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The ways of the Father and the Son are developed in the Gospel of John. The Father’s will is to share with us the same quality of relationship that He has with the Son. Indeed, God shares more than a relationship with us. He shares eternal life with us. For John 3:36 says: The one continually believing upon the Son has eternal life, but the one continually disbelieving the Son shall not begin to see life, but the wrath of God continually remains upon him. We participate in more than divine-human relationship; we participate in eternal life. Eternal life encompasses not only time, but a quality and way of life. Trinitarianism, the Christian belief that God is one God who is manifest in three co-existing Persons, is very practical. As we relate to these three Persons our lives are enriched and we develop a sense of relationship to the Trinity. We learn through the experience that we have a “Dad” in heaven. This is based upon the Person of God the Father as shown in Scripture. Ephesians 3:14-15 emphasizes this important point: On account of this I am bowing my knees to the Father, from whom every family in the heavens and upon the earth takes its significance, or its name. Every family that exists derives its form from God as a Father within the Trinity. God did not say within Himself, "Since the earthly family already exists, and in order to communicate with humanity, we are going to pretend that I am a Father, Jesus is a Son, and the Holy Spirit is the divine Helper." It was not that way at all. God is not going to pretend that; He is that. Instead, He said, "When We create the universe, it will be based on a family pattern, like Us, where there is a Father, a Son and a Holy Spirit." The question naturally arises: Where does the female gender fit in? Genesis chapters 1 and 2 give the answer. These chapters teach that God the Trinity has both feminine and masculine characteristics. The feminine aspects were created into the woman, while the masculine aspects were created into the man. Both man and woman are absolutely equal in worth, value, intelligence, and will. One is feminine and one is masculine, but both reflect the nature of God. God has no problem saying, "I am like a nursing mother to Israel" (Isaiah 49:15). Moreover, to have a true picture of what God is like in the Trinity, we need to have persons of equal worth and significance in relationship, like a husband and wife. The church has had no difficulty assuming that God has feminine and masculine characteristics. In fact, believers should have no problem with the following statement: God is far more compassionate and nurturing than the most compassionate and nurturing of women, and God is far more courageous and purposeful than the most courageous and purposeful of men. Christ’s compassionate courage has won the loyalty of our hearts, and the Father’s nurturing discipline has won our allegiance. The first thing of significance about God as a Father is that He is supposed to be sanctified, or set apart, in our thinking and in our relationship to Him. The Father should not be confused with the Son or the Holy Spirit. Christians are Trinitarian, not Unitarian. Trinitarianism is theologically a very significant belief, because it is based upon the reality of the relationship among the three members of the Trinity. In Matthew 6:9, Christ introduces to the disciples how to set God the Father apart in prayer. The passage has been called the Lord's Prayer. Christ begins in verse 5 by telling his disciples where to pray. In verse 7 he tells them not to use pointless repetitions as the heathen do. In verse 8, he says: Don't then, be like them [the heathen, who use a lot of words]. For God the Father knows the needs that you have before you ask Him. Therefore then, you are commanded to be continually praying this way. Jesus' prayer is not designed for verbal word-by-word repetition. Instead, prayer is designed as a set of issues, which should be faced every time a person prays. New Testament prayer is issues-oriented and not time-oriented. What matters is the struggle of the heart with significant issues, not the amount of time spent. Five issues are included in this prayer, and the first issue, in verse 9, gives us instruction about setting God the Father apart: Our Father, the one in the heavens, let your character, works, and reputation be set apart by me. Jesus is saying that the way to approach God the Father in prayer is by asking him to help us "separate out" His name, character, works, and reputation (because that is what the word sometimes translated as "hallowed" means). Christ was teaching His disciples to define a picture of God the Father. He wanted his disciples to make an issue out of the Father’s character, works, and reputation, and to let them be sanctified. Sanctification simply means to be separated unto something. He wanted them to separate the Father in their minds, to have a clear picture of Him. Often as I pray I make it a practice to address the issue of God as Father. I'll talk it over with Him and work at it until I have a clear picture. Prayer does not revolve around time, but a sincere grappling with issues, such as the significance of God as our Father. Another point concerning God as our Father can be illustrated by Matthew 23:8-10. Christ was telling His disciples the difference between Pharisaism and Christianity. Pharisaism was the most conservative form of popular Judaism in Christ’s time. Christ attacked Pharisaism as a religion because it did not make a significant issue about what was going on inside a person. Outward appearances were what mattered. Christianity, on the other hand, is preoccupied with what is going on inside a person. Without speaking in hyperbole or metaphor, Christ gave a very simple, straightforward command: And don't you call anyone 'Rabbi,' for there is one teacher for you, and all of you are brethren. And don't you call any person upon the earth 'father.' For there is one Father for you, the heavenly one. And don't you call anyone way-showers [guides], because your way-shower is one, the Christ. The followers of the Pharisees were originally dependent on their earthly fathers for spiritual instruction. Then, they switched their allegiance to the rabbis and called them "Father." Christ forbade this. If a person takes this command seriously, he or she will have a crisis. Why? Because he will have to sort out earthly relationships. How good or ineffective an earthly father or earthly teacher is does not make any difference. The crisis comes from trying to understand how to obey a command that says, "Don't call anyone father." What does a person do with that? How can he respond to it? What does Christ really mean? Part of the characteristic teaching method of Jesus Christ was to create a crisis within people. The purpose of this tension was to force a person to work through the implications of having a relationship with God and with Jesus. He creates the tension here by simply saying, "Don't call anyone Father." A person is stuck, because the next time he meets with his dad or thinks about his dad, he has to say to himself, "Jesus has commanded me not to call you Father, so I've got to do something with you." A godly father would understand that. Remember when Jesus was inside teaching, and all of His relatives showed up outside of the house (Matthew 12:46-50)? Someone in the crowd came up to Him and said, "Your mother, your brothers, and your sisters are outside." Jesus' candid answer was, "You are my mother and brothers and sisters. For anyone who does the will of God is my mother and brother and sister, for we have become common brothers and sisters underneath the Fatherhood of God.” The prior relationships of the family of origin are negated because we have met the ultimate and intended Father. The Fatherhood of God is not a belief to be restricted to the stained-glass cloisters of the church building, but it is an experience meant to change our entire life.
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any adults desperately need to be
reparented as adults, because when they were children, healthy
parenting did not take place. Biblical Christianity offers the
opportunity. In the Bible, the first member of the Trinity is
the healthiest Dad. Christianity not only presents the Father
God as having righteous character, but also as being caring and
nurturing. These qualities are presented all through the New
Testament, but they are particularly found in the
Gospel of John. The word
‘Father’ used for God occurs approximately two hundred and sixty
times in the New Testament. Nearly one third, or one hundred
and seventeen times, the word ‘Father’ is found in the Gospel of
John. That is more than any other New Testament book.
