Author: Steve Amato
Keywords: bible study,bible,fruits,children,god,faith

# Identifying Children of God

People are either children of God or children of the devil.

> 1John 3:10a "This is how we know who the children of God are
> and who the children of the devil are"

There are those who are children of the devil

> John 8:44 "You belong to your father, the devil,
> and you want to carry out your father's desire."

And there are those who have been given the right to become children of God.

> John 1:12 "To all who received him, to those who believed in his name,
> he gave the right to become children of God."

> 1John 1:12 "He who has the Son has life;
> he who does not have the Son of God does not have life."

Which are you?

> 2Cor 13:5 "Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves.
> Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you-- unless, of course, you fail the test?"

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### What does the Bible teach concerning Identifying Children of God.

Children of God obey the Bible
Children of the Devil do not

> 1John 2:3,4 We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands.
> The man who says, "I know him,"
> but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him

> 1John 5:3,4 "This is love for God: to obey his commands.
> And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world."

Children of God walk as Jesus did
Children of the Devil carry out the Devil's desires

> 1John 2:5,6 "This is how we know we are in him:
> Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did."

> John 8:44 "You belong to your father, the devil,
> and you want to carry out your father's desire."

Children of God acknowledge Jesus as the Son of God in accordance with the Bible
Children of the Devil deny the Biblical Jesus

> 1John 2:23 No one who denies the Son has the Father;
> whoever acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Children of God accept the apostles teachings
Children of the Devil do not listen to the apostles

> 1John 4:6 "We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us;
> but whoever is not from God does not listen to us."

Children of God live an overall righteous lifestyle
Children of the Devil do not live righteously

> 1John 3:7-10 "Dear children, do not let anyone lead you astray. He who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous. He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the devil's work. No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."

> 1John 2:29 "If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone who does what is right has been born of him."

Children of God love other Christians
Children of the Devil hate Christians

> 1John 3:10 "This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother."

> 1John 3:13-15 "Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him."

Or more generally those born of God practice Christian love and those of the Devil do not

> 1John 4:7,8 "Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love."

But such love must be characterized as application oriented and consistent with the truth.

> 1John 3:18.19
> Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
> This then is how we know that we belong to the truth

Children of God inevitably endure in the faith
False Christians may not

> 1John 2:19 "They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us."

The Berean Christian Bible Study Resources