CAMPUS CHURCH BIBLE SCHOOL

Module 4. The nature of God: (2) the Father

4.1. INTRODUCTION

Modules 1 and 2 laid the foundation, namely, that the Bible is the sole and sufficient source of truth and information about God’s Person, purpose and works. We are now considering what the Bible teaches about the nature of God. Module 3 was devoted to the Trinity. In the current module our subject is God the Father. 

God is referred to as 'Father' throughout both Testaments but the word is used in two distinct ways — firstly in a generic sense and secondly in a personal sense.

4.2. 'FATHER' AS A GENERIC TERM APPLIED TO GOD

•	When used generically it means that God is the source of life — the ultimate progenitor of all and thus by analogy the 'Father' of all.  
“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” (Malachi 2:10).
“... the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God” (Luke 3:38).
“ For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device” (Acts 17:28-29).

•	It is in this generic sense that angels are called 'sons of God' (Job 1:6 even including Satan) and, by contrast, that the Christ can be described as “the mighty God, the everlasting Father [i.e. the source of all life]” (Isa. 9:6).

•	The same applies in a more restricted sense to the Jewish nation of the OT. Isaiah declares; “Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, and Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O LORD, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name ... But now, O LORD, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand” (Isa. 63:16; 64:8). “Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn” (Ex. 4:22). 

•	Finally, God is pictured in the OT as behaving like a father, e.g. Ps. 103: “As a father pities his children, So the LORD pities those who fear Him”. Although this is an analogy rather than a title, it shows that the title is not merely formal but that God's fatherhood is a practical reality to those who wait upon Him, as we shall see.

4.3. THE FATHER AS A PERSON OF THE TRINITY

i) In the OT

•	As we saw in module 3, Christianity emphasises the 'otherness' of God, viewing God’s nature as uniquely different from man’s — the One true God exists in three distinct Persons. This in a unique view of the divine nature, not even hinted at in any other religion. By Persons we do not mean ‘personas’ (the same person in three different guises) nor do we mean ‘persons’ (three distinct divine people). Thus there is no analogy we can use to describe the triune nature of God.

•	While there are many pointers to the Trinity in the OT, and the Deity of the Messiah is clearly taught there, the OT doesn't use the word 'father' to signify the Person of the Godhead so described in the NT. No such identification is found among the many names and titles given to God in the OT — these all seem to refer either to the Triune God or sometimes explicitly to the Christ or Messiah. However, it is likely that there is a reference to the First Person of the Godhead in Exodus 33:20 (“Please, show me Your glory” ... But [the LORD] said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.”)

•	Another case where the OT seems to distinguish between the First and Second Persons is Daniel 7:13;  “I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him” (Compare Rev. 5:1-7).

•	The relationship between the Father and the other Persons of the Trinity will be dealt with in the modules that follow (on the Son and the Spirit respectively). below we consider the relationship between the Father and the believer as it is revealed in the NT.

ii) The transcendence of the Father

•	The NT makes it clear that God the Father is a transcendent being who, unlike the Son, cannot be 'seen' or approached by mortal man (compare Moses' request above). John 1:18  “No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him”. (repeated in 1 John 4:12). That is why Jesus has to say, “He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” (John 14:9).

•	In 1 Tim. 6:15-16 Paul describes the Father (not the Son) as “He who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honour and everlasting power. Amen”. Again, Heb. 12:28-29 says  “... let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire”.

•	The 'unapproachable light' and 'burning fire' emphasise the holiness of God as well as his transcendence. This, of course, is in common with the OT (e.g. Isa. 57:15; “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: 'I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (emphasis added).

iii) Worship and prayer

•	Although Christians worship the Triune God, Jesus directs our worship specifically towards the Father. John 4:23; “But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him”. 

•	Similarly, Jesus taught his disciples to pray to the Father; Matt. 6:6; “But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly”. Matt. 6:9; “In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name”.

•	However, it is clearly not wrong to worship the other Persons of the Trinity or to pray to them; but the Father should normally be the focus of our worship and the one addressed in prayer, for Jesus says, “My Father is greater than all” (John 10:29). We must be careful not to so focus on Christ or the Spirit as to ignore the Father. 

iv) Knowing the Father

If the Father dwells in unapproachable light, how can we know him — as we must? (Jn. 17:3; “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent”). The answer is clearly 'through Jesus Christ'. Matt. 11:27;  “Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to reveal Him”. Jn. 14:6-11 [look up]. 

It is because we are in Christ that we have access to the Father. Eph. 2:18; “For through Him we both [Jew and Gentile] have access by one Spirit to the Father”. 

v) The Father and salvation

The love of the Father. Jn. 3:16-17; “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved”. The love of the Father gives rise to the mission of Christ. 1 Jn. 4:14; “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Saviour of the world”.

Election and predestination. Eph. 1:4; “He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He has made us accepted in the Beloved”. It was the Father who gave to Christ his sheep (Jn. 10:29)

Adoption. See previous para. Believers are adopted as the Father’s children (Jn.1:12). Rom. 8:14-16; “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father’. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God ...” See also Gal: 4: 4-7; “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son ... to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, ‘Abba, Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ’.

Provision. Adoption leads to provision.

(i) Eternally; “... and if children, then heirs — heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together”. 

(ii) Materially/socially; Matt. 6:32; “your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things”. Matt. 7:11; "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him! Matt. 6:11;  “Give us this day our daily bread”.

(iii) Spiritually; Eph. 1: 3; “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ ...”. Heb. 12:6-10; “For whom the LORD loves He chastens, And scourges every son whom He receives. ... Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect. Shall we not much more readily be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live? For they indeed for a few days chastened us as seemed best to them, but He for our profit, that we may be partakers of His holiness”.