Topical Studies
Children of God
(From Forerunner Commentary)
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Genesis 1:26-27 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
In God's pattern for all life, like reproduces like. And just as each created form of plant or animal reproduces after its own kind, so man reproduces man. But unlike any of the animals created by God, man was created in God's likeness. These scriptures refute the theory that man is merely the "highest" of the animals, having "evolved" from lower mammals. They clearly state that God created man after His own "image" and "likeness"! God made man like Himself—same form and shape. And He is now creating men after His kind! Only a very few have really grasped the tremendous significance of this astounding truth, but this is what salvation is all about. This revelation affirms that God is reproducing Himself. Our destiny is to become the literal "children" of God—members of His own divine Family! There is a vast difference between spirit and dust. Although man was created in the very shape and likeness of God, he was not created out of the same material (Genesis 2:7; John 4:24) but of the dust of the earth, subject to decay. But God's purpose is to eventually create him out of spirit! In I Corinthians 15:46 we read: "Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. The first man [Adam] is of the earth, earthy: the second man [Christ] is the Lord from heaven. . . . And as we [speaking of converted Christians] have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly" (verses 46-49). Clearly, man is much more than any animal. Man has the potential to become divine spirit—just as GOD is spirit!
What It Means to Be Born Again
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Genesis 3:19 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The last part of God's curse on Adam involves the brevity of physical life. To this point, death had been mentioned only as a threatened punishment for sin (Genesis 2:17), so it must be assumed that, as long as Adam and Eve remained sinless, they would not die. Paul writes in Romans 5:12, "Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned." God designed His wording of Adam's punishment to link mankind with the earth: He was created out of it, and when he died, he would return to it. His sin had removed him from the environs of the heavenly and forced him to dwell, labor, and die in the earthly. Yet even this has a silver lining: And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. (I Corinthians 15:45-49) The benefit of a physical body is that it can die! This may sound strange, but it is exactly this fact that makes man able to become born sons of God! Men can die and be resurrected after the mode of Christ's birth into God's Family, receiving eternal life and the rewards of His Kingdom. It is our righteous living in the flesh through the grace of God that qualifies us for this glorious potential. On the flip side, our physical nature also makes it possible for God to rid the universe of anyone unwilling to submit to Him. Unlike angels, men can be completely consumed in the Lake of Fire—totally destroyed for all eternity and unable to defile the holiness of God's Kingdom. Though God desires "all [to] come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9) and "all men to be saved" (I Timothy 2:4), He has this option should it be needed. Revelation 19:20 shows that it will indeed.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
The First Prophecy (Part Three)
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Matthew 5:9 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Jesus says that peacemakers "shall be called sons of God." Once we understand the Bible's usage of the words "sons" and "children," we can easily see that this beatitude does not apply to worldly people. Both "sons" and "children" not only describe those who are literal descendents, but also those who show the characteristics of a predecessor who is not necessarily a biological ancestor. For instance, in John 8:38, 41, 44, Jesus tells the Jews that Satan is their father. Their attitudes and conduct revealed who their true spiritual father was; they were in Satan's image. Those who fit the Matthew 5:9 description of godly peacemakers reveal that they are in the image and likeness of God! As Jesus Christ is the Prince of Peace, God is called the God of peace (Hebrews 13:20). When we add the thought of Hebrews 2:11, interesting ramifications concerning us surface: "For both He who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified are all of one, for which reason He is not ashamed to call them brethren." If indeed we are His begotten children and therefore united in the spiritual body of Christ, we will show the same peaceable disposition of the One who is the Head. Thus He has no shame in calling us brethren. Through us, His characteristics are being manifested to the church and to the world. Peacemaking is more complex and involved than it first appears because it entails the way we live all of life. This produces peace both passively and actively: passively, because we are not a cause of disruption, and actively, because we create peace by drawing others to emulate our example and by them seeking for the tranquillity and pleasure we have as a result. Though a Christian has little or no control over others in mediating peace between disputing parties, this should not deter him from living the peacemaking way. It is the way a person lives that will prepare him to be a much more active and authoritative peacemaker in the World Tomorrow when Christ returns. Peacemaking is indeed a high standard and a worthy vocation, yielding a wonderful reward that is worth bending our every effort to submit to God and seek His glorification.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part 7: Blessed Are the Peacemakers
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Mark 9:41 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
"Redeem" (from which the word "redemption" comes) means to recover ownership of something that had been lost. If we are Christians, Christ has redeemed us—"bought us back," so to speak. His sacrifice allows us, with God's help, to cease being the kidnapped children of Satan, and become the Spirit-begotten children of God! The fact that Christ had to pay a ransom (His life) to buy back those who are now His proves that we all have belonged to Satan (see John 8:44; I John 3:8; Romans 6:16)!
