For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.
Parallel translations
- WEB For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.
- KJV For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
- NKJV For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.
- NASB For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God.
- NLT For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
All who are led by God's Spirit are the children of God. The Spirit's guidance marks out God's true family.
Overview
Paul defines the children of God as those led by His Spirit. This leading is the Spirit's ongoing direction toward holiness and away from the flesh. Such Spirit-leading is both an evidence of sonship and a comfort to those who follow it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 21
- Gal 5:18But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
- John 1:12But to all who did receive Him, to those who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God—
- Gal 3:26You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
- Gal 5:16So I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.
- Ps 143:10Teach me to do Your will, for You are my God. May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
- Rev 21:7The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.
- Gal 5:22–25But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- Rom 8:16–17The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.
- 1 Jn 3:1Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
- 2 Cor 6:18And: “I will be a Father to you, and you will be My sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
- Rom 8:5Those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh; but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
- Gal 4:6And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!”
- Isa 48:16–17Come near to Me and listen to this: From the beginning I have not spoken in secret; from the time it happened, I was there.” And now the Lord GOD has sent me, accompanied by His Spirit.
- Rom 8:9You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
- Hos 1:10Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
- Eph 5:9for the fruit of the light consists in all goodness, righteousness, and truth.
- Rom 8:19The creation waits in eager expectation for the revelation of the sons of God.
- Rom 9:8So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring.
- Prov 8:20I walk in the way of righteousness, along the paths of justice,
- Eph 1:5He predestined us for adoption as His sons through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of His will,
- Rom 9:26and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 8:14 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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