I John 3:2 “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”
This word “now” denotes a present state resulting from a completed action. In this context, “now are we the sons [children] of God”; that is, two thousand years ago, when John wrote this Epistle, those who are Children of God were Children of God at that time because of sure actions taken by the Lord. Even those who are Children of God today, were Children of God when John wrote these words; they had become Children of God the same way that John became a Child of God. All “the sons of God” became “the sons of God” when God the Father chose us in His Son “before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love” (Ephesians 1:4) and then He wonderfully “predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will, 6 To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Ephesians 1:5-6). All this is covered under the “now”! But, “he also did predestinate” us “to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren” (Romans 8:29). So, while we live in this present life, we have plenty to rejoice in “now”, but what comes later is so grand that it is beyond our present ability to comprehend!