Staff
Is This the Only Day of Salvation?
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John 1:11-13 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Just because we see does not mean that we will believe because there is a spiritual aspect to this sort of seeing and believing. This passage indicates that "His own" showed not even a flash of recognition as to His true identity. Consider the incongruity of this. We frequently hear of personalities in the public eye affecting some kind of a mode of dress or lifestyle that will set them apart and make them instantly recognizable. In this regard, compare Jesus Christ, the most unique Personality that ever lived in the history of mankind! He was a one-of-a-kind, the only human who ever lived life sinlessly. Yet, even those of His generation who saw Him could not identify Him, God in the flesh! This suggests that one must be predisposed to believe, to have the ability to "see." It is interesting to note that, to those who exercised this faith, "He gave the power [right, authority, ability] to become the children of God" (verse 12). Only those who "see" and then "receive" Christ can enter into a relationship with God that results in nothing less than the creation of a new being.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Do You See God? (Part One)
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Romans 8:14-17 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
If we are begotten children of God and led by His Spirit, we will exhibit His character and spiritual image. Before God summoned us, began to reveal His truth to us, forgave us, justified us, and imparted His Spirit to us, our spiritual father was Satan! We were no better than the Pharisees, whom Christ told that they were of their father, the Devil, because they were doing Satan's works (John 8:39-47). Children display the characteristics of their parents, so Christ judged the Pharisees to be the children of Satan because they were exhibiting the Devil's characteristics. Before God intervened in our lives, we, too, were the children of Satan (Ephesians 2:1-3) because we were exhibiting his spiritual characteristics. However, God began to redeem us and called us into a relationship with Him, which, as Romans 8:15 says, was symbolically an adoption. God was not our original father, but He took on that role after He extracted us from the grasp of Satan, sin, and this world. Verse 16 reiterates that the Holy Spirit is intended to provide a witness of who we are and who God is. If we allow the Spirit to lead us, we are sons of God. It follows that, if we are sons of God, then we will be exhibiting the same characteristics as our Father! When we exhibit God's characteristics, we are a witness to the world of His character and the way He lives. Under the New Covenant, with access to the Holy Spirit, the quality of our witness must be much higher than what God expected of physical Israel. To whom much is given, much also is required (Luke 12:48)! If our neighbors, co-workers, or family members look at us, and all they see are people who go to church on different days, do not eat certain foods, give multiple tithes on their income, and do not believe in the Trinity, are they seeing anything different than Old Covenant Israel, who did not have the Holy Spirit? Certainly, God's law will set us apart from the world because the world is against God, but merely keeping the letter of the law will not provide the complete witness that God is looking for. This is not to denigrate the royal law of liberty to any degree. Acts 5:32 says God gives His Spirit only to those who obey Him. However, one can be nominally obedient, keeping God's law in the letter, without making a truly effective witness for God.
David C. Grabbe
The Pentecost Witness
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Romans 8:14 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The unborn child in his mother's womb is the child of his father and mother, though not yet born—delivered from the womb. So are we, if God's Spirit dwells in us—if we are being led by God's Spirit—children of God. Yet, at this time, we are in the gestation state, not yet parturition. And only heirs, not inheritors!
Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986)
Life After Death?
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Romans 8:16 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
This confirms that we are now God's children, though not yet born. As seen in verse 29, we are "to be conformed to the image of His Son." It has not happened yet, since we have not yet been resurrected. Though we have already experienced our physical generation, we have not gone through the complete spiritual generation.
John W. Ritenbaugh
You Must Be Born Again!
