A few years ago, I can remember a young Muslim guy that I had been reading the Bible with at the time had told me that he learned about the idea that we are called the children of God in the Bible. He was very curious about this and wondered what it could mean.
I explained that he was correct, that we are referred to as God’s children. This was, of course, quite different and strange for my friend because, as a Muslim, he is considered to be God’s servant, and that only. But the Biblical scriptures make a significant distinction here, that we are not just considered to be servants, but we are adopted into God’s family as His children and we become heirs to the promise that God had given to Abraham that we would be blessed and we would be able to know God Himself.
John spoke about this same idea in his first epistle to the believers of his time. He said:
See what great 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. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:1-2
I see at least a couple of really important points in this couple of verses. First, it is the Father, God himself, who has lavished His love upon us. In fact, it is He, God, who calls us His children. We aren’t calling ourselves God’s children, but God has shown us His love and called us His children.
As I mentioned previously, we have been adopted into God’s family. We are not born into the family of God, but we are adopted into His family. As those who follow Christ, God allows us to be called His children.
The second important point that I see here is that when Christ appears, we will see him for who he is. That is, we will see Christ as God’s child, but we will also understand that we are also his children because we will be considered God’s children alongside of him.
So, unlike my friend who believes that he can only be a servant, one who works for God, we instead learn that we are part of God’s family. As followers of Christ, we are adopted into God’s family and we are royalty. We are no longer just considered servants, or followers, or students, but instead we are considered God’s children, part of His family!