How Do I Know I Am A Child Of God?

1. The evidence we are children of God: the testimony of the Holy Spirit.

a. “The Spirit Himself bears witness to our spirit that we are children of God”: Plainly put, Paul says that those who are God’s children, born again by the Spirit of God, know their status because the Holy Spirit testifies to our spirit that this is so.    

• This is not to say that there are not those who wrongly think or assume they are God’s children apart from the Spirit’s testimony. There are also Christians whose heads are so foggy from a spiritual attack that they begin to believe the lie that they are not God’s children after all. Nevertheless, the witness of the Spirit is still there.

b. “We are children of God”: We don’t have to wonder if we are really Christians or not. God’s children know who they are.    

• Jewish law stated that at the mouth of two or three witnesses everything had to be established (Deuteronomy 17:6). There are two witnesses to our salvation: our own witness and the witness of the Spirit.

2. The benefits and responsibilities of being God’s children.

a. “And if children, then heirs”: Because we are in Christ, we have the privilege of relating to the Father as Jesus does. Therefore, we are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ.    

• Being a child of God also means having an inheritance. In Luke 18:18 the rich young ruler asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit?” But the rich young ruler missed the point because inheritance is not a matter of doing, it is a matter of being – of being in the right family.

b. “If indeed we suffer with Him”: Because we are in Christ, we are also called to share in His suffering. God’s children are not immune from trials and suffering.

c. “If indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together”: In fact, our sharing in present suffering is a condition of our future glorification. As far as God is concerned, it is all part of the same package of sonship, no matter how much our flesh may want to have the inheritance and the glory without the suffering.

Based on the Enduring Word Bible Commentary by David Guzik