The Spirit is thicker than blood

An interesting feature of the Bible is the way it compares and contrasts our relationship with our earthly families with our relationship with God. Specifically, how we act determines who we belong to. The child of God will act like God, whereas the child of Satan will act like Satan.

An excellent example of this is 1 John 3:4-9 (and really the whole epistle of 1 John bears this out). The passage I just referred to says "Whoever commits sin also commits lawlessness, and sin is lawlessness. And you know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him there is no sin. Whoever abides in Him does not sin. Whoever sins has neither seen Him nor known Him. Little children, let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God."

This is especially close to my own heart. It both unsettles and comforts me at the same time. Reading it on its own, it should terrify you. Does it not suggest, nay, explicitly state that anyone who sins is not born of God? How terrifying is this? We all sin. To say that we have no sin, according to this same John, is self deception, and proof that the truth is not in us (1 John 1:8). So does this mean none of us are born of God?

Praise God, when we, as His children, sin, Jesus advocates for us (1 John 2:1). If you have true faith, you are not condemned. But how do we know we have true faith? In precisely the way John describes. If we have truly been born of God, we "cannot" sin. This isn't a contradiction when you understand what it means. Do you hear and do the word of God? If so, then according to Christ Himself, you are His mother and brothers.

This is a rather profound statement. When Mary and Jesus' brothers came looking for Him, He refused to answer them. These were related to Him by blood, and yet He did not answer them. And while in His flesh, was He not still bound by the commandment "thou shalt honour thy mother and thy father"? Is it not natural even for a sinful man to heed his mother's voice? Was the blessed Mary, at the very least, not a woman who heard and did the word of God? Certainly she was! When she was informed that He had chosen her, she rejoiced in His promise, and praised Him joyously. Yet, Jesus practically waved her off.

The obvious takeaway here is that blood may be thicker than water, but nothing unites quite like the Spirit. The household of faith is, or at the very least ought to be, stronger than any family seen throughout the earth. We are not united by blood. We are not united by skin color. We are not united by language, by town or city, by personal interests, not even common ideology and cultural values unite us. Every Christian is united to the next by our love for, and obedience to, the Lord Jesus Christ through His word, which we hear, and we do, and we proclaim it to the world around us. In Adam, we are divided by sin. In Christ, we are a family, forgiven for our iniquities, and imputed with His own righteousness.