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Romans 8:29 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Think of this in terms of humanity. My wife is from a family into which nine children were born. One died in infancy; eight brothers and sisters grew to adulthood. The firstborn was a son, eight others were born after him. Were those born after the firstborn intrinsically any different from the firstborn? They were all humans, just as the firstborn was! Transfer this analogy into the spiritual realm, into the Family of which we are already considered to be a part. We are God's children (Romans 8:14; I John 3:1). Our inheritance is to enter that Family by being born again (John 3:3). Jesus Christ is the Firstborn, and He is God (John 1:1; 20:28). We are to be conformed to His image. When we are born into the God Family, will we be any less than He is? No, we are going to be God. We have come later, but we will be just like the Firstborn.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 13)
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Galatians 3:26 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
This statement would have been a bombshell—and high heresy—to the average Jew of Paul's time, who would have had it in his mind that the people of Israel were the only children of God. Paul here is beginning to explain that physical lineage is not relevant where God's calling is concerned, because under the New Covenant only God can give the summons (John 6:44), and if He summons a Gentile, it is just as valid as if He gave it to an Israelite. The faith of Jesus Christ is the important factor rather than heredity. This faith is also a part of what God gives (Ephesians 2:8)—again, only to those whom He chooses. But if God has given this living faith (James 2:20) to a man, that man is then a begotten—but not yet born—child of God. God is the real father, rather than Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob.
David C. Grabbe
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Galatians 3:26 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
We become children of Abraham once we are justified by faith in Christ's sacrifice. The Abrahamic Covenant and the promises God made, then, are still in effect. He is going to fulfill those promises. Abraham will have multiple billions of descendants. Now we see the real purpose of the covenant: Abraham's children actually, under God's spiritual purpose, also become God's children.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 27)
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Galatians 3:29 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The apostle directs our understanding of Abraham's offspring away from the usual biological definition and toward one pivoting around a relationship with Christ. A few verses earlier, he shows that faith is the crucial substance (see Hebrews 11:1) of that relationship: "Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham" (Galatians 3:7). Operatively, then, "the faith of Christ" (Galatians 2:16, KJV), not a faith we inflame within ourselves, is the source—we could even say, the functional cause—of our spiritual kinship with Abraham. Through our exercise of Christ's faith in us, we become Abraham's children. Regardless of lineage, we are not his spiritual children by birth. For the purposes of spiritual salvation, reconciliation with God by the faith of Jesus Christ renders irrelevant the genetic, national, social, and gender differences among Homo sapiens (see Galatians 3:26-29). Thus, the apostle stresses the importance of faith over genealogy. Israel, from God's viewpoint, is first and foremost a spiritual entity, a nation and people (I Peter 2:9) of faith, and only secondarily—subordinately—a physical or natural entity.
Charles Whitaker
Servant of God, Act II: God's Gift of Faith
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Galatians 4:5 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
It is an obscene fallacy to consider that mankind needs to be "redeemed" from God's law. The law does not keep one in bondage—sin does. The law just points out why that man is in bondage. As the notes at Galatians 4:3 show, God's intent and desire is to free us from the bondage of sin, just as He redeemed the Israelites from Egypt. Right before God gave Israel the Ten Commandments, in a preamble of sorts, He stated very clearly, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage" (Exodus 20:2). God's law points out to people why they are reaping the negative consequences of the choices they make—why they are in bondage to sin and condemned to pay the physical and spiritual price. Jesus Christ was supernaturally conceived ("made of a woman") and took on the consequence of all of our sins ("made under law"), so He could redeem—pay the price for—everyone who was also under the condemnation of the law. We are redeemed from the bondage of sin and its consequences, not from the perfect law of God! It should be noted that He did this for all men, not just for the Jews. Hence, the "redemption" could not be referring to redemption from the moral instructions of what is right and wrong, simply because the Gentile Galatians were not familiar with God's law before He called them. Prior to God's call from this satanic system, we were Satan's children. We bore his image, and resembled him in word, deed, and attitude (Ephesians 2:1-3; John 8:38-44). When God calls us into a relationship with Him, He justifies us—brings us into alignment with His perfect law—and gives us a measure of His Spirit so we may begin to understand His ways. To those that He chooses and who properly respond, He gives the authority to become His sons (John 1:12). This sonship is by adoption, because our first father was Satan the Devil! At the beginning of our relationship with God, we are begotten by Him but not yet born (John 3:3-8; I Corinthians 15:20-54; I John 3:9; 5:18). Genesis 1:26 shows that God's intent is to recreate Himself and to have a Family of spirit beings. Because He loves us, He gives us the opportunity to be called the "sons of God," which alienates us from the world because the world still bears the image of Satan (I John 3:1). Through the sanctification process we are changed, and become more and more in His likeness, and upon our resurrection we will be raised with incorruptible spirit bodies, fully born into the Kingdom—the Family—of God.
