Ephesians 3:14 and 15 say, “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, of whom every family in the heavens and on the earth is named.” Here Paul does not refer to God but to the Father. The Father in verse 14 is used in a broad sense, signifying not only the Father of the household of faith (Gal. 6:10), but the Father of every family in the heavens and on the earth. The Father is the source not only of the regenerated believers, but also of the God-created mankind (Luke 3:38), of the God-created Israel (Isa. 63:16; 64:8), and of the God-created angels (Job 1:6). The Jews’ concept was that God was Father only to them. Hence, Paul prayed to the Father of all the families in the heavens and on the earth according to his revelation, not as the Jews, who prayed only to the Father of Israel according to the Jewish concept.
The Greek word rendered “family” in Ephesians 3:15 may also be translated “fatherhood,” implying a family. Since God is the source of the angelic family in the heavens and all the human families on earth, so it is of God that every family in the heavens and on earth is named, just as producers give names to their products and fathers give names to their children.
Luke 3:38 indicates that, through creation, God is the Father of mankind, for in this verse Adam is called “the son of God.” This does not mean that Adam was born of God and possessed the life of God. Adam was created by God (Gen. 5:1-2), and God was his origin. Based upon this, he was supposed to be the son of God, even as the heathen poets considered all mankind to be the offspring of God (Acts 17:28). They were only created by God, not regenerated of Him. This is absolutely and intrinsically different from the believers in Christ being the sons of God. They have been born, regenerated, of God and possess God’s life and nature (John 1:12-13; 3:16; 2 Pet. 1:4).
In Acts 17:28 Paul says, “For in Him we live and move and are, as even some poets among you have said, For we also are His offspring.” The words “in Him we live and move and are” denote that man’s life and existence and even his actions are of God. This does not mean that man has God’s life and lives, exists, and acts in God as do the believers in Christ, who are born of God, possess His life and nature, and live, exist, and act in God’s person.
All men are God’s offspring in the sense that Adam was called a son of God. Because God is the Creator, the source, of all men, He is the Father of them all (Mal. 2:10) in a natural sense, not in the spiritual sense, as He is the Father of all the believers (Gal. 4:6), who are regenerated by Him in their spirit (1 Pet. 1:3; John 3:5-6).
In Matthew 11:27c the Lord Jesus says that no one knows “the Father except the Son and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” The Greek word translated “know” here indicates full knowledge, not mere objective acquaintance. Concerning the Son, only the Father has such knowledge; and concerning the Father, only the Son has such knowledge. Hence, to know the Father requires the Son’s revelation (John 17:6, 26). The Greek word rendered “wills” in Matthew 11:27 means to deliberately exercise the will through counsel.
In John 17:6 the Lord Jesus said to the Father, “I have manifested Your name to the men whom You gave Me out of the world.” The name referred to here is the very name Father. The names God and Jehovah were adequately revealed to man in the Old Testament, but not the name Father, though it is slightly mentioned in Isaiah 9:6; 63:16; and 64:8. In Old Testament times God’s people mainly knew that God was Elohim, that is, God, and Jehovah, that is, the ever-existing One, but they knew very little about the title Father. The Son came and worked in the Father’s name (John 5:43; 10:25) to manifest the Father to the men whom the Father gave Him and to make the Father’s name known to them (John 17:26), the name which reveals the Father as the source of life (John 5:26), for the propagation and multiplication of life, of whom many sons are born (John 1:12-13) for His expression. Hence, the Father’s name, revealed by the Son, is very much related to the divine life. We can know the Father in the way of the divine life only through the Son’s unveiling of Him.
As the Father of all families both in the heavens and on earth (Eph. 3:14-15), God is the source of all. All things are out of Him. Romans 11:36 says, “Out of Him and through Him and to Him are all things.” In the past, all things were out of Him; in the present, all things are through Him; and in the future, all things will be to Him. All things came into being out of God in the past, all things exist through Him in the present, and all things will be to Him in the future. All things are of Him, through Him, and for Him.
First Corinthians 8:6 says, “There is one God, the Father, of whom are all things.” This verse tells us again that God who is the Father is the source of all things. Here the Father refers not to God as the Father of the regenerated believers but to Him as the source of all things. This is proved by the words “of whom are all things.” All things are out of God as the source; hence, God is called the Father. Not only is He the believers’ Father in regeneration, but He is the Father of all created things in creation, for all things have come out of Him.
Hebrews 2:10 tells us that God, who is leading many sons into glory, is the One “for whom are all things and through whom are all things.” In order to lead many sons into glory, God needs the heavens, the earth, and all things. All things which God created for the accomplishment of His purpose exist through Him in the present, and will be for Him in the future. It is God who maintains all things in the universe so that they may serve His purpose.
In Hebrews 12:9 God is called the Father of spirits: “Furthermore, we have had the fathers of our flesh as discipliners and we respected them; shall we not much rather be in subjection to the Father of spirits and live?” Here “the Father of spirits” is contrasted with “the fathers of our flesh.” In natural birth, we were born of our father in our flesh. Hence, they are the fathers of our flesh. In regeneration we are born of God (John 1:13) in our spirit (John 3:6). Hence, He is the Father of our spirits.
Home | First | Prev | Next