We’re all familiar with the phrase “we are all God’s children.” It is frequently asserted as an affirmation of the universal brotherhood of man. It’s a good reminder of the need to respect and care for our neighbor, despite whatever differences we may have. Black or white, young or old, rich or poor, we are all God’s children. But is it theologically true that everyone, whether Christian or not, is a child of God? The answer is both yes and no.
When applied universally, the term “children” is used as a metaphor, much as we might call an artist’s masterpiece or the opus of a great composer his “child.” To engage in any kind of creative work involves putting something of yourself into the work. To say that we are God’s children is an acknowledgment that we are made by God and loved by God. We have this in common with everything else in creation. This is why St. Francis could refer to “brother son” and “sister moon,” acknowledging all creatures (even cosmic creations) as siblings, fellow children of our Heavenly Father.
Human beings have a special claim to this title because we are made in the image and likeness of God. “God created mankind in His image; in the image of God He created them; male and female He created them” (Gen 1:27). When God creates us, He imparts something of His very self into our existence. That makes us more like God’s children than animals, plants, and even stars and galaxies. This gives every human person, whether Christian or not, a dignity greater than anything else in physical creation.
In the Old Testament, angels are sometimes referred to as “sons of God” (Job 1:6, 2:1), but so are some human beings, including Jacob/Israel (Hos 11:1), and King David (2 Sam 7:14). Sometimes the people of Israel collectively were referred to as God’s son (Ex 4:22). The New Testament makes clear the universality of God’s provenance. When St. Paul is preaching to the Gentile pagans in Athens, he affirms the universal brotherhood of all men by quoting from a Greek poem that says,
“For we too are his offspring” (Acts 17:28). It is important to note here that Paul is speaking to unconverted pagans.
Understood metaphorically, it is theologically correct to say that all human beings are God’s children. But we must be careful of stretching the metaphor too far. As Christians, we profess in our creed that God has only one begotten Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. There is something unique about the Sonship of the Second Person of the Trinity. He is the Son of the Father not metaphorically, but by nature: “God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made, consubstantial (of the same substance) with the Father.” When Christians profess Jesus to be the only begotten Son of God, we mean it literally. So in this more literal and profound sense, it is not correct to say “we are all God’s children,” because God has only one child by nature, his divine Son.
This is more than mere semantics. The difference between being a metaphorical and a literal child of God is key to our identity as Christians. An inventor may refer to a machine he constructs as his “baby,” but only his offspring are his true sons and daughters. A king may affectionately refer to his subjects as his “children,” but none of them will inherit the kingdom. Only his heirs will. So how can human beings, who are children of God only metaphorically, inherit the kingdom of God?
Even though St. Paul recognized the Athenian pagans as fellow “offspring of God,” he understands Christians to be children of God in a more profound and salvific way. In his letter to the Galatians, he writes, “For through faith you are all children of God in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (Gal 3:26-27). He goes on to affirm, “God sent his Son … so that we might receive adoption. As proof that you are children, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out ‘Abba, Father!’ So you are no longer a slave but a child, and if a child then also an heir, through God” (Gal 4:4-7). This is so important that St. Paul repeats it in his letter to the Romans. “(Y)ou received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, ‘Abba, Father!’ The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ” (Rom 8:15b-17a).
To be a child of God by adoption in Christ is to share in the sonship of Christ. It is to enter into a family relationship with the Holy Trinity and become heirs to God’s kingdom. This is the very reason the Son of God took on our human nature. St. Augustine said of Christ that, “He who died as the only Son did not want to remain as the only Son. For the only Son of God made many sons of God.” This is what it means to be Christian. It means more than being made in God’s image; it means being remade in God’s love. It is with a sense of wonder at this mystery that St. John writes, “See what love the Father has bestowed on us that we may be called the children of God. Yet so we are. … Beloved, we are God’s children now” (1 Jn 4:1a, 2).
To be a creature made in God’s image is a source of great dignity. In this metaphorical sense, all human beings are children of God. But God has only one begotten Son. The great undeserved privilege of a Christian is to be a member of that Son; the same Son who died on the cross, rose from the tomb, ascended into heaven and now reigns forever at the right hand of the Father. To be a Christian is to be a co-heir with Christ, a true child of God not by metaphor, but by grace.
Deacon Matthew Newsome is the Catholic campus minister at Western Carolina University and the regional faith formation coordinator for the Smoky Mountain Vicariate.