David C. Grabbe
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Galatians 4:7 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Paul here gives a conclusion to verses 1-6. Before God's calling, we were servants—slaves—to sin and Satan (Romans 3:9; 5:12; 6:1-23; Ephesians 2:1-3). This present system of things, under Satan, was our "tutor" and "governor," not for instruction or safe-keeping but for keeping us controlled and limited. When we were spiritually immature—"children"— we were in bondage to the foundational principles and elements of this world. At the time when God chooses, He calls us out from this cosmos, this world apart from Him. This is possible because Jesus Christ's atoning sacrifice bridges the gap, caused by sin, between God and the man that He chooses and causes to approach Him (Psalm 65:4). Christ became the "curse of the law," the penalty of death, for us and redeemed us from Satan and from sin's grasp so that we could begin to have a relationship with our Creator. Through the legal action of justification, God brings us into alignment with His holy law and takes away our sins and the eternal consequence of them—but He does not take away the law anymore than a civil governor does away with the law against murder when he gives a last-minute reprieve to a murderer. To those individuals who hear and properly respond to God's summons, He gives the opportunity— the right!— to become His sons: "But as many as received Him, to them gave he power [authority] to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name" (John 1:12). This is symbolized by adoption, because Paul is emphasizing that prior to this time, we had another father—a supernatural being whose image we bore, whose deeds we followed, and whose words we spoke. It was this father that enslaved us, and it was his system that we all willingly participated in before God's intervention. It was this system that the Galatians were returning to and which Paul was speaking against (Galatians 4:3, 8-11). Because of the price that Christ paid, God purchased those individuals that He has a plan for, and thus they became His "adopted" sons and heirs—but not yet inheritors—to the promises made to Abraham and to the Kingdom.
David C. Grabbe
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Galatians 6:16 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
As members of the God Family—children of God, we will be God, ruling as He would rule. Spiritually speaking, we will be the kings God promised would descend from Jacob (Genesis 35:12). Yes, Israel is an apt designation for God's church; the Israel of God will rule as God. Viewed in the present tense or in the future, we in the true Israel of God have a great deal in common with our patriarch Jacob. Like him, we will eventually have a new name (Revelation 3:12). Like him, we struggle to overcome. And like him, those who remain faithful among us will someday prevail, qualifying to rule as God—princes forever with Him.
Charles Whitaker
The Israel of God
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Ephesians 3:14-15 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The Family of God is located both in heaven and on earth. In heaven there are two Beings of spirit who are part of the Godhead. This flies right in the face of the concept of strict monotheism! But even more startling is that God considers true Christians to be part of the Godhead already! It has been said that the church is the Kingdom of God in embryo. Currently two members of the Godhead are spirit. But God—Elhoim—said, "Let Us create man in Our image" (Genesis 1:26), and what is evident from the beginning of the Bible all the way to the end is that Elohim is expanding! God is increasing what Elohim is. God is increasing the number of those who are in the Godhead. This is not hard to understand. Now we are already children of God. We are in His Family. To us, monotheism indicates that one is worshipping one distinct and unique almighty personality, and if anyone claims anything more than that, that person is considered to be a polytheist—worshipping many gods. This is hard to accept here in this Western world, and this resistance to accepting what the Bible clearly reveals about the Godhead has in large measure led to the introduction of the "Trinity." People just cannot accept the simple truth of the Bible, that God is expanding. He is increasing His number. We will be part of that Godhead.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Nature of God: Elohim
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Ephesians 3:14-15 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Already a Family exists in heaven—not the angelic family but the Family in which we are sons and daughters. We are the part of that heavenly Family but still on the earth.
