God the Father
From Christianity Knowledge Base
God the Father, the first person of the Trinity, created the universe and revealed his name as "I am" YHWH to Moses. Besides being the creator and nurturer of creation, and the provider for his people as revealed in the Old Testament, the New Testament shows us that God the Father has an eternal relation to his only Son, Jesus which implies an exclusive and intimate familiarity that is of their very nature: "No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and any one to whom the Son chooses to reveal him." (Matthew 11:27). In Christian theology, this is the revelation of a sense in which Fatherhood is inherent to God's very nature.
Although God may be said to be Father of all in the sense that he is the Creator of all, the special personal relationship as father is more restricted. God was the father of the nation Israel in the Old Testament in that he chose to set his love on them and set them apart from other nations and peoples. God is the father of Christians in the sense that they are set apart by his sovereign election and indwelt with his Spirit. Thus, Christians are called children of God (cf. John 1:12) in a sense which does not apply to all people.
Christians are made participants in the eternal relationship of Father and Son, through Jesus Christ. Christians are adopted children of God:
- "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts crying out, 'Abba, Father!' Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." (Galatians 4:4-7)
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- God the Father by Dustin Shramek
| This page uses content from Theopedia, which favors a Calvinistic/Reform POV. The original article was at God the Father. The list of authors can be seen in the page history. As with the Christianity Knowledge Base, the text of Theopedia is available under the GNU Free Documentation License. |
