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CHILDREN v. SONS
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Saviour, Who originally in the form of God, and accounting it nothing to be grasped at to be on equality with God,
nevertheless made Himself of no reputation, wherefore God hath highly exalted Him, and He is to be confessed as
Lord, by the entire universe in that day.
The four gospels set forth the Saviour as King, Servant, Man and Son of God, and from the earliest Christian
times the four gospels have been associated with the four faces of the cherubim.
Matthew
.
.
The LION .
.
The King.
Mark .
.
.
The OX .
.
. The Servant.
Luke .
.
.
The MAN .
.
Genealogy to Adam.
John .
.
.
The EAGLE
.
. The Word was God.
We can therefore confidently fill in the gap indicated by the letter:
A The Anointed. Exalted as Lord.
`Became a man, but was originally "in the form of God"`.
While we may have wished that Paul could have been permitted to speak of the cherubim `more particularly' it is
obviously for our good that nothing explicit was revealed. We must therefore accept this Divinely appointed
limitation and be thankful for the glimpse of the conflict and purpose of the ages that the references to the cherubim
supply. While much detailed information is lacking, the glorious triumph of the Redeemer stands out in all its
unique excellence, and with it the assurance comes to us in great grace, that the goal of the ages shall be achieved.
CHILDREN v. SONS. Several Greek words are translated `children' in the A.V. New Testament.
Brephos,
a new-born babe, Acts 7:19.
Nepios,
an infant not having the power of speech (Gal. 4:3; Eph. 4:14).
Paidion
a little or young lad (Matt. 14:21).
Paidarion a very little lad (Matt. 11:16).
Pais
a lad, boy, servant or maid (Matt. 2:16).
Teknon
a child, one that has been born a child whether son or daughter (Matt. 2:18).
Huios,
a son, a male (Matt. 5:9).
The two words with which we are here particularly concerned are teknon and huios. Unfortunately the A.V.
have not been quite consistent in their rendering giving us `child' in seventy-seven occurrences and `son' in
twenty-one, as translations of teknon, and translating huios `child' fifty times, `son' 120, `Son' 210 times. It is
evident even from this survey, that teknon means `a child' as distinct from huios which means `a son', but there are
passages where this distinction should have been made clear where precision is dulled by the translator. For
example where John 1:12 reads `gave them power to become sons of God' it should read `children'. So also that
well-known passage in 1 John 3:1,2, `that we should be called the sons of God', `now are we the sons of God' must
be altered to read `children of God'. John uses the word huios twentyfour times, but never of a believer.
It is Paul whose ministry speaks of the believer as a `son' (Rom. 8:14,19), and the reader should remember when
reading Galatians 3:7,26 to translate `sons' here also. John's ministry brings the believer into the family of faith,
Paul takes him further and gives him the position of a son. This distinction will be better understood if the article on
ADOPTION (p. 40) be read. Israel as compared with the nations have the place of `sons' although the phrase `the
children of Israel' has become so commonly used that we do not suggest that we should attempt to alter it, only that
we should remember, that where the A.V. reads `children of Israel', the Greek uses the word huios `son',
remembering too the inspired consequence `if a son, then an heir of God'. It should also be remembered that all
`sons' must be `children', but that all children need not necessarily be sons. Neither Peter, James nor John use the
word huios of a believer, that is the exclusive testimony of the ministry entrusted to Paul.