John 1:12
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, EVEN to them that believe on his name:
That's right! The "Power to BECOME!"
Not ARE! But, BECOME!
Meaning? It's NOT "automatic!"
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, EVEN to them that believe on his name:
That's right! The "Power to BECOME!"
Not ARE! But, BECOME!
Meaning? It's NOT "automatic!"
"to come, change, or grow to be (as specified):He became tired.
to come into being."
Read the verse in that context. "But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to be the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name. "
Our Lord died , he did the hard work, to take the sins of the world upon himself when he died on the cross. All we have to do in return, any person on earth, is believe. John 3:16
Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Jesus is The Word, and in Him is Life and Light.
Galatians 3:26 For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.
5207. huios Usage: A son, descendant.
We are all children of God because we began in and from God at creation. Redemption, Salvation, is releasing the illusion of this world, the chasm between flesh and spirit, and recognizing, reuniting, our consciousness with our source. Reuniting ourselves with our Father.
We don't work for that. Jesus did the work so that we could believe we are more than this flesh. And always have been.
Romans 8:14 For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons[a] of God.15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God,
Footnotes:
- [a]Romans 8:14 See discussion on “sons” in the Preface
Of course, this is my understanding of the love, grace, and irrevocable gift of God. Those who believe differently in that our being children of God, descendants of God, through creation and reunion by God's gift of grace that achieved that through the sacrifice of himself on the cross, is their faith and belief. There are many who think they must labor in order to achieve the grace of God at the end. It is my belief that if I could do that , work to be rewarded with all the revelation of the gospel teaches, God would have then known he didn't have to die in order to seal a new covenant to that effect. He could have simply given rules to be obeyed and in the end had I stepped correctly in the outline those rules afforded on the road to redemption, would then be saved for having achieved that by my own effort.
However, I don't think someone who's vision and mind is occupied by the sin this world affords would be able to discern that path that is of righteousness and peace. How does one who is in sin know how to live righteously?
Anyway, those are my thoughts on this.