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Sons of the Living God
Bible study on Christians.

We've been talking about descriptive phrases used of Christians in the Bible, children of promise, sons of the resurrection, sons of Light, and sons of the kingdom.

In this article we want to talk about one last phrase we don't hear very often, sons of the living God.

Christians are Sons of God
We became sons of God when we were baptized into Christ.

  • "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Gal. 3:26-27).

Therefore we are heirs according to the promise, because we are sons of God.

  • "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants, heirs according to promise" (Gal. 3:26-29).

And since we are sons of God, we have the Spirit of Christ in our hearts as an heir through God.

  • "Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, 'Abba! Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God" (Gal. 4:6-7).

Born Again and Adopted
As sons of God, we have been born again and adopted by God.

We were born again when we were baptized into Christ -- born of water and Spirit.

  • "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn. 1:12-13).
  • "Jesus answered, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit'" (Jn. 3:5-6).
  • "Peter said to them, 'Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit'" (Acts 2:38).

Not only were we born again when we're baptized, we were also adopted by God as sons.

  • "For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ" (Gal. 3:6-27).
  • "But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons" (Gal. 4:4-5).

Significance of the Phrase "Living God"
Many times the Scriptures use the adjective "living" in conjunction with God.

Jehovah is a living God because He is not an idol, which is comparatively dead (i.e., not alive). Therefore, Jehovah is the one true God.

  • "For they themselves report about us what kind of a reception we had with you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God" (1 Th. 1:9).

Jehovah is also a living God because He gives life.

  • "'But regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob"? He is not the God of the dead but of the living'" (Matt. 22:31-32).

Today, living under the law of Christ, we receive life from God when we're baptized into Christ, at the same time we're born again and adopted by God.

  • ". . . buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions (Col. 2:12-13).

Sons of the Living God are Members of the Church
Someone may ask, "Who are the sons of God?"

An appropriate answer would be, "They are members of God's church, the church of Christ."

  • "But in case I am delayed, I write so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth" (1 Tim. 3:15).

Hosea prophesied of Christ, and the people who would be made sons of the living God.

  • "Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and in the place where it is said to them, 'You are not My people,' it will be said to them, 'You are the sons of the living God'" (Hos. 1:10).

Paul, inspired by the Holy Spirit, quotes from Hosea and tells us that Christians are sons of the living God (cf. Acts 2:38. 40-41, 47).

  • "As He says also in Hosea, 'I will call those who were not My people, "my people," and her who was not beloved, "beloved." And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, "you are not my people," there they shall be called sons of the living God'" (Rom. 9:25-26).

Thus the church is called the city and temple of the living God. Its members are living, and the second death has no effect on them (Rev. 20:6).

  • "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven . . ." (Heb. 12:22-24).
  • "Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, 'I will dwell in them and walk among them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people'" (2 Cor. 6:16).

Conclusion
We are sons of the living God, because He gave us life when we were baptized into Christ.

Therefore, we live in the "city of the living God," which is the "church of the firstborn," composed of the people who are "enrolled in heaven," the "righteous made perfect" with the "sprinkled blood" of Jesus (Heb. 12:22-24).

All praise, glory, and honor be to the living God, who made us alive in Christ, and showers us with innumerable blessings in the heavenly places!