For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.
Parallel translations
- WEB For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are children of God.
- BSB For all who are led by the Spirit of God are 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 ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.
- John 1:12But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
- Gal 3:26For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
- Gal 5:16This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh.
- Ps 143:10Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.
- Rev 21:7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
- Gal 5:22–25But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
- Rom 8:16–17The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
- 1 Jn 3:1Behold, 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.
- 2 Cor 6:18And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
- Rom 8:5For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
- Gal 4:6And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
- Isa 48:16–17Come ye near unto me, hear ye this; I have not spoken in secret from the beginning; from the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord GOD, and his Spirit, hath sent me.
- Rom 8:9But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
- Hos 1:10Yet 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.
- Eph 5:9(For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness and righteousness and truth;)
- Rom 8:19For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
- Rom 9:8That 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.
- Prov 8:20I lead in the way of righteousness, in the midst of the paths of judgment:
- Eph 1:5Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
- Rom 9:26And 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.
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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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