Our Father

The Bible refers to God in many ways. He is of course the Creator,[i] but the Scriptures also describe him as a judge,[ii] a king,[iii] a shepherd,[iv] and a friend.[v] The prophets Hosea, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel compare God to a husband with an unfaithful wife.[vi] The most common name for God in the Old Testament is “Yahweh” (also spelled as “Jehovah”), which is used more than 6,000 times. This name is usually translated as “Lord.”[vii] But in the New Testament another name for God becomes prominent—Father.[viii]

The New Testament writers often refer to God as the Father of Jesus Christ.[ix] They also call him “Father”[x] or “the Father.”[xi] But more important for our purposes are the many New Testament references to God as our Father.[xii] For example, Jesus says:

“But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven.”

—Matthew 5:44-45

Of course, if God is our Father, then we must be his children, as John says:

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be.

—1 John 3:1-2[xiii]

Similarly, Paul calls us God’s adopted children.[xiv] God uses this analogy[xv] of parent-child to illustrate his relationship with us because of the unique nature of the parent-child relationship, which is like no other in human society. . . .

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[i]. See Genesis chapters 1-2. See also Ecclesiastes 12:1, Isaiah 27:11, 40:28, 43:1, 43:15; Romans 1:25; and 1 Peter 4:19.

[ii]. See Genesis 18:25; Judges 11:27; Job 23:7; Psalms 7:11, 50:6, 75:7, 94:2; Isaiah 33:22; 2 Timothy 4:8; Hebrews 12:23; and James 5:9. Many other verses, too numerous to list, speak of God judging people. See, for example, 1 Samuel 2:10; 1 Chronicles 16:33; and Psalms 9:8, 67:4, 96:10.

[iii]. See Psalms 5:2, 10:16, 24:7-10, 29:10, 44:4, 47:2, 47:6-7, 68:24, 84:3, 95:3, 98:6, 145:1, 149:2; Isaiah 6:5, 33:22, 41:21, 43:15, 44:6; Jeremiah 8:19, 10:7, 10:10, 46:18, 48:15, 51:57; Daniel 4:37; Zephaniah 3:15; Zechariah 14:9, 14:16-17; Malachi 1:14; Matthew 2:2, 25:34, 25:40; 1 Timothy 1:17, 6:15; Revelation 15:3, 17:14, 19:16. (And see Zechariah 9:9, Matthew 21:5, and John 12:15.)

[iv]. See Genesis 49:24; Psalms 23:1, 28:9, 80:1; Isaiah 40:11; Jeremiah 31:10; Ezekiel 34:12; Matthew 26:31 (quoting Zechariah 13:7); Mark 14:27; John 10:11-14; Hebrews 13:20; 1 Peter 2:25, 5:4; Revelation 7:17.

[v]. See 2 Chronicles 20:7; Isaiah 41:8; Jeremiah 3:4; John 15:13-15.

[vi]. The wife is, of course, the people of Israel and Judah, who were unfaithful to God. See Hosea 1:2, 2:2, 2:5-8, 2:10, 2:13; Jeremiah 3:1-2, 31:31-32; and Ezekiel 16:15-32. God is also compared to a husband in Isaiah 54:5-6, 2 Corinthians 11:2, and Revelation 21:2.

[vii]. In Genesis alone, God is referred to as “Jehovah,” or “Lord,” in 148 different verses: Genesis 2:4-5, 2:7-9, 2:15-16, 2:18-19, 2:21-22, 3:1, 3:8-9, 3:13-14, 3:21-23, 4:1, 4:3-4, 4:6, 4:9, 4:13, 4:15-16, 4:26, 5:29, 6:3,. 6:5-8, 7:1, 7:5, 7:16, 8:20-21, 9:26, 10:9, 11:5-6, 11:8-9, 12:1, 12:4, 12:7-8, 12:17, 13:4, 13:10, 13:13-14, 13:18, 14:22, 15:1-2, 15:4, 15:6-8, 15:18, 16:2, 16:5, 16:7, 16:9-11, 16:13, 17:1, 18:1, 18:13-14, 18:17, 18:19-20, 18:22, 18:26-27, 18:30-33, 19:13-14, 19:16, 19:24, 19:27, 20:4, 20:18, 21:1, 21:33, 22:11, 22:14-16, 24:1, 24:3, 24:7, 24:12, 24:21, 24:26-27, 24:31, 24:35, 24:40, 24:42, 24:44, 24:48, 24:50-52, 24:56, 25:21-23, 26:2, 26:12, 26:22, 26:24-25, 26:28-29, 27:7, 27:20, 27:27, 28:13, 28:16, 28:21, 29:31-33, 29:35, 30:24, 30:27, 30:30, 31:3, 31:49, 32:9, 38:7, 38:10, 39:2-3, 39:5, 39:21, 39:23, 49:18.

