There are different ways in which the disciples of the Lord are spoken of in Scripture as children. When on earth the Lord Jesus in affection for His own said to them, "Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!" (Mark 10:24): then again, in resurrection, He spoke in the same affectionate way to them, saying, "Children, have ye any meat?" (John 21:5). In Ephesians 5:8 the saints are viewed as "children of light," in 1 Peter 1:14 as "obedient children," or "children of obedience," and in Hebrews 2:13-14, those who belong to the risen Son of God are called "the children which God hath given me."
When the saints are spoken of as "children of God" it is on account of the relationship into which they have been brought by the new birth. It is the relationship into which everyone who has been born of God, right down the ages, has been brought by the sovereign working of God in the soul. By the new birth the saint of God possesses a new and divine nature by which he can apprehend in some measure what is of God. The new birth gives in the divine nature the capacity to enter into the things of God, but it was not until the Holy Spirit was given to indwell believers that there was divine power within the saints to fully avail themselves of the revelations made known by the same Spirit. The Lord Jesus made this known to His disciples in that which has been recorded for us in John 14-16.
Although saints of old were God's children, as having His nature, it was not until the coming of the Son of God into the world that they could have the knowledge of this wonderful relationship, even as it is written, "But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of God, to those that believe on His Name" (John 1:12). Then we are taught that this relationship was not on account of anything proceeding from man, it was entirely the work of God.
In John 3:3-8 the Lord Jesus speaks to Nicodemus of the new birth, telling him that only as born again could a man see the kingdom of God, and that the new birth that enables us to enter into the kingdom of God is the work of the Holy Spirit through the agency of God's word. God's word is the seed of the new nature, and the agent used by the Spirit to cleanse the soul from the defilement we inherited from Adam in the nature derived from him.
If the coming of the Son into the world brought to light the relationship into which God's saints were brought by the new birth, the death of Christ was the means of uniting all who were born of God in an entirely new unity, even as the Holy Spirit commented on the words of the high priest, "he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also He should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad" (John 11:51-52).
Paul, in Romans 8:16, writes, "The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God," showing that the dwelling of the Holy Spirit within us gives us the blessed consciousness of the relationship into which God has brought us with Himself. Because we are children of God we are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom. 8:17), now in the scene where we suffer with Christ, but soon, when the creation itself shall be relieved from the bondage of corruption, revealed in glory with Christ (Rom. 8:21). In Romans 9:8 the Apostle stresses that Israel after the flesh are not the children of God, for the true seed of Abraham are those in whom the faith of Abraham is found.
In Ephesians 5:1 the saints are exhorted to be "followers of God, as dear children," the nature of the Father to be manifested in His children. Christ Himself has given the example for the walk of God's children, manifesting His love to the Father, and also to us, in His death upon the cross. How great was the pleasure of God in His Son, in His walk and ways, and in His meek submission and perfect obedience even in death. God would have the same character of walk in His children, a walk that gives Him pleasure.
The love of the Father is manifested in giving us the knowledge of our relationship with Him as His children, even as John writes, "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the children of God" (1 John 3:1). The Father's love was not manifested until the Son came, but the same love that caused the Father to send His Son to die for us has brought us into the nearest place of relationship with Himself as His children, where His affection rests upon us, even as it rests upon His Son.
Had the world known the Son of God it would also have known that we are God's children, for the nature that was seen in its perfection in the Son is seen in God's children in this world. The flesh may also be seen in the saints, but the divine nature is also seen, and as God's children we are viewed as in the divine nature manifesting the nature of God. Soon we shall come out of heaven in glory with God's Son, and then we shall be like Him as having bodies of glory like His, but already we have the same nature, and the same place in affection before the Father.
Righteousness and love are features that manifest themselves in the children of God (1 John 3:10-14), but "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep His commandments" (1 John 5:2). Every child of God loves every other child of God, but the proof of love is obedience to the will of God. We do not show our love to our brethren by walking with them in a wrong path, but by seeking to answer in everything to that which God has asked us to do.
In affection for the whole family of God, the aged Apostle John wrote to them, "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not" (1 John 2:1).
There was true and deep love in the heart of the servant of the Lord for all the saints, and his personal acquaintance with the Lord from the beginning, his peculiar place as having lain in Jesus' bosom, his long life of devoted service to the Master, and his ministry and care for the saints combined to give him this liberty of addressing the whole Christian company as his children.
