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Many believe that everyone belongs to God, but the Bible reveals a different truth—one that sets His children apart from those outside His grace.
WHO ARE THE CHILDREN of God? To that question, we can only trust the Bible for a definitive answer. Anything else’s or anyone else’s answer is say-so―questionable, unreliable.
Based on the teachings of the Bible, people are divided into two groups only: children of God and children of the devil. A person either belongs to the Father or to His adversary. This dichotomy may not sit well with many, especially the proponents of the so-called political correctness, as well as those who have been repeatedly told that “all people are children of God,” yet it is firmly established, final and in no uncertain terms, in the Scriptures.
One of the inspired writers who reveal this truth is Apostle John. Without mincing words, he told the true Christians:
“We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one.” (I John 5:19 New International Version)
The Living Bible renders this verse thus, “We know that we are children of God and that all the rest of the world around us is under Satan’s power and control.”
From this, it is very clear that while it is true that all people were created by God, not all, however, are His children. There are those who are “under Satan’s power and control.” In the Christian dispensation, the “whole world” or “all the rest of the world” mentioned by Apostle John refers to the people who are separate or apart from the Lord Jesus Christ, as pointed out by Apostle Paul.
In his epistle to the Ephesians, Apostle Paul said:
“Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called ‘uncircumcised’ by those who call themselves ‘the circumcision’ (that done in the body by the hands of men)—remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world.” (Eph. 2:11–12 niv)
Despite knowing full well that those who are “separate from Christ” were also created by God, yet Apostle Paul declares they are “without God.” This proves that not because all were created by God all are His children. Needless to say, the children of God referred to by Apostle John in his epistle cited earlier are the ones who are of Christ.
Those “separate from Christ,” according to Paul, have no God—they have no right to deify God. This situation is similar to the one that existed during the time of ancient Israel, in which those who were outside of Israel had no God. The II Kings 5:15 records, “… there is no God in all the world except in Israel …” (niv).
It was the ancient Israelites who were acknowledged as God’s people and exclusively given the right and privilege to worship the true God and its concomitant promises were further explained by Apostle Paul in his letter to the Romans:
“They are God’s people; he made them his children and revealed his glory to them; he made his covenants with them and gave them the Law; they have the true worship; they have received God’s promises.” (Rom. 9:4 Good News Bible)
Clearly, therefore, just as the Israelites were God’s chosen people during the prophetic era, so are the ones who are of Christ are God’s chosen people in the Christian era. They are the children of God.
It behooves us to ask: who are of Christ? How does one become Christ’s own and thus be counted as a child of God? It is an easy enough mistake to make to say that all who profess faith in the Lord Jesus Christ are automatically not separate from Him but of Him; that those who say they are “followers of Christ” are indeed already true Christians and therefore are children of God.
However, a person becomes of Christ neither by merely professing faith in Him nor by simply accepting Him as Lord and personal Savior, as so many people have been made to believe. It is, in fact, not by dint of a person’s own initiative that he can become entitled to this great privilege. Many may find this hard to believe but the Bible verifies and confirms it.
In His prayer to the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ makes known the way by which a person becomes His own and thus belongs to God. He says:
“I have made you known to those you gave me out of the world. They belonged to you, and you gave them to me. They have obeyed your word.” (John 17:6 gnb)
According to the Lord Jesus Christ, the people who are His own were given to Him by the Lord God out of the world. Why must one be taken “out of the world”? Because, as Apostle John who recorded this prayer of the Lord says in his first epistle that we initially cited, “the whole world” is “under Satan’s power and control.”
This is contrary to the faith-alone teaching. For a person to be of Christ, he must first be given by God to Christ out of the world. It is a divine process that everyone who wishes to be of Christ needs to go through.
Is there any exception to this? Can anyone come to Christ without the benefit of being given to Him by God? “No one can come to me,” declares Christ, “unless the Father who sent me draws him to me; and I will raise him to life on the last day” (John 6:44 gnb).
Nothing can be more pronounced and more conclusive than the testimony of the Savior Himself. No one can come to Him and become His own at one’s own initiative, by his own will, and through his own way. Everyone who desires to be of Christ needs to be drawn to Christ by God Himself. A person may sincerely, zealously, and wholeheartedly have faith in Christ and accept Him as Lord and personal Savior, but if he is not given by God to Christ, then he cannot come to Christ and cannot be of Christ.
The pronouncement of the Lord Jesus Christ on who can come to Him is echoed by Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians:
“God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” (I Cor. 1:9 New King James Version)
The people whom Christ said were drawn to Him by God and can come to Him were, according to Apostle Paul, called into Christ’s fellowship. They were called by God.
Today, however, many claim they were called by God. Some say they dreamed about it while others say they could feel it in their hearts. But according to the Bible, how can the true called-out ones whom God had drawn to Christ be identified? Where exactly are the people who were called by God into the fellowship of Jesus Christ found? Are they scattered in many different religious bodies? Precisely where were they called?
According to Apostle Paul, the people who were called by God are in “one body” which is the Church headed by Christ:
“And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.” (Col 3:15 nkjv)
“And He is the head of the body, the church, … ” (Col. 1:18 nkjv)
The Church headed by Christ is the Church Of Christ:
“Take heed therefore to yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Spirit has appointed you overseers, to feed the church of Christ which he has purchased with his blood.” (Acts 20:28 Lamsa Translation)
It is also the flock which the Savior is commanding everyone who wishes to be saved to come into:
“I am the door; anyone who comes into the fold through me will be safe. …” (John 10:9 Revised English Bible)
The fold or flock is the Church Of Christ. This is the Church where the people who have been called by God are found. Its members are, therefore, the ones who are of Christ and are the children of God.
So when Apostle John categorically states that “We know that we are children of God and that all the rest of the world around us is under Satan’s power and control” he is obviously addressing the members of the Church Of Christ.
For one to be taken out of the darkness and freed from the devil’s power or control, he must follow Christ’s command to enter the true Church Of Christ. This is because, based on the teachings of the Bible, the true children of God are the members of the Church Of Christ.
