We're NOT all God's Children

To be a child of God is a special privilege. I have heard many people over the years talk about how everyone is God's child. There is a great problem with that: It's not what the Bible says. In fact, in Galatians 4 Paul talks about becoming a child of God by saying in verses 4-5, "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons." If we were already children of God, then we would not need to be adopted into His family. To say everyone is a child of God is to diminish what Christ accomplished on the cross for those who would believe. In fact, those who are actually children of God (through adoption) have evidence that they are children called the Holy Spirit, "And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God" (Gal. 4:6-7). We must rejoice that God in His sovereign mercy would redeem a people and adopt them as children into His family. We must plead with others that they would renounce their own self-righteousness (which is no righteousness) and embrace the righteousness of Christ. And we must rejoice that those who have faith in the finished work of Christ are sons of God through faith.