25. Sons of God

By becoming a man, the eternal Word joined the natures of God and man together. In the real sense of the word, Jesus is now our human brother, and we share the same Father.

Hebrews 2:11 (NIV) Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.  

We have been exploring the Biblical revelation that the Eternal Word became totally and completely human and that His human experience was identical to ours in every way. 

Besides these aspects, there is, however, another truth that, to a large extent, remains a mystery. When Jesus took on humanity and died on the cross, He was doing more than paying the price for our sin. In addition to redeeming us,  He came to make us children of God. By becoming a human, the eternal Word joined the natures of God and man together. In the real sense of the word, Jesus is now our human brother, and we share the same Father. 

When God created mankind, He formed us in His image with the ability to have a relationship with Him. In this way, we reflect His glory. We are His representatives, given the privilege to rule and reign over the rest of His creation. We are the highest of His created beings, yet nonetheless we are of a different nature to Him. But now, through Jesus, He has become one of us.  Still God, but also authentically human.  

From the moment Mary conceived Jesus in her womb, God took on humanity.  The Word became flesh. From that time on, one member of the Trinity was a man. If this sounds a little shocking, consider that while Jesus walked on the earth, He was at the same time truly human and truly God. He was genuinely human and yet still a member of the Trinity. 

We also need to understand that this act of the Eternal Word becoming flesh was not limited to the thirty years that Jesus was on the earth. He took on our humanity for the rest of eternity. Jesus rose from the dead in bodily form.  He took his body and his humanity with Him when He ascended back to the  Father. When God became a man, He became a man forever. There is, now,  and forever will be a human as a member of the Trinity! What an amazing truth this is. God loves us so much that, in Jesus, He has become one of us.   

We must be clear at this point that we will never take on the nature of God.  We are and will always only be human, but He took on humanity, and in His humanity, Jesus shares our nature. He truly is one of us, and now, through His humanity, we share the same Father. We are now sons of God! 

The act of adoption is not just a theological term used to explain a close family relationship. It expresses an authentic bond between the Father and us. His  Son, Jesus, is human, and so are we. We are now members of the Father’s household together with our big brother, Jesus. 

Further reading: Matt 28:10; Jn 20:17

Who are we that we should become sons and daughters of the living God? But that is who you really are.

This is an extract from my free book Knowing God as Father, which is available for download at Knowing God as Father.