# All God's Children

*1 John 3:2 — 'We Shall Be Like Him'*

**Strength:** Moderate | **Tone:** Excellent | **Topic:** Salvation

## Doorstep Question

> "In 1 John 3:2 your NWT says, 'Beloved ones, we are now children of God... we will be like him.' Does John say some children of God will be like Christ, or all of them?"

## JW Claim

The Watchtower teaches that only the 144,000 anointed are "children of
God." The millions of Jehovah's Witnesses in the "great crowd" or "other
sheep" are not God's children — they are merely "friends of God," declared
righteous in the same sense that Abraham was declared righteous as God's
friend. Only the anointed are born again, only the anointed are in the new
covenant, and only the anointed will "be like him" by receiving heavenly
spirit bodies. The other sheep must wait until the end of Christ's
thousand-year reign before they can become God's children.

The Watchtower, February 15, 2006: "It would obviously be inappropriate
for those having an earthly hope to partake [of the emblems]... they
are not in the new covenant."

The Watchtower, February 1, 1998 ("The Other Sheep and the New
Covenant"): The other sheep are "declared righteous as God's friends"
— not as God's children.

## Strategy

1. Ask the JW to read 1 John 3:1-2 aloud from their own NWT. Note the word "we" — John is writing to the entire congregation, not a subset.
2. Ask: "Who are the 'we' here? Does John say 'we, the anointed, are now children of God' — or just 'we are now children of God'?"
3. Point out that John uses "beloved ones" (agapetoi) — the same address he uses for his whole audience throughout the letter (1 John 2:7; 3:21; 4:1, 7, 11). There is no class switch.
4. Read verse 2 together: "we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is." Ask: "If the 'we' in verse 1 includes all believers, does the 'we' in verse 2 suddenly shrink to 144,000?"
5. Reinforce with 1 John 5:1 (NWT): "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born from God." The word "everyone" (Greek: pas) leaves no room for a two-class system.
6. Let the dissonance sit. The goal is to plant the question: "Am I a child of God — or just a friend?"

## Key Insight

John writes to all believers: "we are now children of God... we will be like him." No asterisk, no footnote restricting it to 144,000. The Watchtower has inserted a class distinction that John's letter does not contain. If you are a believer, you are already a child of God — not a friend waiting in the queue.

## JW Responses & Counters

### Response 1

**JW says:** "1 John was written to anointed Christians — it doesn't apply to the other sheep."

**Counter:** John's letters are addressed to "beloved ones" and "little children" — terms he uses for his entire audience, not a subclass. 1 John 2:28-29 says "everyone who practises righteousness has been born from him" — the word "everyone" (pas) is universal. And 1 John 5:1 says "everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born from God." If you believe Jesus is the Christ, John says you have been born of God — full stop. There is no qualifier for an anointed class.

### Response 2

**JW says:** "The other sheep are friends of God like Abraham — that is still a wonderful relationship."

**Counter:** Abraham lived before the new covenant. He could not be a child of God in the new-covenant sense because Christ had not yet come. But Galatians 3:26 says, "You are all sons of God through your faith in Christ Jesus." Under the new covenant, the status has been upgraded — from friend to child. Romans 8:15 says believers have received "a spirit of adoption as sons." Why would God downgrade millions of believers back to Abraham's pre-covenant status when Christ came to bring something greater?

### Response 3

**JW says:** "The other sheep will become God's children after passing the final test at the end of the thousand years."

**Counter:** But John says "we are NOW children of God" (1 John 3:2) — present tense. Not "we will become children of God after a thousand-year probation." And John 1:12 says to ALL who received Christ, "he gave the right to become children of God." That right is granted at the point of faith, not after a millennium of works.

## What to Avoid

Do not duplicate the born-again argument (024) or the one-flock argument (012). This is a single-verse supplement, not a standalone case. Keep it brief. Do not get drawn into debating Revelation 7 or the identity of the 144,000 — that belongs to the one-flock argument.

## Homework

Read 1 John 3:1-3 in the NWT and ask: does John restrict who the "children of God" are? Does he say some children will be like Christ and others will not? Then read 1 John 5:1 — "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born from God." Ask yourself: have I been born from God, or am I waiting for a thousand years to find out?

## Next Moves

- [One Flock / Great Crowd in Heaven](/arguments/one-flock.md)
- [You Must Be Born Again](/arguments/born-again.md)
- [The Mediator Restriction](/arguments/mediator-restriction.md)
- [The Communion Denial](/arguments/communion-denial.md)

---
*Source: Research — 1 John 3, Watchtower 'children vs friends' distinction, jwfacts.com, Robin Jackson (YouTube)*