John W. Ritenbaugh
God Is . . . What?
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Philippians 3:21 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
There is nothing ambiguous, cloudy, or vague about this. Our bodies will be conformed to be like His. It does not say they will be conformed to be like an angel's. It does not say they will be conformed to be like a better human being. They are going to be conformed to be like His body. Paul is referring to the Lord, who is God! Our bodies will be like God's body. The word conform or, as it is in the King James, fashioned means "to make similar to or identical with." Will our bodies be "similar to" or "identical with" God's? Which one does Paul intend us to understand? John writes in I John 3:1-3: Behold, what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God. Therefore the world does not knows us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now are we are children of God, and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be. But we know that, when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. And everyone who has this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure. When he says, "it has not yet been revealed what we shall be," he means that we do not know some of the specifics about what our nature will be like, but we do know what it will be in a generality: "We shall be like Him." What other creature that God has created has been given the Spirit of God and is being conformed to His image? Angels? Hebrews 1 says that the angels of heaven worship Jesus Christ. He is greater than angels, and we are going to be conformed to Him! We are not going to be conformed to angels. The conforming is to be to God. Another thing that John adds here is that this hope—to be conformed to the image of God in Jesus Christ—is what motivates a person to purify himself. It is the engine that drives a person along the Way, because he knows where he is headed. He is not going to be someone slightly above angels but someone like the Son of God, one who is worshipped and is worthy of the worship of angels. This doctrine is not ambiguous in any way. We are going to be like Him, and He is worthy of worship. Does it not say in Revelation 3:9 that people will worship the saints? Do people worship angels? No, the angels tell them, "Get off your knees, because I am a servant as you are" (see Revelation 19:10). God says we will be worthy of worship as part of the God Family.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 1)
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2 Timothy 1:8-9 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
II Timothy 1:8-9 and Titus 3:5 together reveal that our hope for salvation and completion as a son of God in Christ's image, prepared for the resurrection to eternal life, all comes down to one thing—God. Was it not God who saved Israel from their slavery? Was it not God who provided for them the whole way through the wilderness, then gave them their inheritance regardless of any promise? Would they have had any hope without Him in the picture, first giving the promise and then fulfilling what He said He would do? Could they have delivered themselves? Could they have provided for themselves? Could they have taken over the Promised Land? Their hope had to be in God, that He would follow through. The promise did not save them. It was the God who made the promise.
John W. Ritenbaugh
Perseverance and Hope
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Hebrews 2:10 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
God plainly shows it is His purpose to increase His divine Family by bringing many sons into it. Jesus Christ is actually the "firstborn" of many sons of God (Romans 8:29; Colossians 1:18). The gospel Jesus brought to mankind is simply the "good news" of the Kingdom of God—and that Kingdom is dual. It is not only the ruling government which Christ will establish on the earth when He returns, but it is also the Family of God—the God Kingdom composed of the spirit members of the God Family. And, incredible as it may sound, Jesus taught that humans can be "born" into the Family, or Kingdom, of God. There are only two members in the God Family or Kingdom at the present time—God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. But God is increasing His Family, and you can be "born" into it!
What It Means to Be Born Again
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1 Peter 5:1-2 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The Father begets. He does not "bring forth"; the mother does that, later. After the father's part, which initiates the process, there is always a lapse of time leading to final birth. At the time of begettal, birth (parturition) has not yet occurred. In the case of human beings, it follows about nine months later. During the intervening time, just as the mother nourishes and protects the unborn son or daughter in her womb during the gestation period, so the true church is commissioned to nourish and protect true Christians in her spiritual womb—to "feed the flock." God's spirit-begotten children must be nourished on the spiritual food supplied by God—the words of Scripture—and live by every word of God, in order to grow up spiritually. If by the return of Jesus Christ we have grown and matured in spiritual character, we will become born "children of God," being "children of the resurrection" as Christ was at His resurrection. We will then no longer be subject to death (Luke 20:35-36). But if the spirit-begotten child of God does not grow spiritually, he can become a spiritual miscarriage.
