For many reasons, it is impossible for people truly to conceive of God as Father apart from his revealing himself to us in Jesus Christ through the Spirit. But once he has so revealed himself, we cannot ignore it. The Fatherhood of God is of first importance in the Christian life. Jesus taught us to pray to his Father as “Our Father.” David Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “The essence of true prayer is found in these two words, ‘Our Father.’ If you can say from your heart, whatever your condition, ‘Our Father,’ in a sense your prayer is already answered.” The point of the Apostles’ Creed is to distill out the biblical essence of what it means to be Christian, and to be Christian means knowing God as “Our Father.”
We know God as “Our Father” because he is “The Father.” We have this relationship with him because he is who he is. (In fact, we have such things as fathers because he is who he is—the Father.) In his being, God is personal and relational. He is the kind of God who has relationships with his creatures, who makes himself known to them as their Father, because he is the kind of God that is Father even before creating anyone else to be children. God has revealed that he is not just father-like, and not just a father, but the Father. Before all things he is God, the Father of the Son in the unity of the Holy Spirit. “Father” is the proper name of the first Person of the eternal Trinity. “Father” describes more than what he does in the world, but it describes his nature, who he is, all worlds aside. This Father would love his Son in the Spirit even if there were no universe; his fatherly love is the reason for the universe; and his fatherly love rests upon the Church—upon you, if you are a Christian.
How do we know that God is Father? What are some reasons why it may be counterintuitive for people to consider God the Father as he truly is? Why is it difficult for you to hold on to that truth? Has this foundational tenet of Christianity changed your life? If so, how? How can this understanding of God correct our wrong conceptions of religion, even as Christians who already believe the Gospel? Compare and contrast this God with the gods of other major religions. Does your belief in God the Father influence the way you share your faith with others?
