God the Father

God the Father
RELATED TOPICS	Trinity
SERMONS, ESSAYS AND OPINIONS
CONTENTS

God has revealed himself to us as a loving creator, who desires us to have an unbreakable personal relationship with him; and we can come to him and call him Father.

God the Father also refers to his role as the first person of the Godhead and father of his only Son, Jesus. This is part of the great mystery of the Trinity where God has shown that he is three yet one such that the Father is God, the Son (Jesus) is God, and the Holy Spirit is God.

To Christians, God the Father's relationship with humanity is as a father to children. To Christians, God the Father's relationship with humanity is that of Creator and created beings, and in that respect he is the father of all. The New Testament says, in this sense, that the very idea of family, wherever it appears, derives its name from God the Father (Ephesians 3:15), and thus God himself is the model of the family.

However, there is a deeper sense in which Christians are made participants in the eternal relationship of Father and Son, through Jesus Christ. Christians are adopted children of God as explained in Galatians 4:4-7

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law,

that he might redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of children.

And because you are children, God sent out the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba, Father!"

So you are no longer a bondservant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

God's gender

The expressions "God the Father" and "God our Father" appear frequently in the New Testament. These references are metaphoric rather than literal. God is father-like in many aspects -- or more correctly, fathers are God-like in many aspects. Just as fatherhood is derived from certain parts of God's character so also is motherhood derived from certain parts of God's character.

God is spirit and has no gender. Maleness and femaleness were created by God and these concepts can only be applied to God metaphorically. God is indeed the father of all things, yet God is not male.

Links

• ReformedWord - God the father

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