God the Father, Part 1

The Perfect Father and the Perfect Leader

15^th July 2026

We know that God is trinity – three in one. We know we're not wise enough to fully comprehend the Holy Trinity, and that when we try to describe the Holy Trinity things get very confusing very quickly. But we also know that we should do our best to understand the God who created us, saved us, made us new creations and adopted us into His family. Perhaps the best, simplest, description of God is in the Athanasian Creed, which includes these words:

We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity;
Neither confounding the persons nor dividing the substance.

This means that there is only one God, and the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are all God. They're three Persons - or if you want to be philosophical about it, three subsistences - who share one essence. They're different but they can't be divided. This is true, and it's confusing, but who are we to understand God?

It seems to me that many churches talk and sing a lot about Jesus, God the Son. We talk a lot, and sing sometimes, about the Holy Spirit. But we don't talk or sing as much about God the Father. I think we should. It just doesn't seem right to give more attention to the Second and Third Persons of the Holy Trinity than to the First.

Romans 15v5-6
May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Let's do that. Let's glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. As well as offering praise and worship to God the Father, we can glorify Him with our lives. Jesus said:

John 15v8
"By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples."

It seems that in our society fathers and fatherhood are less respected than they once were, but the church doesn't have to copy the world. May we never disrespect our heavenly Father. Let's glorify Him. God the Father is our Father, and He's the perfect Father. Our earthly fathers are not perfect. Some of them fall a very long way short. But you and I have a perfect Father in heaven.

If you want to know what God the Father is like, look at Jesus. Hebrews 1v3 tells us that Jesus "is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature". Jesus said:

John 14v9
"… Whoever has seen me has seen the Father..."

God the Father is kind, patient, faithful, loving, wise, pure and good, just as Jesus is. His attitude to us is the same as Jesus's. He's "the friend of sinners", as Jesus was described in Matthew 11v19.

So let's glorify Him.

Perhaps we can best learn about God the Father from what Jesus said about Him. Jesus spoke about the Father many times. If my adding up is correct, Jesus referred to God the Father as "Father" 40 times in Matthew's Gospel, 3 times in Mark, 12 times in Luke, and 105 times in John He prayed to God the Father, addressing Him as "Father", 4 times in Matthew, once in Mark, 5 times in Luke, and 9 times in John. I think it's true that every time Jesus prayed, He prayed to the Father. He taught us to pray to the Father in:

Matthew 6v9
"This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…'"

We should take this instruction from Jesus more seriously than many Christians do. We should usually pray not to the Son nor to the Spirit but to the Father.

God the Father takes the lead in the Holy Trinity. He's not more powerful, wiser or more morally upright than Jesus or the Holy Spirit. They're all perfect. But there is order in the Holy Trinity, and the Father presides. Jesus now sits at His right hand (Colossians 3v1 and other passages). The right hand is the second place of honour. Father takes the first. Jesus always obeys the Father. He does and says what the Father tells Him to do and say. He went so far as to say:

John 5v19
"… the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise."

And

John 12v49
"I have not spoken on my own authority, but the Father who sent me has himself given me a commandment – what to say and what to speak."

In John 15:10, Jesus said "I have kept my Father's commandments". Jesus came to earth in obedience to the Father. In John 6v57, He said "the living Father sent me". He sacrificed his life because the Father sent Him to do so. In John 10v17-18 Jesus said "I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No-one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father."

So Jesus shows us perfect submission to the Father. In this, as in all things, He is our example. God the Father is our authority figure as well as Jesus's. Of course He is. He is Lord of all the earth (Psalm 97v5). Because our heavenly Father is perfect, we want to please Him, to obey Him, and to talk to other people about how great He is.