The Right to Be God’s Child

“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.”
John 1:12

Up to this point, John has stated who Jesus is (the God who created the world and everyone in it) and how the world treated Jesus when he came (they rejected Him). But this verse is a turning point: it shows how we can be accepted as God’s children. This fits right in with John’s point in this book: Jesus of Nazareth is the Messiah, God’s Son, and we must believe on Him (cf. John 20:31).
What does it mean to “receive Jesus”? This is especially striking since John has just said that the world that Jesus created did not receive him. However, for those who do “receive Jesus,” God will adopt them as His children. At the end of the verse we learn that those who receive Jesus are those who “believe on His name.”
Believing on Jesus Christ means accepting the truth about who he is (He is God come to earth) and what he has done (He came to earth to save sinful man by dying on the cross). It doesn’t mean simply believing that Jesus existed; everybody in John’s time knew that He was a historical figure. It involves putting your trust for your eternal salvation solely in the person and work of Jesus Christ.
For those who received Jesus Christ by believing in Him, John says that God will make them His children. He grants that right to become His children. You cannot become someone’s child unless they adopt you. John says that God, because of who Jesus is and what He has done, will adopt those who believe in Jesus as His very own children. This is the answer to man’s biggest problem ever since the Garden of Eden: how can we be right with God? The answer is straightforward: put your faith in Jesus Christ.