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John 20:17
“Jesus said to [Mary], ‘Do not cling to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father; but go to my brothers and say to them, “I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.”’”
Having considered some preliminary issues related to the revelation and formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity, we can now start looking at the doctrine in more detail and see how Scripture teaches the reality of God’s triune being. Since the doctrine of the Trinity declares that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are each truly God, we will begin with a look at the deity of each of the three persons of the Godhead.
Today we will consider the deity of God the Father. Of the three persons of the Trinity, the Father’s deity is perhaps the most evident in the text of Scripture. For instance, in today’s passage, Jesus refers to His God and Mary’s God—the God of the Jews, of the Old Testament—as Father (John 20:17). Elsewhere in the New Testament, we see references to “God the Father” (e.g., Phil. 2:11; 1 Peter 1:2; Jude 1). The Apostle Paul’s conviction of the deity of the Father can be seen in that often he simply says “God” in a context where he is clearly referencing the Father (e.g., 2 Cor. 13:14). Turning to the Old Testament, we see references to Israel’s being the “son” of Yahweh, the one true God, in texts such as Exodus 4:22–23. That, of course, would make God the Father of Israel. To sum it up, plainly God the Father is divine.
In a future study, we will look more at what makes God the Father a person distinct from God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. We call that His distinct personal property (“paternity”), and each person of the Trinity has His own distinct personal property. But when it comes to the divine nature, that which God is, the Father is no more and no less God than the Son and the Holy Spirit. It is vital that we remember this. Many people believe in a fatherly God, but one has not really confessed the true fatherhood of God if one does not affirm that the Holy Spirit and the Son are coequal with the Father and of the same essence. As Westminster Shorter Catechism 6 puts it, “There are three persons in the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one God, the same in substance, equal in power and glory.” Even those of us who confess the orthodox biblical doctrine of the Trinity might at times unwittingly and unknowingly think that the Father is more God than the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let us strive not to make that error, but praise the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
The Father has a certain priority in most of our prayers and in Scripture’s speech about God, but this is purely a priority in terms of order. We frequently refer to the Father first because the Son and the Holy Spirit are from Him from all eternity, but that does not make the Father more God than Them. We do not really honor the Father as God unless we also honor the Son and the Holy Spirit as God.
For further study
- Isaiah 63:16
- 2 John 3
The bible in a year
- Leviticus 1–3
- Matthew 24:23–51
- Leviticus 4–10
- Matthew 25:1–30