John 1:12Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

He included many still maimed in bodily members and burdened with many defects. Such is the power of faith in Him. Such is the greatness of grace. When fire penetrates earth that contains metal, it at once produces gold from it. In an even greater way, Baptism makes those washed by it golden instead of corruptible. Then the Spirit, like fire, enters our souls. Burning away in them "the image of the earthy," He brings forth, as from a furnace, "the image of the heavenly" (1 Cor 15:49), a new, bright, and shining image. But why did the Evangelist not say, "He made them children of God," but, "He gave them power to become children of God"? It was to show how much care is needed throughout life to preserve in purity and wholeness that image of adoption sealed in us at Baptism. At the same time, it was to show that no one can take such power from us unless we first deprive ourselves of it. If those who receive authority from men in certain houses have almost the same power as those who gave it, then much more shall we be stronger than all, having received such honor from God, if only we do nothing unworthy of this authority. For He Who bestowed such dignity upon us is higher and more perfect than all. The Evangelist also wishes to show that grace comes only to those who themselves desire it and take care to obtain it. To such people belongs the authority to become children. But if people themselves do not first conceive the desire, then the gift does not come, and grace produces nothing in them.

Someone may perhaps also say that many receive Him only through faith, such as those called catechumens. They have not yet become children of God.

Yet if they wish to be baptized, they have authority to be deemed worthy also of this grace, that is, adoption.

Another may also say this: although through baptism we receive the grace of adoption, we shall receive its perfection in the resurrection. Then we hope to receive the most perfect adoption, as Paul says, "we wait for adoption" (Rom 8:23).

Therefore this Evangelist did not say that He made those who received Him children of God. He said that He gave them authority to become children of God, that is, to receive this grace in the age to come.

Israel will hear: "Alas, sinful nation, a people full of sins, an evil seed, lawless children. You have forsaken the Lord and provoked the Holy One of Israel" (Isa 1:4).

But to the Gentiles one of Christ's disciples will say: "You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for possession, that you may proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (1 Pet 2:9).

Since they received the Son through faith, they receive authority to be appointed among the "children of God." The Son gives what properly and by nature belongs to Him alone as His authority.

He offers this authority for participation and performs this work as a pattern of the love for mankind and love for the world that are His.

Those who "bore the image of the earthy" could not escape corruption except by the beauty of the "image of the heavenly" being marked upon us through the call to adoption (1 Cor 15:49).

Having become partakers of Him (Heb 3:14) through the Spirit, we received the seal of likeness to Him. We ascend to the original form of the image according to which, as divine Scripture says, we were created.

Thus, having at last received again the primordial beauty of our nature, and being transformed according to that divine nature, we shall overcome the evil that befell us through transgression.

Therefore we ascend to a dignity above nature through Christ. Yet we too will be sons of God, not in every respect without distinction from Him, but only by grace, through imitation of Him.

He is the true Son, existing from the Father. We are adopted through love for mankind, receiving as grace the dignity expressed in the words: "I said, You are gods, and all of you sons of the Most High" (Ps 81:6).

Created and ministering nature is called to this adoption by God through only the simple nod and will of the Father. But the Son is God and Lord not merely by the will of God the Father.

Nor did He acquire this very being God and Son by the Father's good pleasure alone. Having shone forth from the very essence of the Father, He possesses by nature the proper attribute of that essence.

Thus again He is shown to be the true Son, appearing so in comparison with us. What is by nature differs from what is by adoption, and what is true differs from what is imitative.

We received the name of sons by adoption and imitation. He, therefore, has it by nature and truly. Even when we become such, we stand in contrast to Him, acquiring this good by grace instead of possessing natural dignity.

Let the contentious heretic examine this also from every side, and let him hear even now. For each existing thing there is, as it were, its own place, the special logos of its nature, or also the measure of its proper dignity.

For example, with respect to the logos of nature, I am a man and another is an angel. With respect to dignity, one condition is servile, and another is not so, but free.

When something of this kind is joined to what has the property of improving it, the thing improved becomes something other than what it was at first. In a certain way it is taken from its own place and moved into the condition of that which improves it.

So we too, having undergone this, passed from slavery into sonship to God and the Father. We went beyond our measure and leapt into the measure of the One who grants us this also, though of course we are not called children of God by nature.

Shall we then say that human nature received no benefit from this? But the benefit is universally acknowledged. What, then, will be the form of the benefit if there is no difference at all between the creature and the Son?

What change for the better is seen in us if sonship has no superiority over createdness? Or how could we be named sons, having received the Word of God into ourselves, if the Word is not the Son of the Father by nature?

