What It Means to Be a Child of God
The answer to this question has shaped entire theologies, birthed creeds, and sadly, built walls. But when we turn to the heart of the early Church—and even more, to the heart of the Gospel—we don’t find exclusion. We find belovedness.
He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.— Ephesians 1:5-6 (BSB)
✧ Let’s begin with Christ
Jesus Christ is the Son of God—eternally begotten of the Father, Light from Light, True God from True God, as the Nicene Creed declares. In Him, through Him, and by Him, all things were made and all things are held together (John 1:3, Col. 1:16–17). He is not just the Son for us; He is the Son with us—Emmanuel. And in His incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension, He revealed not only the Father to us, but us to ourselves.
As Gregory of Nazianzus proclaimed:
“For that which He has not assured He has not healed; but that which is united to His Godhead is also saved.” (To Cledonius the Priest Against Apollinarius Epistle 101) ”
So who, then, is a child of God?
✧ All humanity bears the image.
From the beginning, humankind was fashioned in the imago Dei—[Imago Dei is a Latin phrase that means “image of God.”] Not created as strangers, but as sons and daughters, breathing in the very breath of God (Gen. 2:7). This image was never erased by the fall, but only marred by the lie of separation.
Even in our blindness, the Father did not see or treat us as enemies. In Christ, He came—not to make us something new, but to restore us to what we already are: children.
✧ Especially for those who believe…
The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 3:26:
“For you are all children of God through faith in Christ Jesus.”
This also echoes what Paul wrote to Timothy when he wrote:
“To this end we labor and strive, because we have set our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of everyone, and especially of those who believe.” — 1 Timothy 4:10 (BSB)
This is not exclusion, but invitation into participation in the family. The word “children” here is huios—a term that speaks of mature sonship, not biological offspring. Faith is the awakening to what has always been true. Belief is the doorway into the experience of union. In Jesus Christ, we come to know ourselves as God’s children—not because we earned it, or made a decision to belong to God, but because we finally see by a revealing of the Son—faith awakens this truth.
St. Irenaeus, echoing this divine embrace of humanity, said:
“For the glory of God is the living man, and the life of man is the vision of God. If the revelation of God by the creation already gives life to all the beings living on earth, how much more does the manifestation of the Father by the Word give life to those who see God!” —(Irenaeus, Adv. Haer. 4.20.7, trans. Robert M. Grant, Irenaeus of Lyons).
Those who see, those who believe are not more “in”—but they are certainly more aware. More awake to knowing Jesus and experiencing their inheritance. And through that awareness, they begin to live as co-heirs in the kingdom, participating fully in the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4).
What Does It Mean to Be a Child of God?
The phrase child of God isn’t just a churchy title—it’s a revelation of our origin, a relational identity, and walking out a participation in divine life. To say someone is a child of God is to speak of their truest self—someone who was formed in Love, from Love, for Love.
But let’s go deeper than surface language.
✧ To be a child of God is to share in the Sonship of Christ.
When Paul speaks of us as sons and children of God, he isn’t implying a hierarchy of value between Christ and us, but a shared participation in the eternal Son’s relationship with the Father. In the early Church, this was the proclamation and heartbeat of salvation—not merely going to heaven, but being grafted into the life of God.
As Athanasius proclaimed:
“The Son of God became man so that we might become God.”
(On the Incarnation, §54)
This wasn’t heresy—it was understood as theosis. To be a child of God is to be drawn by the Spirit into understanding of our divine union, not by our striving, but through Christ’s eternal Yes.
✧ It means we are not orphans. We belong to God.
As children of God we are not a tolerated sinner working hard to keep the law, trying to behave better. A child of God is not under probation.
Jesus said:
“I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” (John 14:18)
To be a child of God is to live from a place of beloved belonging—knowing that we are no longer alienated in mind (Col. 1:21), but reconciled in the body of Christ.
It means you are:
- Being held in the Trinity’s divine affection.
- Being included in the Trinity’s divine communion.
- Being gifted the Trinity’s divine inheritance.
This is the essence of being a child of God:
To awaken to belonging, original innocence and return home to God.
To see Christ, as in a mirror opens our eyes to our innocence, all that the cross restored.
“For you have died, and your life has been hidden with Christ in God.”— Colossians 3:3 (BLB)
So my friends, being a child of God is not about some transactional lever we pull. It is not about the religion of behavior modification, to bridge the gap with God. It is all about what He did and about awakening to who you have always been in Christ and beholding.
“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.” — 2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV)
You Are a Child of God
You are a child of God—and it was not by effort, not by your merit, and not by your religious striving.
You are a child of God because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, has made it so.
It was the Father’s eternal desire that you would share in the life of the Son by the power of the Spirit.
God is not waiting until you “pull the trigger” to become His child.
We are not earning our way by our working our way into His divine acceptance.
In Christ, we have been returned to our rightful home, we are included, embraced, and sealed in the fellowship of the Trinity.
Through the Finished Work of the Cross, Jesus has:
- Healed the fracture of sin and shame.
- Restored our sight to see the Father rightly.
- Lifted us into the eternal dance of divine union.
“Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba, Father.’”
— Galatians 4:6
And we are not children by adoption paperwork—but we are children by all that Jesus did (past tense) on our behalf. Salvation is awakening. Awakening to this truth is the joy of our salvation participating in Christ’s own sonship.
So hear this, beloved:
You are a child of God.
Not someday.
Not when you get it right.
Not if you pray the magic prayer.
Right Now.
You are fully known.
Fully loved.
Fully home.
Awake, O sleeper. Behold the Lamb.
He is your origin, He is your life, now believe and receive and enjoy your inheritance!
Gan TV Recommended Messages:
- Grace For All with Jamie Englehart, Are All God’s Children? [Part 1- 4] Watch ⇒ HERE
- Don Keathley Ministries, Mature Sons, Identity Watch HERE
- Across all Worlds with C Baxter Kruger and Jason Clark, In Christ — Click below to watch.
✧ Source References:
- Athanasius of Alexandria, On the Incarnation:
“God became man so that man might become god.”
Source: Athanasius, On the Incarnation - The Holy Scriptures:
- 2 Corinthians 5:19 (NASB)
- Galatians 4:6 (ESV)
- Romans 8:16–17 (NIV)
- John 1:12 (NRSV)
