The Fatherhood of God
Is Everyone a Child of God?
By Jonathan Mitchell
The generally accepted meaning of the term "father" signifies that in some sense - whether physical or metaphorical - a man has a child, or children. Conversely, the term "child" signifies that a person (or a metaphorical concept or application) has a "father" (or, a source).
This essay will investigate the concept, and the reality, of God being a Father, and of people being His children - in a real, although figurative, sense. Our conclusions will be based upon what is found in the Scriptures (OT and NT).
So, when did God become a Father to human beings? In the Genesis account, the first human being was formed of moist soil, and then God blew into his nostrils "the breath of life." From then on, human beings that have been born continued living only as long as they had breath. Now if we accept the statement that "God is spirit, or Spirit," and that the root meaning of the word "spirit" is "breath-effect," can we make the connection between a living human being with the way that Adam became a living human being? Was God, in effect, and figuratively, the Father of Adam?
In the Gospel of Luke, we find the genealogy of Jesus which begins with His earthly "father" (relationally and functionally, after His birth), Joseph, and traces this genealogy all the way back to Adam, where in 3:38 we read:
"[son] of Enos (or: Enosh), [son] of Seth, [son] of Adam, [son] of God."
[note: Following Joseph, in vs. 23, each name of this genealogy is a genitive or ablative phrase. Thus, alternate renderings of the last part of vs. 38 are: ... belonging to, or from, Adam, belonging to, or from, God; or: ... whose source is Adam, whose source is God; or, as a genitive of apposition: ... who is Adam, who is God; Comment: this last function of the genitive would indicate a continuity, and a corporate unity, from God, through Adam, and on through the rest of the genealogy].
Thus, we observe that, just as Luke viewed all the names in this list as being born from the succeeding name, we find that Adam was considered to be born of God... i.e., had God as his Father. If we turn Luke's genealogy on its head, we have everyone in the list as being children, or descendants, of God.
With God being understood as Spirit (Jn. 4:24), it is easily understood why the author of the book of Hebrews refers to God as, "the Father of spirits" (Heb. 12:9, whose context is speaking about people needing to be in subjection to God). Remember, it was God's Spirit (Breath) that "gave birth" to Adam becoming a living being (person).
Let us now turn to the preaching of Paul to pagan philosophers, in Acts 17:
18. Now certain folks - both of the Epicurean and of the Stoic philosophers - began throwing [comments; thoughts; ideas] together to (or: took to conversing with; were intermittently tossing remarks at) him, and some had been saying, "What could this seed-collector (or: seed-layer; or: = a bird or a gleaner that picks up scraps in the market place or fallen seeds in the field; or: = a chatterer who gathers scraps of knowledge and repeats trifling thoughts and ideas) now possibly intend (or: want) to continue saying?" While others [said], "He seems to be an announcer of (publisher for; one putting forth a case about) foreign (or: alien; strange) demons (a Hellenistic concept and term: = animistic influences; here may refer to foreign divinities)," because he had been announcing the message of goodness, ease and well-being: Jesus and the resurrection!
19. So [other MSS: Along with this; D adds: after a few days,] after taking a hold on him, they brought [him] up on the Areopagus (or: a meeting of the council of the Areopagos [a body similar to a municipal or colonial senate]), various ones saying, "Are we able (or: Can we) get to know what this strange, innovative, new teaching [is] which is being repeatedly spoken by you?
20. "For you see, you continue importing into our hearing some things being presently strange and foreign. Therefore, we are now wishing and intending (we are resolved) to personally know and experience (or: gain insight about) [what] these certain things are progressively intending (purposing; resolving) to be."
21. In fact, all Athenians and the foreigners repeatedly being temporary residents (or: sojourners; folks continuing as resident aliens) were habitually spending leisure time (or: good opportunities; seasons of ease) [invested] into nothing different than to be saying (or: telling) something or to be hearing (or: listening to) something stranger and innovatively newer (= the latest novelty).
