In Scripture the words
children and
sons are not confused, though both are used in regard to Christians.
A Christian is a child of God and also a son of God.
Child is the word which is
always employed in reference to the Christian by the apostle John as
in, for example, “Beloved, now are we the children of God” (1 John
3: 2). On the other hand, Paul almost invariably uses the word
sons, though he does
occasionally say children
too. A remarkable instance is in Rom. 8: 9–21, where both terms are
employed. Let me show you the distinction between the two.
You could not speak of the Holy Spirit being
the Spirit of childhood. However, He is the Spirit of sonship and
for this simple reason: the Holy Spirit has come down to us from
Christ glorified, from the Son of God in glory, and is therefore the
Spirit of sonship in us. The truth of sonship is this—the calling of
the Christian corresponds to what Christ is in glory, not to what
Christ was when He was here upon the earth. It relates to what He is
now, and therefore the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of sonship.
However, we are also children of God. Sonship is that we are the
companions of Christ in glory, but the idea conveyed in the
expression “children of God” (v16) is that we are partners of
Christ’s rejection. Both things are perfectly true for the
Christian. We have fellowship in the sufferings of Christ and,
as in that place, are the special object of the Father’s
affections. That is what Christ was when He was here upon earth:
He was suffering and rejected, but He was the unfailing object
of the Father’s delight and affections. What characterises a
child of god is that “we suffer with [him]” (v17). But while we
suffer with Him we also see “what love the Father has given to
us, that we should be called [the] children of God” (1 John 3:
1). Mark what follows: “For this reason the world knows us not,
because it knew him not”. This accords with that well–known
expression in John’s Gospel: “He came to his own, and his own
received him not” (John 1: 11). But what immediately follows?
“But as many as received him, to them gave he [the] right to be
children of God” (v12). That is why the world does not
understand Christians—because it knew Him not.
As sons we are the
companions of a glorified Christ—that is what the Holy Spirit
would lead you to. The Holy Spirit not only makes us conscious
of the Father’s affections as we go about the world and have to
do with things down here (what answers to being children), but
leads us in spirit to what God has called us to: “predestinated
[to be] conformed to the image of his Son, so that he should be
[the] firstborn among many brethren” (Rom. 8: 29). The same is
brought out in Hebrews 2—God is “bringing many sons to glory”
(v10).
