The Baptist Faith and Message God the Father

There is one and only one true God. He is an intelligent, spiritual, and personal Being, the Creator, Redeemer, and Ruler of the universe. God is infinite in holiness and all other perfections. God is all powerful and all knowing; and his perfect knowledge extends to all things, past, present, and future, including the future decisions of His free creatures. To Him we owe the highest love, reverence, and obedience. The eternal triune God reveals Himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, with distinct personal attributes, but without division of nature, essence, or being.

Warfield states: “There is one only and true God, but in the unity of the Godhead there are three coeternal and coequal Persons, the same in substance but distinct in subsistence.”

I. God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures and the flow of the stream of human history according to purposes of His grace.

A. Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.”

B. Genesis 2:7 “And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

C. Exodus 3:14 “And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.”

D. Exodus 6:2–3 “And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the Lord: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.”

E. Deuteronomy 6:4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord:”

F. 1 Chronicles 29:10 “Wherefore David blessed the Lord before all the congregation: and David said, Blessed be thou, Lord God of Israel our father, for ever and ever.”

G. Psalm 19:1–3 “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, And night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, Where their voice is not heard.”

H. Isaiah 43:3 “For I am the Lord thy God, The Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.”

Isaiah 43:15 “I am the Lord, your Holy One, The creator of Israel, your King.”

I. Isaiah 64:8 “But now, O Lord, thou art our father; We are the clay, and thou our potter; And we all are the work of thy hand.”

J. Psalm 100:3 “Know ye that the Lord he is God: It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.”

K. Jeremiah 10:10 “But the Lord is the true God, He is the living God, and an everlasting king: At his wrath the earth shall tremble, And the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.”

II. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise.

All powerful

A. Genesis 17:1 “And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.”

B. Exodus 6:3 “And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them.”

C. 2 Corinthians 6:18 “And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”

D. Revelation 1:8 “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”

E. Revelation 19:6 “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth.”

All Knowing

A. Acts 15:8 “And God, which knoweth the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;”

B. Psalm 147:4 “He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all by their names.”

C. Psalm 139:16 “Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; And in thy book all my members were written, Which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” before birth he knows us

D. Hebrews 4:13 “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do.”

All Loving

A. 1 John 4:8 “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.”

All Wise

A. James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.”

B. Jude 25 “to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith on Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men.

A. Romans 8:14–15 “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.”

B. 1 Corinthians 8:6 “But to us there is but one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we in him; and one Lord Jesus Christ, by whom are all things, and we by him.”

C. Galatians 4:6 “And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”

D. 1 Peter 1:17 “And if ye call on the Father, who without respect of persons judgeth according to every man’s work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear:”