Song God Our Father God Our Father Once Again

9. Abba, Male parent

God the Father stained glass window by Stanislaw Wyspianski
Stanislaw Wyspianski (Shine painter and playwright, 1869-1907), God the Begetter stained glass window (1897-1902), St Francis Basilica, Krakow, Poland. Larger image.

Perhaps the most familiar Christian concept of God is as Male parent, for God is addressed the Lord'due south Prayer every bit "Our Father, who fine art in heaven...." When we look at Jesus' ain terminology, "Begetter" is by far his about frequent term for God. Permit'southward have some time and examine this metaphor for God equally Begetter. Forth with Father and Abba, we'll look at other metaphors of relationship, such as Husband, God of our fathers, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The Role of Begetter in Bible Times

If we are to empathise the term "Begetter" in the Bible, we must be willing to explore a different civilization than our own. Though twenty-beginning century America stresses gender equality and the rights of women, this is relatively new. A century ago women couldn't vote or inherit belongings in some states. For most of history and in most cultures of the world, fathers have been the primary effigy in families. In this study I am not asking you to render to a patriarchal society. What I am request you to do is to suspend your twenty-kickoff century bias concerning the role of father, so that you can sympathize what "male parent" means in the Bible. Merely when can we practice that, can we appreciate and comprehend what it means to call God our Father. Every bit Otfried Hofius puts information technology:

"In the patriarchal societies of antiquity, the begetter figure is endowed with two particular characteristics. On the 1 hand, the father rules equally head of the household and the person to whom most respect is due, having absolute authority over his family. On the other paw, he has the responsibility of guarding, supporting, and helping the other members. Both these characteristics are as well nowadays when a deity is described or addressed as father."¹

God as Begetter in the Sometime Attestation

I spent several hours looking at all the references to Father in the Bible. I was startled to discover is that God is seldom referred to as Father in the Erstwhile Attestation. I count merely x verses in all the Old Testament. This is hitting, since "begetter" is a metaphor used to describe God past nearly all ancient peoples. Contrast that to the New Testament, where Jesus refers to God as Male parent hundreds of times in the Gospels and the Apostles refer to God every bit Father scores of times in the rest of the New Testament.^two

God is referred to equally Male parent in the artistic (not exactly biologically begetting) sense simply twice:

"Is this the way y'all repay the LORD, O foolish and unwise people? Is he not your Father, your Creator, who made y'all and formed you?" (Deuteronomy 32:6, NIV)

"Yet, O 50ORD, y'all are our Father. We are the clay, you are the potter; we are all the work of your paw." (Isaiah 64:eight, NIV)

A couple of times God describes himself every bit Begetter to the male monarch who will exist his son (1 Chronicles 17:13; 22:x). More oftentimes, God is referred to as Male parent in a defending, saving context:

"He will call out to me, 'You are my Father, my God, the Stone my Savior.'" (Psalms 89:26)

"Only you are our Father, though Abraham does not know united states or State of israel acknowledge u.s.a.; you, O FiftyORD, are our Male parent, our Redeemer from of sometime is your proper noun." (Isaiah 63:16)

"They will come with weeping; they volition pray as I bring them back. I will atomic number 82 them beside streams of water on a level path where they volition not stumble, considering I am State of israel's begetter, and Ephraim is my firstborn son." (Jeremiah 31:9)

In a single Messianic passage the Child is referred to in terms suitable to merely God himself:

"For to u.s. a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will exist called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isaiah 9:6)

Twice in Jeremiah, God puts "Father" into the mouth of his people in the form of accost, the vocative:

"Have you not merely chosen to me: 'My Father, my friend from my youth...." (Jeremiah 3:4)

"I thought you would call me 'Father' and non plough abroad from post-obit me." (Jeremiah three:19b)

Q1. What does the concept of "male parent" teach us virtually God, especially the formal way which the give-and-take is used in the Old Testament? According to the quote from Otfried Hofius above, which two aspects of a father underlie our understanding of Father in the Quondam Attestation? How should they touch our beliefs?
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That's it, the sum total of the use of Male parent as a title or metaphor for God in the Old Testament. Notice the relative formality of these references. God is Father of the nation, of the people. I brand this point to accentuate how new and dissimilar was Jesus' revelation of God as Male parent -- his Begetter, Abba, our Male parent, the Father we can pray to.

