God’s Offspring

I was reading in the book of Acts when “offspring of God” jumped out at me. Referring to Christians as children of God is not really a new concept, but what stood out to me was the way in which Paul used this phrase to teach the Athenians about the true, living God.  The Athenians at the time were known for worshiping false idols and had yet to hear and receive the message of Jesus as Christ. Paul is speaking to the Athenian philosophers at the Areopagus and uses words from ancient poets to prove his point.

Act’s 17:28 says, “For in him we live and move and have our being. As some of your own poets have said, we are his offspring.” The philosopher who wrote “We are his offspring” was referring to the Greek God, Zeus, but Paul used it as an opportunity to correlate it with the true God of the Bible. Paul says, “Therefore since we are God’s offspring, we should not think that the divine being is like gold or silver or stone — an image made by human design and skill” (Acts 17:29). The point Paul is making here is if God were made from stone, wouldn’t we also be made of stone? Yet, since we are alive, then God must be alive, too, if we are his offspring.

So, what does it mean to be the offspring of God? Romans 8:14 says, “For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.” Those who have accepted Christ are adopted to sonship. John 1:12-13 says, “Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God — children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.”

The life of a child of God will be opposite of the life of an unbeliever (1 John 3:10). A child of God strives to live a life that pleases God. This does not mean that we are devoid of sin, but it means we no longer live in it (Romans 6:6).

Because we are children of God, we have direct access to God. We can pray to him anytime and anywhere, and he hears us. We have the promise that “we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (Hebrews 4:16). He will supply all our needs “according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19). Most importantly, we have the promise of eternal life with him (Romans 6:23).