I Believe in God the Father

‘I believe…’ occurs four times in the Creed and enables us to arrange it in four divisions. The first concerns God the Father, the second concerns Jesus Christ, the third is a reference to the Holy Spirit, and the fourth includes important elements in the experience of all true Christians.

Although we may not think so at first glance, those two opening words of the Apostles Creed are very important, and are so for at least six reasons.

First, ‘I believe’ reminds us that we have to have a personal involvement with the various details mentioned in the Creed and not merely an intellectual awareness of them. When a Christian says, ‘I believe…’, he is not merely referring to an intellectual conviction that his beliefs are true. He is also saying that he depends upon the God he is confessing.

Second, the words ‘I believe’ also indicate that we as Christians want our faith to be public – initially the Apostles Creed, composed during the second and third centuries, was a baptismal statement made by those who joined the church.  Yet we want others to understand what who we believe in and why.

Third, the details mentioned in it denote that we as Christians have a precise set of beliefs, of which the Apostles Creed is a good summary. It does not say everything that we could say, perhaps not even everything that we would want to say. Yet its statements remind us that we have a particular faith.

Fourth, the Creed gives confidence to other people about who an individual Christian is – they may not know much about me, but if they know I believe the teachings listed in the Creed they will be reassured about me and what I believe. My confession tells them that I want to worship the triune God with them.

Fifth, the Creed highlights the doctrines that should be preached regularly in church services so that we will be able to confess our faith intelligently. It is surprising how easy it is to forget core doctrines, not in the sense of denying them, but in the sense of not thinking about them. Repeating the Creed personally each day will remind us of such doctrines. And preachers should turn to the Creed and check if they have covered its details in their recent sermons because it is possible, say in a series on Bible characters or a series on aspects of Christian living, not to mention them.

Sixth, the Creed represents continuity and catholicity with Christians who have gone before us and with Christians around the world. Countless millions have recited this Creed every Sunday during the past seventeen hundred years and many millions still recite it every Lord’s Day as they gather in public worship.

Why were creeds produced? After all, is the Bible not sufficient? We have all met people who insist that they only use the Bible, but after a while we sense that what they think it says is not what we think it says. This goes for people outside the visible Christian church, such as Mormons and Jehovah Witnesses, but it also is the case with people inside the visible church. Creeds were produced to give to God’s people a truthful summary of biblical doctrines. Inevitably, with the passing of time, more and more wrong ideas were advocated, which meant that creeds became longer. That is one reason why our basic creed, the Westminster Confession of Faith, is a lot longer than those that went before it. And if we were to produce a new creed today it would be even longer because several wrong doctrines have surfaced since the Westminster Confession was composed.

As we come to the beginning of the Apostles Creed, it reminds us of a very crucial biblical perspective, which is that worship must begin with God. In other words, we should always think about Christian doctrine in the context of worship. The details we are told about God are not given so that we can analyse him as if he is a theory we are testing. Rather they are provided so that we can appreciate some details about him and then admire him and stand in awe of him. Yet at the same time, they are given so that we will have warm affections for him. And is that not what worship is? It is understanding, admiration, awe and affections simultaneously responding to his majesty and kindness.

Of course, beginning with God requires us to know who our God is. And the Apostles Creed clearly says that our God is a Trinity of three persons, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The Creed focuses more on the Father and the Son than it does on the Holy Spirit, but that focus indicates the wrong notions that the Church confronted at that time rather than suggesting that somehow the Holy Spirit is less important than the Father and the Son.

With regard to God the Father, the Creed connects three details to him. First, it says that he is the Father; second, it says that he is Almighty; and third, it says that he is the Creator of the heavens and the earth. What do these details say to us about him so that they will cause us to admire him, express awe for him, and have strong affections for him? We will reflect on him as the Father in this sermon.

