The Father’s great love should both amaze and instruct us. (Part Three)

From the heart of Dr. Robert L. Taylor, Th.D., Bible expositor & teacher. John says to every believer, “See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him” (1 John 3:1). John was one disciple who was dramatically changed by Jesus! He was a hot-headed young fella, given to sharp and impulsive utterances with a tendency toward blowing off steam. But John became the apostle of love, noted for his gentleness, graciousness and goodness. Here is an astonishing thing, he says. It is not the fact that God loves, but how God loves. That is the astonishing thing. What manner of love is this! Literally, the Greek for what manner is, “of what country” is this! It is an exclamation of astonishment, of surprise. What kind of country is this, what foreign land is this, that is represented in love like that! It is so different. It is the strangeness of God's love that is in view in this whole thing. It must be from heaven, because there’s nothing like it in this world! How is God's love strange? John says, in that it makes believers the children of God. Now, here’s the rub. God does not call all men His children, as some people do. Paul makes that clear with these words, “For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26). The only one God ever calls His child is the one who has exercised faith in Jesus Christ. God is not “the Father of all mankind.” This is an absolutely unbiblical phrase. It has no justification whatever in the Bible, in fact, it is positively denied. God is the Creator of all mankind. We all share with every other human being on the face of this earth a common heritage in humanity. We are all members of one race. This is an important truth; but we are not all the children of God. Whenever that phrase is used in that sense you know that the one who employs it does not know or understand what God has said. We are children of God only by faith in Jesus Christ. And that’s because of God’s amazing love! Amazing love! How can it be that Thou, my God, shouldst die for me? Be encouraged!