Is Jesus Our "Father"?

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Philip asked Jesus to show Him the Father. Jesus said to Philip that to see Him is to see the Father. We also can consider that we are Jesus’ children. However, we are sometimes taught to think of Him as “brother”. Can we consider Jesus our “Father”? Would it make sense to address Jesus as “Father” even though He is not the Father in the trinity?

Any help appreciated.

Thank You,
Greg
 
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Greg_McPherran:
Philip asked Jesus to show Him the Father. Jesus said to Philip that to see Him is to see the Father. We also can consider that we are Jesus’ children. However, we are sometimes taught to think of Him as “brother”. Can we consider Jesus our “Father”? Would it make sense to address Jesus as “Father” even though He is not the Father in the trinity?

Any help appreciated.

Thank You,
Greg
OK Greg what about I am in the Father and the Father is in me. I believe The Father Son and Holy Spirit are one in the same. Our faith tells us that. We believe in the Blessed Trinity as three persons in one God. 🙂
 
Yes, but for example, when I say “Our Father” I think of the Father, and not Jesus specifically (yet of course Jesus is present in all our prayers). Perhaps I need to think that I am speaking to the trinity when I say “Our Father”? Then again, when the say “Our Father” we are specifically addressing the Father.

Also, I never think to call Jesus my Father. Would it ever make sense to pray to Jesus as Father?

Perhaps I should always consider that we pray to the Father, with and through Jesus, by the power of the Spirit.

Greg
 
When we pray the Our Father, we do it at Jesus’ instruction, and imitate what He did. He prayed to his heavenly Father, and so that is what we do in the prayer.

When Jesus said “I and the Father are one,” he was indeed making a statement of his identity with the Father. They both possess the one divine nature, but the persons are distinct.

So I think it is more appropriate to think of Jesus as our “brother,” since he took on a human nature. At the same time, when we address him in his divinity as the second person of the trinity, we address him as “Lord” and celebrate him as Christ the King.
 
Our Lord said, “I and the Father are One.” Prayer is by its very nature Trinitarian. If we address the Father we also address the Son and the Holy Spirit. If we address the Son we also address the Father and the Holy Spirit, etc. Althought there are three distinct persons of the Most Holy Trinity, they are One. It’s like a clover. There are three leaves, but they are united. Therefore, I don’t believe that the Trinity should be divided.

On the other hand, the Three Persons of the Most Holy Trinity are distinct. So, in a sense the Son is not the Father, because they are two distinct members of the Most Holy Trinity.

I’m probably not making any sense at all here. I am only 16 years old and not very well-versed in theological discourse. Please forgive my ignorance.
 
Excellent (name removed by moderator)ut from all.

My thinking is that although Jesus is the Son of God, He is God just as the Father is God. I am having difficulty understanding that we call Jesus “Lord” and the Father “Father”. Am I missing some concept?

Greg
 
Just to dust off some more cobwebs and really make us think…how about this question:

In the “Apostles’s Creed” we say

“I believe in God the Father” okay, that is the Father…right?

“and in Jesus Christ his only son” okay, that is the son.

So far, so good.

Oh oh!!! He was conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Now…who is the father? the one who conceived Jesus or the first person in the trinity???

Benignus, I hope you will take the time to solve that puzzle. I enjoy having young people tackle these mysteries.
 
Very interesting… I will give this one some thought. I will not be logging on tommorrow. However, on Monday I will post the conclusions I come to.

Am I allowed to cheat and use the Catechism? 🙂 :whistle:
 
Jesus prays to His Father in Heaven, God, for example, in the garden of Gethsemane, you might well ask how could Jesus pray to himself? The spirit of Jesus is directly taken from the spirit of God, the spirit being the Word and the Word was made flesh, Jesus is God’s Word made human, God’s human form, but they are different and yet both of the one and the same. Once God has created a spirit whether it be an Angel or a human, there is only one of that spirit, no replicas, no spirit the same anywhere. The spirit is eternal, can never die and always exists as the same spirit. So when God took His own spirit, the Word, He created Jesus, they exist as two separate beings but are the same in spirit. It is the three manifestations of the same spirit, God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Once manifest remain as three separate bodies, but are as one. This is how Jesus could pray to God, because although Jesus is God Incarnate, He is the human embodiment of God, He exists separately and at one with God at the same time. Jesus always existed as the Word and was made into human flesh so we would know the Word and ultimately have salvation in Him. What is the Word? The Word is the Truth of all creation and from where all creation proceeds from and that Truth is God. This calls for obedience of intellect and trust in God. God is not at the mercy of human intelligence, searchings, hunger for our perceived progress or our own human will, but rather we are at God’s mercy and will; our realisation of this is obedience and sacrifice to God and to His Holy Catholic Apostolic Church.

