God as Father

• in the biblical world, this was not just a term relating to the family.
• the oldest male in the society was responsible for, respected by and had absolute control over the rest of the group. so it was used by the Old Testament to attribute him to a number of roles
• use of father in the Old Testament to attributes god to many roles:

  • creating the universe
  • rescuing Israel when in trouble
  • setting standards of behaviour, e.g. in giving the Ten Commandments
  • exercising justice, rewarding obedience and punishing misdemeanors
• new testament references of god as father include ideas of both protective love and power
• Jesus often referred to god as father

  • in the parable of the forgiving father, god's unconditional love is depicted
  • Jesus tells his disciples that their Heavenly Father will give good things to those who ask him and teaches them a prayer that addresses god as 'our Father'
  • Jesus' relationship with god is seen in his prayer in gethsemane, where he uses abba, the intimate Aramaic term for father
• Paul claims that when they pray 'abba, father', christians become adopted children of god
• the apostles creed refers to god as father in two senses: as creator of the universe and as the father of Jesus
• the apostles creed

  in its current form, is a fourth century statement of christian belief