According to Vine’s Expository Dictionary, “children”, tĕknŏn, of God are heirs and joint-heirs with Christ, which stresses the fact of our spiritual birth. On the other hand, “sons”, huiŏs, of God—through our conduct—give evidence of the dignity of our relationship and likeness to God’s character.
All Christians, in cooperation with the Holy Spirit, undergo the process of mĕtamŏrphŏō, to transfigure, change, transform. Additionally, Vine states that we undergo a complete change which, under the power of God, will find expression in [our] character and conduct. So, when Jesus mĕtamŏrphŏō on the Mount, could we also say that he changed into the expression in character and conduct of his Father (John 14:10, 24)?
It appears that only “sons”—in Christ there is no male or female (Galatians 3:28) —will stick it out until they are tĕlĕiŏs, complete (in various applications of labor, growth, mental and moral character, etc.); of full age. Thus, we can propose that the level of maturity in “sons” differ from the level of maturity in “children”.
The Lord’s image, at its basic level, is life and incorruption—displayed through lives of holiness and righteousness. Has God found these expressions through our own character and conduct? Are we huiŏs? Or tĕknŏn?
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Scripture quotations from New King James Version (NKJV) unless otherwise noted; Greek definitions from Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible: COMPLETE #5046 - tĕlĕiŏs, tel’-i-os; CHILD, CHILDREN #5043 - tĕknŏn, tek’-non; SON #5207 - huiŏs, hwee-os’; TRANSFIGURE #3339 - mĕtamŏrphŏō, met-am-or-fŏ’-o; Vine’s Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (1981); excerpts from our book to be released next year. This blog connects with blog Life #12 – Do You Measure Up?
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