22. So Paul, being made to stand in the middle of the Areopagus, affirmed [to them], "Men (some scholars suggest that this term = Ladies and Gentlemen), Athenians! I continue watching and observing you people as [being] most reverencing of the animistic powers (or: more religious than usual in regard to the fear of demons [a Hellenistic concept and term: = an animistic influence] and unseen forces),
23. "for while passing through, and then continuing in contemplation during carefully observing one after another of your religious objects (items of reverence; effects of veneration, devotion and worship), I also found an elevated spot within which it had been inscribed, 'To (or: For) an Unknown (or: Unknowable) God.' To Whom then, while continuing ignorant, you make it a habit to give reverent worship and dutiful support, this One am I myself presently announcing (bringing down a clear proclamation of) to you folks (or: Therefore, to what you people continue unknowingly giving godly devotion, this same One do I myself continue publishing among you).
24. "The God making (forming and constructing; producing) the ordered system and arrangement of the universe, and all the things within it - this One continuously being from the start: Lord of heaven and of earth (or: this Owner and Master, repeatedly and progressively being the subsisting and originating source, the under-beginning, of sky and land) - is not now (or: habitually) taking up residence within handmade shrines, sanctuaries or temples!
25. "Neither is He continuously provided for, attended or habitually served by human hands - as constantly being in want, or having a need of something - He Himself being the One constantly giving to all people, and things, life and breath and all things (or: everything; the whole [universe])!
27. "[D adds: most of all] to be continuously seeking God [D reads: the Deity], since really, in fact, they could feel about and grope, and then at some point might (or: possibly) find Him! And, to be sure, [He] is continuously being an Originator (or: He is constantly subsisting, being inherently [the] Under-Beginner; = [the ground of Being]) not far away (or: a long distance) from each one of us!
28. "For you see, within the midst of and in union with Him we continuously live (or, as a subjunctive: could be constantly living), and are constantly moved about and put into motion, and continue existing (experiencing Being). Even as certain of the poets down among you people have said, 'You see, we are also a family of the One (or: we even continuously exist being a race whose source is the One; or: we also are His species and offspring; we are even a family which is composed of the One and which is the One).' [a quote of Aratos and of Keleanthes; cf Eph. 3:15]
29. "Therefore, continuously and inherently subsisting from under a beginning, being God's family (a species of God; a race whose source is God; [the] kind of being having the qualities and characteristics of God; [the] offspring birthed from God)..."
Paul's sermon is quite clear, and easily understood, in the relationship of God with human beings. Paul's audience was pagan philosophers. These folks were included as being part of the "family of the One" - even "His species and offspring," and "a race whose source is the One." Why should folks question this?
We have a similar picture painted for us, in Eph. 3:
14. On account of this (or: From this grace or thanks), I continually bend my knees (= in loyalty, respect and reverence) to (toward; or: face-to-face with) the Father [other MSS add: of (or: Who is) our Lord Jesus Christ],
15. forth from Where (or: out of the midst of Whom) every family (lineage; kindred; descent; paternal group) within heaven and upon earth (or: in [the] sky or atmosphere, and on [the] land) is one after another being named (or: spoken of, or to, by name; or: designated)."
In 1 Cor. 15:22 Paul uses Adam as a figure that is inclusive of all humanity:
"Thus, just as within Adam all humans keep on (or: everyone continues) dying, in the same way, also, within the Christ, all humans will keep on being made alive (or: everyone, or all, will one-after-another be created and produced with Life, in union with the Anointed One)."
Likewise, in this same chapter, Paul speaks of Adam as being the first humanity, which bears the image of the earthly, but who will also bear the image of the heavenly (15:45-57).
Once again we find Adam as a figure who represents all of humanity, in Rom. 5:12-21, where Paul instructs us, in vs. 18, that through Christ's act of righteousness, unto all human beings, this has in view a being made right from Life... resulting in
"the many" (i.e., all humanity) being made righteous folks (vs. 19) - each one in his or her own class, or order (1 Cor. 15:23).
Turning again to the epistle to the Ephesians, we find, in chapter 4:6,
"ONE God and Father of all humans - the One upon all people and [moving] through all people, and within the midst of all humanity and in union with all people and all things."