[viii]. Only one book of the New Testament—the very short 3rd letter of John—fails to refer to God as Father. God is also sometimes represented as a Father in the Old Testament. See, for example: Deuteronomy 32:6; Psalms 68:5; Isaiah 9:6, 63:16, 64:8; Jeremiah 3:4, 3:19, 31:9.

[ix]. See Matthew 7:21, 10:32-33, 11:25-27, 12:50, 15:13, 16:17, 16:27, 18:10, 18:19, 18:35, 20:23, 25:31-34, 26:39, 26:42, 26:53; Mark 8:38; Luke 10:21-22, 22:28-30, 24:49; John 5:17, 5:18, 6:32, 6:40, 8:19, 8:38, 8:49, 8:54, 10:18, 10:29-30, 10:37, 14:7, 14:20-21, 14:23, 15:1, 15:8, 15:15, 15:23-24, 20:17; Romans 15:6; 2 Corinthians 1:3, 11:31, Ephesians 1:3; Colossians 1:3; 1 Peter 1:3; 2 Peter 1:17; 1 John 1:3, 2:22-24, 4:14; 2 John 1:3, 1:9; Revelation 1:6, 2:27, 3:5, 3:21, 14:1.

[x]. See Mark 14:36; Luke 22:41-42, 23:34, 23:46; John 8:41-42, 11:41, 12:28, 17:1, 17:5, 17:11, 17:21, 17:24-25; Ephesians 4:6; Hebrews 1:5, 2:11.

[xi]. See Matthew 24:36, 28:19; Mark 13:32; Luke 9:26; John 1:14, 1:18, 3:35, 4:21-23, 5:19-23, 5:26, 5:36-37, 5:45, 6:27, 6:37, 6:44-46, 6:57, 6:65, 8:16, 8:18, 8:27-28, 10:15, 10:17, 10:32, 10:36, 10:38, 12:26, 12:49-50, 13:1, 13:3, 14:6, 14:8-13, 14:16, 14:26, 14:28, 14:31, 15:9, 15:16, 15:26, 16:3, 16:10, 16:15, 16:17, 16:23, 16:25-28, 16:32, 18:11, 20:21; Acts 1:4, 1:7, 2:33; Romans 6:4; 1 Corinthians 8:6, 15:24; Galatians 1:1; Ephesians 1:17, 2:18, 3:14, 5:20, 6:23; Philippians 2:11; Colossians 1:12, 3:17; 1 Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians 1:2; 1 Timothy 1:2; 2 Timothy 1:2; Titus 1:4; James 1:17; 1 Peter 1:2; 1 John 1:2, 2:1, 2:13, 2:15-16; 2 John 1:4; Jude 1:1.

[xii]. See Matthew 5:16, 5:44-45, 5:48, 6:1, 6:3-4, 6:6, 6:8, 6:9, 6:14-15, 6:17-18, 6:26, 6:32, 7:11, 10:20, 10:29, 13:43, 18:14, 23:9; Mark 11:25-26; Luke 6:36, 11:13, 12:30, 12:32; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2, 6:18; Galatians 1:3-4; Ephesians 1:2; Philippians 1:2, 4:20; Colossians 1:2; 1 Thessalonians 1:3, 3:11, 3:13; 2 Thessalonians 1:1, 2:16; Philemon 1:3; James 1:27, 3:9.

[xiii]. See also John 1:12, 11:52; Acts 17:28-29; Romans 8:15-17, 8:21, 9:8; 2 Corinthians 6:18; Galatians 4:4-7; Philippians 2:15; Hebrews 12:7-10; 1 Peter 1:14; 1 John 3:10, 5:1, 5:2.

[xiv]. Romans 8:15-17

[xv]. Whether you believe that the New Testament writings were penned by God through the hand of men, or by men under God’s inspiration, or were simply written by men with a deep understanding of God and His ways, I believe the result is the same: God was the ultimate source of those writings.