Father Almighty

 July 23, 2021

“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth.” So begins the Creed, identifying which of the many gods in this world is the object of our faith. Two descriptive words stand out, seemingly contradictory, but equally true. 

We believe in a God who is a Father to us. He is not some distant and capricious deity, but the one who is the source of all true fatherhood, caring for us as his dear children, guiding and encouraging us to grow up into spiritual maturity. There are many who struggle with the thought of God as the supreme father figure. For some, their own father’s behavior has made it difficult for them to understand and receive the kind of love our Heavenly Father exhibits. Martin Luther is reported to have said that it took years for him to be able to pray the Our Father because his own was such a brutish man. For those whose fathers were harsh, distant, abusive, or weak, thinking of God as Father may be the last thing they want or are able to do.

There are others who have been duped by our culture into believing that such imagery is archaic and dismissive of women. They want to challenge male imagery when speaking of God, going to all sorts of lengths to avoid male pronouns while highlighting those few Scriptural texts that speak of God in more feminine terms. Jesus telling Jerusalem that he would have liked to gather them as a hen gathers her chicks becomes a touchstone for acceptable God-speak. In their theology, God is stripped of gender. 

The problem with this interpretation of Scripture is that it ignores historical revelation. The Biblical writers lived in cultures saturated with female deities, yet assiduously avoided female language in their talk of our God. Had this been important or more accurate in describing the Hebrew/Christian God, the opportunity was not lacking. Our God is Father, not Mother.

The second descriptive word in the Creed is “Almighty.” Laid right alongside God’s Fatherhood is his incontestable power. Unlike the pagan deities, this power is not capricious and arbitrary. It is not harsh and vindictive. It is fatherly, in the best sense of the word. Put together, God as Father Almighty, is able to do all he intends to do, and it is always done in wisdom, mercy, and love.