Who is the Heavenly (πατηρ)?

Answer: The Heavenly Father is the first person of the trinity (Matt. 28:19; 1John 5:7). It must be understood that all people are the offspring of God (Acts 17:29) in the sense that they are created by him. Therefore, it is a strictly a creature/Creator relationship with no real spiritual connection.

Feminist will certainly reply, “Is not God male?” How do we clarify this in light of what we have just read? Easily! God as you should remember is a Spirit (John 4:24), therefore, He does not have any X or Y chromosomes. He is neither male nor female. Ask your self, what kind of reproduction organs does God have anyway? None! God is not a sexual being but a spirit. That is why we are commanded not to make any graven image of God (Ex.20:4) even one that is male or female (Deut. 4:16). If God were a male, that would imply that men are more God-like than women. This de-identifies women with God and removes the image of God from her being.

The result from this kind of thinking is the acceptation of Goddess worship. In general, it is a belief system that de-shackles itself from any male oriented concept. It renounces any male practices as chauvinistic dominance and the loss of women’s rights to a life of feminine slavery. Then it replaces these perceived injustices with pagan ones originating ages ago in the sacred Goddess. The problem is that they read into the word “God” only male characteristics, hence, they need a Goddess to be their female identification. However, be it remembered, that while God does exhibit some of the characters that men have; He also exhibits feminine qualities as well. Take the comparison of God giving birth (Deut. 32:18; James 1:18) as just one example, or His comparison to a mother holding a newborn (Is. 49:15) as another. Or how about Christ’s desire for Jerusalem as a mother Hen (Matt. 23:37; Luke 13:34). Therefore, what man is, both male and female comes from God.

Then there is the question, “When God had taken on human flesh, was it not as a man?” Clearly this is so. Does this not at lest imply that God is a male? No! Common sense tells us that, for God to manifest Himself in flesh He would need to be either male or female. Being simultaneously both is not an option. You see, Christ came at a time when men tended to dominate. It was a patriarchal society no doubt. Consequently, He took on the gender that had the most influence. But, we would be ignorant if we stopped here and did not proceed further to the very origination of this patriarchal influence. I am speaking of the creation of man (male) being brought into being prior to man (female). Yes, man in general was created at the beginning both male and female (Matt. 19:4; Mark 10:6), however, in the more specific scope of things, male did predate female. Howbeit, not by much, but he (male) did predate she (female) (Gen. 2:7, 18, 22; 1Tim. 2:13).

Others will retort, “Has not God revealed Himself as Father?” Yes, He indubitably does! This is how He has chosen to reveal Himself. It does not imply that God is male at all, but rather the term Father expresses those relationships to the first person of the Godhead that are distinct to that of the general relationship of Creator to creature. For example: (1) God is the Father of the nation Israel (Ex. 4:22; Is. 63:16; 64:8; Jer. 31:9; Mal. 1:6; 2:10) to convey His theocratic relationship in which he stands to them. Now, this relationship was two fold; it was both, in a broad sense governmental with all of Israel and more particularly spiritual with those believers within Israel. (2) God is Father of Jesus Christ (Matt. 3:17; 2Peter 1:17) which shows the Father’s unbegottenness and the Son’s subordination only in position and mission but not essence (Luke 23:46; John 5:19; 5:30, 36; 8:28; 10:25; etc.). This is why He is known as the only begotten Son of God (John 1:18; 3:16). (3) God is Father of all who believe (Gal. 3:26; 2Cor. 6:18; Eph. 5:1; 1John 3:1). One of the main functions of God as the believers Father is disciplinarian action (Heb. 12:6-10), and yet, also the intimate hearing of a Father (Matt. 6:9; 7:11; John 15:16). All this tells us that there exist in God an aspect of relating that is vastly more intimate than the general existence we have before Him as His creation (Mark 14:36; Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6).

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- “One accurate measurement is worth more than a thousand expert opinions”

- “...this is the Word of God; come, search, ye critics, and find a flaw; examine it, from its Genesis to its Revelation, and find an error... This is the book untainted by any error; but is pure, unalloyed, perfect truth. Why? Because God wrote it. Ah! charge God with error if you please; tell him that his book is not what it ought to be. I have heard men, with prudish and mock-modesty, who would like to alter the Bible; and (I almost blush to say it) I have heard ministers alter God's Bible, because they were afraid of it... Pity they were not born when God lived far—far back that they might have taught God how to write.” Charles Haddon Spurgeon (Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 1: Sermon II p. 31)

- “If, therefore, any do complain that I have sometimes hit my opponents rather hard, I take leave to point out that 'to everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the sun' : 'a time to embrace, and a time to be far from embracing' : a time for speaking smoothly, and a time for speaking sharply. And that when the words of Inspiration are seriously imperilled, as now they are, it is scarcely possible for one who is determined effectually to preserve the Deposit in its integrity, to hit either too straight or too hard.” Dean John William Burgon (The Revision Revised. pp. vii-viii)

[Debau]

I Tim 3:16 And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

No matter how we try, there are infinite mysteries to the finite mind. God was manifest in the flesh as a man. The Son of Man had the dominant male chromosome, but He was born of the seed of a woman.

I Tim 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus


John 1:18 No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.

These things may seem contradictory. They are not. God has revealed to us what He can in our sinful estate. We will not see Him as He is until final redemption. The tendency of folks for godess worship is idol worship. God revealed His Son as a man, and that's as close as we will get without being consumed by fire. God identified the Father, His Son, and His spirit as "he" :
John 16:13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

There is one God, who is triune, and revealed as He, not she.