Paul presents another inclusive picture, in 1 Cor. 8:6,
"to us, in us, for us, with us, [there is] one God, the Father [cf Mal. 2:10; Eph. 4:6], from out of the midst of Whom [is] the whole (or: [comes] the All; or: [are] all things) - and we [proceed] into the midst of Him - even one Lord, Jesus Christ: through (or: by means of) Whom [is] the whole (or: [are; exist] all things; [cf Jn. 1:3; Col. 1:16; Heb. 1:2]), and we through (or: means of, and by way of) Him (or: and thus, we [exist] through Him; [cf Jn. 15:1-5])!"
He presents this same idea in Rom. 11:36,
"for out of the midst of Him, and through the midst of Him, and [then] into the midst of Him, [are] all things."
He is the Source (Father) of all things and all people. Paul put it this way, in Col. 1:17,
"And so, He is before (prior to; or: maintains precedence of) all things and all people, and The Whole has (or: all things have) been placed together and now continues to jointly-stand (stands cohesively; is made to have a co-standing) within the midst of, and in union with, Him."
With these observations in mind, let us consider what Jesus said to the multitude, in Mat. 6:
8. "So then, you folks should not be like, or made to resemble, them, for it follows that before the occasion for you to ask Him [D & h read: to open the mouth], God, your Father, has seen and thus knows (is aware) of what things you continue having need.
9. "Therefore, be continuously thinking and speaking toward having goodness, ease and well-being (or: praying) in this way: 'O our Father - the One within and in union with the heavens! (or: in the midst of the atmosphere and firmament!)...
Notice that at the beginning of this Sermon, as prefaced in Mat. 4:25 and 5:1, there were multitudes present who would have heard these words. Next, consider how Jesus connects God's care for creation with the needs of His audience:
Looking back to the Hebrew Bible, addressing Israel as a whole, Malachi asks the rhetorical questions:
"Is there not One Father to us all? Did not One God create us?" (Mal. 2:10a)
We find Paul, in various letters, using three men from Israel's history to be representative of God's plan of the ages, in both the OT and the NT. First there is Adam who represents all humanity (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15:22-57), then there is Abraham (Rom. 4; Gal. 3 & 4), and then there is Israel (as an ethnic group; Rom. 9:1ff; 11:1-36, etc.). So, speaking of corporate Israel, we find In Isa. 64:7,
"Yet, Lord, you are our father; we are the clay and you our potter: we are all the work of your hand."
Isaiah saw God as the Father of all of Israel. The same author said, in Isa. 63:16,
"For you are our father, though Abraham does not know us and Israel does not acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our father; our Redeemer from of old is your name."
We read, in Ps. 68:5-6,
"Sing to God, praise his name; exalt the rider of the clouds. Rejoice before him whose name is the Lord. Father of the fatherless, defender of widows - God in his holy abode."
And then, there is Ps. 82:6,
"I Myself said, "You folks are (exist being) gods, and all [are] sons of the Most High!"
God addresses this assembly of gods (Heb. elohim), referenced in Ps.82:1. Recall Jn. 10:34-35, where Jesus quoted this Psalm, and then He explained that these were folks,
"to whom God's Logos (the Word which was laid out from God) came,"
through Moses, and the prophets. God chose Israel, as a people group, to be His corporate son (Ex. 4:22). Therefore, they were metaphorically gods, as being children of God, a part of God's family. (See my post: Who Were the Gods of Psalm 82) In Deut. 14:1, it was told to Israel,
"You people are sons of Yahweh, your God."
These passages portray the entire ethnic group as having God as their Father
In Nu. 16:22 we read:
"And they fell upon their faces, and said, "O God, the God of the spirits of ALL flesh..."
Caiaphas, the chief priest prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation (Jn. 11::51), and then continues (in vs. 52),
"and not over [the condition of] the Nation (or: on behalf of this ethnic group) only, but further, to the end that He could gather God's children together - those having been thoroughly scattered - into one (or: so that He would lead together into unity God's divided, dissipated and disintegrated born-ones that have been dispersed throughout)."
