“Yet to all who received Him (Jesus), He gave the power to become children of God, to those who believed in His name” (John 1:12).
Spiritual Sons
Everyone is a son of God by creation, but only those who receive Jesus become sons of God by relationship. Everyone needs spiritual salvation; only Jesus can provide it. The verse quoted at the beginning of this article tells us how to become a spiritual son.
Receive Jesus
This verse tells us to receive Jesus. What does it mean to receive Jesus? We get help here because the last phrase in the verse answers that question: “To those who believed in His (Jesus’) Name.” A person’s name represents everything about them, or in this case, about their Person: their (1) authority, (2) position, and (3) how they lived.
Three Factors
1) Jesus said, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth” (Matthew 28:18).
2) Jesus’ position is as God’s Son. God the Father said, “You (Jesus) are My Son (Hebrews 1:2, 5).
3) Jesus lived a perfect life, as the Apostle Peter testified: “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil” (Acts 10:38).
Judgment
Jesus possesses full authority, which includes all judgment:
“The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son” (John 5:22).
Life
Jesus’ authority extends to giving (spiritual, eternal) life to those who believe in Him: “For as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, even so the Son gives life to whom He will” (John 5:21).
Power
Therefore, Jesus meets all the qualifications to save us, and according to the previously quoted John 1:12, He has given us “the power (authority) to become sons of God!” Because Jesus has achieved eternal redemption by dying for us on the cross and rising from the dead, we determine our eternal destiny.
Condition
The one condition for this new birth into God’s family is believing in Jesus’ Name. By believing God credits us with what Jesus achieved. We don’t – and can’t – live a perfect life; Jesus did that for us. We can’t be good enough to reach heaven on our own; as the Son of God, Jesus is that. As Jesus said, “No one is good, except God alone” (Mark 10:18).
Deeds
Our good deeds, regardless of number and quality, do not earn us salvation. As written in Ephesians 2:8-9, “You have been saved through faith, and this is not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, so that no one should boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Conclusion
We do not earn salvation; Jesus has already accomplished that. We simply rest in Him by believing in His finished work. This is what it means to believe in Jesus’ Name and to become a child of God.
