Father: Old and New Parallels

FOUR PARALLEL MANIFESTATIONS OF FATHER IN THE OLD TESTAMENT AND IN THE NEW TESTAMENT

Modern theological questioning has cast doubt on the continuity of the revelation of God in some circles of theological thought.  Liberal theologies, at times, replace the conceptual understanding of God as an intimate Creator who longs for relationship with his crown achievement, with an understanding of God that conceptually casts Himself as impersonal and separate from His creation.  Men such as Karl Barth and Emil Brunner have advanced a dialectic concept pertaining to the theological construct.  This perspective: “represents a remarkable reversal in theological thought, since the living God of biblical revelation is again confessed against the God-concepts of philosophical theology…Barth admittedly verges toward a Theo-pantheism and Christo-monism…” Abandoning the basic tenants of the faith, such as the immanence of God, is a dangerous place.

This theological paradigm presents a distinct separation between the God of the Old Testament and Jesus, as God of the New Testament.  This is not unlike Manichaeism propositions of a duality concerning deity.  Those who ascribe to this perspective risk great error in adjudicating the truth as presented in Holy Writ.  This inaccuracy is monumental and jeopardizes a proper understanding of God and the truths that become self-evident when the eternal concept of Fatherhood is embraced as an existent reality for belief.  Acquiescing to this revelation allows the semblance of continuity to exist between the Old and New Testament presentations of God as Father.

The Old Testament unquestionably identifies God as a father figure throughout the revelation of Scripture.  God is identified as the Father of the Jewish people in Exodus, “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”  (Exodus  4:5); and in Isaiah, Hear, O heavens! Listen, O earth! For the Lord has spoken: “I reared children and brought them up, but they have rebelled against me.  (Isaiah 1:2), citing a few of many Old Testament passages.  God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  A personal solidarity exists between the Lord and His people that indeed, connote intimacy and depth of relationship.  This concept carries through into the New Testament revelation.  Mark identifies the Father in the same fashion: “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36). The God who is witnessed in the New Covenant is the same God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob:  The God of our fathers raised Jesus from the dead—whom you had killed by hanging him on a tree is the Son of God. Is He the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say: “You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”  (Acts 5:30; Romans 3:29; Revelation 16:5).  This continuity is an important factor in establishing the greater perimeters pertaining to the household of faith

This truth is also exemplified in the unfolding picture of God as creator.  Hebrews 12:9 makes the declaration that God is the “Father of Spirits.”  As such, he is stipulated as the creator of humanity, for humans are constituted as spiritual beings in possession of physical substance, and of the unseen realm of the angels.  This marks the unique fililioque relationship that exists between God and those who are bestowed with the privilege of addressing him as “our” or “my” God.  The application of personal pronoun enhances the awareness factor of special designations relating to the intimate relational qualities possessed by the church.

A further reference is stipulated in the New Testament that carries over the implications of contiguous revelation. This can be known as the Kurios factor.  With the Greek language operating as a dominant stream for communicative purposes in the old world, many Jews spoke Greek as a primary or singular language.  The YHWH Tetragrammaton concept is transformed into the Kurios label in the Septuagint. Many of the people of Israel will He bring back to the Lord their God. “This is that Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will send you a prophet like me from your own people.  Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under his wings. Day and night they never stop saying: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.”  (Luke 1:16; Acts 7:37; Rev 4:8): All of these passages connote this transference of qualitative attribution.  God as Lord in the New Testament is the YHWH designation in the Old Testament.

Another point of reference can be drawn between the Old Testament and New Testament unveiling within the framework of the Alpha/Omega revelation and the God of the burning bush in the wilderness who identified himself as:  “I am whom I am” (Ex. 3:14).  God is simply who He is:  the beginning and end, the first and last:  the timeless one who even exists beyond timelessness.  This biblical image defines the lack of definition that applies to God.