The Trinity: The Father’s Fatherhood

You check the news, your inbox, and your bank account—and your heart sinks. Somewhere in the background, you remember God is there, but you forget he is your Father. We are too quick to forget that we have a heavenly Father, and our forgetfulness is the source of many of our anxieties. If we would take only a short time to consider a few truths about our Father, it would be a source of great encouragement.

In the book The Trinity: An Introduction by Scott R. Swain, he gives us three aspects of the Father’s fatherhood. They are primacy, uniqueness, and transcendence. I will summarize them below. Each of these three should fortify the joy we find in our heavenly Father.

Primacy

First, the Father’s fatherhood holds primacy. God the Father was the first Father. Fatherhood is not a human construct applied to God.

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world (John 17:24). 

In the verse above, we see that God the Father had a Son before the foundations of the world. This statement is significant because the Father’s fatherhood is not modeled after the fatherhood found in creation. In other words, it is not as if God said, “I have created families, and therefore, I will take that concept and allow humanity to refer to me as a Father”—it was the exact opposite.

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, (Ephesians 3:14-15).

God is innately and ontologically the Father of his Son, Jesus Christ. All other families are named after his fatherhood.

Your heavenly Father is a Father by nature and holds primacy in that he is the first of all fathers and also in importance. Every expression of fatherhood finds its origin in Him. He is the perfect Father, and he is your Father if you have come to him through his Son, Jesus Christ.

Uniqueness

Second, the fatherhood of the Father is unique. Though all other families of the earth have been named after his fatherhood, his fatherhood is unlike any other fatherhood we may know.

First, we see that there is only one God the Father.

For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”—yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. (1 Corinthians 8:5-6)

There is no other father like God the Father. Understanding the attribute of divine simplicity is helpful here. The relevant aspect of divine simplicity for this topic is that God is his attributes. God doesn’t have love or justice—He is those things. In other words, there is not something called justice apart from God, which he measures up to. If so, there would be something greater than God to which he must align himself—this cannot be. He is justice. Justice exists and finds its definition in him.

The same applies to God’s Fatherhood. No category called fatherhood exists apart from God, of which he is one example. He is, by nature, Father, and all other examples of fathers must align with him in some way, though in a much lesser way. Only one Father can be the standard of all other fathers, making the Father’s fatherhood unique. There can be no other fathers like this. Not only do you have a heavenly Father, but your Father is the very essence of fatherhood.

Transcendence

Third, the Father’s fatherhood is transcendent. Not only does his fatherhood possess primacy and uniqueness, but it is also beyond human experience. His Fatherhood cannot be tainted or disturbed by humanity or any part of creation.

James tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change“ (James 1:17). 

The Father’s fatherhood does not change—it is infinite and eternal. There was never a time when he was not a Father. Jesus has always been the Son. The relationship between the Father and the Son is eternal. The persons of the Father, Son, and Spirit are all co-equal, and each possesses the fullness of deity—one God, three persons.

Your Father has always been a Father, and he has been a perfect Father to his Son. His Fatherhood is transcendent. It is beyond any human experience and beyond manipulation. It will never change. If you are redeemed in Christ, the Father has adopted you as his son or daughter.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:3-6)

You and I may not fully comprehend it, but his fatherhood over you is also endless and immutable. You have a perfect Father.

In light of the fatherhood of the Father, it is not surprising that the family is regularly under attack in this world. Even if creaturely Fathers and families are pale representations of the Father’s prime, unique, and transcendent fatherhood, they contain a reflection of God the Father. Attacks on the family are attempts to suppress the truth of God.

Further Encouragement

Let me bring this to a close with further encouragement. You may have a wonderful father or a poor one in this life. Your father may be living or may have passed on. Your father may be close or distant, but God the Father is also your Father—the greatest of all fathers.

Now, consider all of your anxieties. You may be concerned about work, school, health, money, relationships, or a host of other concerns. Now remember you have a Father who is far above all earthly fathers. Does he have any control over what challenges you are facing? Does he love you as he orchestrates those challenges? The answer to both of those questions is yes.

Bring your concerns to your Father. In some instances, he will remove the affliction for you, but in other hardships, he is working something much more significant for those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

You might pray, “Father, if you do not remedy this problem, it will be the end of me.” His response may be, “My child, I am the perfect Father, and I love you perfectly. This trial will not be the end of you. You will make it precisely because I am orchestrating this trial for your benefit. You will make it because I will never let you go. I will never lose one of my children.”

Never forget you have a heavenly Father.

-D. Eaton