Our Heavenly Father

Every bit we begin to examine the means Jesus introduced us to God as Father, let'southward begin with Heavenly Father or Father in heaven:

"... That you may exist sons of your Male parent in heaven." (Matthew five:45)

"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name...." (Matthew half-dozen:9, NIV, KJV: "Our Father, who art in sky....")

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to requite skilful gifts to your children, how much more volition your Male parent in heaven requite good gifts to those who ask him!" (Matthew 7:11)

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I volition too acknowledge him earlier my Father in heaven. Only whoever disowns me earlier men, I volition disown him earlier my Father in heaven." (Matthew 10:32-33)

"In the same style your Father in sky is not willing that any of these little ones should be lost." (Matthew 18:xiv)

"Over again, I tell y'all that if ii of you on earth agree almost anything you ask for, it will exist done for you past my Father in heaven." (Matthew 18:19)

Also Matthew 5:15; 5:48; 6:1, 14, 26, 32, 7:21; 12:50; fifteen:xiii; sixteen:17; 18:10, 35; 23:9. Interestingly, this phrase appears just in Matthew, with the exception of Luke 11:thirteen and Marking 11:25. Adding the modifier "heaven" or "heavenly" tends to describe the greatness and awesomeness of the One who is our Father, contrasting greatness with intimacy.

Intimacy with Abba Father

But intimacy is i of the hallmarks of the employ of Father past Jesus and the early church. Let me explicate a simply as I can.

Jesus and his disciples read Hebrew in the synagogue, but in everyday oral communication and preaching used a closely related linguistic communication, Aramaic. In Biblical Hebrew ´ab is "begetter." But in Aramaic ´abbā´ is a word derived from baby-language. As the Rabbis said, a small kid "learns to say ´abbā´ (daddy) and ´immā´ (mummy)."³ In the pre-Christian era the usage of the give-and-take broadened so that

"... ´Abbā´ every bit a form of accost to ane'due south father was no longer restricted to children, but likewise used by adult sons and daughters. The childish graphic symbol of the word ("daddy") thus receded, and ´abbā´ acquired the warm, familiar band which nosotros may feel in such an expression equally "dear father."⁴

While nowhere in the unabridged devotional literature of aboriginal Judaism is ´abbā´ a mode of addressing God,⁵ in Jesus' teaching and do, such an expression was the norm. ´Abbā´ as a transliteration of the Aramaic discussion into the Greek, appears three times in the New Testament:

"'Abba, Begetter,' he said, 'everything is possible for y'all. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you lot will.'" (Mark 14:36)

"For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fright, only y'all received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.'" (Romans 8:15)

"Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Male parent.'" (Galatians iv:6)

But only considering it is transliterated merely iii times doesn't mean than ´abbā´ is only used three times. In Jesus' other prayers it is clear that the Aramaic ´abbā´ underlies the Greek of our New Testament, either directly or indirectly. It is very probable that in all Jesus' teaching nearly the Father -- "my Father," "your Male parent," etc. -- that the warm, intimate Aramaic word ´abbā´ was the word Jesus actually used. Jesus introduced usa to God as our Father in a fashion unheard of in the One-time Attestation or in Judaism.

Reclaiming God as Your ´Abbā´

You may be struggling but now. Your human relationship with your own begetter may have been distant, perhaps non-existent. Worse, your own father may have sinned confronting you lot through harshness, lovelessness, abandonment, or perhaps even concrete or sexual abuse. For sons as well as daughters, coming to terms with our own fathers is essential to our psychological wellness and maturity, but is sometimes oh so hard, sometimes nearly impossible from a human standpoint.

