16 Truths You Should Know: Believers Belong

One of the joys of being a grandmother is seeing my grandchildren with their families. They love me, they love their cousins, they love their friends, but when push comes to shove, they all know their truest place is with their own parents and siblings. They belong, first of all, to a family.

When you believed the gospel, you were adopted by God. He brought you into his family. He became your father and you became his child (John 1:12). Before you believed, you were estranged from him, but now you have entered into a loving father/child relationship. 

Adoption is one of the saving benefits that comes to us through Christ’s work. A believer’s sins have been forgiven, God’s wrath toward them has been propitiated, and they can be adopted by him.

Or to put it another way, a believer has been been united with Christ. “In and through Christ,” J. I. Packer explains, “God loves them as he loves his only begotten Son and will share with them all the glory that is Christ’s now.”¹ Jesus is the unique Son of God, of course, but those united to him, as his siblings, are also God’s sons and daughters—sons and daughters by adoption. 

A Perfect Father

Adoption is—or should be—an encouraging truth. If your earthly father loved and cared for you well, you are one step ahead in understanding what it is for God to be your father. Thinking of God as your father will naturally reassure you that you are secure in his love.

On the other hand, if your father was abusive or neglectful, you may need to reshape your idea of fatherhood starting, not from your past experience with your human father, but from what scripture says about God as father. He is the true and perfect father. Even the best human fathers are imperfect copies of him. In God’s family, writes J. I. Packer, “you have absolute stability and security; the parent is entirely wise and good, and the child’s position is permanently assured.”² God, as the ultimate father, will always love you, care for you, and never abandon you.

There are many benefits that come from our adoption into God’s family. First, adoption gives us a loving relationship with God. We can come to him as a child comes to a human father, expressing our deepest wishes and fears, and asking for help with everything. Second, God’s adopted children are led by the Holy Spirit to be obedient to him (Romans 8:13-14). God works his children’s obedience in another way, too—through his discipline. This may not seem like a benefit of adoption, but it is. His loving discipline works for our good, causing us to grow in holiness and keeping us faithful to him (Hebrews 12:7-11).

What’s more, as adopted sons and daughters, we receive an inheritance. We are, says scripture, fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17). “All the great privileges and blessings of heaven are laid up for us and put at our disposal because we are children of the King, members of the royal family, princes and princesses who will reign with Christ over the new heavens and new earth.”³

Not Yet Perfect Siblings

The family we join when we are adopted includes all the other adopted sons and daughters of God. Every believer is our brother or sister. Another name for God’s family is the church. The church as God’s family exists at two levels. First there is the family that includes all believers world-wide throughout history, and then there is the smaller family that includes all the members of a local church.

There are no only children in God’s adopted family. The New Testament assumes that all believers will be spiritually nourished and trained in a local church family of believers. Ideally, as believers fellowship, worship, and serve with their adopted brothers and sisters, they grow in love for God and each other. At it’s best, a local church is a little foretaste of our eternal heavenly family.

In this life, of course, none of our spiritual siblings are perfect, and some of our adopted family relationships can be difficult. Several years ago, a very elderly woman who had been attending my church passed away. In an article in the local paper marking her death, someone described her as “crotchety,” and that’s the perfect word for her. She was deeply concerned for the well-being of those who were in need, but she was not easy to get along with! She had been estranged from her biological family for most of her life, but in God’s family she found brothers and sisters who loved her well in spite of herself. And as they helped her with her many needs as she grew more feeble and even more irritable, they gained, at the very least, a little more patience.

This is the way it should be in God’s family. As members of a spiritual family whose bonds are stronger than the bonds of an earthly family, we should keep loving and serving each other even when it’s not easy, knowing God uses our experiences with each other—even the difficult ones—to sanctify us.

Are you thankful for your adoption into God’s family? Are you thankful that you are his child? Do you look forward to belonging to him forever? 

1 Concise Theology by J. I. Packer, page 167.
2 Knowing God by J. I. Packer, page 209.
3 Systematic Theology by Wayne Grudem, page 740.

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Previous posts in this series:

1. 16 Truths You Should Know: God Has Spoken
2. 16 Truths You Should Know: God Is One and God Is Three
3. 16 Truths You Should Know: God Is Who He Is
4. 16 Truths You Should Know: God Has a Plan
5. 16 Truths You Should Know: God Created the Universe
6. 16 Truths You Should Know: We Are Made in God’s Image
7. 16 Truths You Should Know: We Are All Sinners 
8. 16 Truths You Should Know: God Saves
9. 16 Truths You Should Know: The Son Came
10. 16 Truths You Should Know: Jesus Died
11. 16 Truths You Should Know: Jesus Is Risen
12. 16 Truths You Should Know: Jesus Is Lord
13. 16 Truths You Should Know: We Must Believe
14. 16 Truths You Should Know: Believers Have New Life

Sunday's Hymn: O That I Had a Thousand Voices

O that I had a thousand voices
To praise my God with thousand tongues!
My heart, which in the Lord rejoices,
Would then proclaim in grateful songs
To all, wherever I might be,
What great things God hath done for me.

O all ye pow’rs that he implanted,
Arise, and silence keep no more;
Put forth the strength that he hath granted,
Your noblest work is to adore.
O my soul and body, be ye meet
With heartfelt praise your Lord to greet!

