All who have the Spirit of God, angels or men, are called the sons of God.
So are the unsaved:
Acts 17 KJV
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
29
Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
Only two individual men during the OT times, which ended at the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, are called the sons of God. They are Adam in
Luke 3:38 and of course Jesus Christ.
Not entirely true:
Matthew 5:16
Let
your light so shine before men, that they may see
your good works, and glorify
your Father which is in heaven.
God was considered their father, making them children of God in a general sense, even as Angels are children of God in a general sense, even demons Job 1:6).
Psalm 82:6
I have said, Ye are gods; and all
of you are children
of the most High.
Malachi 2 KJV
10 Have we not all one father? hath not one God created us? why do we deal treacherously every man against his brother, by profaning the covenant of our fathers?
The fatherhood of God is universal in the sense that He is the Creator. There are numerous passages this concept is seen in, and detracts from a dogmatic view concerning "the sons of God."
Adam is the first Adam and Jesus Christ is the last Adam, Adam was the first man and Jesus Christ is the second man.
But there is a difference between the two. Christ was born of a woman but not described as earthy, or of the earth.
Now, all who have the Spirit, who is given to us and is the occasion and means of our being born into the family of God and becoming sons of God, of which Jesus Christ is the first at his resurrection, when the Spirit of God from heaven and his soul from paradise entered into his body at the tomb and raised him from the dead and glorified his body.
1 Jn 3:1 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. 2 Beloved,
now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.
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This sonship is different and has a point in time where we can dogmatically say it began:
John 1:11-13 KJV
11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:
13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
It began when Christ was manifest in the flesh:
14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Again, I can recognize and appreciate the argument that Adam was indwelt by God, but it doesn't hold up against the scrutiny of Scripture.
Becoming sons of God in the New Covenant/New Testament sense is different than anything that had taken place before.
John 14:15-23 KJV
15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him: but ye know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.
21 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot, Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
God walked with Adam, not in Adam as Christ foretells will take place for the disciples. Again, if Adam were eternally indwelt and the Spirit of God resided in Him as we see He will here, then Adam lost what is supposed to be eternal. Making it not eternal or everlasting.
Adam's source for everlasting life is shown in the account of the fall:
Genesis 3 KJV
22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
We have to give the direct statement of Scripture precedence over what isn't written. Adam dying is the result of being thrust from the Garden and access to the Tree of Life. That we know it isn't metaphorical is implied by another reference to the Tree of Life:
Revelation 2:7
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To him that overcometh will I give to eat
of the
tree of life, which is in the midst
of the paradise
of God.
Revelation 22:2
In the midst
of the street
of it, and on either side
of the river, was there the
tree of life, which bare twelve manner
of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves
of the
tree were for the healing
of the nations.
Revelation 22:14
Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the
tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.
Eternal Life is not a result of the tree, neither for Adam or for the redeemed. However, it is the reason God thrust him out, that he would not have everlasting life.
Continued...