Traditional Christianity teaches that all who believe in Jesus Christ may be called children of God. The children of God are not born of a husbands will, but the children of God are considered to be adopted into the family of God. Overall, a person could thus truthfully say that anyone who believes in Jesus Christ becomes part of a eternal family by becoming adopted into the family of God.

When a person becomes part of the family of God, sins of the adopted family member are forgiven because Gods family members love each other and would not want anything to destroy the family. God would however want to punish his children for their bad behavior at times, and God would even want to allow his children to endure hardships in order that his children would become better developed as people. Children of God thus develop in Gods family from youth to be part of one large family with one large family culture.