Are we all "children of God"?

[DonCampbell]

Are we all “children of God”? Or do we become God’s adopted children by baptism and incorporation into the body of Christ? I have heard both statements from different Catholic sources. Thanks.

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

Some of the confusion relates to how words are used in particular circumstances and also the limits of language.

God can be called “the father of all” in the sense that He is the source of all of us. We can all be called “children of God” in the sense that we all have a common source of our very being. We are all in His image and likeness. As I said, some of this is the limits of language. God is not an impersonal force and, outside of parent/child language, we don’t have many words for being derived from another.

There are obviously differences in our "parent-child’ relationship to God. For starters, in faith we say a newly baptized male has become a son of God yet we clearly do not mean this in the same exact sense that Jesus is the Son of God.

Jesus Christ is the Son of God in a truly unique way that no human person can claim (begotten, not made). Jesus shares in the life and love of God in an intimate manner that no human person can on his own. BUT through baptism and the sacraments we are adopted into that very same level of intimacy with God. We change from creations of God to truly being brothers and sisters with Jesus. Our relationship from God changes from a technical/symbolic Father-Child to a concrete/intimate Dad-Son. Through the sacraments we share in the divinity and glory of God. This is what the Church calls divinization . As the Catechism states:

**460 **The Word became flesh to make us “partakers of the divine nature”: “For this is why the Word became man, and the Son of God became the Son of man: so that man, by entering into communion with the Word and thus receiving divine sonship, might become a son of God.” “For the Son of God became man so that we might become God.” “The only-begotten Son of God, wanting to make us sharers in his divinity, assumed our nature, so that he, made man, might make men gods.”

When I was growing up the phrase that was often told to teenage boys was: “Anyone can be a father but it takes a real man to be a daddy.” That slogan was getting across the point that there’s a difference between simply being the source of someone and truly being intimately involved with someone. Its not a perfect analogy but I think it helps illustrate the difference between generic “child of God” and the more intimate “brothers and sisters of Christ.”

Another possible analogy would be the difference between individuals who are technically our relatives and those who are an intimate part of our lives and homes. A distant relative who I’ve rarely met can technically claim to be part of my family but an adopted child who grew up with me is much more intimately and truly my family. And in the same way, my adopted family is so much more truly my family than technical relatives that I’ve never met.

Sacraments and the life of faith make us a true family with Jesus Christ. All other language is just a reminder that we are all in the same boat with original sin and it is but by the grace of God that we are invited to share in God’s divine life and love.