6/28/2023 0 Comments Let your name be a byword![]() More often, God is referred to as Father in a defending, saving context: "He will call out to me, 'You are my Father, my God, the Rock my Savior.'" (Psalms 89:26) "But you are our Father, though Abraham does not know us or Israel acknowledge us you, O L ORD, are our Father, our Redeemer from of old is your name." (Isaiah 63:16) "They will come with weeping they will pray as I bring them back. We are the clay, you are the potter we are all the work of your hand." (Isaiah 64:8, NIV)Ī couple of times God describes himself as Father to the king who will be his son (1 Chronicles 17:13 22:10). ![]() God is referred to as Father in the creative (not exactly biologically begetting) sense only twice: "Is this the way you repay the L ORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made you and formed you?" (Deuteronomy 32:6, NIV) "Yet, O L ORD, you are our Father. Contrast that to the New Testament, where Jesus refers to God as Father hundreds of times in the Gospels and the Apostles refer to God as Father scores of times in the remainder of the New Testament. This is striking, since "father" is a metaphor used to describe God by nearly all ancient peoples. I count only ten verses in all the Old Testament. I was startled to discover is that God is seldom referred to as Father in the Old Testament. I spent several hours looking at all the references to Father in the Bible. Both these characteristics are also present when a deity is described or addressed as father." 1 God as Father in the Old Testament On the other hand, he has the responsibility of guarding, supporting, and helping the other members. On the one hand, the father rules as head of the household and the person to whom most respect is due, having absolute authority over his family. Only when can we do that, can we appreciate and comprehend what it means to call God our Father.Īs Otfried Hofius puts it: "In the patriarchal societies of antiquity, the father figure is endowed with two particular characteristics. What I am asking you to do is to suspend your twenty-first century bias concerning the role of father, so that you can understand what "father" means in the Bible. In this study I am not asking you to return to a patriarchal society. For most of history and in most cultures of the world, fathers have been the primary figure in families. A century ago women couldn't vote or inherit property in some states. ![]() Though twenty-first century America stresses gender equality and the rights of women, this is relatively new. If we are to understand the term "Father" in the Bible, we must be willing to explore a different culture than our own. Along with Father and Abba, we'll look at other metaphors of relationship, such as Husband, God of our fathers, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Let's take some time and examine this metaphor for GodĪs Father. Perhaps the most familiar Christian concept of God is as Father, for God is addressed the Lord's Prayer as "Our Father, who art in heaven." When we look at Jesus' own terminology, "Father" is by far his most frequent term for God. Stanislaw Wyspianski (Polish painter and playwright, 1869-1907), God the Father stained glass window (1897-1902), St Francis Basilica, Cracow, Poland.
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