God the Father

To begin with, we must note that this title speaks of his position within the Trinity. God had no beginning, which means that in the Trinity the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit are each eternal. It is impossible for us to grasp fully the meaning of eternal. The Father has not existed longer than the other two divine persons. In the Trinity he is the eternal Father of the eternal Son. The fact that he has always been God the Father should at least fill us with awe because here we are considering a unique form of greatness. We, the creatures of a few years, worship the eternal Father. This does not mean we should not worship the eternal Son or the eternal Spirit. But here we are thinking of the Father in particular.

Moreover, the eternal Father has always had an endearing relationship with his beloved Son. To only say, ‘I believe in God,’ may not seem to say much, although at one level it is an amazing statement to make. Rabbi Duncan, who became a Professor of Old Testament in the Free Church of Scotland College in Edinburgh during the middle decades of the nineteenth century, was plagued by atheism when he was younger. He expressed his delight on coming to believe in the existence of God by literally dancing for joy on a bridge in Aberdeen.

Yet it is possible to believe in a Supreme Being who is not the God of the Bible. Usually, this Supreme Being is alone, by himself. But the God of the Bible is a Trinity in which the three persons love one another completely and eternally. As we worship God, we worship the God who eternally enjoyed expressing love and receiving love. If his eternity should fill us with awe, then his eternal, loving fellowship should fill us with admiration as we contemplate their beginning-less delight in and love for one another.

Further, the eternal loving Father had an elevated goal which had occupied his focus from eternity, and that goal involved his eternal Son coming to our rescue. Jesus refers to this eternal purpose in his prayer in John 17. We will think in coming studies what that rescue mission involved for the Son because the Creed mentions several aspects of his person and work. In the meantime, we can think of it as a rescue from danger and a rescue to security. The danger we were in was caused by our rebellion against God and our sinful practices, which deserved to be punished by him. His elevated goal included his dear Son being punished on the cross instead of us and then for us to experience all the great spiritual blessings he has in store for all his people as the enjoyment of those blessings is conveyed to them by the Holy Spirit. If the Father’s eternity fills us with awe, and the Father’s endearing love to his Son fills us with admiration, surely his elevated goal should fill us with grateful affection for him.

A verse that depicts this eternal communion is the well-known one in John 1:1: ‘In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.’ It is one of the shortest statements in the Bible. Yet it contains the deepest truths of the Bible and has caused the greatest human intellects to admit that they cannot fully understand it.

The ‘Word’ is another name of the Son of God and indicates that he was relating to the Father, which is what the term ‘word’ conveys. The verb translated ‘was’ indicates not mere existence but continuous action in the past, that is he never had a beginning, a time when he commenced to do an initial task for the first time. Further, the preposition pros, translated ‘with’, has the idea of ‘face to face’, and is another pointer to the eternal fellowship within the triune God. The Son of God eternally, fully and affectionately interacted with the Father.  

As we think of this relationship between the Father and the Son, it is worth asking this basic question: ‘How did the Son describe the Father?’ He spoke of him as the heavenly Father, as the holy Father and as the righteous Father. His use of adjectives indicates that he delighted to think about the Father as he spoke about him or to him. While we cannot say why Jesus used these adjectives, his method is one that we should imitate. When we are confessing our sins, we can say, ‘Merciful Father’; when we are praying for protection, we can say, ‘Powerful Father’; when we are praying the promises, we can call him, ‘Faithful Father.’ There is a limitless number of ways in which we can do this. Within the one prayer there can be variety of terms used to convey the greatness and the grace of God. Such a practice is good for the soul of the person praying, but it is also good for the souls of people listening.

God our Father

When the Creed refers to him as the Father it is not only bringing to our minds his eternal dignity and glory. In addition, it reminds us that eternal Father has become our Father.

There is a real sense in which he is the Father of all his human creatures because he has brought them into existence. One of his titles in the Bible is that he is the Father of spirits, and by ‘spirits’ there is meant intelligent creatures. Each human is made in his image and although all of them are affected badly by their sin they all reflect features of who he is. Every good action performed by a human person, be it in their work or in their family life or in their delight in the beauty of creation, reveals that they have a connection with the One who made them.

