The Spirit of Adoption

Jews pray to God generically, though they sometimes write his name “G-d”. Muslims pray to God generically; that’s what “Allah” means. The devout men and women of the Old Testament addressed their prayers to God generically: “O God” (or, more frequently, “O Lord” and sometimes “O Lord God”).

But they never prayed “O Father”. Not once.

The only OT reference to God as Father of individual believers is in Psalm 89, where he is revealed as the Father of Messiah.

The Generic God

I must confess I find it sad when I hear a follower of Christ address his prayer to God generically as if he were still living under the Law, as if he were a Jew or a Muslim. Anybody can do that. Christians have a profoundly greater privilege: we call God Father. That’s the relationship Christ came to herald. That’s the relationship Christ came to make possible. That’s the spirit of New Testament prayer, and it’s how the Lord Jesus taught his disciples to pray; not “Our God”, but “Our Father”.

Of course it’s not wrong to cry “O God”. But we can do better than that, can’t we?

“For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’ ”

“And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ ”

The Father in John

Some fun facts about the gospel of John:

Number of times the Father is mentioned: 115
Number of times God is mentioned: 83
Number of times Jesus mentions the Father: 106
Number of times Jesus mentions God: 44
Number of times Jesus refers to “my Father”: 33
Number of times Jesus refers to “my God”: 1
Number of times Jesus addresses the Father: 9
Number of times Jesus addresses God: 0

Those 115 mentions of the Father in John are more than double the second place gospel, Matthew.

The Father in Matthew

Some fun facts about the gospel of Matthew:

Number of times the Father is mentioned: 43
Number of times God is mentioned: 56*
Number of times Jesus mentions the Father: 43
Number of times Jesus mentions God: 35
Number of times Jesus mentions the Father in the Sermon on the Mount: 17
Number of times Jesus mentions God in the Sermon on the Mount: 5
Number of times Jesus refers to “my Father”: 15
Number of times Jesus refers to “my God”: 1**
Number of times Jesus addresses the Father: 5
Number of times Jesus addresses God: 1**

  * Matthew is a profoundly Jewish book. Large numbers of references to God make sense in that context; many were coming from the mouths of men and women who only knew him that way.

** Both times the Lord was quoting the Old Testament.

The Father in Prayer

Some fun facts about how God is addressed in prayer in the New Testament:

O Lord: 9
O Father: 6
O God: 0

Did you know every Pauline epistle starts with a reference to God as Father, usually “God our Father”? Every single one.

God sent the Spirit of his Son into every believing heart to assure us we can address him personally rather than generically, in family intimacy rather than from a respectful distance, in love rather than in fear. Naturally, we don’t have to take advantage of that.

But why wouldn’t we?