"You Belong To Me"
Is it important whether or not we can discover within scripture a consistent principle revealing who God considers to be His people? Yes! Whether or not we like to think about it or admit it, scripture indicates that some people claim "I know God" or "Jesus is my Lord" but these words spoken in confidence are sadly in vain. 1 John 2:4; Matthew 7:22-23. Unless it is possible to know how God identifies those who belong to Him, I can not know whether or not I am legitimately a child of God.
Unfortunately, a number of false principles have been proposed as God's means for determining who belongs to Him. Here are just two of them.
1) Some have claimed that being a child of God is found in being able to trace an unbroken line of historical continuity back to a particular starting place. Not only has scripture denied this principle, but since a congregation can apostatize then it is possible that a faithful congregation could leave behind a legacy of heresy for those in its succession. Romans 9:7-8; Galatians 1:6-7; 5:4; Revelation 3:1, 16.2) Others have suggested that possessing certain characteristics such as being a loving person is the standard by which God identifies His people whom He will save. Again this is false since salvation is not based upon our goodness or characteristics. Ephesians 2:8-9
If we approach scripture allowing it to show us the conditions and principles whereby God claims that an individual or a people belongs to Him, we will discover several principles. Unless someone has an agenda to protect, these principles can be easily seen and understood.
First principle: Whether it be at the time of Abraham, Moses or following the time of Christ, for God to recognize someone as belonging to Him is the result of God's initiative. Genesis 17:7-8; Exodus 19:5-6; John 1:12-13; Ephesians 2:4-5, 11-13, 19 See also Titus 3:4-5 The activity of God's initiative which lies behind texts such as 1 Peter 1:3, 18-21 is the foundation for the proclamation later made in 2:9-10. It is imperative for us to realize that people can neither determine the conditions for becoming God's children nor through our desire, effort or initiative can we establish this relationship by our strength or merit. Rather, God's purpose and activity is the basis for anyone belonging to God. Romans 9:6-16
Second principle: God calls people into a relationship with Himself by offering them a promised relationship through covenant. Genesis 17:7-8; Exodus 19:5-6; Romans 9:4, 8; Galatians 3:26-29; Ephesians 2:12-22 Although we must never limit God to some box we have created, through scripture we discover that God has chosen to operate by the principle of choosing ( electing ) those who are within His covenants as those who belong to Him.
Through Jesus, God has made it possible for those who were outside His covenant to be brought under a new covenant. Ephesians 2:12-13, 19 Accordingly, God has predetermined that those who are in Christ (under Jesus' covenant) are chosen ( elected ). Ephesians 1:4-5
Third principle: Since God unilaterally offers the covenant, God determines the conditions for entering it.
Those under the covenant which Abraham received had to keep the sign of the covenant ( circumcision ) or they would be cut off from God's people. Genesis 17:9-14 The power of this covenant and its sign in shaping the identity and the borders of God's people can be seen in the fact that several hundred years later circumcision provided the means for identifying who was a member of the community and thus eligible to partake of the Passover meal. Exodus 12:43-49
At Mt. Sinai, the Israelites accepted God's stipulations of the covenant He was offering to them. Exodus 24:3-4 Israel was then brought into this covenant relationship when sacrificial blood was sprinkled on them. Exodus 24:4-8; Hebrews 9:16-22 Interestingly, this Law also reaffirmed the previous sign of circumcision. Leviticus 12:3; John 7:22
Then centuries later, Jesus' blood established yet a third covenant by which God would take people to belong to Him. Jesus' blood ensured the validity of the promises of this new covenant, namely the forgiveness of sins and belonging to God. Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 8:10-11; 9:14-15; 10:10-18; Revelation 5:9-10
Today, when a person's heart is sprinkled with Jesus' blood because he or she has obeyed Jesus Christ (1 Peter 1:2), that person is entering the new covenant receiving the forgiveness of sins thus making it possible for him to approach God with confidence. Hebrews 10:19-22; 12:24
Today, To Whom Does God Say, "You Belong to Me?"
God recognizes as His children those who receive Jesus, for Jesus enables us to become children of God. John 1:12-13 We have already seen the reason why this is true. When a person receives Christ, Jesus' blood enables him or her to become heirs to the covenant of promise and part of God's community. Ephesians 2:12-13
While the message of the New Testament clearly upholds Jesus as being the means through which God takes people to be His own, how do we receive Jesus in order that God might lay hold of us? Should we just say a prayer and invite Jesus into our heart? Since God, not man, determines the conditions and means for entering into His covenant we must listen to the gospel.
How are we to receive Jesus? John 1:12 describes the necessity of our response to believe in him. Paul confirms this in Galatians 3:26 when he wrote to the Galatian Christians that they had become sons of God by trusting in Jesus. Paul then went on to describe how a person begins a life of trusting in Jesus when he wrote "for all of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ." Galatians 3:27 Paul understood that through baptism a person trusted in Christ thus becoming united with Jesus and a child of God! Similarly, see also the following verses on becoming a disciple and receiving the salvation which belongs to those who are God's children: Matthew 28:19-20; Mark 16:16; Acts 2:38, 41, 47; Titus 3:5-7; John 3:5
Distinguishing Between "Cause" and "Characteristics"
God's people are to possess and be shaped by a number of specific beliefs and characteristics. Accordingly, on the one hand failure to possess these qualities would be evidence that a person had not truly been born of God, while on the other hand possession of these by someone who had biblically trusted in Jesus would be confirmatory evidence of his rebirth as a child of God. Romans 8:9, 14; 1 John 1:6-7; 2:4-6; 3:9-10, 18-19; 4:7; 5:1, 4.
There is a fundamental difference between "what causes a person to become a child of God" and "those qualities which belong to those who have been born of God." Failure to observe this difference could easily lead into the faulty thinking of identifying a characteristic of God's people to be the means by which they became His people. For example someone could mistakenly use John 13:35 and 1 John 4:7 to claim that "everybody who is a loving person is a child of God/ disciple." This was neither Jesus' message nor John's.
Why Baptism is So Important.
Regardless of the metaphor (a spiritual circumcision which Christ performs - Colossians 2:11-13, our death & new life - Romans 6:3-5 or the priestly application of sprinkling sacrificial blood - Hebrews 10:22 see Heb. 9:18-23), when someone's body is washed with the water of baptism as a demonstration of that person's faith in Christ, Christ's covenantal blood is sprinkled on his heart causing him:
1) to enter the new covenant and2) to be forgiven thus producing a clean conscience.
Because of the first reason, scripture describes baptism as an initiation rite into Christ so that someone might become a disciple in Christ's community.
Furthermore, this is the reason why in scripture forgiveness of sins and a clean conscience are associated with baptism.
God took the initiative to send Jesus to establish a covenant relationship with us. Those whom God recognizes as His children are those who have responded to the gospel call. By having obeyed the gospel's message to rely upon Jesus through baptism, a person becomes a child of God, born not of human will but from God's initiative and will.
Barry Newton, Copyright © 2001
Other articles which might be of interest:
The Need to Redirect the DiscussionJohn 3:16 - The Simple and Beautiful Message of the Gospel
Do You Know Who Your Spouse Is? (Identity Issues - "Who is a Christian?")