Jesus Called God By Father In Scripture
Jesus frequently referred to God as "Father," a practice that underscores both his unique relationship with God and the nature of God's relationship with humanity [1, 10]. This designation is central to Christian theology, reflecting God's role as creator, provider, and the ultimate source of all things [3, 4].
The term "Father" carries multiple layers of meaning in biblical contexts. It can refer to an ancestor, a title of respect for a leader, or the originator of something [3]. In the Old Testament, God is called "Father" in relation to the Israelites, signifying His covenantal relationship with them [3]. For instance, names like Eliab ("God is my father") and Abiah ("the Lord is my father") reflect this understanding [5, 7].
Jesus' use of "Father" for God, however, highlights a distinct and intimate relationship. He speaks of God as "My Father" and teaches his disciples to pray to "our Father" [1, 12]. This emphasizes a filial connection, where believers, through Christ, can also experience God as their Father [2, 6, 12]. The Heidelberg Catechism explains that Christ commanded this to foster "childlike reverence and trust" in prayer, assuring believers that God, like a good parent, will provide for those who ask in faith [12].
Early Christian writers, such as Tertullian, affirmed that the God of the Old Testament, the Creator, is indeed the Father of Jesus Christ, countering heretical views that posited a different deity [10, 13]. Tertullian highlights Jesus' own words in the Gospel of John, where Jesus calls God "just Father," further solidifying this identity [9]. Other patristic authors, like Novatian, emphasized that Christ is God, born of the Father, and that this divine sonship was perceived as blasphemous by some Jewish contemporaries, leading them to attempt stoning Jesus [11]. The apostle John records Jesus stating, "If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God" [1]. This statement underscores Jesus' divine origin and his unique relationship with the Father.
The designation "Father of glory" is also used, as seen in Ephesians 1:17, referring to God as the source of infinite glory that shines through Christ [8]. This title connects God's fatherhood with His majestic and glorious nature.
Sources
- John “Therefore Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love me, for I came out and have come from God. For I haven’t come of myself, but he sent me. -- John 8:42”
- I John “I John 5:1 (LEB) — Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been fathered by God, and everyone who loves ⌞the father⌟ also loves the child fathered by him.”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Father — A name applied (1) to any ancestor (Deut. 1:11; 1 Kings 15:11; Matt. 3:9; 23:30, etc.); and (2) as a title of respect to a chief, ruler, or elder, etc. (Judg. 17:10; 18:19; 1 Sam. 10:12; 2 Kings 2:12; Matt. 23:9, etc.). (3) The author or beginner of anything is also so called; e.g., Jabal and Jubal (Gen. 4:20, 21; comp. Job 38:28). Applied to God (Ex. 4:22; Deut. 32:6; 2 Sam. 7:14; Ps. 89:27, 28, etc.). (1.) As denoting his covenant relation to the Jews (Jer. 31:9; Isa. 63:16; 64:8; John 8:41, etc.). (2.) Believers are called God's "sons" (John 1:12; Rom. 8:”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Father — The position and authority of the father as the head of the family are expressly assumed and sanctioned in Scripture, as a likeness of that of the Almighty over his creatures. It lies of course at the root of that so-called patriarchal government, (Genesis 3:16; 1 Corinthians 11:3) which was introductory to the more definite systems which followed, and which in part, but not wholly, superseded it. The father's blessing was regarded as conferring special benefit, but his malediction special injury, on those on whom it fell, (Genesis 9:25,27; 27:27-40; 48:15,20”
- Hitchcock's Bible Names “Hitchcock's Bible Names: Eliab — God is my father; God is the father”
- 1 John “1 John 5:1 (NASB) — Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and whoever loves the Father loves the child born of Him.”
- Hitchcock's Bible Names “Hitchcock's Bible Names: Abiah — the Lord is my father”
- Ephesians (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Ephesians 1:17: A fit prayer for all Christians. the God of our Lord Jesus--appropriate title here; as in Eph 1:20-22 he treats of God's raising Jesus to be Head over all things to the Church. Jesus Himself called the Father "My God" (Mat 27:46). the Father of glory--(Compare Act 7:2). The Father of that infinite glory which shines in the face of Christ, who is "the glory" (the true Shekinah); through whom also "the glory of the inheritance" (Eph 1:18) shall be ours (Joh 17:24; 2Co. 3:7-4:6). the spirit of wisdom--whose attribute is infinite wisdom and who wo”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 4: Tertullian IV, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen — CHAP. V.--ON JUSTICE AND GOODNESS. (part 8): Finally, in the Gospel according to John, our Lord Himself, when praying to the Father, says, "O just Father, the world hath not known Thee."[4] And lest perhaps they should say that it was owing to His having assumed human flesh that He called the Creator of the world "Father," and styled Him "Just," they are excluded from such a refuge by the words that immediately follow, "The world hath not known Thee." But, according to them, the world is ignorant of the good God alone. For the word ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 4: Tertullian IV, Minucius Felix, Commodian, Origen — CHAP. IV.--THE GOD OF THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS, AND THE FATHER OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, IS THE SAME GOD. (part 2): out the tables of the money-changers, and saying, "Take these things, hence, and do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise,"[3] He undoubtedly called Him His Father, to whose name Solomon had raised a magnificent temple. The words, moreover, "Have you not read what was spoken by God to Moses: I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob; He is not a God of the dead, but of the ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 5: Hippolytus, Cyprian, Caius, Novatian — CHAP. XV.[1] ARGUMENT.--AGAIN HE PROVES FROM THE GOSPEL THAT CHRIST IS GOD. (part 4): His Son, and being born of Him, being declared to have proceeded from Him, by which He is also God; which when the Jews thought to be hateful, and believed to be blasphemous, for that He had shown Himself in these discourses to be God, and therefore rushed at once to stoning, and set to work passionately to hurl stones, He strongly refuted His adversaries by the example and witness of the Scriptures. "If," said He, "He called them gods to whom the words of G”
- Heidelberg Catechism (Reformed) “Heidelberg Catechism (Reformed, 1563), Q. Why did Christ command us: Q. Why did Christ command us to call God “our Father”? A. To awaken in us at the very beginning of our prayer what should be basic to our prayer— a childlike reverence and trust that through Christ God has become our Father, and that just as our parents do not refuse us the things of this life, even less will God our Father refuse to give us what we ask in faith.1 1 Matt. 7:9-11; Luke 11:11-13 Q & A 121”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 7: Augustine — Homilies on John — CHAPTER VIII. 48-59. (part 9): Himself is the Father of the Christ, who was announced also to the Jews. I say so for his reason, that now again there are certain heretics who say that the God revealed in the Old Testament is not the Father of Christ. but some prince or other, I know not what, of evil angels. There are Manicheans who say so; there are Marcionites who say so. There are also, perhaps, other heretics, whom t is either unnecessary to mention, or all of whom I cannot at present recall; yet there have not been wanting those who said this. A”