p. 122 | CHILDREN OF GOD by John Matteson

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Oct 12, 1869

CHILDREN OF GOD.

By John Matteson

“They are . . . the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.” Luke xx, 36. “Whosoever is born of God sinneth not; but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not.” 1 John v, 18.

Many claim, from these two texts, that we are begotten of God in this world, and born of God in the resurrection. A right understanding of this subject leads into a right understanding of many other subjects. Therefore I would remark:

1. The words begotten and born in 1 John iii, 9, and chap. v, 18, are translated from one and the same original word. Likewise in 1 Peter i, 3, and verse 23, it is the same original word with the prefix “again.” Now these words are rendered “born” every time in the Danish version. Likewise in Luther’s German translation. What authority have we to give two different meanings to the same original word, in the same verse, applied to the same thing? This seems to be a parallel case to Mark viii, 35, 36, where the same original word is rendered, first life, and then soul, leaving the reader to draw wrong conclusions.

James i, 18, is another word in the original, ἀποκυέω: bring forth; beget; to adopt; assume as one’s child. Greenfield. It seems to me that the last two definitions convey the true idea, in perfect harmony with the Scriptures.

“Whosoever is born of God sinneth not.” Why so? Because he “keepeth himself.” It is evident that the only way a child of God overcomes sin is by keeping himself. Watch, pray, and work. As long as he does this, God’s seed (or word of truth, 1 Peter i, 23, 25,) “remaineth in him: and he cannot sin.” But if he should depart from the truth, then the seed, or truth, would remain in him no longer. Then he could not resist sin.

2. The resurrection cannot make any one a literal child of God, any more than the creation could make Adam a literal child of God. A literal birth is a living creature’s bringing forth another living creature of its own kind. The creation, as well as the resurrection, resembles a birth in some respects, and is, therefore, represented by the same word. But this is using the word in a figurative, and not in a strictly literal, sense. Adam is called the son of God. Luke iii, 38. He came forth from the dust, by the hand of the Creator, free from sin, spotless and pure. So, likewise, those who are raised in the first resurrection, come forth holy and pure, and are made “partakers of the

divine nature. 2 Peter i, 4. This is not by virtue of the resurrection merely, but also by virtue of their obedience. Rom. ii, 7. And that obedience they were enabled to render, only through the mercy of God, he having provided for them “all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” 2 Peter i, 3. So, likewise, would Adam have obtained immortality if he had obeyed God. Gen. iii, 22. Adam was the son of God, without obtaining immortality, by virtue of his creation. And, if he had not sinned, he would have been the son of God, both by virtue of creation and obedience.

So may we become sons of God, before the resurrection, by obedience; and being obedient to the end, we shall also be children of God in the resurrection. In Luke xx, 36, Christ was reasoning concerning the resurrection. Abraham is now dead. God styles himself the God of Abraham. He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. Therefore Abraham must be raised to life again. “They are . . . the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.” They never could be the children of God in the kingdom if they were not raised to life again. Therefore they shall be raised to immortality. Then they cannot die any more.

3. Christ is the only literal Son of God. “The only begotten of the Father.” John i, 14. He is God because he is the Son of God; not by virtue of his resurrection. If Christ is the only begotten of the Father, then we cannot be begotten of the Father in a literal sense. It can only be in a secondary sense of the word. Moreover, we have all gone astray from God. Isa. liii, 6. Therefore we can never be any more than adopted children here, nor hereafter.

We were aliens and foreigners, picked up from among a rebellious and degraded family, and finally become naturalized as citizens of the New Jerusalem. Even in the first resurrection we come forth from the old mother earth, and when we step into the heavenly city, we come from that old country.

4. We are now the adopted sons of God on probation, and in the resurrection we shall be the immortal sons of God. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God. . . . Ye have received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. [We could not say Father, except we were born.] The spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God. And if children, then heirs.” Rom. viii, 14–17. Speaking about the Gentiles who receive the gospel, he says they shall “be called the children of the living God.” Rom. ix, 26. As many as have put on Christ are “children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” Gal. iii, 26, 27. Do the children of the devil now fully exist? Yes, indeed! Elymas, the sorcerer, was pronounced by Paul a “child of the devil.” Acts xiii, 10. Jesus calls the devil the father of the unbelieving Jews; John viii; and the scribes and Pharisees children of hell. The unbelieving are “children of disobedience,” and “children of wrath.” Eph. ii, 2, 3. And so were we by nature. Now what does all this mean, children of the devil, of wrath, of disobedience, &c.? Not that we are literal children of the devil by nature, for we are neither begotten nor born of him literally. But it simply means that we are subject to the devil, subject to wrath, hell, &c. If we obey the devil, it makes us children of the devil; just so when we obey God, it makes us children of God. “In this the children of God are manifest and the children of the devil.” 1 John iii.

The words child, children, sons, &c., seem only to be used to illustrate the relation we sustain to God when we serve him. Like the branches grafted into the olive tree; Rom. xi; or the branches of the vine; John xv. “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” A branch draws nourishment from the tree. So does a child from the mother; so the children of God from Christ. The branches are purged to bring forth much fruit. The child is trained to obedience and good manners. The children of God are trained in the school of experience and adversity, sanctified by the word and the Spirit, that they may bring forth fruit. We are called children of light, because we believe or follow after the truth. John xii, 36.

Are we not children of God in the same sense, believing in God and following him? Eph. v, 8. Then as long as we obey God here, we are his children. And when we obtain immortality, we are also his children, all by adoption. Rom. viii, 23. “Waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.” Here the resurrection is said to be the adoption. And in verses 14 and 15 he represents us as adopted sons of God as soon as we begin to serve God. Therefore we are adopted children of God, both here and in the world to come. Here, on probation; there, in glory; here, in weakness; there, in power; here, in corruption; there, in incorruption. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.” 1 John iii, 2.

JOHN MATTESON.