²⁶ For you are all children^[a] of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

⁵ God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

¹² But to all who believed him and accepted him, he gave the right to become children of God. ¹³ They are reborn—not with a physical birth resulting from human passion or plan, but a birth that comes from God.

3 See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. ² Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.

⁵ God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children.^{[a] 6} And because we^[b] are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.”^[c]

¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children^[a] of God.

¹⁵ So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children.^[b] Now we call him, “Abba, Father.”^{[c] 16} For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. ¹⁷ And since we are his children, we are his heirs. In fact, together with Christ we are heirs of God’s glory. But if we are to share his glory, we must also share his suffering.

¹⁵ so that no one can criticize you. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.

⁷ All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

Living in the Light

5 Imitate God, therefore, in everything you do, because you are his dear children.