THE FATHERHOOD OF GOD
The
fatherhood of God as doctrine has flourished in certain theological circles
within recent years, and by the same token it has fallen into disrepute in
others. The liberal element of Christian profession has made a mass movement in
this direction. The conservative area of Christian profession has been
repelled.
But the doctrine of the fatherhood of God
as taught by the liberals, in the sense that it applies universally to all
mankind, is a perversion of the truth of the Bible. Therefore the repulsion of the
conservatives from the true doctrine has not been justified. The fatherhood of
God is clearly set forth in the New Testament records, and its blessing is for
all true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The word "father," as applying to God, appears 259 times in the
New Testament. Of these appearances, 115 occur in the Gospel of John alone. Of
the 115 appearances of this word in the Gospel of John, 54 of them occur in
chapters 14 through 17.
This doctrine in its fullness extends
beyond the limits of the New Testament, though it comes into bold relief in the
New Testament. Its importance deserves the concentrated attention of God's
people in both public and private study. The inestimable blessing of this great
truth can be comprehended only as broader and deeper attention is given beyond
the limits of Scripture dealt with in this article. In this article, time and
space permit an examination of four aspects of the doctrine: its comprehensive
nature, essential significance, relationship to Christ, and application to
believers.
In the four
chapters of the Gospel of John alone (John 14-17), it is impossible to do more than sketch the movement
of thought on this profound theme.
In relation
to the Father four basic ideas emerge. There is the Father's house. "In my Father's house are many
mansions" (John 14:2). There is
the Father's husbandry. "I am the
true vine, and my Father is the husbandman" (John 15:1). There is the Father's heir. "All things that the Father hath are mine" (John 16:15). There is the Father's heart. "Father . . . thou lovedst me before the foundation of the
world" (John 17:24).
In relation to the eternal Son four
important ideas present themselves. Christ is set forth as the way to the
Father. "I am the way ... no man
Cometh unto the Father, but by me" (John 14:6). Christ is the vine tended by the Father. "I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman" (John 15:1). Christ is the wealth of the Father. "He shall glorify me: for he shall
receive of mine, and shall skew it unto you. All things that the Father hath
are mine" (John 16:14-15). Christ
is the glory of the Father. "And
now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had
with thee before the world was" (John 17:5).
In relation to believers four facts
concerning the Father are revealed. The Father comes to dwell in believers
along with Christ. "And my Father
will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him"
(John 14:23). The Father produces fruitfulness in the believer and
is glorified. "And every branch that
bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit..… . Herein is my
Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit" (John 15:2, 8). The
Father sends the Spirit to display His wealth in Christ. "But when the Comforter is come . . . which proceeds from the
Father, he shall testify of me" (John 15:26). The Father through the Son gives His glory to
believers. "And the glory which thou
gayest me I have given them" (John 17:22).
The practical value of this teaching
concerning the Father has an amazing effect in believers. Note the progress
through these four chapters. The Father's house is the corrective for
fearfulness. "Let not your heart be
troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions" (John 14:1-2). The
Father's husbandry is the corrective for fruitlessness. "Every branch in me that bears not fruit he taketh away: and every
branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit"
(John 15:2). The Father's heir is the corrective for falsehood. "And these things will they do unto
you, because they have not known the Father, nor me. . . . He shall glorify me.
... All things that the Father hath are mine" (John 16:3, 14,
15). The Father's heart is the
corrective for fragmentation among the people of God. "I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one;
and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as
thou hast loved me" (John
17:23).
The key to
the essential meaning of the Fatherhood of God is to be found in John 16:3. "And these things will they do unto you, because they have not
known the Father, nor me." This passage makes it clear that mere
physical and intellectual relationship cannot be under consideration. Followers
of Christ who are devotedly serving Him incur the wrath of those who have not
known the Father nor the Son. On the physical side they are related to the
disciples. On the intellectual side they are related to Christ. But in spite of
this relationship, they persecute the followers of Christ. The reason for this
persecution is stated. It is because they have not known the Father nor His Christ.
The word "known" must then
refer to a relation other than mere physical or intellectual relationship.
The words of
Christ in John 17:3 denote that
relationship. "And this is life
eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom
thou hast sent." In this statement Christ is clearly marking the fact
that the fatherhood of God consists of a moral and spiritual relationship to
men, and not mere metaphysical or creative relationship to men. It is therefore
wholly fallacious to conclude that God is the father of all men because He
created all men. This will be amply demonstrated by the four moral and
spiritual qualities imparted by the Father to His children, but which are
absent in those who have experienced nothing more than creation.
The will of
God is the controlling purpose in those who have God for a Father. Christ
demonstrated this in perfection. He said, "I
seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me"
(John 5:30; cp. John 4:34; John
6:37-40).
The works of
God are the cardinal proof of moral and spiritual relationship to the Father.
Of himself Christ said, "The Father
that dwells in me, he doeth the works" (John 14:10). Of the unbelieving Jews He said, "Ye do the [works] of your father. ... Ye are of your father the
devil" (John 8:41, 44).
