A Digest on the Trinity - Part 6: The Father

This article is the fifth in a series called A Digest on the Trinity.

"We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible."

- Nicene Creed

Perhaps it is telling that the Nicene Creed, the standard of Trinitarian orthodoxy, has its shortest paragraph expositing on the person of the Father. When the church came together in 325 and 381 to decide on the vocabulary to describe the unique situation the Scriptures presented, the godhood of the Father was never in dispute (rather, the question was whether the Father alone was God). This article will first examine the person of the Father in relation to Himself, then in relation to the other two persons, and finally in relation towards creation.

The name “Father”

Berkhof cites four uses of the name “Father” in the Scriptures:[1]

1. Originating: It is applied to at least the first and second persons of the Trinity to indicate their role in creation, the origin of all things. That is why although the first person is accurately called the Father from whom all things come (1 Cor 8:6), the second person is also accurately described as Everlasting Father, to indicate His equal role in creation (Isa 9:6).
2. Theocratic: It is also applied to the way in which the triune God stands as the creator and ruler of theocratic Israel (Deut 32:6; Mal 2:10).
3. Salvific: Thirdly, it is applied to the way the first person stands in relation to His spiritual children as their heavenly Father whose name is hallowed (Matt 6:9; Rom 8:16; 1 John 3:1).
4. Metaphysical: Lastly, it is applied to the way the first person stands in relation to the second person as His Father, because the first person generates the second from all eternity in a Father-Son relationship.

The Father in relation to Himself

In relation to Himself, the Father is God – in Him is the whole simple divine essence and whatever it means to be God. He does not share His essence with the other two persons as though they each have a third of the essence but is wholly and fully the entire divine essence in Himself. Simply put, the Father in Himself is fully and truly God. He is autotheos (lit. “self-God”, meaning God of Himself). He is God from none, neither having been generated nor breathed.

The Father in relation to the Son

This is where we examine the fourth use of the name “Father” in greater detail. In the third article earlier, we noted that the first person is called the Father and the second the Son, because they both stand in a Father-Son relation to each other, by way of eternal generation – the Father is the Father first and foremost because He has a Son whom He generates. If He is eternally the Father, He is so only because He has an eternal Son.

This relationship is described all over in Scripture when it calls Him the Son’s Father (Matt 26:53; John 10:29; 14:23; 2 Cor 1:3; Eph 1:3; 1 Pet 1:3) and the Son His Son (John 3:16; Rom 1:3; 1 Cor 1:9; Heb 1:2; 1 John 1:3; 2 John 1:3). This Father-Son relationship is the original, of which all human parent-child relations are mere shadows of. Although we can know something true about this eternal Father-Son relation through our experiences with our own parents and children, we must be careful to also note that no human relation shall be able to reflect fully the plenitude of the divine Father-Son relation.

The Father in relation to the Spirit

While it is more intuitive to consider the Father in relation to His Son, it is perhaps not as much when considering the Father in relation to the Spirit. While there is mutuality between the Father and the Son in that they belong to each other, this mutuality is seemingly lacking in the relation between Father and Spirit. We see this in the fact that while the Scriptures call the Spirit the Spirit of God (Gen 1:2; Exo 35:31; Isa 61:1; Matt 3:16), the Father is never called the Father of the Spirit.

Instead, the Spirit is said to proceed from the Father as His breath (John 15:26). After all, as noted before, the Greek word for “Spirit” is pneuma, which is more accurately translated as “breath”. The Father then, in relation to the Spirit, is not Father but Breather. As such, the Father stands in relation to the Spirit not by way of eternal generation (for generation is proper only to the Son), but eternal spiration.

The Father in relation to the Trinity

Since the Father stands as the principium, or principle, of both the Son and Spirit, He is the first person of the Trinity. In the irreversible order, He occupies first place not in terms of existence or hierarchy, but in terms of relation. He generates the Son and is thus the Son’s Father, and breathes the Spirit and is thus the Spirit’s Breather. Although the Son and Spirit are coeternal with Him and therefore worshipped together with Him, they are from Him while He is from none.

It is precisely His first place of relation that grounds His external acts as the one from whom all things come, for whom all things exist (1 Cor 8:6). As the first person, He is the originating presence of the triune God, acting from none, since He is from none.

The Father in relation to His creation

In the previous article, we note that through the doctrine of appropriations, we appropriate certain external acts to specific persons despite the external acts of God being undivided. We are able to do so because Scripture does so and because each person’s personal characteristics are seen in these undivided acts.[2] In particular, because the Father is from none, He acts from none and as the originating presence of the triune God.

That is why the Father is accurately called the Creator (Gen 1:1; Rom 1:25), for the act of creation is appropriated to Him. Though He creates through the Son and in the Spirit, it is proper to appropriate creation to Him specifically because He who is the relative originator in God is properly the absolute originator of creation. If creation comes from God, it is not difficult to see how it would be appropriated to the Father, for all things come from Him in a way that is different than all things coming from the Son and the Spirit. Though creation is equally from the Son and Spirit (for they are as God as the Father is), creation comes from the Father in a unique way as the one from whom the Son and Spirit proceed.

He also is said to be the architect of salvation, though the plan of salvation belongs just as much to the Son and Spirit as well. However, as the Unbegotten, the Ingenerate, He represents the triune Godhead as the one offended by sin (Rom 1:18)., though all three are equally offended. He is said to be the one who elects His people unto salvation (Rom 9:15; Eph 1:4), though all three elect (John 6:70; 13:18). He is the one who sends the Son uniquely (1 John 4:14) and sends the Spirit (John 14:26), though all three persons are equally involved in these sendings (the Son agrees to be sent and is sent in the power of the Spirit, before sending the Spirit with the Father).

He is the heavenly Father of His people as well. Neither the Son nor the Spirit is the Father of God’s people. The Scriptures inform us to address our prayers (Matt 6:9) and worship (John 4:23-24) to the Father particularly, because just as He is the eternal Father of His eternal Son, He now stands as the heavenly Father of His spiritual children. He is the one said to love the world (John 3:16) and makes His enemies His children.

Unbegotten but never independent

With all that being said however, the Father cannot be the Father without His Son. In that way, therefore, the Father, though unbegotten, is not independent from His Son (and their Spirit). That is why we note that whatever the Father does, He does through His Son (and in their Spirit). From eternity to creation to salvation, the Father has always had His Son, to whom the next article will turn.