The Christian revelation that God is Holy Trinity is firmly established in Jesus’ commission to his disciples: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit” (Matthew 28:19). This is remarkable when we realize that God is called “Father” less than a dozen times in the Old Testament. However, the “fatherhood” of God is woven throughout message of the New Testament. But what does it mean to confess, “I believe in God the Father?”
God is Father by virtue of creation. “So God created human beings in his own image. In the image of God he created them; male and female he created them” (Genesis 1:27 NLT). The creation narrative tells us that God “formed the man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life” (Genesis 2:7). Nowhere in Scripture is God the Father depicted as sexed or gendered. Yes, the term “Father” is masculine, but we should not press created attributes upon the uncreated nature of God. The term “Father” speaks of God’s relationship to humanity as Creator (cf. Malachi 2:10). The fatherhood of God is a theological icon, symbol, or metaphor. To speak of God as a literal father is an error because it suggests that humanity shares in the uncreated divine nature, that God’s substance is transmitted through a procreative process. To use the language of Genesis, God did not procreate humanity according to God’s “kind”. To use the language of biology, God and humans are not of the same species, genus, or order. God transcends biological classification. The substance of God is uncreated glory. The substance of humanity is dirt. According to Genesis, humans are clay images of God, animated by the breath of God. The prophet Isaiah declared, “But now, Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter, and all of us are the work of Your hand” (Isaiah 64:8).
God is Father by virtue of redemption. The great story of the Old Testament is the redemption of Israel. The people of Israel were enslaved by the Egyptians. In their bondage, they cried out to God and God acted to deliver them. God is the “Father who has purchased” Israel, the God who established Israel as “a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Deuteronomy 32:6; Exodus 19:6). It is because of God’s saving acts that the Psalmist sings out, “You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation!” (Psalm 89:26). Isaiah declared, “You, Lord, are our Father, our Redeemer from ancient times is Your name” (Isaiah 63:16). This theme is expanded throughout the New Testament. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus reminds us that God is “Our Father” (Matthew 5:16, 45, 48; 6:1, 4, 6, 8-9, 14, et al). And Peter declared that we are “chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father… who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope (1 Peter 1:2-3). Here the term “Father” speaks to God’s saving work.
God is Father by virtue of adoption. “I will announce the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son, Today I have fathered You” (Psalm 2:7). Psalm 2 is a coronation hymn which speaks to the relationship between Yahweh and the Davidic king. God’s promise to David was “I will be a father to him and he will be a son to Me” (2 Samuel 7:14). This signifies the covenantal relationship between Yahweh and the united twelve tribes of Israel under the rule of David. The act of adoption is effected by divine decree. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul builds upon the concept of adoption: “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons and daughters of God… you have received a spirit of adoption as sons and daughters by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!” (Romans 8:14-15). In the ancient Roman world, adoption was a process by which a slave, or other non-franchised person, could become a member of a Roman family, and even inherit the family estate. As an adopted heir the relationship is transformed from slave/master to child/father. As children of God, we are “heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ… that we may also be glorified with Him (Romans 8:17). Adoption implies a change of filial status: “you were once not a people, but now you are the people of God; you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy” (1 Peter 2:10).
God is the Father of the Son. It is here, in discerning the intra-trinitarian relationship between Father and Son that we discover the essence of God as Father. The Son is eternally uncreated with the Father (John 1:1). The Son is uniquely and eternally begotten from the Father which signifies a relationship unique to the Father and Son (John 1:14, 18; 3:16). Only the Son (and Spirit) share the uncreated substance of the Father (John 10:30). The Father and Son are equally honored and glorified, and share a singular divine will (John 3:35; 5:19-20, 23; 17:1, 5, 10, 21). The relationship between God the Father and God the Son transcends that of human father and son in that the human father precedes the son, and the procreation of the son requires a sexual act with a female. A human father can sire a son, but cannot birth a son. Therefore, it is a mistake to think of God in terms of gender or sexuality. We must admit the limitation of human analogies (anthropomorphisms) in reference to God.
We should keep in mind that the Incarnation of the Son refers to the union of uncreated God with created humanity. The Lukan narrative of the virginal conception does not employ the language of God as Father, but rather: “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; for that reason also the holy Child will be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35). The conception of the Christchild in the womb of Mary is not effected by a sexual act of God the Father with the human virgin. Instead, the Holy Spirit miraculously, uniquely, and asexually effects the virginal conception. In ancient mythology, the impregnation of a human female by a male god was common. If Luke, under divine inspiration, resisted the pagan notion of a male deity impregnating the Virgin Mary, then we too should resist sexual distinctions within Holy Trinity. A faithful confession of God as Father does not require believing that God is a masculine, sexed deity.
Next blog will be posted October 18: “Sometimes Feminine Imagery is Used to Talk about God”