[cf Gen. 11:8 - the Tower of Babel; Eph. 2:11-17]
We will conclude the pro evidence for God's Fatherhood of all humanity with the words in Heb. 2:6-9,
7."You made him a brief time inferior, at the side of agents (or: alongside folks with a message); You crowned him with glory (or: an assumed appearance) and honor (or: You put a celebration and victor's wreath on him in a manifestation which called forth praise with a good reputation, and for value), and then You set him down (or: made him to stand; or: = appointed him) upon the works (or: actions) of Your hands.
8."You subordinated all things (or: You humbly align and arrange all humanity under a shelter) down under his feet, in order to support him." [Ps. 8:5-7; cf Gen. 1:26-28] For you see, in the [situation] to subordinate the whole (or: humbly align and arrange all [i.e., the entirety of creation] for support), nothing is sent away not subordinated (or: supportively aligned) by, to, and in, him. Yet now, at this moment, we are not yet seeing or perceiving the whole (or: everything; the all) having been subordinated for support, in, or to, him (or: humbly aligned, placed or arranged under a shelter in, or caused to support, Him).
9. But yet, we are continuously looking at, and seeing, Jesus - having been made inferior, then continuing so, for a brief time, beside agents (at the side of folks with the message) - [then afterwards] having been encompassed with Glory and now continuing in this assumed Appearance (or: crowned by a good reputation, and continuing with it,) and with honor (or: in value; by respect for [His] worth), on account of (or: through) the effect of the experience of death (or: Now in this certain short bit of time, we keep on observing Jesus - having been made less because of the result of the suffering from, and which was, death - now having been encircled with the Victor's wreath in a manifestation which calls forth praise and with esteemed respect, at the side of the folks with the message), so that by, in, and with, Grace and Favor of, and from, God (or: how and by what means, for God's Grace, and in the Favor which is God) He might taste of (or: eat from) death over [the situation and condition of] ALL HUMANITY (or: for, and on behalf of, EVERYONE). [cf 2 Cor. 5:14b]
10. You see, it was fitting for Him - on account of Whom [is] the collective whole ([are] all things that exist) and through (or: by means of) Whom [is] the collective whole ([are] all things that exist; [cf Jn. 1:3]) - in, when, and by, leading many sons [note: a figure for all humanity; cf Rom. 5:15, 18, 19] into glory and an assumed appearance (or: a good reputation), to finish, perfect, and make complete the File-Leader who first walked the Path of their deliverance (to bring to a complete state the Originator and Chief Agent of their rescue; to script the final scene for the Chief Inaugurator and Conveyor of their restoration; to bring the Pioneering Bringer of their salvation to the destined goal), through the effects of sufferings and results of experiences [note, paschō means: to be affected by something - either good or bad; to feel, have sense experiences; thus, also: to suffer or undergo passion].
So now, let us investigate texts which seem to present a different view. In Luke 6:35, we read:
"In any case, be continuously loving your enemies (urging toward union with the ones hostile to you), and be constantly doing good (producing excellence; constructing beneficence; performing virtue) and also be habitually lending while expecting [to get] nothing back. Then your wage and reward will continue being much, and you folks will continue being sons (= having the character and qualities) of the Most High..."
We find the same idea expressed in Mat. 5:9, where we are told that
"the peace-makers"
will be called
"sons of God."
These examples show us the metaphorical use of the term "sons" in the sense that one's actions embody and display the quality and character of God. This use does not imply a father-son relationship. It is like Jesus calling James and John,
"the sons of thunder" (Mk. 3:17).
I suggest that it is this same type of symbolic, rhetorical usage that we find in Jn. 8:38-44.
39. In calculated reply, they said to Him, "OUR father is Abraham!" Jesus then says to them, "If (or: Since) you folks are Abraham's children, be continually doing and performing Abraham's deeds (actions; works). [other MSS: If you folks were Abraham's children, were you ever doing Abraham's works (deeds; acts)?]
40. "So now, proceed in seeking to kill Me! (or: Yet now you are continually seeking to kill Me; [note: the verb "seeking" is either present imperative or present indicative]) - a Man (person; human) Who has spoken to you the Truth, and this Reality, which I hear from (or: heard at) God's side (or: in the presence of God). Abraham did not do this!
41. "You folks habitually do your father's works (perform deeds and actions from your father)."
