God’s family and Family

When you talk about family, there are some stereotypes that come with it.  Family is blood.  Family is comfort.  Family is awkward. Family is love for someone you wouldn’t even be friends with if they weren’t family.  Anyone can become a part of your family, but not everyone is a part of your family.

So how should we think about the statement, “We are all God’s children” ?  I’m going to throw out a couple thoughts from the Bible and I realize that if you don’t believe in the Bible than you might have issue with what this says.

There is a sense in which we all are a part of God’s family.   Ephesians 3:14-15 says, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on the earth is named.”  And Acts 17:28 says, “for in him we live and move about and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we too are his offspring.’”  In the sense that God has given life to every living being, we are His offspring.  Every family that is in existence can trace its heritage back to God’s first creation of humanity on earth “in the beginning.”

However, how do you tie in the understanding of John 1:12-13, “But to all who have received him– those who believe in his name– he has given the right to become God’s children – children not born by human parents or by human desire or a husband’s decision, but by God.”  And Ephesians 1:5, “God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.”  How can one be adopted if they are already in the family? How can one become God’s children if they are already one of them?  It would seem that there is something else besides God just giving us life and breathe that makes someone a part of God’s spiritual family.  Anyone can be a part of His family, but maybe not everyone is a part of the His family.

John 3:3-7, 16 “Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.” “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?” Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.  So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’…For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” (NLT)