The aged Apostle had been writing of sin and sins in the previous verses, showing that sin is not a necessity with believers, though we all have failed, and do fail. If we fail, there is God's own provision in our Advocate above, "Jesus Christ the Righteous," who is our subsisting righteousness in the presence of God. In this same chapter John writes, "I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His Name's sake." 1 John 2:12. How wonderful it is to know that all our sins have been forgiven for the Name of Him who died for them upon the cross.
Again the Apostle exhorts in 1 John 2:28, "And now, little children, abide in Him: that, when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming." John would have all the saints to whom he had ministered remain faithful to the Lord, abiding in Him, drawing upon the infinite resources that are in Him where He is above, so that they might know the joy of His love and manifest His features in testimony for Him.
In 1 John 3:7 John writes, "Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as He is righteous." Only one who is righteous before God can practise righteousness, for it is the fruit of the divine nature that God has given us, the nature of the righteous God, and of Jesus Christ the righteous. Christianity is very practical, so the Apostle adds, "My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18). It is easy to speak and write of what a Christian should be and do, but we are to manifest in a practical way the love that has been manifested towards us in perfection in Jesus.
Regarding the false prophets, in whom the spirit of anti-christ was manifest, the aged servant of Christ wrote, "Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 John 4:4). The Spirit of God in the saints had enabled them to discern the true character of the evil teachings of the false prophets, and to reject them as not of God. The Holy Spirit within us is greater than the spirit of anti-christ, which is in the world, enabling us to detect and reject all that is false.
Whatever stage of growth marked the saints, whether they were babes in God's family, or young men who had overcome the wicked one, or fathers who had matured in the things of God, the Apostle can speak of them as "my children" (1 John 2:1, 12-29). Even when writing to "the well-beloved Gaius," the Apostle John could say, "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth" (3 John 1-4).
Like his Master, and like the Apostle John, the Apostle Paul also speaks of the saints as his children, writing to the Galatians, "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you" (Gal. 4:19). The saints in Galatia had been brought to the Lord through the Apostle, but the enemy had sought to seduce them from the path of God's will, seeking to undermine among them the very foundations of the Gospel. In seeking to correct the error the enemy was presenting to them, in deep affection, and as greatly moved in his spirit for them, the Apostle writes to them as his children.
When exhorting the Corinthian saints, the Apostle writes, "I speak as unto my children, be ye also enlarged" (2 Cor. 6:13). Already, the Apostle had written to them, "I write not these things to shame you, for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the Gospel" (1 Cor. 4:14-15). As the fruit of his work for Christ, Paul had a special interest in the saints in Corinth, so could write to them as his children.
When contemplating the difficulties of the last days. Paul writes to Timothy of God's "purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began" (2 Tim. 1:9), then in 2 Tim. 2:1 writes. "Thou therefore, my child, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus." In deepest affection for Timothy, Paul writes in this way. So it was in the case of Onesimus, of whom Paul wrote to Philemon, "I exhort thee for my child Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds" (Philemon 10).
Under the law there was not the full knowledge of God which came in the Person of the Son, so that Paul could write of the saints before Christ came as … "we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world" (Gal. 4:1-3). When Christ came the Father was made known, so that John could write to the babes in God's family, "I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father" (1 John 2:13). This was the normal condition of saints who had just come into Christianity, they were young in the faith, and immature in the things of God.
It is not normal however for babes to remain immature, they should grow by the true knowledge of God, feeding on the pure mental milk of the word of God (1 Peter 2:2). Babes are in special danger of being seduced by evil teaching, hence the warning of 1 John 2:18-27, and the words of the Apostle Paul to the saints at Ephesus, "That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine" (Eph. 4:11-15). We are to feed upon the word, and avail ourselves of all that Christ has given to make us strong in divine things.
This danger of remaining in an immature state was noticed by the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, who said, "Ye … are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat. For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe" (Heb. 5:12-14). We should ever delight in the foundation truths of Christianity, but we should also be growing to enjoy the deep things of God, not like the Hebrews referred to, or like the saints at Corinth, to whom Paul wrote, "And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able" (1 Cor. 3:1-2).