Art Toombs Ministries 

Online Bible Commentary

                     Not Everyone is a Child of God
 

Hebrews 2:10 In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. 11 Both the one who makes men holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers. 12 He says, "I will declare your name to my brothers; in the presence of the congregation I will sing your praises." 13 And again, "I will put my trust in him." And again he says, "Here am I, and the children God has given me." (NIV)

 



In this passage the writer of Hebrews, likely Paul, continues to proclaim the superiority of Christ over man. The literal Greek for verse ten is: “It was fitting for Him because of whom all things, and through whom all things, many sons to glory having brought, the Author of the salvation of them through sufferings to perfect.”  The word “God” was not in the literal Greek. It was added by the NIV translators. The phrase “It was fitting for Him” begins this verse in the literal Greek and completes the context of the previous passage which spoke of the suffering and death of Christ on the cross. It was fitting for Christ to be crucified because… He was made perfect to be the Savior, “through sufferings”. The perfect Savior had to be sinless and had to suffer the penalty of our sins. 

The phrase “of whom all things, and through whom all things, many sons to glory having brought, the Author of the salvation of them” (v. 10) were all identifiers of the word “Him”, referring to Christ. Christ is the One “of whom” and “by whom” were “all things”, referring to the creation. Christ was the One who paved the road for all to have eternal life in Heaven, bringing “many sons to glory”. Christ is the “Author” of “the salvation”, meaning He was the head, the leader, of salvation. He was the first to be resurrected from the death, which gives proof that Christians will also be raised from the dead. 

Verse eleven continues to identify Christ as the “Him” of this passage. The literal Greek translation for verse eleven is: “He both for sanctifying and the (ones) being sanctified, of one all (are) for which cause not He is ashamed brothers Him to call,” The word sanctified means to be set apart for God. This verse is an example of the figure of speech called the simple ellipsis of repetition which supplies words out of the preceding or following clause. In this case the words “of one all (are)” refer to God the Father, who is mentioned in the following verse (v. 11). The meaning of this verse is that both Christ, the One who sanctifies, and those who are sanctified, Christians, are all sons of one Father, so that Christ is not ashamed to call them brothers. 

Verse eleven in the literal Greek ended with a comma, meaning verse twelve is a continuation of the sentence. The literal Greek translation of verse twelve is: “saying, I will announce the name of you to the brothers of Me, in amidst church I will hymn You.” This verse is taken from Psalm 22:22. In the Psalm, David was proclaiming to his Messiah, Christ. Here it is used of Christ proclaiming to the Father that He will praise the Father to his brothers and through hymns at the gatherings, “ecclesia” in the Greek. This verse is a figure of speech called a redundancy, used for the purpose of giving extra emphasis to the Lord praising His Father. 

The literal Greek translation of verse thirteen is: “And again I will be trusting on Him. And again, Behold! I and the children whom to Me gave God.” This verse is taken from Isaiah 8:17-18. Isaiah proclaimed these words to his Messiah, Christ. Here Christ proclaims these words to His Father. Christ is saying that He will put His trust in the Father, and so will the Father’s other children that the Father gave Him. 

Even though everyone was created by God, not everyone is a child of God. All Christians are children of God. They are the only children of God. Only Christians are children of God, and brothers and sisters of the Son of God, Jesus Christ. This is our place in the family of God. 

Not all church members are children of God, because not all church members are Christians. Not all who claim to be Christians are Christians. A Christian is one who has confessed, repented, and been forgiven of his sins and has received Jesus as their Lord and Savior. If we believe things that are not consistent with the Bible we have not received Him, we do not believe in Jesus Christ. To believe in Him is more then believing that He existed. Everyone believes that He existed because it is a historical fact. To believe in Him, and to receive Him, means that we believe in the teachings of the Bible, we agree with them, and we are doing our best to live them. These are the real Christians, the real children of God.