Fatherhood of God
The fact that Christ taught His followers to think of God as their Father in heaven became pervasive with early Christians. This is evident from the fact that within the first four verses of 16 of the New Testament epistles God is referred to as Father.
When Jesus asked Mary Magdalene to stop clinging to Him, He explained this request with the words, “I am ascending to My Father and your Father” (John 20:17). Part of the legacy Christ left to His followers — then and now — is the privilege of understanding God in the intimate term of Heavenly Father.
In Ephesians 3:14–15 we read of God the Father as the one of whom “the whole family in heaven and on earth is named.”
Family provider
In order to maintain the play on words found in the Greek text of these verses, many have suggested the sense could be rendered as “the Father from whom all fatherhood … derives its name,” thus conveying the idea the very notion of fatherhood is to be derived from the Fatherhood of God.
Human fathers can learn from the Fatherhood of God that they should be providers for their families. Our Heavenly Father provides for us “everything necessary for life and godliness” (2 Peter 1:3). In fact the Bible quite seriously maintains if an earthly father who professes to be a Christian does not provide for his family “he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever” (1 Tim. 5:8). The provisions earthly fathers can and should give their families go far beyond physical needs. For example, just as God provides wisdom and guidance for life so should human fathers guide their families by precept and example.
Fatherly qualities
In addition just as our Heavenly Father protects His spiritual family, He is a human father’s pattern for being the protector of his family. Earthly families not only need protection from physical dangers but even more so from spiritual dangers like exposure to bad examples, experimenting with occult practices or giving ear to false teaching.
In addition our Heavenly Father is the perfect prototype of such fatherly qualities as sacrificial love, unconditional acceptance, sternness mingled with gentleness, quickness to forgive, consistency in being available and approachable and willingness to discipline with wisdom and care.
A worthy Father’s Day commitment for human fathers is to become better imitators of God.
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