Anchor My Faith

Title: The Right to become Children of God (John 1:11-13)

The Old Testament speaks of a coming Messiah, but they did not envision him to come as a person like Jesus. As a result, when “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” (John 1:11 ESV), but saw him as an imposter. How can one born among us like a common person be the Messiah they reasoned? These he came to were his own people because God had chosen them to be his above all other nations. God revealed himself to them in various ways, gave them laws to live by and protected them from their enemies. He favored them over people from other nations.

These chosen people, whom God had so favored, were not willing to accept Jesus as their Messiah, but “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted” (Isaiah 53:3 – 4 ESV). In the minds of these people they envisioned the Messiah to be a great military leader who would set up an earthy kingdom and free them from the bondage of Rome, but the Messiah was to be a king of a kingdom of believers who were willing to come broken before Jesus to surrender in obedience to his will.

“But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God” (John 1:12 ESV). Those who receive him, who believe in his name, have the right or the privilege to become children of God. In Romans 3:10 – 11 (ESV), Paul writes: “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”” If no one understands and no one seeks for God, then how does one come to the point of wanting to receive and to believe? Throughout the Scriptures, God chooses people to serve him in various ways, so is it not possible that God might choose those who will have the right or privilege to become children of God? Later in our study we will have to address this in detail, but for now we will close this discussion with what verse 13 seems to imply.

Those who are given the right to become children of God, John says: “who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God” (John 1:13 ESV). According to this verse, who will determine who is born spiritually? It is not the will of the flesh because the nature of the flesh is sinful and is opposed to God. It is not the will of man because man is a sinful creature and will always chose himself over God. One becomes a child of God because of his will. He chooses those who he will adopt into his family. It is the same as a child in an orphanage who does not choose their adoptive parents, but are instead chosen by those who will care for them as their own children.

Prayer

Father, a lesson like this one tends to produce a certain amount of tension; a tension over how one comes to the point of being born spiritually. The tension is between our free choice and God’s choice. Father, I believe that anyone who wants to be born spiritually will not be denied that opportunity, but even with that in mind I believe we will see, as we study the Scriptures, that you choose who you will adopt into your family; who will become children of God. Without your intervention in our lives, a spiritually dead person is unable by themselves to desire God. Father, thank you for your intervention in the lives of people.