We Confess Him to Be Our Father

As part of our worshiping together in our common confession this year, one of our men read concerning the first Person of the Trinity yesterday morning in our gathering: “God as Father reigns with providential care over His universe, His creatures, and the flow of the stream of human history according to the purposes of His grace. He is all powerful, all knowing, all loving, and all wise. God is Father in truth to those who become children of God through faith in Jesus Christ. He is fatherly in His attitude toward all men” (Baptist Faith & Message 2000, IIA).

Father. While in the Old Testament God was known to those in covenant with Him by the name יהוה (historically rendered “Jehovah,” these days “Yahweh,” the ALL-CAPS “LORD” in most English Bibles), in the New Testament the Church is told countless times to call the first Person of the Trinity “Father.”

Calling God “Father” is one of the clear signs of assurance that you have been sealed in your salvation through the Son by the Holy Spirit:

• “For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God...” (Romans 8:14-16).
• “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. Because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ Therefore you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God” (Galatians 4:4-7).

Calling God “Father” is not just how Jesus taught us to pray to the first Person of the Trinity; it is also a reminder that the Church is actually an eternal family bound together in Christ with God as Father. Instead of praying “my Father,” we are told to pray “our Father” (Matthew 6:9; cf. Isaiah 63:16; 64:8; Romans 1:7; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:2; Galatians 1:3; Ephesians 1:2; Philippians 1:2; Colossians 1:2; 2 Thessalonians 1:1; 2:16; Philemon 3).

Because we have been saved through the Son and filled with the Holy Spirit, we call Him “Father.” Because the Church is our family in the Son, filled with the Spirit, we call Him “Father” together. Forever.

We confess the first Person of the blessed Trinity to be Father, and worship together as His children in this common confession of faith.