All creatures that have breath and motion,
That throng the earth, the sea, and sky,
Now join me in my heart’s devotion,
Help me to raise his praises high.
My utmost pow’rs can never aright
Declare the wonders of his might.

O father, deign thou, I beseech thee,
To listen to my earthly lays;
A nobler strain in heaven shall reach thee,
When I with angels hymn thy praise
And learn amid their choirs to sing
Loud hallelujahs to my King.

—Johann Ment­zer

Other hymns, worship songs, or quotes for this Sunday:

• Wonderful Words of Life at The Happy Wonderer
• For Even Me at The Outspoken Tulip

Theological Term of the Week: Theology Proper

theology proper
The branch of theology that studies what the Bible teaches about God, and includes the study of God’s existence, his attributes, his works, and the Trinity. 

• From the Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 2, Of Of God, and of the Holy Trinity:

I. There is but one only, living, and true God, who is infinite in being and perfection, a most pure spirit, invisible, without body, parts, or passions; immutable, immense, eternal, incomprehensible, almighty, most wise, most holy, most free, most absolute; working all things according to the counsel of His own immutable and most righteous will, for, His own glory; most loving, gracious, merciful, long-suffering, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; the rewarder of them that diligently seek Him; and withal, most just, and terrible in His judgments, hating all sin, and who will by no means clear the guilty.

II. God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of Himself; and is alone in and unto Himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which He hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting His own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things; and hath most sovereign dominion over them, to do by them, for them, or upon them whatsoever Himself pleaseth. In His sight all things are open and manifest, His knowledge is infinite, infallible, and independent upon the creature, so as nothing is to Him contingent, or uncertain. He is most holy in all His counsels, in all His works, and in all His commands. To Him is due from angels and men, and every other creature, whatsoever worship, service, or obedience He is pleased to require of them.

III. In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost: the Father is of none, neither begotten, nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son.Although true believers be not under the law, as a covenant of works, to be thereby justified, or condemned; yet is it of great use to them, as well as to others; in that, as a rule of life informing them of the will of God, and their duty, it directs and binds them to walk accordingly….

• From Systematic Theology by Louis Berkhof, on the existence of God:

  The existence of God is the great presupposition of theology. There is no sense in speaking of the knowledge of God, unless it may be assumed that God exists. The presupposition of Christian theology is of a very definite type. The assumption is not merely that there is something, some idea or ideal, some power or purposeful tendency, to which the name of God may be applied, but that there is a self-existent, self-conscious, personal Being, which is the origin of all things, and which transcends the entire creation, but is at the same time immanent in every part of it. The question may be raised, whether this is a reasonable assumption, and this question may be answered in the affirmative. This does not mean, however, that the existence of God is capable of a logical demonstration that leaves no room whatever for doubt; but it does mean that, while the truth of God’s existence is accepted by faith, this faith is based on reliable information… .
  
  The Christian accepts the truth of the existence of God by faith. But this faith is not a blind faith, but a faith that is based on evidence, and the evidence is found primarily in Scripture as the inspired Word of God, and secondarily in God’s revelation in nature. Scripture proof on this point does not come to us in the form of an explicit declaration, and much less in the form of a logical argument. In that sense the Bible does not prove the existence of God. The closest it comes to a declaration is perhaps in Heb. 11:6 … “for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that seek after Him.” It presupposes the existence of God in its very opening statement, “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Not only does it describe God as the Creator of all things, but also as the Upholder of all His creatures, and as the Ruler of the destinies of individuals and nations. It testifies to the fact that God works all things according to the counsel of His will, and reveals the gradual realization of His great purpose of redemption. The preparation for this work, especially in the choice and guidance of the old covenant people of Israel, is clearly seen in the Old Testament, and the initial culmination of it in the Person and work of Christ stands out with great clarity on the pages of the New Testament. God is seen on almost every page of Holy Writ as He reveals Himself in words and actions. This revelation of God is the basis of our faith in the existence of God, and makes this an entirely reasonable faith. It should be remarked, however, that it is only by faith that we accept the revelation of God, and that we obtain a real insight into its contents. Jesus said, “If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself,” John 7:17. It is this intensive knowledge, resulting from intimate communion with God, which Hosea has in mind when he says, “And let us know, let us follow on to know the Lord,” Hos. 6:3. The unbeliever has no real understanding of the Word of God. The words of Paul are very much to the point in this connection: “Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this age (world)? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For, seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it was God’s good pleasure through the foolishness of the preaching to save them that believe,” I Cor. 1:20, 21.

Learn more:

1. GotQuestions.org: What Is Theology Proper? 
2. Greg Herrick: Theology Proper 
3. Paul Washer: The One True God (pdf)
4. Thomas Boston: Of God and His Perfections 
5. A. W. Pink: The Attributes of God 
6. Louis Berkhof: The Doctrine of God 
7. S. Lewis Johnson: Lectures on Theology Proper (audio)
8. Greg Nichols: The Doctrine of God (audio)

Related terms: 

• aseity
• communicable attributes
• eternality
• glory
• goodness
• grace
• holiness
• immanence
• immutability
• impassibility
• incommunicable attributes
• independence
• infinity
• love (as an attribute of God)
• mercy
• omnipotence
• omnipresence
• omniscience
• righteousness (as an attribute of God)
• simplicity
• sovereignty of God
• transcendence
• Trinity
• truthfulness
• wisdom (of God)

Filed under Theological Categories

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