Family: Are we all God’s children?

Is mankind all one big brotherhood with everyone ultimately going to Heaven? Is God the Heavenly Father of all? Exactly who are the children of God? As always, we must ask the important question—What does the Bible tell us about this?

Galatians 3:26

²⁶ For ye are all the children of God BY FAITH in Christ Jesus. [Emphasis added]

Yes, it is the last part of that verse that tells us exactly what we need to know. But what does it mean to have faith in Christ Jesus? Everyone needs a correct definition of that. It means to accept the provision God has made for the salvation of anyone and everyone. Because we live in this period that’s often called The Dispensation of the Grace of God, a person must accept the fact that Jesus Christ died, was buried, and rose again to make full payment for the sins of all people. 

2 Corinthians 5:19-21

¹⁹ To wit [that is to say], that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word [or message] of reconciliation.

Everyone who believes this has been then commissioned as one of Christ’s personal representatives to convey this message to others.

²⁰ Now then WE are ambassadors [personal representatives] for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, BE ye reconciled to God.

God has done a work of reconciliation with all mankind in mind but what He did must be accepted for it to be applied to an individual for their salvation.

²¹ For he [God the Father] hath made him [Jesus Christ] to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we MIGHT be made the righteousness of God in him. [Emphasis added]

Yes, everyone, even the worst of people can potentially be saved. It is God’s perfect righteousness that everyone needs and that perfect righteousness is credited to a person the very moment they accept this that He did for them. It is then that HIS perfect righteousness is identified with that person, making them acceptable to God. At that very moment they are also made citizens of Heaven.  They’ll get to live there in a perfect body when what is called the Rapture takes place.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53

⁵¹ Behold, I shew you a mystery [MUSTERION = a secret]; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

As having been “a mystery” this is something no one knew anything about until it was first revealed of God through the apostle Paul.

⁵² In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

This event should not be confused with what is called the Second Coming of Christ.

⁵³ For this corruptible [our present body] must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. [Emphasis added]

A fuller description of this event is given in this next passage we’ll note.

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18

¹³ But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep [a reference to believers who have passed away], that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

¹⁴ For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

¹⁵ For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

This information was not a part of prophecy but information that had remained a secret in the mind of God until it was first revealed through the apostle Paul.

¹⁶ For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

¹⁷ Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

¹⁸ Wherefore comfort one another with these words. [Emphasis added]

For more information about this exciting event, please read my other articles about it.  Here are links to some of them that are on this website—

Rapture: Does this occur before The Tribulation?

Rapture: How is this different from The Second Coming?

Rapture: Is there anything about it in The Four Gospels?

Rapture: What is the meaning of this term?

Rapture: Who was the first to reveal this?

Rapture: Will people get a second chance to be saved?

All those who have been saved by accepting this gospel message the apostle Paul disclosed will get to be a part of this. We are made “family” of God the moment that message is accepted.

Again, Galatians 3:26

²⁶ For ye are all the CHILDREN of God BY FAITH in Christ Jesus. [Emphasis added]

No works of righteousness on our part are required! NONE! A person MUST understand and believe this to be saved.

Ephesians 2:8-9

⁸ For BY GRACE are ye saved through faith; and that [salvation] not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:

⁹ Not of works, lest any man should boast. [Emphasis added]

It is through this one work of Christ that anyone can gain everlasting salvation.

1 Corinthians 15:1-4

¹ Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel [EUAGGELION = good news] which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand;

² By which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.

³ For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;

⁴ And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: [Emphasis added]

Because this is such an important subject and because there’s been so much false information given out about it, you will find numerous articles about all this on this website.  Here are the links to a few of several dozen on this website—

Salvation: Are we saved because of our commitment to Christ?

Salvation: Can a person be certain they are going to Heaven?

Salvation: Does it have to be earned by good works?

Salvation: Is Repentance necessary?

Salvation: How secure is yours?

Salvation: Is it really a gift?

It is the apostle Paul that God commissioned to tell us about this message and ministry, not Peter, James, John or anyone else. It was Paul who first disclosed it and wrote about it.

Philippians 3:20-21

²⁰ For our conversation [POLITEUO = citizenship] is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ:

Peter and the others talked about a promised Kingdom on Earth, but it was revealed through Paul that OUR home as what is called members of the Body of Christ is now Heaven.  We are even promised a new and perfect body in which we will live there for all eternity.

²¹ Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself. [Emphasis added]

To gain this status as a “child of God” and to become a member of “God’s family” it has always demanded one’s personal faith in God’s provisions for it.  There’s not one personal work, including water baptism that can gain it for you or anyone.

Romans 4:4-5

⁴ Now to him that worketh is the reward NOT reckoned of grace, but of debt.