God is the ONLY ONE who can give you infinite love, mercy, sustenance and life. The creation of life is from God the Father, everlasting life is in through and by the Son proceeding to the Father, the life of the wisdom of spirit and faith is in the Holy Spirit. They are all one and sustenance to the one human spirit in each person, in this we become at oneness with God the Father. This is so we can know the ways in which the one God but of three life giving bodies sustains us and LOVES us each and every day and into eternity. God is all LIFE and is all LOVE, these are the three bodies of God, which manifest to sustain the life of the human spirit. Suffice to call all three God, as the Son and God are one, the Holy Spirit and God are one and then, God is the Father of ALL life. The phrases of ‘mystical body’ of Christ and the Holy Trinity, while accurate, can make the Father ever distant to His children as unobtainable and aloof, don’t worry about phrases, HE IS YOUR FATHER and ALL three are ONE, Jesus is God, the Holy Spirit is God and God the Father Himself. They are all GOD. If you feel close to Jesus you are close to God, HE IS God made man! If you feel moved by the Holy Spirit, you ARE moved by God, the Holy Spirit IS God and if you have faith in all and in the Father who is in Heaven and sent Himself as a man and as a Councelling Spirit, then you have faith in God. This is simply, the ONE body of God of which you are to be one body with yourself. Your spirit will always be your spirit, as now Jesus Christ is King and always will be and the Holy Spirit comes to give you sustenance and always will be the Holy Spirit, but as they are one with God so shall your spirit will be at one with God in Heaven. Remember your Father can DO anything, can create at will, now understand how He can make Himself come to you, so that you will know Him.

God Bless you and much peace and love to you xxx
 
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Benignus:
Very interesting… I will give this one some thought. I will not be logging on tommorrow. However, on Monday I will post the conclusions I come to.

Am I allowed to cheat and use the Catechism? 🙂 :whistle:
Benignus,
You won’t be cheating if you do research. In fact, you may “call a friend”. You could even try calling the pope.😉
 
I wanted to give Beningus a chance so now I shall offer a thought:

It was the by power of the triune God including the Son that the Son became flesh.

I don’t know if this is the exact answer you would give, Ally but I must say that your question has given insight to the mystery of the trinity.

The insight that I receive is that Jesus is not the Father but the perfect image of the Father.

I sometimes also question about the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of the Father. Jesus said that God is spirit so the Father is spirit. How is the Father as spirit distinct from the Holy Spirit? I consider that the Holy Spirit is the spirit of the Father-Son relationship and therefore is distinct from the Father. Yet, I do not know and I do seek further understanding.

I do see that the Father is Father to us through the Son. It would almost seem that the humanity of Jesus was known by God before God created humans. God became for our sake, but our form of man was God’s plan. That is also expressed by saying we are in His image.

Greg
 
I guess it depends on how you look at it. The person of Jesus, considered in isolation, is not our Father, but I guess insofar as He is part of the unified Trinity, one could say that He is. I refuse to wade into the unfamiliar field of Trinitarian theology any further than this.
 
The Catechism states:

254 “The divine persons are really distinct from one another. “God is one but not solitary.”[86] “Father”, “Son”, “Holy Spirit” are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another: “He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son.”[87] They are distinct from one another in their relations of origin: “It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds.”[88] The divine Unity is Triune.”

So, who is the Father? The answer is that the Father is the Father. Jesus, the Son of God, is not the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit. They are three distinct persons. I believe it would be more appropriate to call Jesus our brother than to call Him Our Father.

I’ll save my phone a friend for the lightning round. 🙂
 
I agree Benignus, Jesus is our Brother and Our King, NOT our Father.

God Bless you and much peace and love to you xxx
 
Greg, thanks for this question. It does make us think.

But when we are NOT thinking too much , lets say during a nightly prayer, don’t we have “images” fluttering over our minds?

I start The Our Father, with an image of The Father in heaven.

As I say a Glory be to the Father and of the Son…when I say Son I have an image of Jesus. And saying Holy Ghost gives me another image( usually for me a dove).

But we are human with finite needs. Images help our little minds to focus on an infinite thought. I know some of you can twist my little thought into a pretzel, but we do separate the Trinity as we pray, I think.
 
Benignus,

Good work.

Benignus and Greg,

You are both in for a treat!!! Go to
ewtn.com

click on libraries
click on audio
On the bottom half of the audio programs page click on
all programs
Now, scroll to number 26 (30 minute lecture)
then 27 "
then 28 "
Each of Colin Donovan’s excellent explanations of God the Father and the trinity only last 30 minutes each but are packed with enough to make you experts on the trinity.
You will then be ready for the “lightning round”
Enjoy and God love you!!
 
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Benignus:
The Catechism states:

254 “The divine persons are really distinct from one another. “God is one but not solitary.”[86] “Father”, “Son”, “Holy Spirit” are not simply names designating modalities of the divine being, for they are really distinct from one another: “He is not the Father who is the Son, nor is the Son he who is the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit he who is the Father or the Son.”[87] They are distinct from one another in their relations of origin: “It is the Father who generates, the Son who is begotten, and the Holy Spirit who proceeds.”[88] The divine Unity is Triune.”

So, who is the Father? The answer is that the Father is the Father. Jesus, the Son of God, is not the Father, nor is the Holy Spirit. They are three distinct persons. I believe it would be more appropriate to call Jesus our brother than to call Him Our Father.
🙂
The fact that the persons are distinct simply means that these are real relations. Thus, as St. Thomas Aquinas once remarked, “to call the Father and the Son a singular God (without distinctions) is a sacrilege.”

Gerry 🙂
 
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