Untitled Sermon (17)

God The Father

As such, the Father is not the entire Trinity just as the Son is not the Trinity nor the Spirit the Trinity.

The Trinity includes all three persons.

The Father is presented as electing, loving, and bestowing.

The Son is presented as suffering, redeeming.

and upholding the universe.

The Holy Spirit is presented as regenerating, indwelling, baptizing, energizing, and sanctifying.,

Because of the irreversible order of the Father sending and commissioning the son. and the Son sending and commissioning the Holy Spirit, the Father is prop erly designated in theology as the First Person without lessen-ing in any way the ineffable deity of either the Second Person or the Third Person.

In the revelation concerning the fatherhood of God, four distinct aspects may be observed: (1) God as the Father of all creation; (2) God the Father by intimate relationship; (3) God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ; and (4) God as the Father of all who believe in Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.

1. Fatherhood Over Creation

Although, every person in the Trinity is responsible for creation, the Fathers role in creation is mentioned in a special way.

Ephesians 3:14-15, Paul writes,

"For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named."

Here the whole family of moral creatures in-

cluding angels and men is declared to constitute a family of which God is the Father.

Hebrews 12:9, the First Person is referred to as "the Father of spirits," which would seem again to include all moral beings such as angels and men.

James 1:17, the First Person is "the Father of lights" a peculiar expression which seems to indicate that He is the originator of all spiritual light.

Man and angels are referred to as the son of God

Job 38:7 angels are described as sons of God (Job 1:6; 2:1). Adam is referred to as of God by creation in Luke 3:38, by implication, a son of God.

Malachi 2:10 asks the question,

"Have we not all one

father? hath not one God created us?"

Paul in addressing the Athenians on Mars Fill included in his argument, "Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God" (Acts 17:29).

1 Corinthians

8:6, the declaration is made,

"But to us there is but one God,

the Father, of whom are all things:

Though all creation has God, the Father as there Creator.

This does not justify, however, the misuse of this doctrine by liberal theologians to teach universal salvation or that every man has God as his Father in the spiritual sense.

Fatherhood by Intimate Relationship

The concept and relationship of father and son are used in the Old Testament in several instances to relate God to Israel. According to Exodus 4:22, Moses instructed Pharoah,

"Thus saith

the LoRD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn."

This form of intimacy was less than regeneration but more than just merely being created.

Their relationship was unique because through the Jewish people the Bible was preserved and written, and whom Christ came through the bloodline of Israel.

A special favor to those who put their trust in Him!

He said to David, "I will be his father, and he shall be my son" (2 Sam. 7:14). In general God declares that His care as a Father will be over all who trust in Him as their God.

The Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ

The most important and extensive revelation in regard to the fatherhood of God involves the relationship of the First Person to the Second Person.

The First Person is deseribed as the God and Father of our Lord lesus Christ" (Eph. 1:3).

You ever been described as your son or daughters father.

This is especially evident in the fact that both the Father and the Son are eternal.

The early error of Arius in the fourth century, that the Son was the first of all created beings, was denounced by the early church as heresy in view of the fact that the Second Person is just as eternal as the First Person.

Second Person has been a Son in relation to the First Person from all eternity past. As such He is the "only begotten Son" (John 3:16) whom God "gave" as a Son to the world when the Son became incarnate. Scripture seems to indicate that He was a Son, not given in order to become a Son.

Isaiah 9:6 says

"For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given."

Colossians 1:15 where Christ is declared to be

"the image of the invisible God, the firstborn

of every creature." If Christ was the firstborn of every creature, that is, a Son before any other creature was created, then it is clear that He was a Son from all eternity past.

Within orthodoxy, accordingly, the words of the Nicene Creed (A.D. 325) - in. answer to the Arian heresy of the fourth century - states, only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all worlds, God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; be-gotten, not made, being of one substance with the Father." like manner, the Athanastan Creed states,

"The Son is of the

Father alone; not made nor created, but begotten . .. generated from eternity from the substance of the Father.

In using the terms "Father" and "Son" to describe the First and Second Persons, the terms are elevated to their highest level, indicating oneness of life, oneness of character and attri-butes, and yet a relationship in which the Father can give and send the Son even though this involves ultimately the obedience of the Son in dying on the cross.

The obedience of Christ is based upon His sonship not on any inequality with God the Father in the unity of the Trinity.

The Son of God is said to have been be gotten of the Father (Ps. 2:7; John 1:14, 18; 3:16, 18; 1 John 4:9). The Father acknowledged the Lord Jesus Christ to be His Son (Matt. 3:17; 17:5; Luke 9:35). The Father is acknowledged by the Son (Matt. 11:27;

26:63-64; Luke 22:29; John 8:16-29, 33-14; 17:1).

Jesus Christ is acknowledged by men ( Matt. 16:16; Mark 15:39;

John 1:34, 49; Acts 3:13).

The Son acknowledges the Father by being subject to Him (John 8:29, 49). Even the demons recognize this relationship between the Father and the Son (Matt. 8:29).