The Creed of Chalcedon
one and the same…Son
“All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him” (Matthew 11:27).
“I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).
There is a popular and now common falsehood among Christians that the reason why God is called, “Father,” is because He is “like” a father, which then leads to the necessary conclusion that Jesus is called God’s “Son” because he is “like” a son to this God who is “like” a father. This is heresy. The Church calls God, “Father,” for the simple reason that God has revealed to us in His holy word that HE IS FATHER, indeed, “The Father,” and ever has been. And when we say that He ever has been Father, we mean that His Fatherhood never has been dependent upon His being OUR Father; indeed, He was Father before He ever created the world. In other words, it is not his being Creator that makes Him Father; IT IS HIS HAVING FATHERED A SON THAT MAKES HIM FATHER, AND ETERNALLY SO. And that Son of whom God the Father is the Father is God the Son. And since there never was a time when the Son was not (John 1:1-3), or to say it another way, since the Son is the eternal Son of the Father begotten of Him, then God the Father is the eternal Father of the Son.
And so you see, God is Father because He is the Father of His dear Son—from all eternity. We do not call him Father because he is like an earthly father—how revolting—but because He is the Father WHOM EARTHLY FATHERS ARE TO BE LIKE. I do not deny that there are earthly analogies in Scripture which refer to God or Christ as the “gate” or “door.” These are understood from the context. But it is not the same in this case. It is God who gets to name Himself. When we attempt to name God, we are bound to change God and make Him after our own image. We must refer to Him as He has revealed Himself.
Feminist theologians (an oxymoron) who think this sexist and misogynistic have God to contend with, not us. And none of this implies sexuality on God’s part but only the priority and paradigmatic being of the male from whom the female is derived (Genesis 2:18-25). Christ is the eternal Son of the Father, making the Father the eternal Father of the Son. Let all Christian fathers emulate His graciousness, goodness, and discipline.
