In some circles it seems in vogue when talking to someone else to refer to God as “Father” – not “the Father”, “my Father”, “your Father” or anything else: just “Father”.
“Father has been so good to me.”
“Then I prayed to Father and he answered me.”
“I have been thinking about Father a lot recently.”
“I’m going to ask Father what to do.”
I’m not going to guess at the motives for using “Father” this way, but I have to say it makes me a little uncomfortable. Why? Because it just sounds weird. No one else talks about God like that, and the very structure of the English language as it’s spoken today makes it very rare when referring to any father.
But even more, Jesus never referred to God in that way. Click on the link and run down all the verses there (most of the instances where “Father” has a capital ‘F’ are about God), and this is what you’ll find:
1. Jesus used “Father” when directly addressing God, with the one exception of “Our Father” when teaching his disciples a communal prayer (Matthew 6:9).
2. Jesus used “my Father”, “your Father”, “our Father”, “their Father” and “the Father” when talking about God to other people.
This is consistent with how the English language (and I would suggest most other language) -speaking church has referred to God down the centuries.
So, what’s with the change? Why do people feel the need to suddenly make a jump to the left and adopt a totally out-of-sync way of referring to God?
Yeah, it sounds a bit weird to me too, but my only gripe with it is one I have with church language in general: unfamiliar, old-fashioned or technical language can alienate or even scare people, so much that they hear only the words and not the message. Language use also defines people groups to a degree. While some of our points of difference are to be celebrated, when we use weird or unfamiliar language we also risk establishing cultural barriers, especially between Christians and those unfamiliar with the church.
I think it’s a difficult balance to maintain. Strangely enough, even though I don’t really listen or read his material, Derek Prince always impressed me on that Radio Rhema 15 minute slot with how he managed to use big words and explain them without sounding condescending. So, maybe it’s a matter of avoiding weighing Church language down with alien words, but keeping central terms like justification etc. and explaining them.
But using “Father” as described above should never be used…Glenn.
Pingback: Imago Dei » Christian Carnival 169
When Jesus was speaking about the Father he was using a figure of speech. Or figurative language.
“Though I have been speaking figuratively, a time is coming when I will no longer use this kind of language but will tell you plainly about my Father….”
If when you are praying to the Father you are praying to someone else other then Jesus you are committing idolatry. For He is the God and Father of all creation become flesh.
Puritan, from what I understand you to be saying, Jesus prayed to himself in the New Testament. That is not the case. What you outlined is actually a heresy – i.e. that God the Father and God the Son are one God and only figuratively Father and Son. Sounds awful close to – if not actually arriving at – modalism.
Care to explain further?