Therefore they said to Him,
"We ourselves were not born out of prostitution (or: fornication; whoring; = infidelity to God). We have one Father: God!"
Note this perception of the Judeans!
42. Jesus said to them, "If God were your Father, you folks would have been, and continued, loving and urging toward union with (or: accepting and progressively giving yourselves fully to) Me ..."
Here Jesus is using the "character" meaning of God not being their Father.
43. "How (Through what [situation]) is it that you folks consistently do not understand (have personal, experiential knowledge of) the matter of My discourse or the way I am speaking (= Why don't you understand what I'm saying)? Because you presently have no power and continue unable to keep on hearing My Word (or: to progressively listen to My pattern-forming Information). 44. "You folks, in particular, are (continue existing, being) from out of, and have your source in, the ancestor who cast [something] through [a human being] [cf Rom. 5:12, 14, 17a, 18a] (or: originate from the father who was that adversary, the one thrusting [a weapon] through [someone]; or: are [descended] from that father who was the one that thrusted-through another person), and thus, you are habitually wanting (willing; intending; purposing) to be constantly doing your father's passionate cravings (full-rushing over-desires). That one was existing being a murderer (a killer of a human) from [the] beginning (or: from [the] start; off from [the] origin; or: from headship, chieftainhood, and rule), and he did not stand firm, and continued not taking a stand, centered within the Truth (or: in the sphere of, nor in union with, this Reality), because Truth is not (openness and reality do not exist) within him, nor centered in him, nor in the sphere of him. Whenever he would be speaking the Lie, he is continuing speaking from out of his own [thoughts; perceptions; disposition; desire] - because he is (or: continues existing being) a liar, and its father. [cf 1 Jn. 2:22; 3:8-10]
[note: the father of the lie, or of the liar; = "the first Adam" - 1 Cor. 15:45ff; or: = Cain, Gen. 4:9]
I suggest that Jesus was saying that these Judeans were figurative descendants of Cain, whose response to God, about Abel (note Mat. 23:35 - on them was the blood from Abel) was similar to theirs... they had the same heart that Cain had.
In 1 John 3:1, we have another symbolic application of the "Father/children" metaphor,
"See what love the Father has given us that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are."
This is like saying that we are in the relationship to Yahweh as all of Israel was in Ex. 4:22, where God termed Israel His son, His firstborn. It showed there, and here, a special relationship, of a particular group, to God, who would function as a Father is this new relationship. We find the same thing in Rom. 8: 14-17
(or: indeed possessors and enjoyers of an allotment pertaining to God and from God, yet co-possessors-and-enjoyers together in an allotment pertaining to Christ and belonging to Christ) since, after all (or: if indeed), we are continually jointly experiencing and being affected by sensory encounters together [with, or in, Him] - feeling together, receiving joint-impressions, undergoing passion or suffering together (or: co-suffer) - to the end that we also would be glorified together (or: co-glorified) [with or in, Him]
(or: can be given a shared appearance; would together receive a manifestation of that which calls forth praise; could be given a joint-approval and a joint-reputation; may be thought of, and imagined, together [in covenant relationship]).[cf 2 Cor. 4:8-9; Col. 3:4; 1 Jn. 3:2] [for vs. 18, below, cf 2 Cor. 4:17; Col. 3:1-5a]
This passage is descriptive of the new relationship with God, not defining the qualifications for this relationship. When Paul says, in Rom. 9:8,
"That is, [other MSS: This is because] the children of the flesh (or: of the organic, natural realm; those born physically [cf Jn. 1:13]; or: = those from the old System) - these [are] not the children of God,"
he is pointing out the contrast of Israel's condition and way of living that he had described in Rom. 8:7-9a,
We find this same contrast in 1 Jn. 3:10,
"[Both] God's children and the adversary's children are constantly visible (apparent; manifest) within this [thing, situation; condition]: everyone, who (or: all mankind, which), in not normally producing eschatological deliverance (while not habitually doing justice; when not progressively constructing his life turned in the right direction to accord with the Way pointed out, or not being fair and equitable; by not presently being in [covenant] relationships) - as well as the one not continuously loving (unconditionally accepting and seeking union with) his brother (or: fellow) - is not existing out of God (= is not living with God being his source of life and direction)."
