Família de Deus
A família de Deus transcende laços de sangue. Em Cristo, somos adotados como filhos, irmãos uns dos outros e membros de uma família eterna — a Igreja.
Adotados por Deus
Recebemos o espírito de adoção pelo qual clamamos: Abba, Pai! Se filhos, também herdeiros — herdeiros de Deus e co-herdeiros com Cristo.
You have showed that this is true, because you received from God a Spirit that is not one that makes you fear God again. You are not like slaves who fear their masters [MET]. On the contrary, we have received a Spirit by whose work in our hearts God has adopted us. The Spirit now enables us to cry out to God, "You(sg) are my Father [DOU]!" The Spirit himself confirms what our spirits say, that we are God’s children. Because we are God’s children, we also will some day receive/inherit eternal blessings/privileges. We will receive/inherit them from God, and we will also receive/inherit them just like Christ has inherited them. But we must suffer for doing good as Christ did, in order to receive splendor as he did.
But exactly at the time [MTY] that God had previously determined, he sent Jesus, who is ◄his Son/the man who is also God►, into the world. Jesus was born to a human mother. He had to obey the laws that God gave to Moses. God sent Jesus in order that he might redeem us who had to obey God’s laws. God wanted us all to receive from God the status of being his children [MET]. Furthermore, we know that we are God’s children because God sent the Spirit, who is intimately related to Jesus, to live in our ◄inner beings/hearts►. The Spirit enables us to pray fervently, "Daddy, Father!" This shows that we are God’s children. So, because of what God has done, no longer is each of you like a slave. Instead, each of you is a child of God. Furthermore, since each of you is God’s child, God has also made you his heir, one who will receive all that he has promised.
Because of our relationship with Christ, we are Abraham’s spiritual descendants, and God’s heirs, no longer like slaves.
Now all of you Jews and non-Jews are as though you are God’s children because you trusted Christ Jesus. That is, you who began a relationship with Christ when you were baptized identified yourselves [MET] with Christ. If you are believers, it does not matter to God if you are Jews or non-Jews; slaves or ones who are not slaves; males or females, because all of you are as one sort of person because of your relationship with Christ Jesus.
he decided long ago that he would adopt us to be as though we were his own children because of what Jesus Christ has done. He decided to do that because it pleased him to do that. He did it in order that we would praise him for acting very kindly toward us in a wonderful way that we did not deserve. He did it because of our relationship with his beloved Son {one, who is also God, whom he loves}.
I pray that God’s Spirit will empower you, that you may experience how much Christ loves you, and that God may make you all that he intends for you to be.
Because God has done all this for you, I kneel and pray [MTY] to God our Father. He is the one who is like a father of all the believers who are now in heaven and those who are still on the earth.
But those of us who welcomed him, God authorized that we would have a relationship with him [MET] like children have a relationship with their father. We were people who believed that what he said about himself [MTY] was true. We became like God’s children, not because our ancestors belonged to God, or because of someone’s sexual desires, nor because some man desired to have children like himself. Instead, we were caused by God {God caused us} to become like his children.
A comunidade de fé
Não abandonem a congregação. Somos um corpo em Cristo, membros uns dos outros, chamados a amar e a servir.
We must not stop assembling ourselves to worship the Lord, as some people have done. Instead, each one of us must encourage/exhort other believers. Let us do that even more since we know that the day that the Lord will return [MTY] is near.
Since our sufferings are to discipline us, if we have not experienced God’s discipline we are not his true children. We should accept God’s discipline, because it is always to help us.
It is in order that God may discipline you that he requires you to endure the disagreeable things that happen to you. When God disciplines you he is treating you as a father treats his children. All fathers [RHQ] discipline their children [LIT]. So, if you have not experienced God disciplining you just like he disciplines all his other children, you are not true children of God [MET]. You are like illegitimate children; no father disciplines them. Furthermore, our natural fathers disciplined us when we were young, and we respected them for doing that. So we should certainly more readily accept God our spiritual Father disciplining us, with the result that we live eternally [RHQ]! Our natural fathers disciplined us for a short time in a way that they considered right, but it wasn’t always right, but God always disciplines us in a right way, to help us. He does it so that we may be holy as he is.
Similarly we, although we are many, are united into one group because of our relationship with Christ, and we belong to one another. So no one should act as though he is needed by God more than others are!
If one part of our body hurts, it is as though all the parts of our body are hurting. If we pay special attention to one part of our body, it is as though all the parts of our body feel pleasure [MET].
So God no longer treats you non-Jews as people treat [MET] foreigners and strangers who live among them [MET]. Instead, along with all God’s people, it is as though you have become citizens of a country that he rules over, and as though you have become members of the family of which he is the father [MET]. Just like a building is built {as someone builds a building} on a foundation, God has joined you into one group that originated/began from what the apostles and prophets taught. Christ Jesus is the most important one in that group, just like a cornerstone is the most important part of a building. And just like a builder might join together all the parts of a building to make it a temple that people will dedicate to the Lord [MET], Christ is continually causing all of you who have a relationship with him to be united, in order that you will become one holy group. And because of your relationship with Christ, God is joining you non-Jews together with Jewish believers to be like one building [MET] in which his Spirit lives.
Quem é minha família?
Jesus disse: quem faz a vontade de Deus, esse é meu irmão e irmã. A família de Deus inclui todos os que creem.
Jesus replied to them, "◄I will tell you something about my mother and my brothers./Do you know whom I consider to be like my mother and my brothers?►" [RHQ] After he looked around at the disciples who were sitting around him in a circle, he said, "Look here! I love these men as much as I love my mother and my brothers. Those who habitually do what God wants are as dear to me [MET] as my brother, my sister, or my mother!"
A slave is not a permanent member of a family. But a son is a member of a family forever. Similarly, you say you are members of God’s family because you are descendants of Abraham, but really, because you are like slaves of your sinful desires, you are no longer permanent members of God’s family.
Jesus said to them, "If God were your father, you would love me, because I came from God, and now I have come here to this world. My coming was not ◄because I appointed myself/with my own authority►. He sent me.
I instruct you how to act toward various groups in the church.
Do not rebuke/scold older men. Instead, exhort/advise them respectfully as you would exhort/advise your father. Exhort/advise younger men gently as you would exhort/advise your brothers. Exhort/advise older women respectfully as you would exhort/advise your mother. Exhort/advise younger women gently as you would exhort/advise your sisters; but you must act in a completely proper way as you do that.
Do not allow anyone to seduce you to sin, because you are God’s children, and his children maintain themselves free from evil behavior by not continuing to sin as the devil’s children do.
Think about how much our heavenly Father loves us! He allows us to ◄say that we are/be called► his children! And it is indeed true that we are his children. But people in the world [MTY] who are unbelievers have not understood who God is. So they do not understand who we are, that we belong to God. Dear friends, even though ◄at present/now► we are God’s children, he has not yet ◄made clear/revealed► to us what we will be like in the future. However, we know that when Christ comes back again, we will be like him, because we will see what he is really like.
So, whenever we have opportunities, we should do what is good to all people. But especially we should do what is good to all our fellow believers.