Fatherhood of God

The first words of the Lord’s Prayer roll off our tongues and out of our mouths with ease; and yet they are perhaps some of the most revolutionary words of the Christian faith—“Our Father”.

The fatherhood of God is imagery brought to the fore by the Jesus movement. For Christian theology, it holds some very important ideas.

Firstly, Jesus is God’s Son. The language of father-son comes from a time when this relationship was the primary relationship in a continuing family line. The firstborn son received the fullness of the inheritance of the Father. The imagery depicts the closeness of the relationship between God the Father (first person of the Trinity) and God the Son (second person of the Trinity) who was incarnate as Jesus.

Secondly, the language of father-son enfolds us into that close relationship. In Christ, we are co-heirs with Christ of the full inheritance. Through Christ, we are made “sons” of God.

Thirdly, the father-son imagery ensures that our understanding of our relationship with God is relational; and it is of the essence of the closest relationships we have—with those who are of our very flesh and bone, who share their inheritance (not just wealth) with us, and with whom we share our inheritance.

In a world where patriarchal inheritance patterns are recognised as excluding many (daughters, younger sons), the language of father-son holds traps too. God’s love and our inheritance in God are not limited to men or “the right sort of men”; nor is it especially given to men in a unique way above women. God’s love is the unconditional love of a parent who does not show favouritism, but who enfolds us into his family as true children whether we were born into it, or whether we have been brought into it by adoption.

When we say, “Our Father”, we are witnessing to a powerful declaration that God shows no favouritism among his children—our abundant inheritance in God through Christ is shared as God’s children together.