Should Christians call God ‘Father’?

(Wikipedia from the 1845 book of The Sermon on the Mount)

Should Christians call God Father?

Is it simply sexist or accurate to do so?

Until relatively recently, all biblical writers and all theologians I am aware of, believed that the Father was and is God.

However, some Protestants like to shy away from terms like ‘Father.’ And various moderns object to its use as male-bias.

There is even a small movement among Roman Catholics that disapprove of biblically-gendered language, like Father.

What does the Bible teach on this? What was the view of early Christians?

Let’s start off with a passage from the Old Testament:

6 A son honors his father, And a servant his master. If then I am the Father, Where is My honor? (Malachi 1:6, NKJV throughout unless otherwise cited)

Clearly God wants to be honored as Father.

Notice also what Isaiah was inspired to write:

16 Doubtless You are our Father, Though Abraham was ignorant of us, And Israel does not acknowledge us. You, O Lord, are our Father; Our Redeemer from Everlasting is Your name. (Isaiah 63:16)

8 But now, O Lord, You are our Father; We are the clay, and You our potter; And all we are the work of Your hand. (Isaiah 64:8)

Yes, God is Father.

Jeremiah also confirmed that (Jeremiah 31:9).

In the Old Testament He was also called the Ancient of Days (Daniel 7:9.13).

What about the New Testament?

The many writers of the New Testament recorded that the Father was God. Actually a couple of hundred times.

But let’s start with the words of Jesus.

Concerning the Father being God, Jesus taught:

23 But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24).

27 Do not labor for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set His seal on Him.” (John 6:27).

Jesus taught that one of the things He came to do was to reveal the Father:

25 O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26 And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.” (John 7:25-26)

25 “O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. 26 I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them.” (John 7:25-26, NLT)

Notice the following:

31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him. 32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”

33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ’? 35 If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken), 36 do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’? 37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me; 38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” (John 10:31-38)

Jesus clearly taught He was the son of God the Father.

And when asked about how to pray, Jesus said:

9 In this manner, therefore, pray:

Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name. (Matthew 6:9)

So, yes, God is to be addressed as Father.

Paul wrote about God being Father on so many occasions, that I will only quote the first one here:

7 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 1:7).

James wrote:

27 Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world (James 1:27).

Peter wrote:

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead (1 Peter 1:3).

The Apostle John wrote:

3 Grace, mercy, and peace will be with you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love (2 John 3).

Jude wrote:

1 Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, To those who are called, sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ: (Jude 1).

Thus, the first century writers acknowledged the Father as God.

What about early post-New Testament Christian writers?

Second century Christian writers also referred to the Father as God. And that He was the Father of Jesus.

In “the oldest complete Christian sermon that has survived” (Holmes M.W. The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, 2nd ed. Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 2004, p. 102)–was given perhaps with a year or so of the Apostle John’s death. It states:

So then, brothers, if we do the will of God our Father…(An Ancient Christian Sermon (2 Clement), 14:1. In Holmes M.W. The Apostolic Fathers: Greek Texts and English Translations, 2nd ed. Baker Books, Grand Rapids, 2004, p.121).

Polycarp of Smyrna wrote (mid second century):

But may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ Himself, who is the Son of God, and our everlasting High Priest, build you up in faith and truth, and in all meekness, gentleness, patience, long-suffering, forbearance, and purity; and may He bestow on you a lot and portion among His saints, and on us with you, and on all that are under heaven, who shall believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ, and in His Father, who “raised Him from the dead (Polycarp. Letter to the Philippians. From Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume 1as edited by Alexander Roberts & James Donaldson. American Edition, 1885. Section 12 modified by R. Thiel to correct omission in translation).

Melito of Sardis wrote (mid-late second century):

No eye can see Him, nor thought apprehend Him, nor language describe Him; and those who love Him speak of Him thus: `Father, and God of Truth” (Melito. A Discourse Which Was in the Presence of Antoninus Caesar).

This was the apparent historical position of all groups that I am aware of that profess any form of Christianity until relatively recently.

God is our heavenly Father. Notice more of what Jesus taught:

14 For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you (Matthew 6:14).

31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 “For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you (Matthew 6:31-33).

13 If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask Him! (Luke 11:13).

The Bible also teaches:

16 ‘Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you (Deuteronomy 5:16).

If human fathers are to be honored, how much more your heavenly Father?

But not all moderns like this.

The male gender of the Godhead is clear from the Bible. Yet, although the scriptures in the Old and New Testaments use the male gender for the Godhead, some ‘modern’ Protestants wish to move away from this.

United Church of Christ goes ‘Father’-free in ‘updated’ bylaws

USA Today – July 6, 2011…

Rev. Bennett Guess, spokesman for the denomination. Guess explained what happened last night in Tampa where the UCC wrapped up its biannual governance meeting.