I would gauge that father-child relationships were no less difficult in Jesus' ain time, when some fathers may have assumed it every bit their legal right to trounce on their wives and children -- even more than in our own mean solar day. And so why does Jesus teach so strongly, so incessantly, about his Father, about our Father? If this metaphor could be rendered useless past human sin, why would Jesus risk it?

I would suggest two reasons. First, theologically, the Father-Son metaphor, meliorate than whatsoever other, describes the relationship of Jesus to God, and Jesus' own divine nature. Those in our generation who repudiate the Father-Son metaphor tend to drift from a belief in the Trinity towards a peculiar kind of unitarianism. But secondly, I believe that Jesus is trying to heal and bring wholeness to both men and women who take been wounded past their man fathers. Jesus is trying to assistance you and me know a Father who loves us and will non practice u.s. impairment, a Father who volition not slap us effectually, only will encircle usa in his arms and let united states feel his love, a Father who will not let you get. My love friend, Jesus wants to reintroduce y'all to his Begetter, to your Male parent, and so that you might be whole -- spiritually and emotionally. Reclaim your birthright to know and enjoy and love Abba as your Father. Perhaps that is why yous are reading this today. Perhaps this will be the frontier of your quest for God over the next few weeks and months.

Jesus' Teaching about the Male parent

It is out of the scope of this report to endeavor to summarize Jesus' teaching most his Begetter. Rather allow me just give you a sprinkling of the scores of places where Jesus teaches his disciples almost the Father. Occasionally Jesus uses "my Father." Often he tells the disciples of "your Father." There is no divergence, of class, between the two. Observe the intimacy of the metaphor of Father.

"When you lot pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Male parent, who is unseen. Then your Begetter, who sees what is done in secret, volition reward you." (Matthew half-dozen:6)

"But when they arrest y'all, practice not worry near what to say or how to say it. At that time y'all will be given what to say, for it volition not be you speaking, only the Spirit of your Male parent speaking through y'all." (Matthew 10:19-20)

"At that fourth dimension Jesus said, 'I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have subconscious these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yeah, Father, for this was your proficient pleasance. All things take been committed to me by my Male parent. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no ane knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.'" (Matthew xi:25-27)

"To sit at my correct or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they accept been prepared past my Begetter." (Matthew 20:23)

"No ane knows almost that day or hour, not even the angels in sky, nor the Son, but merely the Father." (Mark 13:32)

The implications of Jesus' reference to his Begetter were abundantly articulate to his opponents. Jesus' relationship to his Father as Son was unique.

"Because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, 'My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, likewise, am working.' For this reason the Jews tried all the harder to kill him; not only was he breaking the Sabbath, simply he was fifty-fifty calling God his own Father, making himself equal with God." (John 5:16-18)

"'My Male parent, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no i tin snatch them out of my Father'due south hand. I and the Father are ane.' Over again the Jews picked upwards stones to stone him...." (John 10:29-31)

Jesus expressed his very close relationship to the Father, just it was hard for them (and for us today) to understand information technology fully:

"Jesus answered, "'I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Begetter except through me. If you actually knew me, you would know my Begetter every bit well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.'
Philip said, 'Lord, prove us the Begetter and that volition be enough for u.s..'
Jesus answered: 'Don't you know me, Philip, even after I accept been among y'all such a long fourth dimension? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How tin you say, 'Prove us the Father'? Don't you believe that I am in the Male parent, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my ain. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.'" (John xiv:half dozen-x)

"In that twenty-four hours you will ask in my name. I am not maxim that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God. I came from the Father and entered the world; now I am leaving the world and going back to the Begetter." (John 16:26-28)

God the Father in the Epistles

Paul often uses Male parent in the salutation at the beginning of his letters:

"Grace and peace to you from God our Begetter and from the Lord Jesus Christ." (Romans 1:seven; 1 Corinthians 1:3; 2 Corinthians ane:2; Galatians ane:three; Ephesians i:2; Philippians 1:two; cf. Colossians 1:two; i Thessalonians 1:1; 2 Thessalonians ane:one; Titus ane:4; 2 John 3.)

