The Father's Love for You

“In that day you will ask in my name. I am not saying that I will ask the Father on your behalf. No, the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God” (John 16:26-27).

In recent years, I have found that “Christians” have views of the Father that are foreign to Scripture. These views are so awful that the same people ignore the Father and put all of their focus on the Son. This focus is not so that they can come to the Father but so that they can come to the Son only. These are evangelical, trinitarian Christians. However, their views of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are so different in character that it would be impossible to have these three be one deity.

Here is a suggested exercise. Go through the Gospel of John and mark every reference to the Father. I think it will be surprising to you, both in how many references there are and what they say.

Remember at this Christmas time that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.

Written December 1984.

Comments

tim d mellin said…

New believers who don't have a church background may get thrown / confused by various parts of the Christian doctrine. I submit that it might be a good idea to tell them not to worry or get too involved in issues like this, at the start of their new life. As they grow, that could be a better time to ponder shades of theological meaning such as these.

1:54 PM

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