We are still a Trinitarian denomination. This was not a theological document. It was a restructuring from five boards to one. And in doing this, we dealt with bylaws written decades ago, before the denomination’s commitment to using inclusive and expansive imagery for God.

We no longer use exclusively male language to refer to God. We haven’t for a long time.

The board-consolidation resolution passed Monday night after several hours of debate on restructuring that has taken six years to accomplish, Guess says. With the change came the edit that replaces “Heavenly Father” with the “Triune God.”

How is that different? Barbara Powell, a spokesperson for the UCC, explains,

It could be Father or Mother or Creator God. Our language reflects the God of all.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2011/07/god-father-ucc-obama-religion/1

In the 21st century, apparently many religious leaders care more for about opinions of those other than God.

Of course, that was a problem also in Jesus’ day as He said:

5 But all their works they do to be seen by men. (Matthew 23:5a)

3 “Why do you also transgress the commandment of God because of your tradition? (Matthew 15:3b)

5 “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. (Matthew 6:5)

16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth. (John 17:16-17)

9 And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men. (Matthew 15:9)

These new “politically-correct” traditions are in violation of scripture. Of course, the UCC teachings on the Godhead have long been based more on traditions of men than sacred scripture. And its no-Father announcements are even more away from scripture than even before.

Now, UCC is not the only Protestant group to hold such positions, just one of the more recent to further compromise on this point.

Despite the rallying cry of sola Scriptura, Protestants often ignore what the Bible teaches (see also the free online book: Hope of Salvation: How the Continuing Church of God Differs from Protestantism).

What about Roman Catholics?

A group of Roman Catholic women and priests came up with a translation called the Inclusive New Testament. It ignores the literal Greek where it feels that there is a “gender-bias.” Notice the following about it:

“Son of Man” becomes Chosen One or Promised One. …

“Lord” becomes Sovereign or Savior, and Jesus’ frequent references to “the Father” become Abba God.

Those who have winced at the misogyny of expressions like “the whore of Babylon” will see Good News in the rendering of Revelation 17:5, which describes the scarlet beast covered with blasphemous names. “This cryptic name was written on its forehead: Babylon the Great, Source of All Idolatry and of the Abominations of the Earth.” …

The intention of the Priests for Equality was to make The Inclusive New Testament truly inclusive by focusing “on those whom society has marginalized: women, ethnic and racial minorities, lesbians and gay people, and those typecast in terms of their afflictions” (Introduction, p. xx).

https://eewc.com/the-inclusive-bible/ accessed 03/07/24

That is wrong, but many do not care for the truth. While Abba God does mean Father God (abba is the Aramaic word for father), most do not think of the word Abba that way.

Abba is also the name of a famous Swedish band which consisted of two men and two women.

That said, consider also that Jesus said the following:

9 Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. (Matthew 23:9)

Yet, Roman Catholic priests are called ‘father’ by others of their faith despite what the Bible warns. And some priests do not wish to call God Father.

The Apostle Peter warned that “untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16), and even some “taught” people (like Roman Catholic priests) have ignored proper teaching in order to twist scriptures and their meaning. Do not be like them.

Sadly, this is not the only area where Roman Catholics have abandoned the original catholic faith (for documented details, check out the free online book: Beliefs of the Original Catholic Church: Could a remnant group have continuing apostolic succession?).

The fact is that the Old and New Testaments teach that the Father is God. That is the plain truth on this matter. It is only by intentionally twisting and mistranslating the word of God to want to say that God is not the Father.

Yet, Jesus said to pray to God as “Our Father,” so it makes no sense that people claiming Christianity should drop the word Father when referring to God.

The first and century Christian writers acknowledged that the Father is God. Jesus call the Father our “heavenly Father.”

Unlike a lot of early Christian beliefs, until recently this one has remained as nearly all associated with any form of Christianity acknowledge the Father as God as well.

But just because scripture states this, some who apparently wish to please other humans do not wish to teach this any longer. And that is sad as well as very wrong.

UPDATE 03/10/24: We just uploaded the following related video:

14:39

Should You Call God Father?

Is it sexist to call God ‘Father’? What does the Old Testament teach? What about the New Testament? What did Jesus teach? Who did Jesus say to pray to? Are we supposed to worship God in truth or according to our preferences and traditions? Did any post New Testament writers, like Melito of Sardis, state that one needed to call God ‘Father’? What did the Protestant United Church of Christ do related to that? Were they right to replace ‘Heavenly Father’ with ‘Abba God’? What about the Roman Catholic ‘Inclusive New Testament’? Steve Dupuie and Dr. Thiel address these matters.