The Glorious Father
Sunday, September 24
I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. (Ephesians 1:16-17)
When all is said and done, God is the Gospel. And in the Gospel, God is not just God. He is a Father. And He is not just a Father. God is a glorious Father. What does this mean? What does it mean for God to be glorious?
The glory of God is who God is. It’s His majesty and worth. The glory of God is His holiness gone public. So, when Paul called God the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, He is essentially saying that God is not like the earthly father we know. His fatherhood is majestic. There is an intrinsic value God displays in His Fatherhood. God is not your regular father. He is the Father in His God-ness.
When I was a much younger believer, and I read passages that God is referred to as “the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,” I used to get confused. I used to ask questions like these: “Why would Paul call God and Jesus in one sentence like this? Isn’t the Father and Jesus God? Why the differentiation in one sentence?” I now have an understanding. I think when Paul says “the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ”, he is pointing to the Gospel reality that since Jesus is God’s Son, and we are in Jesus, we are sons of God. The sonship of Christ is the surety that we are sons of God. So, when Paul says this, he is telling us that God is our Father as much as He is the Father of Jesus Christ.
Doing the Word: Call and see God as your Father.
Prayer: Dear Father, thank You for being my Father, Amen.