Like is the phrase "our God and Father" (Galatians i:iv; one Thessalonians 1:3; 3:11) and "our Lord and Father" (James 3:9, KJV "God, even the Begetter"). Paul sees unity in "1 God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all" (Ephesians iv:6).

Often we see the phrase "God the Begetter," sometimes to distinguish him from "Jesus Christ" and sometimes continuing solitary (Galatians one:1; Ephesians v:xx; half dozen:23; Colossians 3:17; 1 Corinthians fifteen:24; Jude 1), while sometimes "Father" appears alone (2 Corinthians 6:xviii; Ephesians iii:14). While Paul and Peter tend to change Begetter in some fashion, such as, "God the Male parent," in John'south Letter, "the Begetter" usually stands alone (one John 1:3, 2:1, 13, xv-16, 22-24; 3:1; 4:14; 5:1; 2 John ix). In Revelation, Male parent is used iii times to distinguish between Jesus and the Father (Revelation i:6; 3:five; 14:i).

The God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

A number of times nosotros encounter in a fixed eulogy that begins an epistle the phrase, "the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 1:3; 11:31; Ephesians 1:3; 4:six; Romans fifteen:half dozen; 1 Peter one:3; cf. Colossians 1:three). Paul expands this a chip in Ephesians: "... the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Begetter..." (Ephesians 1:17, NIV; KJV "Father of glory"). In Revelation we see the phrase, "his God and Father" (Revelation 1:6).

Does this phrase somehow question the divinity of Christ? No. C. K. Barrett observes,

"Paul shows no interest in the personal faith of Jesus... It is more probable that we take here a Christian version of a Jewish approval: Blessed is God. Merely the God of the Old Attestation, the God of our fathers, is now known to us as also the Father of the Son whom he sent into the world, Jesus Christ... Information technology signifies non the contradiction simply the fulfillment of the religion of the Old Testament and of Judaism."⁶

The Old Testament knew him equally God. Nosotros know him equally both God and Father, revealed to us through Jesus Christ. He is the one who gives usa admission to the Father (John 14:6). Consider Paul's statement to counter belief in the many "gods" and "lords" in the Greco-Roman world:

"For us there is but ane God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and at that place is merely 1 Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we alive." (one Corinthians 8:6).

These are in parallel, not in contrast. "Lord," as nosotros take seen, is the Greek translation of Yahweh, and is used here as a divine championship of Jesus the Messiah. Fee says, "Paul feels no tension between the affirmation of monotheism and the clear stardom between the two persons of the Father and Jesus Christ."^vii

Hendrick van Balen, Holy Trinity (1620s), Saint Jacobskerk Antwerp. Son and Father co-reigning with pigeon higher up. Larger paradigm.

The Trinity in the New Testament

Hither and there we see a passage that touches on all 3 Persons of the Godhead. The Trinity is quite present in the New Attestation, though the church building's doctrine and understanding of the Trinity took a couple of hundred years to gel. There isn't room here to explore the Trinity, but just to note three passages in passing:

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the proper noun of the Begetter and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit...." (Matthew 28:19)

"May the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the beloved of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit exist with you lot all." (2 Corinthians 13:14)

"... Who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood." (one Peter one:2)

For more on the Trinity, encounter my article, "Four Reasons Why I Believe in the Trinity" (www.joyfulheart.com/scholar/trinity.htm)

The Father and His Children

Often the New Attestation focuses on God every bit Begetter of Jesus Christ his Son. But in several places we see God every bit the universal Father in the context of a parent and his children:

"I will be a Male parent to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty." (ii Corinthians 6:18)

"For this reason I kneel earlier the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name." (Ephesians iii:14)

"We have all had human fathers who disciplined us and nosotros respected them for it. How much more should nosotros submit to the Father of our spirits and live!" (Hebrews 12:nine)

"How great is the beloved the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does non know us is that information technology did not know him." (ane John 3:i)

Though we don't accept time to develop it here, the New Testament is rich in explaining how we can become children of God, "begotten by God" (John one:10-13), "born again" (John 3:one-eight) through believing in Jesus Christ. Through Jesus, nosotros are adopted into God's family as sons and daughters.

