Does God Have Daughters?

“And I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:18, ESV)

Does God have daughters?

It may seem like an odd question. We speak naturally about God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son. Scripture repeatedly calls believers “sons of God.” Paul tells us that we have received adoption as sons, and that if we are sons, then we are heirs. Yet when reading the Bible, one might occasionally wonder where the daughters are.

They are there.

God Himself says, “you shall be sons and daughters to me.” Isaiah records the Lord saying, “Bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 43:6, ESV). God does not hesitate to call believing women His daughters. They belong to His family, know Him as Father, and are loved by Him as His children.

But that raises an interesting question. If God has daughters, why does the New Testament so frequently call believers His sons?

The answer becomes clearer when we remember the world in which the Scriptures were written. In the ancient world, sons ordinarily occupied a particular legal position within the family. Inheritance generally passed through the male line, with the firstborn son commonly receiving a privileged portion. A daughter certainly belonged to the family, but belonging to the family did not ordinarily give her the same inheritance standing as a son.

Sonship, therefore, carried more than the idea of being a male child. It spoke of recognized standing in the household and a claim upon the family inheritance.

That makes Paul's words to the Galatians remarkable:

“For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.” (Galatians 3:26, ESV)

Paul was not speaking only to men. In fact, only two verses later he says, “There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28, ESV). Then he immediately connects belonging to Christ with being an heir according to promise.

A woman who belongs to Christ is God's daughter, but she is not therefore given some lesser place in His household. When Scripture includes her among the “sons of God,” it is not denying that she is a woman. It is declaring her standing.

She inherits.

Paul makes the same point when he writes, “So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.” (Galatians 4:7, ESV).

Think about what those words would have meant to a Christian woman hearing that letter read in the first century. The customs surrounding her might have limited what she could inherit. Her society might have assigned privileges to sons that it did not assign to daughters. But when the gospel announced her place in the household of God, those customs could not determine her standing before her heavenly Father.

God does not establish one inheritance for His sons and another, lesser inheritance for His daughters. Every believer united to Christ is an heir.

Peter makes this especially clear when he instructs Christian husbands to honor their wives because they are “heirs with you of the grace of life.” (1 Peter 3:7, ESV).

Heirs with you.

The daughter of God does not stand behind her brothers waiting to see what remains after the inheritance has been distributed. She does not receive a smaller portion because she is a daughter. She belongs to the Father, and because she belongs to Christ, she shares fully in the inheritance secured by Christ.

So, does God have daughters?

Absolutely.

And perhaps the surprising thing is not simply that Scripture calls them daughters. The surprising thing is what God has done for them in Christ.

God's daughters inherit as sons.

Just a thought.