If He is Son by nature, how can He also be a creature? It is impossible to admit that what is begotten by anyone is not wholly from the nature of the one who begot it.

It depends on Him to grant such authority, and on them to make use of it. It is one thing to be adopted by God through baptism, and another to be a child of God through the fulfillment of the Gospel commandments.

The former is the beginning, the latter the end. The former is the gift of God, the latter the work of zeal.

Conversely, He became son of Adam according to the divine economy and for our sake, while we are sons of Adam by nature. For God is His Father by nature and ours by grace. The Father became, according to the divine economy, God for Him as man. For us He is by nature Master and God.

To them He gave power through Baptism to become children of God, freeing them from the tyranny of the devil. Thus they are not only faithful. If they wish to live according to His commandments, they may add holiness to faith through the keeping of His commandments. As the Lord says elsewhere, "Be holy, for I am holy" (Lev 19:2). And again, "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful" (Lk 6:36). Then the Evangelist shows the manner in which such people become children of God, saying, "who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn 1:13). Here he calls birth the spiritual change that is accomplished and beheld through Baptism in the Holy Spirit. The truthful Lord Himself says, "John baptized with water, but you shall be baptized with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 1:5). Therefore those baptized with the Holy Spirit become like light in light, and they know Him Who begot them, because they see Him. Hear what the Evangelist says, that those born by the grace of the Holy Spirit need to be nourished by holy communion of the most pure Body and precious Blood of our Lord: "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." And hear the Lord. That these words speak of the most pure Mysteries: "He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him" (Jn 6:56). When we are born spiritually by the grace of the Holy Spirit and become children of God, Christ dwells in us through communion of the most pure Body and precious Blood of the Lord. He then abides in us as Light, Christ, the incarnate Son and Word of God. Then this follows: "we beheld His glory, glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father." For when we are born spiritually from Him, and He dwells in us through the Mysteries, we consciously abide in Him. At that very hour, when this takes place in us, we suddenly behold the glory of His Godhead. It is "glory as of the Only-begotten from the Father," such as no other possesses, neither angel nor man. Since the Father and His Only-begotten Son are one, it is clear that the glory of Both is one. This glory is revealed and made known, through the Holy Spirit Who proceeds from the Father, to all to whom the Son wills to reveal it.

The service, and the promises." If they already were children of God and possessed the grace of adoption, why does the Evangelist say that the Son of God gave power to those who believe in His name to become children of God? Those under the Jewish Law, because they believed in the true God and in His promises, possessed the typological and shadowy grace of adoption. Circumcision and the passage through the Red Sea were types of holy Baptism, through which believers in Christ become children of God. But neither circumcision, nor the passage through the Red Sea, nor the other ordinances and rites of the Law had power in themselves. They could not make perfect those who approached, since they were not the very image of the good things to come. Every man, after Adam's transgression, became a sinner and an enemy of God. Only the death of His Only-begotten Son reconciled man with God. The blood and water that came forth from the pierced side of our Savior sanctified man and made him a child and son of God. Why, then, did He not say, "He made them children of God," but, "He gave them power to become children of God"? Those who have believed in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, but have not received divine Baptism, are not children of God. Yet through faith in Christ they have the strength and power to become children of God. They become such when, through divine Baptism, they are washed from ancestral sin and are deemed worthy to be united to Jesus Christ, the Only-begotten Son of God the Father. For those who have been baptized into Christ, teaches the divinely speaking Paul, have put on Christ (Gal 3:27). For this reason the unbeliever is unprepared and has no boldness or authority to be a child of God. But the one who has believed in Christ is prepared and near to adoption, possessing the boldness and power of faith. The one who has believed and been baptized is truly a child of God, His son, and heir of the eternal Kingdom. For "he who believes and is baptized shall be saved." Let us also consider another interpretation of these words. When does a son receive the right of sonship? When he enters into his father's inheritance. Since through faith and Baptism we are children of God, we are also heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ (Rom 8:17). Since we receive this inheritance not in this age, but in the age to come, the Evangelist therefore said, "He gave them power to become children of God." That is, he wished to show that in the life to come we receive the perfect and unchangeable right and grace of adoption, entering into the inheritance of God our Father. But when you hear this, child, do not think that the birth is fleshly and passionate. For he says: "who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God" (Jn 1:13).

The Evangelist explains the word "received" by the word "believed." Therefore, to receive the Word means to believe in Him as one's Messiah, Redeemer, and Savior (Jn 3:18; 9:35; 20:31).

"To be children of God" means this in a special and exclusive sense: an inward moral closeness to God. The expression is clearly figurative, taken from the relation of a father to a son, in comparison with his relation to slaves and hired servants.