Miscellaneous References to God as Father

There are a few other references to God as Begetter. The phrases "father of," "mother of," "son of," and "girl of" all are used equally a Hebrew idiom to accredit traits to a person or a people. God is called "the Father of Compassion," (2 Corinthians 1:3), meaning that he is compassionate. He is "Father of glory" (NRSV, KJV, Ephesians 1:17), that is, the "glorious Male parent" (NIV). Finally, he is chosen the "Father of lights" (James one:17, KJV, NRSV) or heavenly lights rather than shadows that modify constantly. Finally, Jesus address him as "Holy Male parent" (John 17:xi).

God our Hubby

In our exploration of family relationships as a metaphor for God, consider another: God our Hubby. In the Old Testament several times we see the analogy of God as the Husband and Israel as the wife, who strays and is unfaithful.

"For your Maker is your husband...." (Isaiah 54:5a)

"'Return, faithless people,' declares the LORD, 'for I am your husband." (NIV, Jeremiah three:14a. KJV "I am married to yous.")

"'It volition not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them past the manus to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband ⁸ to them,' declares the LORD." (Jeremiah 31:32, NIV)

"Married man" is the Hebrew noun bā`al, best known to Bible readers every bit the name of the simulated God Baal. It means, "lord, possessor," and "husband," from the root bā`al, "possess, ain, rule over, marry."⁹ While feminists might bandage this in the worst possible lite, just stated, the relationship of husband to wife was not ownership, merely of love. This relationship is expressed figuratively in Isaiah:

"No longer will they call you Deserted,
or name your land Desolate.
But you lot volition be chosen Hephzibah,
and your country Beulah (passive participle of bā`al)
for the 50ORD will take please in you,
and your land will be married.
As a swain marries a maiden,
and so will your sons ally you lot;
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride,
so will your God rejoice over you." (Isaiah 62:iv-v)

This passage is filled with apprehension, joy and delight, and God is coordinating with the bridegroom. This theme is picked upwardly in the New Testament with the Church building equally the Helpmate of Christ, and finds its fulfillment at the swell Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation nineteen:ix).

The Jealous God

On the other hand, the wife is not free to get out her married man and take other lovers. She belongs to her married man. Worshipping idols and imitation gods is considered spiritual adultery in the Onetime Attestation. In response God is revealed every bit a Jealous God. In the Ten Commandments, God says:

"You shall accept no other gods before me... You shall not bow downward to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God...." (Exodus xx:iii, v)

The noun is qannā´, from a root expressing "a very strong emotion whereby some quality or possession of the object is desired past the subject."^ten This noun is used merely of God apropos the parallel between infidelity and idolatry. The idea occurs a number of times in the One-time Testament, such as, "Practice not worship whatsoever other god, for the LORD, whose proper noun is Jealous, is a jealous God" (Exodus 34:14; also Deuteronomy iv:24; v:nine; 6:fifteen). At his retirement from being a judge, Joshua said to the people,

"You are not able to serve the FiftyORD. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins." (Joshua 24:19)

But the jealousy can besides work for his married woman who is beingness oppressed by another. Confronting Nineveh, Nahum prophesies:

"The 50ORD is a jealous and avenging God;
the 50ORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath." (Nahum i:2a)

Christian Feminism and God the Father

Since the 1970s at that place has been a potent current of Christian feminism in some denominations. I welcome some of the positive changes that have opened more ministry opportunities for women gifted by God. But in some denominations feminism has made a serious set on on calling God our Father. Consider, for example, the Doxology written by Thomas Ken (1674) that appears in modified form in the Chalice Hymnal (used by the Disciples of Christ). Below the traditional text appears the following:

