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3. We Are Literally God's Children
What Latter-day Saints believe
Latter-day Saints believe every person who has ever lived is a spirit son or daughter of Heavenly Father. This is more than a figure of speech. Before we were born, we lived with Him as His children, and our bodies were later born to earthly parents. That truth gives every person on earth equal worth and a family relationship with God.
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Key verses
1. Acts 17:28-29
28For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
Paul tells the philosophers of Athens, who did not even know the true God, “we are also his offspring.” He was speaking about all people, not only believers.
2. Hebrews 12:9
Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
We have earthly “fathers of our flesh,” but God is “the Father of spirits.”
3. Numbers 16:22
And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?
Moses and Aaron call on Him as “the God of the spirits of all flesh.”
4. Numbers 27:16
Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
The same title appears again when Moses asks God to choose a leader to follow him.
5. Psalm 82:6
I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
“Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.”
6. Malachi 2:10
Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
“Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us?”
7. Romans 8:16-17
16The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: 17And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.”
8. Matthew 6:9
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Jesus teaches us to begin our prayers with “Our Father which art in heaven.”
9. Ephesians 4:6
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
There is “one God and Father of all.”
10. Deuteronomy 14:1
Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
“Ye are the children of the LORD your God.”
How other Christians read these verses
Many Christians believe all people are God’s creations but that we become His children only through faith and adoption in Christ, citing John 1:12 and Galatians 4:5. Latter-day Saints believe both ideas are true. We are His spirit children by birth, and we also become His covenant sons and daughters through Jesus Christ.
Full index: 45 verses
Includes the key verses above, the Church's Topical Guide, and every King James verse that uses these words: sons of God, children of God, daughters of God. Key verses are highlighted. Tap a book to open it.
Genesis (2)
Genesis 6:2 That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.
Genesis 6:4 There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.
Numbers (2)
Numbers 16:22 And they fell upon their faces, and said, O God, the God of the spirits of all flesh, shall one man sin, and wilt thou be wroth with all the congregation?
Numbers 27:16 Let the LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation,
Deuteronomy (1)
Deuteronomy 14:1 Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
Job (3)
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
Job 2:1 Again there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them to present himself before the LORD.
Job 38:7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Psalms (1)
Psalm 82:6 I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.
Isaiah (2)
Isaiah 45:11 Thus saith the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Ask me of things to come concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands command ye me.
Isaiah 53:10 Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Hosea (1)
Hosea 1:10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people, there it shall be said unto them, Ye are the sons of the living God.
Malachi (1)
Malachi 2:10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Matthew (3)
Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.
Matthew 5:45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.
Matthew 6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
Luke (1)
Luke 20:36 Neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.
John (2)
John 1:12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
John 11:52 And not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
Acts (2)
Acts 17:28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
Acts 17:29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
Romans (7)
Romans 8:14 For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Romans 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Romans 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.
Romans 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Romans 8:21 Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.
Romans 9:8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.
Romans 9:26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the children of the living God.
2 Corinthians (1)
2 Corinthians 6:18 And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
Galatians (3)
Galatians 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
Galatians 4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
Galatians 4:7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
Ephesians (2)
Ephesians 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
Ephesians 4:6 One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Philippians (1)
Philippians 2:15 That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;
Hebrews (5)
Hebrews 12:5 And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him:
Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Hebrews 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Hebrews 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Hebrews 12:9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
1 John (4)
1 John 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
1 John 3:10 In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.
1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments.
Revelation (1)
Revelation 21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