Those who have become sons of God by faith are under God's special providence and care (Jn 17:23; Rom 8:31-32). With filial boldness they turn to God (1 Jn 5:14-15).

They become heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, heirs of eternal and incorruptible blessings in the mansions of their heavenly Father (Rom 8:17; 1 Cor 2:9).

Here they keep His commandments from a feeling of filial love, not from servile fear (1 Jn 3:22; Jn 14:15).

"If you are a slave, fear blows. If you are a hired servant, keep only one thing in view, to receive your pay. If you stand higher than a slave and a hired servant, if you are a son, be ashamed before God as before a father.

"Do good because it is good to obey one's father, even if you hope to receive nothing. To please one's father is itself a reward" (Gregory the Theologian).

The Lord gave to those who believe in Him the authority to enter into such a relation to God as Father. The Evangelist did not say, "He made them children of God," or "He adopted them to God," but "He gave them authority to become children of God."

He gave them the possibility of adoption by God. The Evangelist spoke this way, as St. Chrysostom explains (cf. Theophylact), first because grace does not act by force and does not constrain human freedom and self-determination.

Grace comes and acts only in those who desire it and care to acquire it. It lies within their authority to become children of God. If they do not wish it, the gift does not come and does not act in them.

God's work is to give grace. Man's work is to present faith. Second, he spoke this way because great diligence is required from us to preserve pure and unstained the image of adoption given to us in Baptism.

To preserve this purity it is not enough merely to be baptized and to believe. If we wish always to retain this brightness within ourselves, we must lead a life worthy of it.

Faith in the name of Christ gives the believer authority, right, and possibility of adoption by God. This is because he who believes in His name, or in Him, also believes in the redemption accomplished by Him for himself and for all others.

Faith in redemption is faith in reconciliation with God through the forgiveness of sins. With this, the curse of the law is removed from man. He enters into close, pure, moral, and original relations with God.

These are the relations that existed in the innocent state in Paradise: the relation of a son to a loving father. The Lord gave such authority to those who received Him.

But did the ancients, those under the law, not have it? "True, they too were called sons of God, but there is a great difference between us and them. In everything the law had a shadow of things to come (Heb 10:1).

"It did not fully communicate adoption to the Israelites, but did so as in an image and mental representation. As their baptism was an image and shadow, so their sonship prefigured our adoption.

"Although they too were called sons, they were sons in shadow and did not possess the very truth of adoption, as we now possess it through Baptism" (Theophylact).

But the Son of God, having reconciled divine righteousness with us by His suffering on the Cross, granted us the honor of God's children. He placed us in the rights of beloved children of God. The Jews too were called children of God, as worshipers of the true God (Deut 14:1-2). But the new children of God differ from the former in this. They serve God not with the compulsion needed for a slave, but with filial love (Gal 3:6). They are not subject to material elements and ritual ordinances, but to the spiritual law. They are not burdened by the sense of a curse, but feel the nearness of God the Father (Gal 4:1; Col 2:14) and breathe with hopes of eternal rest (Rom 6:17; Jn 17:26). In what does the receiving of God the Word consist, so beneficial for men? The Evangelist shows this with the words, "to those who believe in His name." Those have received Him, and now receive Him, who believe in Him. According to other heavenly instructions also, the heavenly Guest is received by faith. "You do not have His word abiding in you, because you do not believe Him Whom He sent." So spoke the Lord Himself (Jn 5:38).

The Son of God became the Son of Man, and all the sons of men who become one with Him by faith become sons of God. This is not only by outward recognition, but by inward change. They are all created anew, born of God by a spiritual birth. The hidden light of God's grace penetrates within, plants there the seed of new life according to God, and then forms a new man. This is "the hidden man of the heart," in the incorruption of "a gentle and quiet spirit" (1 Pet 3:4). His conception and formation are not from man, but from God. Therefore he is God's, a child of God. All believers have been changed by a wondrous change and possess "power to become children of God." This is not by outward title, but according to their inward meaning and constitution. The condition for entering sonship to God is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. To believe in His name means to confess with the heart that He is the Only-begotten Son of God and God, incarnate for the salvation of us sinners. It also means to know oneself as a sinner, perishing and unable to escape the disaster brought by sin except through the Lord Jesus Christ. The believer in the Lord Jesus Christ bears this conviction in his heart: I have destroyed myself by sin and am saved only by the power of the Lord, Who was crucified for me and made me alive by His grace. The consciousness of sinful helplessness and destructive sinfulness leads to the Lord the Savior and draws Him near. For He came precisely to save sinners. Such are born of God. How they are born is known to God alone.