Children of God

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

                                                                                                  Galatians 4:4-5

              

               And yet it is with no mere humanly defined adoption that God receives us into his family, for He has not only taken us and declared us members of His household - although He certainly has done that - but has made us in body and soul one with Him, not merely as adoptees, but as "biological" children.  For in His Son, who became one of us, He is making us like Him.  And because we are being made like the Son, becoming the brother of the only Begotten of the Father, we are also being made into children of the Father.  For Christ has bound himself forever to us in the incarnation by taking upon Himself our nature, and in His crucifixion has become our blood brother.  We are the Church and thus His own body.  His blood, given to us to drink in the Lord's Supper, flows through our very veins; we are submerged through our Baptism in the water that flows from His side; He sends His Holy Spirit to make His dwelling in our hearts.  We are thus like Him and are being made like Him, the only begotten Son of the Father, that we also might become true sons and daughters of God in every way.