This is not only a contrast of behaviors, but of the conditions of the hearts and attitudes. It speaks of a person who is neither abiding in the Vine, nor walking in the Spirit. We might ask, "Who was John referring to when he spoke of "the adversary's children?" Might they be the same ones who were Paul's adversaries, to whom he referred in Gal. 4:25?
"Mount Sinai, within Arabia, and she continuously stands in the same line (or: keeps step in the same rank; marches in a column; walks or stands in a parallel row; or: is habitually rudimentary together; or: = corresponds to) with the present-day Jerusalem, for she continues in slavery (or: functioning in bondage) with her children."
He contrasted those,
who were not yet born again from the Jerusalem which is above (4:26), with the children of the Freewoman"
"Wherefore, brothers (folks from the same womb; family; siblings; = fellow believers), we are not (we do not exist being) children of a slave-girl (a servant girl; a maid), but, to the contrary, of, and from, the (or: this) Freewoman." (4:31)
Notice that these comparisons are between children that were born of different mothers. In 4:24 Paul instructs us that,
"these women are (= represent) two settled arrangements (covenants)."
We suggest that this is what John was speaking about, in 1 Jn. 3:10, above. They were children who functioned within two different covenants. If we go back, in this chapter, to 4:5, we find a key to Paul's allegory:
"to the end that He could (or: would) buy out (release by purchase; redeem; reclaim [from slavery]) those under a law (or: [the] Law) - so that WE [= Jew and Gentile] could and would receive and take away, into possession, the placing in the condition of a son (or: the deposit of the Son; the setting in place which is the Son; the constituting as a son; the placing in the Son; or: = adulthood)." [cf Rom. 8:3-4, 23]
It is this same way in which John contrasts flesh births with the new spiritual birth, in Jn. 1:
13. who are born (or: were given birth) not out of bloods (or: [flows] of blood [= from a woman]; or: from blood [lines]), neither forth from the will of flesh (or: from the intent of a flesh [ceremony]; or: from out of a purpose from the natural realm), nor yet out of the will (purpose; intent) of an adult male, but to the contrary and in contrast, from out of the midst of God! [cf Jas. 1:18; 1 Pet. 1:23]
The new birth, which Jesus explains to Nicodemus, in Jn. 3:3-8, speaks of a spiritual birth which is in contrast to being a child of God by natural descent (e.g., as with Israel), or of becoming a proselyte through being convinced by someone to enter the Jewish religion. It is all about what Jn. 1:14 continues to explain: it is about the Word becoming incarnated within us as we become the "body" of Christ in the earth.
We see a family/corporate metaphor, in 2 Cor. 6:16b, 18,"just as God said:
'I will proceed to make My home and will continue walking about within and among them (or: I will habitually reside {dwell}, as in a house, and live My life within, among, and in the sphere of them), and I will continue existing being their God, and they will continue existing being My people.' [Lev. 26:12; cf Rev. 21:3] ...."and so I will proceed into being a Father for you, and you will proceed in being (or: will continue being) sons and daughters in Me (by Me; to Me; for Me), says [the] LORD [= Yahweh] the All-strong (Almighty)." [2 Sam. 7:14; Isa. 43:6]
The context, and the kind of application of the term, are both vitally important in coming to understand our relationship with God. Is the concept of "children of God" being used in the context of a covenant? Is it speaking of a person's quality, character or behavior? Or is it speaking of an existential reality in an ontological expression of who we really are, such as we find in Act. 17:28-29a? God can be our Father, in the first two categories. He really is the Father of all humanity, in the third category. And we further submit that, individually, God really is our Father when we are,
"born back up, from above, to a higher place again (or: can be brought to birth again; or: would be given birth from above; [cf 1:13, above])" (Jn. 3:3, 7).
Dan Kaplan pointed us to Mat. 23:9, where Jesus spoke to the MULTITUDE (or: crowds - vs. 1):
"And further, you folks should not call [anyone] on the earth your ‘father,' because you see, One is your Father: the heavenly One."
Jonathan
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