The Forgotten Father

The title of this post takes its cue from a book written by Tom Smail (1928-2012) on the first person in the Trinity, God the Father, a study, which I heartily recommend.

Smail had a Church of Scotland background but later entered the Anglican ordained ministry; he was evangelical, and charismatic (but with reservations later in his career) in churchmanship.

He was a learned theologian and a godly man who wrote with care about church teachings-practices which he believed were becoming lopsided in emphasis.

He believed that in evangelical and charismatic circles an over-emphasis on the Son and the Spirit with a corresponding under-emphasis on God the Father¹ was in evidence.

One can only speculate why this state of affairs might have arisen. I suspect it began with revival² movements which also affected Australia in the mid-1850s and also into the 20th century.

Song Affects Christian Living 

It's well to remember that the manner in which any church group sings influences their living, sometimes even more than what is preached! The Wesleys back in the 18th century knew that and the Wesley hymns are rich doctrinally because they understood hymn singing to be educational!

The revivalist movements became evangelistic, usually mass evangelism, and produced songs, choruses and hymns. These tended to push the Lord Jesus into greater prominence than had been the case before their development. I guess they took this action for both biblical reasons and because they were reacting to liberalism and modernism which had all but denied the sacrificial and miraculous work of Christ incarnate. 

Hence, these newer movements (rightly) sang much about Jesus' sacrifice on the cross to place the work of Christ's redemption at the centre of the plan of reconciliation.

Unfortunately, a decline in the prominence of God the Father ensued. (Maybe this change was also affected by the Pentecostal-Charismatic movements which emphasised the Holy Spirit, and Jesus as the baptiser with the Holy Spirit.)

Who is Jesus?

Every one of the gospel accounts is concerned with this question and every one of them answers it. Each one shows how Jesus is bonded to his Father in heaven.

For example, the declarations of the Peter about Jesus point to his relationship with God.³ One records, 'You are the Christ' (Mk 8.29); another says, 'You are the Christ of God' (Lu 9.20); and a fuller account adds, 'You are the Christ, the Son of the living God' (Mt 16.16). 

In the fourth gospel, the writer says of his record that it is a call to believe, 'that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God' (Jn 20.31).

We find in John's account, the question about Jesus answered in some detail in chapter 1 verses 1-18. As the Word (logos) he is 'with' God and is God (Jn 1.1c). And further, Jesus is the 'only begotten of the Father' (Jn 1.14) and 'in the bosom' (Jn 1.18), inseparable from God the Father.

To that witness can be added the human witness of John the Baptist (Behold the Lamb of God!)(Jn 1.29a, 36) and then the initially sceptical Nathaniel calls Jesus, 'the Son of God, the King of Israel' (Jn 1.49). 

Following that comes Jesus' own witness to Himself, 'Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man' (Jn 1.51; Dan 7.13-14).

To be 'Christ', 'Messiah' is to be anointed for a calling and task by the Holy Spirit; and in these references, it is God's own Son who has been called to the vocation of freeing his people from the bondage of sin.

My point is that Jesus is always one with the Father even when he is in the garden of Gethsemane and even when he is on the cross.⁴ The cross and all it entailed was done according to 'the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God' (Acts 2.23).

Jesus, The Way To The Father

My plea is not one urging Christians to reduce their devotion to the Lord Jesus -hardly- but in perhaps taking up the challenge of reading the fourth gospel to see how Jesus constantly refers to his Father directly.

Jesus is the only Way but to where? Jesus is the only way to the Father (Jn 14.6) through the power of the Holy Spirit (Jn 3.5).

If that is so, we should also ensure that we don't become 'Jesus people' alone but disciples of Christ our Lord giving all the members of the Godhead their rightful places as revealed in scripture; and at the same time, emphasising the unity of God (Deut 6.4; 1Tim 1.17; 1Jn 4.7).

1. Interestingly, 'western' Christians (Catholics, Protestants) tend to emphasise the oneness of God over the three-ness of God -the reverse being the case in Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Pentecostals and charismatic Christians don't always self-identify with Protestantism so I'm not so sure they can be easily classified using these categories.
2. 'Revival' is chiefly about the renewal of an existing but dying or dead church. However, revival of the church frequently leads to others outside the church's meetings being drawn into the Faith through active evangelism.
3. In the NT, the Father is typically called 'God' (e.g., Jn 17.3; 2 Cor 13.14); less often are the Son (Jn 1.1; 20.28; Rom 9.5; 1 Tim 3.16; Titus 2.13), and the Spirit (Acts 5.3-4).
4. Despite the strange doctrine taught today that God 'left him'! We need to examine Psalm 22, the psalm from which Jesus is quoting, and realise that to quote the first line of a psalm as He did is to invoke the rest of the psalm as well. But furthermore, this psalm is a Messianic psalm! That's the major point involved in Jesus' citing it on the cross. He is saying in effect, 'I am the Messiah!'. Christians should read through the entire psalm, carefully noting the details. In particular, we need to note how the psalm ends.