Why Call God “Father”?

Malachi 2:10, Matthew 6:31-32, Galatians 3:26

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Why do we call God our father? Now that it seems like there’s a lot of people in the world today that refer to God as father, and so it makes us wonder, you know, why do we even call God Father? Does that even make sense? Well, hear this in Holy Scripture. In Malachi chapter two, verse ten, it says this

Don’t we all have one Father? Hasn’t one God created us? (Malachi 2:10 EHV)

You know, one reason that we can refer to God as our father is because he’s our creator, he made us. And we can think about an earthly father. None of us would be here without an earthly father, right? I know there’s a lot of mothers that say, well, fathers don’t contribute that much to human life, and maybe we’d say that so, because mothers do so much, in carrying a child and giving birth and so forth. But the reality is, is none of us would be here without an earthly father. And so that’s one reason we call God Father is because he is the one who created us, the one who gives us life.

Another reason is found in Matthew chapter six, beginning at verse 31.

“So do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ For the unbelievers[a] chase after all these things. Certainly your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.(Matthew 6:31-32 EHV)

Now on those verses, we are reminded also what God does for us, like an earthly father who is supposed to take care of his family and provide for his family needs. So also God provides for our needs. He gives us this beautiful world in which we live, the world that’s filled with so many resources to provide for our food and clothing and shelter. And he takes care of us using those things.

But the third and most important reason why we call God our father is this. In Galatians three verse 26, it says,

In fact, you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:26 EHV)

And that’s the real reason we have the right to call God father. Is through faith in His Son, Jesus Christ and what he has done. It has brought us into God’s family. It’s brought us into a good relationship with him. Now it takes us back to the Garden of Eden, as we think about Adam and Eve, and how they had that perfect relationship with God back then. What happened? As a result of their sin there was a divorce, so to speak, a separation between their heavenly Father and his creatures and his children. Sin separated them from perfect and almighty God.

But Christ has come to repair the damage. He has come to repair our relationship with God, and he has done it through suffering the punishment that our sins deserve. So through faith in Christ, we are right in God’s sight. And now his children. So, especially for Christians, we have the right to call God Father.

Yes, there are many people today who refer to God as their father. Isn’t he the father of everyone? And maybe we can say that’s true when it comes to the fact that he created all things, or he provides for everyone. What a joy it is to say, as a Christian, that God is our father, and to know that it is true that we are his children through what Christ has done for us. Amen.