Children of god (bible)

Children of God or sons (and daughters) of God is a term used by Paul in the New Testament of the Bible for Christians .

Because of the "relationship" in God they are heirs or descendants of God (cf. eg Gal 4,7  EU ) and co-heirs of Christ (cf. eg Rom 8,17  EU ). Through communion with the Son of God Jesus , this expression says, they share in his sonship with God. They are no longer servants (cf. e.g. Joh 15.15  EU ) and not slaves of sin (cf. e.g. Joh 8,34-36  EU ) who are forced to the will of another (the "flesh") follow, but rather his children, who act out of their own insight in the freedom of love ( evangelical freedom ) in order to fulfill the commandments and to do what is good in the name of God (cf. e.g. Rom 8 : 15-17  EU ). In the spirit of sonship , Christians can be called children of God (cf. 1 Jn 3 : 1  EU ) and can call out: Abba, Father (cf. Rom 8:15  EU ).

literature

• Paul-Gerhard Müller: Childhood of God . In: Walter Kasper (Ed.): Lexicon for Theology and Church . 3. Edition. tape 4 . Herder, Freiburg im Breisgau 1995, Sp. 919 f .

Web links

• A. Beyer:  Childhood to God. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.