Children of God

I recently read again Jesus’ parable of the Tares (Matthew 13). This one in particular holds an important lesson for those who think everyone is a child of God.

“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went away. But when the wheat sprouted and bore grain, then the tares became evident also. The slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have tares?’ And he said to them, ‘An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ But he *said, ‘No; for while you are gathering up the tares, you may uproot the wheat with them. Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and in the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them up; but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

The Lord explains the parable to His disciples a few verses later:

“Then He left the crowds and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field.” And He said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, and the field is the world; and as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one; and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age; and the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, so shall it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:24-30, 36-42).

Here, and in multiple texts of Scripture, the Holy Spirit warns us, “Not all who claim to be children of God ‘are’ children of God.” In fact, He makes this point so often, how does anyone with a working knowledge of Scripture miss it?

For example, the Lord Jesus warned some religious leaders: “You are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. . . . He who is of God hears the words of God; for this reason you do not hear them, because you are not of God” (John 8:43-47).

St. John records for us in the first chapter of his gospel: “BUT AS MANY AS RECEIVED HIM (my emphasis), to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name” (John 1:12).

In his first epistle, he writes: “No one who is born of God practices sin, because His seed abides in him; and he cannot sin, because he is born of God. By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God . . .” (1 John 3:9). 

And here is just one more of dozens of other texts warning us that not all who call themselves children of God are God’s children. St. Paul writes to the church at Galatia: “For you are all sons of God THROUGH FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS (my emphasis). For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Galatians 3:26-27).

Referring to the Parable of the Tares, St. Augustine wrote: “I tell you of a truth, my Beloved, even in these high seats there is both wheat, and tares, and among the laity there is wheat, and tares. Let the good tolerate the bad; let the bad change themselves and imitate the good. Let us all, if it may be so, attain to God; let us all through His mercy escape the evil of this world. Let us seek after good days, for we are now in evil days; but in the evil days let us not blaspheme, that so we may be able to arrive at the good days.”

It is a dangerous error to think everyone is a child of God. To believe that can cause us to stumble in our own walk with the Master. And to believe that does nothing less than empower the ungodly to live happily in a lie – a lie which will eventually be brought into His blinding light.

It was for the sake of all humanity that the Lord Jesus commands us, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned” (Mark 16:15-16).