The Fatherhood of God - Part 2

In his essay "Adoption" (which I mentioned in the previous post) John G goes on to point out

"another paternity-affirming statement of our Lord found in Matt. 7:11, and I quote from the NAS: "If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall YOUR Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him." (Emphasis, mine.)

If we go to the end of that chapter, we find that the words were spoken to a multitude "who were amazed at His teaching...." and included those that Jesus called "hypocrite" (vs. 5)

In other words....to non-believers and hypocrites, Jesus clearly refers to God as "YOUR" Father".

There certainly seems to be a contradiction between his words above and his scathing rebuke in John 8 when Jesus declares that "You are from your father the devil, and you choose to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

John G explains that the rebuke was because they "presented themselves in the persona of self-righteousness, and Jesus response showed that He refused to affirm them in that identity, in an identity based upon religious performance, but, rejected that satan-birthed, alter-ego, self-righteous false-persona that was being presented to Him as making one worthy of entrance into the kingdom of heaven."

To further illustrate his point, John G points out an interaction between Jesus and Peter that takes place shortly after Peter declares his belief that Jesus is "the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus assures him that Peter's revelation was from the Father. Jesus did not stop there but went on to say that Peter would play an integral part in the building of His Church and that the gates of Hades would not prevail against it and that Peter would be given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and that whatever he bound on earth would be bound in heaven, and that whatever was loosed by Peter on earth will be loosed in heaven." These are really affirmative words. Not long after, Jesus tells his disciples about his impending death. Peter is not willing to accept it and boldly rebukes Jesus and declares"this shall not happen to You!" To which Jesus replies, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men."

What, pray tell, is up with that? John G explains it thusly:

Jesus responds not by addressing Peter as Peter, but He addresses satan. What's going on here? Well simply, an alien, alienating, enmity- presence was speaking through Peter, and it was that enemy, that father of all enmity, that father of the lie, that Jesus addresses. He is addressing the cross-rejecting spirit.

And this sounds like a very good explanation to me...and thanks to John G for this and all of his other illuminating, inspiring writings which can be found in their entirety at The Greater Emmanuel International Ministry website.