⁵ But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness. [Emphasis added]

In the time of Christ’s earthly ministry, it demanded acceptance of the true identity of this Jesus of Nazareth.  This is the meaning of believing in “the name” of Jesus Christ. You’ll find a full article about that on this website—

Jesus Christ: What does it mean to believe on His name?

Today, one must believe in what we speak of as “the work” of Christ. This speaks of His death, burial, and resurrection as the sole basis for one’s salvation.  If a person accepts this and this alone for it, they are immediately and permanently saved. This then means—once a child of God, always a child of God.  As in life, one’s obedience or disobedience does not change the relationship one has with one’s parents. We remain “children of God” permanently, regardless of our conduct.  We may even deny our parents, but that doesn’t change the relationship. It is permanent!

2 Timothy 2:13

¹³ If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. [Emphasis added]

We’re still members of His body and “family” as God’s children. The apostle Paul makes this plain.

Still again, Galatians 3:26

²⁶ For ye are all the CHILDREN of God BY FAITH in Christ Jesus. [Emphasis added]

Nothing we could ever do would change that relationship. Our obedience or lack of it will affect our rewards in Heaven but not our relationship as ones who’ve been saved and become members of the family of God. For more information about the rewards, please see my article about them.

Rewards: For what will God wish to reward you in eternity?

Another important facet of this is the fact that if you’re trying to gain favor with God for salvation apart from or even in addition to Christ’s work, you will not succeed.  The pope, a priest, a pastor, or anyone else, cannot help you with this. Please note what Jesus said about this.

John 14:6

⁶ Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. [Emphasis added]

Acts 4:12

¹² Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. [Emphasis added]

The apostle Paul also spells the truth out to us.

Galatians 2:16

¹⁶ Knowing that a man is NOT justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ [speaking of His merit, not ours], even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and NOT by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. [Emphasis added]

Before their salvation every child of God was first a child of Satan with hell as their final destination.

John 8:44

⁴⁴ Ye ARE of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. [Emphasis added]

But this all changed the moment we were saved.

Ephesians 2:1-2

¹ And you hath he quickened [SUZOOPOIEO = made alive (spiritually)], who were dead in trespasses and sins;

 ² Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: [Emphasis added]

Until we were saved, we were God’s enemies and often without even realizing it.  This is why our Lord spoke of the religious Pharisees in His day as being blind guides.

Matthew 23:16

¹⁶ Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor! [Emphasis added]

Matthew 23:24-25

²⁴ Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

²⁵ Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. [Emphasis added]

This is how so many religious leaders are today but so many people are blind to it just as people were in the time of our Lord’s earthly ministry and in every generation since then.  This is one of the things I point out in my article about them on this website—

Religion: Who are the “scribes and Pharisees” of today?

They do a really good job of disguising their true identity.  Only discerning believers will not be fooled by them.  We are now God’s children, His people. We now have a whole new identity.  Both now and forever we are God’s children.  We don’t always think or act like it, but that’s now who we are.

There are some well-meaning believers today who don’t believe we’ve been “born gain” to obtain this new position in life as God’s children. They say the apostle Paul never speaks of us as having been born again.  But such is the literal meaning of the word regeneration.  This word actually means to be born again. It is a work of the Holy Spirit that provides this for us.

Titus 3:5

⁵ Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration [PALINGENESIA = PALIN means again, and GENESIA means born], and renewing [ANAKAINOO = renew (ANA means again and KAINOO means new)] of the Holy Ghost; [Emphasis added]

There in that one verse we’re given not one but two words that speak of our new birth or our having been born again when we believed our gospel message. For more information about this, please see my article about it—

Regeneration: Are people “born again” today?

It is now God who is our heavenly Father.  We all have or have had an earthly one but as believers we also have a heavenly one. It is to Him that all our prayers should be addressed—not Jesus, the Holy Spirit, or anyone else. For more information about this, please see my article about it—

Prayers: To whom should we address them?

Conclusion—

There’s no such thing as the brotherhood of all mankind.  The entire human race can be divided into two groups:  those who are family of God and those who are family of Satan. The family of God includes all those people who have accepted by faith God’s provision for their salvation. The other group includes all those who have not. Certainly, there are many other ways mankind can be divided—linguistically, geographically, politically and in other ways. But this spiritual division is the one that’s by far most important. Either a person is saved or unsaved.  People are either Heaven-bound or hell-bound.  Which are you? This is clearly the most important of all divisions in life.  And what you may decide to do about it is the most important decision you’ll ever make.  So, I ask you—To which group do you now belong? If you’ve never accepted Jesus Christ as your Savior, I encourage you to do that right now. There will never be a better time for you to do this. If you will, you’ll immediately be born again [regenerated] and become a member of the family of God to serve Him as one of His children.

Galatians 3:26

²⁶ For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.