What It Means to Be Born Again
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1 John 3:1-2 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
J. B. Phillips' translation of this passage shows striking perception: Consider the incredible love that the Father has shown us in allowing us to be called "children of God" and that is not just what we are called, but what we are. This explains why the world will no more recognize us than it recognized Christ. Here and now, my dear friends, we are God's children. We are God's children now, not in metaphor, but in fact.
Charles Whitaker
Growing to Perfection
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1 John 3:1 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Christians are in the God Family already—in embryonic form. We are sons of God! When we were baptized "in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit," we were placed into the Family of God! We are now sons of God—we bear that name, and we had better do everything in our power to uphold it! It is the greatest name in the universe! There is none greater. In a very real sense, our last name is now "God."
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 13)
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1 John 3:1-2 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Notice that although we are now the "sons" and "children of God" (I John 3:1-2), we are only heirs—ones who shall, in the future, inherit all that God has promised (Romans 8:14-17). Why? Because we are now only BEGOTTEN children. It is only when we are born of God that we become inheritors of God's Kingdom—divine members of the Family of God. Before the second phase of man's creation—our spiritual creation—can begin, God the Father must first beget each of us by placing His Holy Spirit within our minds. We are then impregnated, so to speak, by the "seed" or germ of eternal life. It is the begettal of the spiritual life of God within our minds. Much as a newly begotten physical embryo begins to grow in its mother's womb, we begin to grow in spiritual character after we are begotten by God's Spirit. This growth comes through study, prayer, and walking with God.
What It Means to Be Born Again
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1 John 3:2 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
This verse plainly states that "now we are children of God; and . . . we shall be like Him." Since God is going to be "all in all," and since we are already considered by Him to be part of the same organism as Christ, who is God, and will have bodies conformed to His glorious body, there is only one thing we can be after the resurrection—God! After all His preparation to mold us into His image, do we suddenly turn into something else, something less than what He is in terms of being a member of His Family?
John W. Ritenbaugh
All in All
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1 John 3:2 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
This verse does not mean that we do not know what we are going to be in the Kingdom. We know what we will be in the Kingdom, "kings and priests" (Revelation 5:10). We will have these dual responsibilities of rulership and mediation. We do not know how extensive our authority will be, nor what our exact position in the Family will be. But that is not what John is talking about here. By saying that it does not yet appear what we shall be, he means that we are simply not able to comprehend it. We cannot, literally, see it yet! But it is very clear that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him! God could not make it any clearer. He does not say we are going to be a shadow of Him—we will be like Him! He is God, and we are going to be God too! Full-fledged members of the God Family!
John W. Ritenbaugh
We Shall Be God! (Part 2)
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1 John 5:18 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
The person who has been finally "born of God" will not sin any longer. Once we are born of God at the resurrection, we will be able to live without ever sinning again. How? Simply because we will then possess the fullness of God's perfect character and divine nature. We will no longer possess a nature which can fall victim to sin and Satan's influence. But as long as we are only "begotten" of God, we must "keep ourselves"—we must continue to resist the evil temptations of the flesh. Such a one can commit sin. When caught off guard or in a moment of weakness, we can and often do sin! But we cannot "practice [or, continually live in] sin" and be the begotten sons of God (I John 3:5-6). Life, to the begotten Christian, is a constant struggle against Satan's influence, which is the cause of the evil side of man's nature. Although he has now received the begettal of God's divine nature (II Peter 1:4), he still manifests the traits of human nature as well, and the one wars against the other (Galatians 5:17).
What It Means to Be Born Again
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Revelation 5:10 (Go to this verse :: Verse pop-up)
Just like the apostles and Jesus Christ, we, too, are going to be kings and priests on earth, where the Kingdom will be located. Thus, we find that God is producing a community, and that community is a nation as well as a Family. The members of that Family are brothers and sisters of Jesus Christ, and we all have a common Father—the great Creator of everything that is. Like the apostles and Jesus Christ, we are being drawn to a place where we will rule in that Kingdom.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Covenants, Grace and Law (Part 1)
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The Berean: Daily Verse and Comment
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