We are all children of God

According to traditional Christianity, there is only one child of God. According to the Nicene Creed, there is "one Lord, Jesus Christ,    the only Son of God."

That has never sat well with me, or with any of the Mystics on the Margins with whom I spoke. To no Mystic on the Margins was Jesus the only “son of God” nor the only “spirit-infused human being.” Indeed, the claim that there has been but one Son of God has led to sectarian, divisive and dangerous religious arrogance. It’s led to an uncrossable line between Jesus and the rest of us, to dangerous claims of Christian hegemony and to far too many religious wars.

To no Mystic on the Margins was Jesus the only “son of God” nor the only “spirit-infused human being.” We all know that many, if not most people have had experiences of the Divine. I'm thinking not only of folks like the Buddha, Ramana Maharshi, the Dalai Lama, Thomas Merto and more, but of the millions upon millions of good hearted folks who have what we might call spiritual experiences, or moments of “non-anxious presence” in which they saw themselves, another or the world in a way that was above and beyond how they “normally” see. (According to Pew Research, two-thirds of U.S. adults say they feel a deep sense of spiritual peace and well-being at least several times a year, including some 44% who have this feeling monthly or more (Pew Research, 2023).  Same is true around the world.

Translating these exper iences into Biblical language, there are many if not millions of people who have had moments of sensing God. In this sense, we ordinary human beings are becoming "children" of God." And if these moments last a long time, as they sometimes do, we might say we're becoming as if "adopted" as a child of God.

My favorite theologian, Marcus Borg, wrote in The God we never Knew,

"To affirm that Jesus is the decisive revelation and disclosure of God need not imply that he is the only manifestation of God.…The sacred has also been known … in the major figures of the biblical tradition such as Moses, Elijah and the prophets, and … in other religions in addition to Judaism and Christianity.

Christianity Reimagined suggests that it has never made sense to me or to other Mystics on the Margins that the vast spiritual reality, whatever it is, has “only one Son.” Either we’re all “sons and daughters” of such a reality or none of us are!

I used to think that this was an heretical idea, that to be a believing Christian you must believe that there's only one child of God. But I just stumbled across Romans 8:14-17 which says,

"All who are led by the spirit of God are children of God. ...

This is to say, when we are moved by the Divine spirit, or in their lexicon, when we encounter the Divine and cry "Abba! Father!" then we are bearing witness ...

"that we are children of God...heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ."

That is to say, any of us who become so led by the spirit become children of God. Similarly, in Galatians 4: 5-6 Paul says the church's function is

"that we might receive adoption as children [of God]. And because you are children [you are blessed with] the spirit of [Christ] into your hearts, crying 'Abba! Father!' ... you are no longer a slave but a child, ... an heir, through God."

So my "heretical" claim that there are many, many Sons and Daughters of the Divine, not just one, may not be so heretical at all! Even Paul, the man that first argued that Jesus was sui generis, seems to agree! All of us who know the spirit, who encounter the Divine or know the great Flow, become such Sons and Daughters. And that this is so, hallelujah!