The words of
God provide the external display of inward likeness to the Father. Out of the
abundance of the heart the mouth speaks, and in this way intimate spiritual
likeness is exhibited. On this point Christ said, "For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, he
gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak" (John 12:49).
The wealth of God is the character
possessed by one who owns God as Father. Of Christ John declares, "We beheld his glory, the glory as of
the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Those who have Christ as Savior possess the same
spiritual wealth (John 1:16-18).
It must always
be remembered that sonship and fatherhood reaches its fullness in that unique
relationship of the divine Son and the eternal Father. Two expressions in the
Gospel of John confirm this. "Only
begotten Son" (John 1:18) does not
denote priority in time as referring to an event in time, but priority of
position as marking a relationship, namely, a son who is the only one of his
kind. "The bosom of the Father"
(John 1:18) describes nearness of place, intimacy of relation,
fellowship of nature, something that was true of Christ in relationship to the
Father that could never be true in the completest sense for any other. In
analyzing this relationship four distinguishing elements will be stated.
This is an eternal relationship. Of the
past Christ said, "And now, O
Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with
thee before the world was" (John 17:5). Of the present He said, "The
Father is with me" (John 16:32).
Of the future He declared, "I leave
the world, and go to the Father" (John 16:28).
This is an
essential relationship. Because there was oneness of being and community of
nature, Christ said, "Believe me
that I am in the Father, and the Father in me" (John 14:11). And He said again, "That
they all may be one; as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also
may be one in us" (John 17:21).
This is an emotional relationship. It
consists of a perfect, reciprocating love. Jesus declared that "I love the Father" (John 14:31), and "the
Father hath loved me" (John
15:9). This
was the kind of love that evaluates worth (John 3:35), and because "the Father
loves the Son, [he] hath given all things into his hands." It is also
the kind of love that is excited by the attractiveness of the Son and delights
to show "him all things that himself
doeth" (John 5:20).
This is an
executive relationship. In this sense, by revelation the Father "shows him all things that himself does"
(John 5:20). Concerning His commission Christ prays, "O righteous Father, the world hath not
known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent
me" (John 17:25). For
administration, "The Father had
given all things into his hands" (John 13:3; 3:35; Matt. 28:18). With intimate consciousness of possession Christ
declares, "All things that the
Father hath are mine" (John
16:15).
The preceding argument provides the
proper foundation for this concluding point in this discussion. Apart from the
Biblical frame of reference the fatherhood of God in relation to men cannot be
seen in true perspective. But once the picture is seen in its fullness, it is
not difficult to recognize the fact that the fatherhood of God is limited
solely to the people of God and consists in a moral and spiritual relationship.
For this study six aspects of this relationship will be presented.
This relationship with the Father is
mediated through the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ insisted, "I am the way ... no man cometh unto the Father, but by me"
(John 14:6). This is true in the
fullest sense. It is true of revelation concerning the Father (John 14:7-9): It is true concerning the
regenerative life of the Father (Rev.
14:17). It is true of the benefits from the Father (John 14:13-14).
This relationship with the Father is
affected in the experience of eternal life. This is explained by Christ in
communion with the Father. "As thou
hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as
many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know
thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent" (John 17:2-3). This means that eternal
life is the progressive recognition and realization of the life of God produced
by the Son through the power of the Spirit.
This relationship with the Father is
preserved by the joint keeping power of the Father and the Son. "Holy Father, keep through thine own
name those whom thou hast given me that they may be one, as we are. While I was
with them in the world, I kept them in thy name: those that thou gayest me I
have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the
scripture might be fulfilled" (John
17:11-12). Just as Judas failed to come into that saving relationship with
Christ (John 13:10-11), which
constituted spiritual relationship with the Father, so also those who reject
Christ today cannot claim God as Father.
This relationship with the Father is
sanctified by the Word of God applied by Christ. In prayer to the Father Christ
prays, "Sanctify them through thy
truth: thy word is truth" (John
17:17). In this way the Father keeps His children from the evil in the
world and surrounds them with protection for the service they are to perform in
the world (John 17:15, 18).
This relationship with the Father has
been sealed with unity even as the relationship of the eternal Father and the
divine Son. Christ prays that believers may realize the unity that exists, a
unity which has been divinely implanted and is comparable with the unity of the
Father and the Son. "That they all
may be one; as thou. Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be
one in us" (John 17:21). No
amount of union in external organization can affect this.
This relationship with the Father will at
last be glorified through the ministry of Christ. In His present ministry
Christ has provided and is providing the spiritual glory. "And the glory which thou gayest me I have given them; that they
may be one, even as we are one" (John
17:22). In His future ministry Christ will provide that glory which will
transform believers into His likeness. "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me
where I am; that they may behold my glory" (John 17:24). And "we
shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (1 John 3:2).
In the consciousness growing out of
conviction borne of the Spirit's testimony in the Word of God, believers
realize that they have entered into that intimate spiritual relationship of the
Fatherhood of God. And in addition to this and confirming it by experience,
since we have “received the Spirit of
adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father" (Rom. 8:15), it is evident that "the Spirit itself bears
witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God" (Rom. 8:16).
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