Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God (John 1:12)…

This scripture teaches us that being “children of God” is an important and special privilege, and is not for everyone. It is given only to “those who believed in his name,” which assumes that even those who have become children of God by believing in his name, were not so at one time when they did not believe. Does it mean, then, that humans are all born as spiritual orphans or even as Satan’s children?

Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them (Gen 1:26-27).

The Bible teaches us that every human is created as God’s “image (tselem)” or his “likeness (demut).” These two terms “image” and “likeness” are used later in ch. 5 to express Adam’s relationship with his sons—the father-son relationship. If the same meaning is carried in the above passage of 1:26-27, it indicates that man is created as God’s son.

Try to remember the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. He was a son of a certain father first, but he ran away from the father, which indicates that he stopped being his son. So, when he returned to his father, he said, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But what amazes us is that the father never gave up thinking of this son as his own son while he was away from him. He said, “this son of mine was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found.”

The redemption we received through Christ was not only for the forgiveness of our sins, but also for our lost sonship with the heavenly Father and all the rights and privileges associated with it. Jesus said:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me (John 14:6).

Note that Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father…” John carefully set a scheme for writing his gospel regarding the way Jesus called the Father. We know from other gospels, especially Matthew, Jesus called God the Father not only as his Father but also as the disciples’ Father (e.g. Mat 5-7). But John purposely avoided the way that Jesus called God as his disciples’ Father until Jesus was raised from the dead. According to John, this adoption of the disciples into the divine family of Trinity has become a reality only through the death and resurrection of Jesus. See the kind of weight put on the following words of Jesus:

Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, “I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God (20:17)."

This special relationship was also expressed in the following way:

In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. (16:26-27).