Yet the sad fact is that every human by nature and at birth is estranged from the family of God. In that state, each of them is a prodigal son, living away from the Father’s presence. Adam was a son of God by creation and at the beginning was given a place in his presence. But because of deliberate rebellion, Adam lost that place and the benefits of family membership, as did all his descendants.

The call of the gospel involves an invitation to return to family membership. Whenever a sinner repents of his or her sins and trusts in Jesus, immediately that individual becomes a member of the family of God. The apostle John informs us that ‘to all who did receive him (Jesus), who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God’ (John 1:13-13).  

The New Testament depicts membership of God’s family through three illustrations. The verse we have just quoted shows that we are members by regeneration, which indicates that we have the family life in our souls. We, who once were spiritually dead, have been made spiritually alive and now have the Holy Spirit indwelling us.

A second illustration, used by Paul, is taken from the ancient practice of adoption when a slave was taken into a wealthy patron’s family and given a very prominent position in society. This illustration shows the dignity or status that belongs to the children of God. Once they were slaves to sin, now they have a place of great honour as God’s sons, having become joint-heirs with Jesus the eternal Son of all things. What that inheritance involves cannot be described because it is so great and because it is so beautiful.

The third illustration of what family membership means is mentioned by Jesus in Matthew 5:43-48: ‘You have heard that it was said, “You shall love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.’ To call God our Father requires family likeness. In those verses, Jesus teaches that family likeness to our Father will cause us to love our enemies and pray for them. Of course, that is only one example among many that could have been chosen regarding family likeness. We are all familiar with the fact that some men, as they grow older, become increasingly like their fathers in appearance. Someone who knows both the father and the son will say to the latter, ‘My, you are just like your father.’

Having God as our Father

What does it mean to have God as our Father? Several answers can be given to this question, but I will mention four. First, it is the Father who pardons all our sins when we confess them and ask for forgiveness. This is his role in the provision of salvation. Of course, Jesus forgives his people as does the Holy Spirit. Yet usually the bestowing of pardon is attributed to the Father in the New Testament. After all, even Jesus, when on the cross, asked the Father to pardon those who were crucifying him. His question does not suggest he could not have forgiven them himself, but it does point to the orderly manner in which the Trinity function. Often when we think of forgiveness, we focus on our experience of it, whether of the joy we receive or the greatness of the sins that have been pardoned. Yet, surely, we should also think about the delight of the Father who pardons us, because while he does so as a Judge, he is not a disinterested participant in the process as an earthly judge can be when pardoning a criminal. Instead he is full of joy as he pardons rebels.

Second, we have access to the Father at all times. One of the common experiences in family life is for children to go into the presence of their father. In a far higher manner, believers have continual access to the heavenly Father. In an earthly family, children may be denied access because their father has to focus on other priorities, which means that no matter how competent he is he is limited in the attention he can give to his children. This can never be said of the heavenly Father. He can do innumerable things simultaneously, and can deal with all his family while governing the universe. Though all of them should speak to him simultaneously he will hear all of them individually and answer each of them personally.

Third, we experience the Father’s correction. An earthly parent will discipline his erring son or daughter because he loves them and wants the best for them. Often they are rebuked because of their refusal to listen to instruction. It is similar in the family of God. The heavenly Father refuses to let them ignore or disobey his commandments. While the form the chastisement takes will differ between believers, the goal of their Father is always the same – to conform them to the likeness of their perfect Elder Brother, Jesus.

Fourth, because God is our Father we live in such a way that indicates we want others to praise him as members of his family. Membership of the family of God includes a call to evangelism by word and action. Listen to how Jesus instructed his disciples when he called them to function as salt and light: ‘In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven’ (Matt. 5:16). As they see the radically different lives of his children they will begin themselves to praise the Father.  Then they will discover why we say, ‘I believe in God the Father.’