Praise God from whom all blessings flow;
Praise God all creatures here below,
Praise God in a higher place, ye heavenly hosts:
Creator, Christ, and Holy Ghost. Amen.¹¹

Lines 2 and iii substitute "God" for the traditional "Him." Awkward, maybe, but okay. However, line four completely replaces the warm, relational Father-Son metaphor with the much more formal and detached titles of Creator and Christ. Interestingly, the phrase "heavenly hosts," which is ofttimes incomprehensible to modern churchgoers is retained along with the archaic expression "Holy Ghost" for "Holy Spirit." Feminist author and United Church of Christ pastor Ruth C. Duck argues:

"Using the Begetter-Son metaphor in the [baptismal] formula is not adequate to the job of summarizing Christian organized religion. Speaking of God in masculine but not in feminine terms, information technology reinforces patriarchal patterns of valuing the male and devaluing the female. Moreover, 'Father' has unfortunate associations for many in North American gild, in which patriarchal values condone the abuse of children by their fathers. Farther, 'Father' has been used and so endlessly as a metaphor for God that for many people it has lost its metaphoric power to evoke wonder and reflection; seeming to be a literal statement about God, information technology may too become an idol."¹²

I agree with Duck that Father and Son are metaphors of God and that they, equally any name, title, metaphor, or descriptor, can lose their affect if used without reflection. But to gut modern Christianity of the Father-Son metaphor runs the serious danger of robbing hereafter generations of the rich, relational understanding of God every bit Father and Jesus equally Son. As mentioned above, father abuse of wives and children was doubtless present in Jesus' twenty-four hour period also. Corruption of children past their fathers is a terrible thing, but is a bogus argument for discarding the metaphor of Father and Son.

What is really driving Christian feminists like Duck, I think, is a determined set on on what they perceive to exist patriarchal social structures. We Christians need to stand against and rebuke male abuses of power, only the pendulum in some denominations has swung so far that it politically incorrect for clergy to address the Father in public prayer, it is politically correct to occasionally throw out the term "God our Mother" to watch traditionalists squirm, and, in a few isolated incidents, churches have sponsored the study and exercise of practices that amount to goddess worship.

Feminine Metaphors for God

In fairness, let's consider several feminine metaphors for God. Though they aren't used as descriptors of God in the Bible, they are clearly present. We know, of course, that Jesus was a male during his time in the flesh. Gender is office of the way God fabricated most of his creatures. But God, who is Spirit (John iv:24), is himself genderless and created both genders in his own image:

"Then God created human being in his own image,
in the prototype of God he created him;
male and female he created them." (Genesis one:27)

Jesus compared himself to a mother hen gathering her chicks under her wings (Luke thirteen:34 = Matthew 23:37). In the Parable of the Lost Coin, Jesus compared the searching God to a woman who swept her house looking for a lost coin (Luke 15:8-10). God is compared to a adult female giving birth (Deuteronomy 32:18; Isaiah 42:14), a mother quieting her child on her lap (Psalm 131:2), a woman who can't forget her baby (Isaiah 49:15), and a female parent comforting her son (Isaiah 66:13). Conspicuously, part of the prototype of God in the states humans is the mothering role.

But should we make the spring to calling God our Mother? The Bible doesn't do that, though parents have always shared many of the duties of parenting. What sets the father apart from shared parenting are the roles in Jesus' civilization of (a) ruling and (b) protecting. Yes, God is our Divine Parent, merely as Begetter, he is more than just a parent. He is our Ruler and Protector.

God of Your Fathers

Equally we're examining metaphors and titles of relationships, allow'south expect at "God of your Fathers"

"God also said to Moses, 'Say to the Israelites, "The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob--has sent me to you." This is my proper name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation. Go, assemble the elders of Israel and say to them, "The LORD, the God of your fathers--the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob--appeared to me and said: I have watched over you and have seen what has been done to you lot in Egypt."'" (Exodus 3:15-sixteen, cf. poetry six).

