor of the
will of man -- but
BORN OF GOD.
SAME (NIV) 12 Yet to all who received Him, to
those who believed in His name, He gave the right to
become children of God --
13 children born NOT of
natural descent, NOR of human
DECISION, or a husband's will
-- but BORN of
God.
Acts 17: 28 (NRSV) (Repeated here) For 'In Him
(God) we live and move, and have our being'; as even some
of your own poets have said, 'For we too are
His offspring.' 29 Since we
are God's offspring, we ought not to
think that the Deity is like gold, or silver, or stone --
an image formed by the art and
imagination of mortals.
My
understanding -- my belief -- is that those who
are declared by God to be His
"children" are the same individuals as those whom God
considers to be the "chosen", the "called",
and "the elect". Those who are considered
by God to be His "children", are also
the same ones to whom God has imputed the
righteousness
(see link) that comes from God. So.... the "children of
God", and the "chosen", and "the righteous", and the
"justified"...... all fall into the same
category of those whom God has declared to be His own
-- the "saved", the accepted, the
sanctified, the redeemed.
In the same way, those who are born
of the Spirit
(link) -- rather than being "born of the flesh" --
are synonymous with the "children of
God".
A personal point: the "children of God" are
not "robots", or
God's "puppets" (as I have heard
certain church-goers frivolously postulate).
(See link: Robots,
or Puppets?.)
No...... God's "children" are God's
individual human-beings.... "trainees", apprentices,
early "disciples" -- each under the
constant watchful eye of
God -- each being guided and
guarded and protected and molded and
developed and instructed and
disciplined and "prepared" and
loved...... precisely like a loving and
caring "human" mother and father "raise", and
guard, and teach, and train their own
offspring.
(PJT
[the author's wife] told me, in August 1999, that if
we humans discover [later in our existence]
that we are, in fact, God's robots or
puppets -- interacting with and "responding" only to
the commands of God.... she would much
prefer being a "God's-robot" or "puppet",
controlled by God -- rather than being a
"secular-puppet" whose "strings" are controlled and "pulled"
by powerful and domineering humans.... or rather than being
a churchy "automaton" -- obeying and following
ritualistic and/or superstitious
dictates of a rigidly-doctrinal "religious" group.
[See link Doctrinal
Rigidity.])
I consider God's children to be like young
"human" children, in a "playroom". In this simile,
the human Father allows his children, in their
playroom, to do whatever they like to do,
under his careful observation -- so
long as their games and toys and interactions with each
other -- are compatible with what the Father wants (or
requires).
That is, the
children are granted FREE WILL by their Father. Their
"free will" continues, so long as the
Father's children "respond" appropriately
(see
Responding
to God)
-- within the
purview of the plans and purposes of the Father. The
children may actually begin to "believe" that
they have indeed been allowed "free will" -- that is,
"freedom" to do and decide and
"choose" whatever seems appropriate to their
developing, juvenile, human-minds. But..... in reality, what
the "children" soon learn, is that if,
at any time, in the
opinion of the
Father (and regardless of the pleas and
arguments of the "children") the children "misbehave", or
involve themselves in activities and thoughts
that do not please and satisfy the
Father -- then the firm-but-loving-and-caring
Father steps in, and makes himself
"seen" and "heard" -- in order
to instruct, or guard, or protect, or teach, or
discipline His Children. And,
so it is with our Heavenly
Father -- and the "FREE WILL" that He
permits... for His "children". (See link
Free
Will.)
(See chapters on "The
Chosen" (linked above); and
Righteousness
from God
(link);
and
Born
of the Flesh? -- or Born of the
Spirit?
(link)....
along with the
numerous Biblical references quoted in those
chapters.)
The following are additional Biblical quotations
concerning the children of
God:
Deuteronomy
14: 1 You are the children
of the LORD your God...... 2 You are a
people holy to
the LORD your God. Out of all
the peoples on the face of the
earth, the LORD has CHOSEN you to be
His treasured
possession.
John 11: 51 (KJV) And this spake he
not of himself: but being high priest that
year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for
that nation; 52 And not for that
nation only, but that also He should
gather together in one the
CHILDREN of God that
were scattered abroad.
John 8: 42 Jesus said to them,
"If God were your Father, you would
love me, for I came from
God, and now am here......
47 He who belongs to
God hears what God says. The
reason you do not hear is that you do not
belong to God. If God were your
Father, you would listen."
1 John 3: 1 (NIV) How great is the
love the Father has lavished on us, that
we should be called children
of God! And that
is what we are!
The reason the world does not know us is that
it did not know Him. 2 Dear friends,
now we are children of
God; and what we will
be has not yet been made known. But we
know that when He appears, we shall be
like Him; for we shall see
Him as He is.
Same (KJV) 3: 1 Behold, what manner of
love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that
we should be called the sons of God.
Therefore the world knoweth us not,
because it knew Him not. 2
Beloved, now are we the sons of God;
and it doth not yet appear what we shall be:
but we know that, when He shall appear, we
shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He
is.
1 John 3: 9 (NRSV) Those who have been
BORN OF GOD do
not sin.... because God's seed
abides in them. They CANNOT sin --
because they have been BORN
OF GOD.
1 John 5: 18 (NRSV) We know that those
who are born of
God do not sin; for the One
who was born of God protects them; and the
evil one does not
touch them.
Romans 9: 8-11 (NIV) In other words, it is
not the NATURAL
CHILDREN who are God's
children; but it is the
children of the
promise, who are
regarded as Abraham's
offspring.
Same (NRSV) This means that it is
not the children of the
flesh who are the children
of God, but the children of the
promise -- who are counted as
descendants.
ROMANS 9: 6-9 (NEB) "For
NOT all
descendants of Israel are
truly Israel
(Israelites); nor, because they are
Abraham's offspring, are they
ALL His true children;
but, in the words of Scripture, 'Through the
line of Isaac the descendants shall be
traced'. That is to say, it is
not those born in
the course of
nature who are
children of God;
it is the children born through
God's promise who are
RECKONED as Abraham's
descendants" (or Israelites).
Isaiah 43: 6 (NRSV) I will say to the
north, "Give them up," and to the south, "Do
not withhold; bring my sons from far
away, and my daughters from the end of
the earth -- 7 everyone who is called
by my name, whom I created for
my glory -- whom I formed and
made."
John 3: 3 (NRSV) Jesus answered
him, "Very truly, I tell you, no
one can see the Kingdom
of God without being
born from
above"......... 6 What is born
of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of
the Spirit is
spirit.
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Those whom God "accepts" ("chooses"; approves), for
His own reasons, are the
"children" of God. And, as the verses quoted
above indicate: the "children of God" are the
"brothers" of Jesus; and, hence,
"co-heirs" with Jesus -- for the promises
of God.... and for guidance
(link) by God.
(Furthermore, in this same "metaphoric" sense, God's
"accepted" individuals are not only the
"children" of God -- but also God's servants,
and saints, and students...... and
God's "army".)
We humans do not -- indeed, we
cannot -- cause ourselves to
become "born of God"...... we cannot
make ourselves into "children of
God".
"It is all God's doing" !
6/30/07
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