God the Father
The Father
Apostolic Teaching
Jesus’ Teaching
Jesus taught His diciples to pray in this manner, and so by this teaching we know that God the Father tenderly invites us to call on Him as our Father and to believe that He hears us (as a father tenderly hears his own children) when we pray these words:
Matthew 6:9b-13 (KJV altered)
Our Father, who art in heaven. Hallowed by Thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever. Amen.
Jesus sent His disciples to make disciples of all nations by doing two tasks:
- Baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit;
- Teaching them to observe all things that He had commanded them
and so we see that Jesus (through Baptism) places the holy name of God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) upon each one being baptized. And so, God promises to dwell in us just as He promised to dwell in the midst of His people in the whatever place He chose to set His name in the Old Testament period (Deuteronomy 12).
Jesus consistently remained in fellowship with His Father, seeking to please Him alone and speaking only of those things which He had seen from His Father (John 8:37-38).
This was in perfect keeping with Jesus’ revelation of the glory of the Word made flesh (ὁ λόγος σὰρξ ἐγένετο - John 1:14), which is the glory of the Only-begotten from the Father. Without this revelation of the Word made flesh, the Incarnation of the Son, we would never have known the Father.
John 1:18 (NKJV)
{18}No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him.
Jesus spoke of His Father’s house, referring to the Temple where His name was made to dwell (when Jesus cleared the Temple of the moneychangers) and referring to the heavenly abode of God the Father (John 14:2f).
God the Father sent His only-begotten Son into the world to save the world through Him (John 3:16ff), and this salvation is a gift to all who, having been born of God (ἐκ θεοῦ ἐγεννήθησαν - John 1:11-13), having been born from above (γεννηθῇ ἄνωθεν - John 3:3), and having been born of water and Spirit (γεννηθῇ ἐξ ὕδατος καὶ πνεύματος - John 3:5), are given the miraculous ability to receive Jesus (cf. John 6:43-44; 8:45-47).
Apostolic Teaching
Peter confesses his faith in God the Father’s work of saving sinners:
1 Peter 1:3-5 (NKJV)
{3}Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, {4}to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, {5}who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.
John confesses his faith in God’s regenerative/adoptive work that makes us His children by His own will:
John 1:11-13 (NKJV adapted)
{11}[The Word/the true Light] came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. {12}But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: {13}who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.
Father and Holy Spirit active in regeneration
This birth from above is also the work of the Holy Spirit working through the water of Baptism (John 3:3, 5). Those who come to Christ are granted this by the Father (John 6:63-65).
{63}“It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life. {64}But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who would betray Him. {65}And He said, “Therefore I have said to you that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted to him by My Father.”
Paul bent his knees before the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ when he prayed for the Ephesian Christians (Eph. 3:14ff).
Every spiritual blessing ultimately comes from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to Paul’s view (Eph. 1:3ff), which of course agrees with James’ understanding as well (James 1:17f), who speaks of the “Father of lights” who “does not change” and from whom we receive every good gift.
Ancient Symbols
Nicene Creed
- We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth and of all things visible and invisible. (Nicene Creed)
Athanasian Creed
- The Father is one person. (Athanasian Creed)
- The Father is uncreated…infinite…eternal…almighty. (Athanasian Creed)
- The Father is God. (Athanasian Creed)
- The Father is not made nor created nor begotten by anyone. (Athanasian Creed)
- There is one Father, not three Fathers. (Athanasian Creed)
Small Catechism
Since God the Father Almighty is also “maker of heaven and earth,” I have warrant to believe that He has made me and all creatures, that He has given me all my faculties of mind and body, that He amply provides me with daily sustenance and all creaturely gifts, that He defends me against all dangers, and that He does all these things for no good that He finds in me, but rather “only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy.”