Bible Truth #278 - Ephesians 3:13-15

Ephesians 3:13-15
13  Wherefore I desire that ye faint not at my tribulations for you, which is your glory.

14  For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

15  Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named,

You’ve heard some people say, especially politicians or liberal preachers, we are all God’s children. I unapologetically beg to differ.

We are NOT all children of God. Jesus told the Jews who “believed” in God that they were of their father the devil (John 8:42-27). Obviously their belief (John 8:31) was of their flesh. Thus proving that a lost man who believes is doing it “in the flesh” and as Jesus said in John 6:63, the flesh counts for nothing. This reconciles perfectly with what Paul wrote in Romans 8:8 - they that are in the flesh can NOT please God. But the point Jesus made in telling the Jews that they were of their father, the devil, shows that they were NOT children of God.

The NASB translation has for verse 15: from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, This is NOT every family. It is only the Elect because:
#1 what “name” is the verse referring to? Paul is referring to the name “Christian.” Simply look at verse 14! What name is given to the family named after Christ? To what other name could he be referring that would mean people in Heaven and on Earth? At no point can one say this means every man or every family. 
#2 There is another place where there are families (people). Again, verse 15 makes reference to 2 locations, in Heaven and on Earth, but Philippians 2:10 - in addition to also identifying Heaven and Earth as places where people are, Paul gives us another place - UNDER the earth. Where is Paul making reference to now? I think it is clear Paul is making reference to Hell. So these people UNDER the earth are NOT part of the family known as the name Paul wrote of in verse 15. So clearly the name Paul is referring to in verse 15 is NOT “mankind.” Again, this fits perfectly with the understanding the name is Christian because there are no Christians in Hell.

Getting away from the poor translation of verse 15 the New American Standard Bible provides, the King James Version above clearly says the whole family in Heaven and Earth who is named after Jesus Christ, i.e. Christians.

As with our earthly family there is only one way to enter or be a part of God’s family - you must be born into it. And as with our earthly family in that we had nothing to do with which family we would be born into, so as with God’s family - we had NOTHING to do with it. God chose His children before the foundation of the world and placed us in Christ (Ephesians 1:4). If a man wasn’t chosen and placed in Christ before the foundation of the world, he is without hope (Ephesians 2:12, 1 Thessalonians 4:13).

If it is as Arminians believe and God didn’t choose a man because He knew the man would not choose Christ, why would God even create him? What love is this?

Bottom Line - All humans are NOT children of God, and we become children of God NOT by human decision (John 1:13).