In this message we shall continue to be on the person of God.
In Ephesians 1:3 Paul speaks of God as “the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Since Jesus Christ is God, why does Paul speak of the God of Jesus Christ? How can God be His God? Furthermore, Paul mentions the Father of Jesus Christ. How can Christ, being God, have a Father? God is the God of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of Man, and God is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Son of God. According to His humanity, God is His God; and according to His divinity, God is His Father.
Paul’s praise to the God of the New Testament in Ephesians 1:3 is deep and profound. It encompasses the entire New Testament economy. Here we have not only creation, indicated by the title “God,” but also incarnation, indicated by the title “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The first revelation of God in the Bible is in creation, for the Bible opens with the words, “In the beginning God created....” Following creation is the incarnation. One day God the Creator became incarnated. The Word that was with God and was God became flesh (John 1:1, 14) to be a man. When God Himself became a man, the God who created all things became His God. “The God of our Lord Jesus Christ” indicates that the Lord Jesus was a man. If He were only God, God could never be His God. In order for God to be His God, He had to become a man. For this, incarnation was needed. The God whom the Jews worship is only the God of creation, not the God of incarnation. We today worship not only the God of creation but also the God of incarnation. In incarnation the God of creation became the very God of the Man Jesus. At the same time, God is also the Father of Christ as the Son of God. In Christ’s humanity, God is His God; in His divinity God is His Father.
Furthermore, as the title “God” refers to creation, so the title “Father” should refer to the impartation of life. This took place in the Lord’s resurrection. On the day of His resurrection His word to Mary in John 20:17 indicates that God is not only His Father, but also His believers’ Father. It is through His resurrection that God the Father becomes His believers’ Father. This is the Father’s impartation of life to His many children.
In Ephesians 1:17 Paul goes on to speak of “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.” In verse 3 Paul speaks of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, putting God and the Father together. But here he mentions Them separately, saying, “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory.” In incarnation the Lord Jesus Christ, God Himself (Phil. 2:6), became a man. As a man, He is related to God’s creation; therefore, God the Creator is His God. The incarnation brought God the Creator into man, God’s creature. The title “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ” implies that God the Creator has come into man. Whenever we speak of God in this way, we imply that God is no longer merely the Creator outside of His creature, man, but that He has been brought into humanity. We, the fallen creatures, have been redeemed. Incarnation indicates that God is for our enjoyment. We can enjoy God because He has come into humanity for our redemption. Divinity becomes our enjoyment in Jesus.
By His work of creation God became the Creator. After creation He took the step of incarnation, thereby coming into His creature, man. By and in incarnation the Creator and the creature became one. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was the uniting of God and man. Through crucifixion the Lord accomplished redemption. As a result, we, the fallen creatures, were redeemed. The Jews, however, have no concept of God’s incarnation and redemption. But we Christians have God in creation, incarnation, and redemption. How much more we have than the Jews!
In John 20:17 the Lord told Mary to say to His brothers, “I ascend to My Father and your Father, and My God and your God.” This indicates that the Lord as a resurrected man takes God as His God and the Father as His Father. Furthermore, this verse reveals that His Father and God has become His believers’ Father and God.
Why did the Lord tell Mary that He was ascending to the Father and to God? On the one hand, the Lord is the Son of God; therefore, He would see the Father in the person of the Son. On the other hand, He is still the Son of Man; therefore, He would see God in the person of man. We His believers, also are men on the one hand and sons of God on the other. Because we are men, God is God to us. Because we are the sons of God, God is also the Father to us. Because we are now both men and sons of God, we have both God and the Father.
All the believers as human beings have become brothers to the Lord and sons to the Father through the Lord’s resurrection, because they have received the same life as He. Through His life-imparting death and resurrection the Lord has made His believers one with Him. Therefore, His Father is also His believers’ Father, and His God is also their God. In His resurrection they have both the Father’s life and God’s nature, just as He does. In making them His brothers He has imparted the Father’s life and God’s nature into them. In making His Father and His God theirs He has brought them into His position-the Son’s position-before the Father and God. Thus, in life and in nature inwardly and in position outwardly they are the same as He.
John 20:17; Ephesians 1:3, 17; and Revelation 1:6 were all written after the Lord’s ascension. We have seen that in John 20:17 the Lord was about to ascend to His Father and God and that in Ephesians 1:3 and 17 Paul speaks of the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Furthermore, Revelation 1:6 says that Christ has “made us a kingdom, priests to His God and Father.” As in John 20:17 and Ephesians 1:3 and 17, “His God” refers to the Lord’s relationship as a man to God, and “His Father” refers to His relationship as the Son to the Father. Therefore, the New Testament emphasizes the fact that the God who created us and redeemed us, and who is imparting and dispensing Himself into us, is the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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