Faith Bible Fellowship

Dear friends,

When a baby first begins to speak the sounds “ma” and “pa” seem to come easily. The word Father means many different ideas – procreator, provider, protector, authority, founder, – the word in Latin and Greek is Pater – the “pa” maybe of baby talk. The first Person of the Trinity is ‘Father’. The Father is not the Son and the Spirit is not the Father, yet they all have the same attributes and are made of the same “stuff” as it were. In what sense is God called Father which would include all three persons as in James 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. So also in Hebrews 12: 9…we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live?
How is God, as a Trinity, like a father? In what sense as He ‘begotten’ the Son? Israel has God as its Father as seen in Malachi 1:6 “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of hosts to you, or 2:10 Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning the covenant of our fathers?
Look at the nine uses of ‘father’ in John 8:38 I speak of what I have seen with my Father, and you do what you have heard from your father.”
39 They answered him, “Abraham is our father.” Jesus said to them, “If you were Abraham’s children, you would be doing the works Abraham did, 40 but now you seek to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. This is not what Abraham did. 41 You are doing the works your father did.” They said to him, “We were not born of sexual immorality. We have one Father—even God.” 42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I came from God and I am here. I came not of my own accord, but he sent me. 43 Why do you not understand what I say? It is because you cannot bear to hear my word. 44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Since Jesus is God, how can he have a father? God is our father, as believers, yet he is also the Father of Jesus who calls Him God and Father. We must learn what the Scriptures teach about God as Father of all, father of Christ, our father, and father of the Jews. We must learn how the Father is distinguished from the Son and the Spirit and in what way he is approached as a Daddy who hears, helps and understands. Please have a relaxed and joyful holiday and reflect on having God as our heavenly Father.

See you Sunday,

Lee