"God of our/your fathers," and often "the 50ORD, the God of our/your fathers." (Deuteronomy 1:xi, 21; 4:i; half dozen:iii; 12:1; 26:7; 27:three; Joshua 18:3 1 Chronicles 12:17; 29:8; 2 Chronicles 13:12; 20:6; 28:9; 29:5; Ezra 7:27; 8:28; ten:eleven; Acts 5:30; 22:14; 24:14).

He is also called the God of Abraham (Genesis 31:42; Psalm 47:9) and one time the God of Nahor, in the mouth of Laban, though Laban worshipped the gods of Assyria, non Abraham's God (Genesis 31:53) Sometimes the patriarchs are named together -- the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Exodus three:6; 4:5; 1 Kings 18:36; 2 Chronicles 30:vi; Matthew 22:32 = Marking 12:26 = Luke 20:37; Acts iii:13; 7:32), and sometimes singly.

God of Israel

God is likewise known in relation to the nation that serves him. Most of these references are to "the LORD, the God of Israel," approximately 200 times in the Bible. The outset case is the proper name of an altar built by Jacob (also known every bit Israel): "In that location he erected an altar and called it El-Elohe-State of israel" (Genesis 33:20), that is, "God, the God of Israel." Hither are a couple of other examples.

"Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, 'This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: "Let my people get, so that they may concord a festival to me in the desert."'" (Exodus 5:1)

"May the LORD advantage you lot for your deeds, and may you accept a total reward from the LORD, the God of Israel, nether whose wings you have come for refuge! (Ruth 2:12)

The Godhead, the Deity

Finally in the New Attestation we run into two additional Greek terms for God. Paul says to the Greeks in Athens: "Forasmuch then equally we are the offspring of God, we ought not to recall that the Godhead is like unto gilt, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device" (Acts 17:29). "Godhead" (KJV), "deity," (NRSV), and "divine existence" (NIV) translate Greek theios, "divine being, divinity."^fourteen Incidentally, the KJV term "Godhead" is an English language word used less oftentimes these days equally a synonym for "God," referring ofttimes to "the nature of God, specially as existing in three persons."¹⁵

Finally, Paul writes, "For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form...." (Colossians 2:9, NIV). The Greek give-and-take theotĕs here is variously rendered "the Deity" (NIV, NRSV), "divinity" (New Jerusalem Bible), "Godhead" (KJV). Information technology means "the country of being god, divine grapheme/nature, deity, divinity," used equally an abstract substantive for the generic word for God, theos.^xvi

Friends of God

Names and Titles of God, by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

Now available as in paperback and e-book formats . Includes Hebrew & Greek give-and-take studies, give-and-take questions and handouts for groups or classes, suggests songs, comprehensive with 120 cadre names, titles, etc., total of 219 varieties. Detailed index. Modestly priced. Buy your re-create today.

Is God ever addressed as "Friend" in Scripture? I wondered when I recalled the line of the song "As the Deer" by Martin Nystrom that goes, "Y'all're my Friend and you are my Brother, even though you lot are a King...." Several times Abraham is called "the friend of God" (2 Chronicles xx:seven; James ii:23). Jesus calls the disciples "friends" (John 15:14-15). In mutual human friendships, at least, each party is free to call the other "friend." It stands to reason, and so, that God is our Friend, in the sense that a person might be said to be a "friend of the king" or a "friend of the president." Certainly the metaphor is used in Scripture, simply just 1 mode, of u.s. beingness God's friends. No where is God addressed as "Friend" (except with heavy irony in Jeremiah 3:four). Perhaps that's simply accidental. But perhaps it is this way so that we might not presume on God'due south friendship as a relationship between equals.

Mayhap this is the reason that Jesus taught united states of america the friendship and love of God in a metaphor of a greater to a bottom, of a dear Father to a honey son or girl. Perhaps this is why Jesus taught the states to phone call God "Abba."

