The essential nature of God’s relationship with us is that of a father who loves, cares, protects, and governs. The Scriptures and the wisdom of the early church fathers have much to teach us about the fatherhood of God. 

For the people of Israel the fatherhood of God was a living, experiential reality. God created Adam in his image and likeness to be his son (Genesis 1:26-27). Joined with Eve they become the father and mother of the human race (Genesis 3:20). God called Abraham to be the father of a multitude (Genesis 17:5) with descendants greater than the sands of the sea and the stars of the heavens (Genesis 22:17). The name Abraham literally means “the father is exalted.” 

When God delivered his people from bondage in Egypt he revealed himself as the father of Israel – “his firstborn son” (Exodus 4:22).  He was not only their one true God and master, he was their provider and protector who freed them from oppression and slavery and gave them their daily food in the wilderness.  Despite their repeated failings and unfaithfulness, God continued to reveal to Israel his unbounded fatherly love and compassion (Psalm 103:3-5,13). 

Jesus, the eternal Word of God who became a man for our sake and for our salvation, revealed the full nature of the Father to his disciples. John, in the prologue to his Gospel, writes: “No one has ever seen God; the only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has made him known” (John 1:18). To be in the bosom of someone signified for the Jewish people the deepest and most intimate of relationships. Jesus, who is united with his Father in complete and uninterrupted intimacy, makes it possible for us to join in that same union of love and intimacy. Jesus’ longest and most moving parable is the story of the prodigal son who foolishly loses his inheritance, home, and family, then comes to his senses, repents and returns to the bosom of his father. Jesus taught his disciples to pray boldly and confidently to the Father in heaven (Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4). 

In Ephesians 3:14-15, Paul the Apostle tells us that all fatherhood, whether spiritual or natural, takes its name and origin from the Father in heaven.

The early church fathers recognized the significance of the fatherhood of God and explained how the Scriptures proclaim our new nature as the adopted sons and daughters of God. [Click on links below for selection of quotes.]