Children Of God

Kutless builds "Children of God" around adoption. The opening lines name what happened in plain nouns: "Perfect love / Came to rescue us," "Holy blood / Claimed us at the cross." The pre-chorus then states the outcome, "Now we are forgiven and free / Adopted, and chosen to be," and the chorus fills in the blank with its title.

The chorus is outward-facing. "Lift up your voice and sing / Wherever you are," it tells listeners, because "Our father is the King." Fatherhood and kingship appear in the same line, and the ownership language, "We are His children," is paired with a repeated "forgiven." The second verse looks ahead to "that day" when the church will praise "Our father face to face," so the present adoption has a future reunion built in.

The last lines return to wonder: "How great, how great is our Father's love / He gave, He gave us His only Son." 1 John 3:1 uses nearly the same exclamation, Romans 8:15 speaks of the Spirit of adoption who lets us cry "Abba," and Ephesians 1:5 says God chose to adopt us through Christ.