Prayer

Abba, Father. Just as it is sometimes hard for "developed children" to actually know their fathers as they long to, at that place is something in our spirit that longs to know you more intimately. Come and heal usa. Come and make us whole equally merely the knowledge and honey of a father tin. Abba, Father, we beloved you. Reveal yourself to each of us with the intensely private and personal love that we long for. In Jesus' proper name, we pray. Amen.

Names of God

Abba
Bridegroom
El-Elohe Israel
Everlasting Father
Father
Father in Sky
Father of Compassion
Father of Glory
Begetter of Lights
Father of Spirits
Glorious Father
God and Male parent
God and Father of All
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ
God of Abraham
God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob
God of State of israel
God of Our Fathers
God of Your Fathers
God our Male parent
God the Father
Godhead/Deity/Divine Existence/Divinity
Heavenly Male parent
Holy Father
Husband
Jealous
Jealous and Avenging God
Jealous God
Lord and Begetter

Songs

Many, many praise and worship songs lift up our God our Male parent. These are but a few. If you have a song in this category to propose, please let me know (www.joyfulheart.com/contact/).

"Exist Thousand My Vision" ("K my smashing Father, I Thy true son....")words are attributed to Dallan Forgaill, 8th Century, translated by Mary E. Byrne(1905), and versed by Eleanor H. Hull (1912). The melody is of Irish gaelic folk origin.

"Come and Become with Me to My Begetter'southward House," African American spiritual

"Love Lord and Father of Mankind," words by John G. Whittier (1872), music by Frederick C. Maker (1887)

"Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise," words: Walter Chalmers Smith (1867), music: Welsh hymn tune

"This Is My Father'south World," words past Maltbie D. Babcock (1901), music by Franklin L. Sheppard (1915)

References

Standard Abbreviations http://www.jesuswalk.com/names-god/refs.htm

Otfried Hofius, "Male parent," NIDNTT 1:614-621, especially p. 614. A much more than detailed source, more than given to a comparative religions arroyo, is Gottfried Quell and Gottlob Schrenk, patēr, ktl, TDNT 5:945-1022.
In Palestinian Judaism of the pre-Christian era, the description of God as Father is also rare, as information technology is in the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha. In Rabbinical Judaism of the first century AD, the proper noun of Father was more than widespread, but still far less frequent than other descriptions of God (Hofius, NIDNTT 1:618).
Ber. 40a; Sanh. 70b; cf Tg. Isaiah 8:4, as cited by Hofius, NIDNTT ane:614.
Hofius, NIDNTT one:614.
Hofius (NIDNTT i:164) cites i cute and quaint reference, not really an exception, from Strack and Billerback I 375, 520.
C. K. Barrett, The 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians (Harper's New Testament Commentaries; Harper & Row, 1973), pp. 58-59. The "and" (kai) in "God and Begetter" probably has an expository or epexegetical sense, respective to the English "namely," or "that is." (Marcus Barth, Ephesians 1-three (Anchor Bible; Doubleday, 1974), pp. 72-23).
Gordon D. Fee, The Kickoff Epistle to the Corinthians (The New International Commentary on the New Attestation; Eerdmans, 1987), p. 375. He says, "Although Paul does not hither call Christ God, the formula is so synthetic that simply the most obdurate would deny its Trinitarian implications."
The NIV margin notes that "I was husband to" is the Hebrew text. The Septuagint and Syriac texts put it "and I turned away from."
Elmer A. Martens, bā`al, TWOT 262a. "The proper noun of the land, Beulah (passive participle of), signifies both the intimacy and the joy of YHWH in conjunction with the country."
Leonard J. Coppes, "qānā´," TWOT #2038b.

Chalice Hymnal (Beaker Printing, 1995), #47.
Ruth C. Duck, Gender and the Proper name of God: The Trinitarian Baptismal Formula (Pilgrim Printing, 1991), p. 4.
In sky, where there is no marriage or giving in marriage (Matthew 22:30), gender apparently loses it function and meaning.

Theios, BDAG 446.

Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (11th edition; Merriam Webster, 2004).

Theotēs, BDAG 452.

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