“Behold, 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.” (1Jo 3:1 AV)
I don’t know what it is like to be adopted, but I have a sister that does. What I can tell you is that my sister has a unique relationship with our father that no one else had. There was a special bond between them that was different from what he had with his natural children. It wasn’t that he played favorites or that he admired or loved her more than us. It was just different. Conversely, her relationship with our father was different as well. She saw him differently than we did. She appreciated him in ways that we could not. Again, it is not that my father had a favorite. It was different. Not better. I think the biggest reason was over time, my sister appreciated the love which my father had for her and the circumstances regarding her adoption. She was adopted from a family that could not take care of her, or wanted her. My father, out of his own free will, chose to love her and care for her. His natural children were loved and cared for because they were the product of his love for his wife. My sister was different. He loved her for who and what she was and not from where she came. This deep love took time to mature. As all love does. But it truly matured.
When we accepted Christ, we were adopted into the family of God. God did not love us out of obligation. He did not love us only because He created us. When we believed on Christ, He loved us because of what and who we are, and not from whence we came. When John reflects upon the love of God, he does so from the doctrine of adoption. The love involved in adopting the unlovely is a love we will never fully comprehend. This is why John uses the wording as he does above. What manner of love is a phrase to behold the wonder of that love. For someone to love if by a free will choice of His own is the implication. God loves us not because He has to. God does not love us because no one else would. God looks at the humble sinner and takes pity on that soul. He chooses to specifically love someone who was His enemy and hated Him with every fiber of his being. He sees a soul broken for their sin, crying out in shame, guilt, desperation, and faith. He chooses to love that soul and gather him into His family. This is a love beyond any comparison. It is a love that cannot be matched. It is a love that began in eternity past and has no end. Nothing can separate us from the love of God! And God will never cease to love. Oh, what manner of love that we should be called the sons of God.
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