The God of Our Fathers

When God revealed Himself to Moses in the burning bush, He referred to Himself as the God of your fathers,[1] more specifically, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob:

Exodus 3:6 (NASB) He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. (emphasis added)

Moses later related that God manifested miracles so that the Israelites might know that there is no other God besides Yahweh:

Deuteronomy 4:35 (NASB) “To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD [Yahweh], He is God; there is no other besides Him. (emphasis added)

God instructed Moses to teach the Israelites all of His commands, statutes, and judgments that it might go well for them in the Promised Land.[2]  Chief among the commands was that they were to love the one God, that is, the God of their fathers: 

Deuteronomy 6:3-5 (NASB) “O Israel, you should listen and be careful to do it, that it may be well with you and that you may multiply greatly, just as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has promised you, in a land flowing with milk and honey. ⁴  “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! ⁵  “You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. (emphasis added)

Throughout antiquity, the Israelites understood this creedal statement in its simplicity: God is one, and there is no other. King Hezekiah’s prayer exemplifies this understanding:

2 Kings 19:19 (NASB) “Now, O LORD our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O LORD, are God.” (emphasis added)

Centuries later, Jesus affirmed this one-God creed and said that to love and obey this singular God was the greatest commandment.

Mark 12:28-30 (NASB) One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, “What commandment is the foremost of all?” ²⁹  Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; ³⁰  AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ (emphasis added)

Peter, after he healed the man at the gate Beautiful, preached to the crowd that had gathered that the God of our fathers had glorified His servant, Jesus:

Acts 3:13 (NASB) “The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God of our fathers, has glorified His servant Jesus, the one whom you delivered and disowned in the presence of Pilate, when he had decided to release Him. (emphasis added)

Note that Peter distinguishes the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as being someone other than Jesus.  Indeed, Jesus is not God but the servant of God.

Subsequently, when Peter appeared before the high priest and the Sanhedrin Council, he and the other apostles once again identify Jesus as someone other than the God of our fathers:

Acts 5:29-31 (NASB) But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men. ³⁰  “The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom you had put to death by hanging Him on a cross. ³¹  “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior, to grant repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins. (emphasis added)

For Peter and the apostles, Jesus is not the God of our fathers, but the one whom the God of our fathers raised from the dead and exalted to His right hand.

Many years later, the apostle Paul (Saul) recounted the time when Ananias came to him to heal him and deliver a divine message:

Acts 22:12-15 (NASB) “A certain Ananias, a man who was devout by the standard of the Law, and well spoken of by all the Jews who lived there, ¹³ came to me, and standing near said to me, ‘Brother Saul, receive your sight!’ And at that very time I looked up at him. ¹⁴  “And he said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know His will and to see the Righteous One and to hear an utterance from His mouth. ¹⁵  ‘For you will be a witness for Him to all men of what you have seen and heard. (emphasis added)

The God of our fathers determined that Paul (Saul) would see and hear the Righteous One, that is, the Messiah.[3]   He was to be an eye witness of the resurrected Christ, not an eye witness of God.

The God of Our Church Fathers

Sadly, the Church Fathers, from the second century onward, interpreted the Scriptures through the prism of Greek philosophy, thereby altering the identity of the God of the Jews.  The evolution of their beliefs is chronicled in the creeds that they penned.  Instead of worshiping the one God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they expanded the definition beyond that of Scripture to include two other persons, Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Even though the God of our fathers said that Jesus was His servant, the Platonically inspired Church Fathers insisted that Jesus is God the Servant. Instead of being a man whom the God of our fathers exalted, Jesus is himself God, co-equal in every way, something Scripture never says.[4]  Indeed, it contradicts Jesus’ own testimony that the Father is the only true God, while he is the Christ.

John 17:1-3 (NASB) Jesus spoke these things; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son, that the Son may glorify You, ²  even as You gave Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom You have given Him, He may give eternal life. ³  “This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent. (emphasis added)

Which Fathers Should We Believe?

Which testimony regarding God’s identity should we believe? The testimony of the Biblical fathers to whom God revealed Himself in majesty and wonder, yet with clarity and simplicity? Or the Church Fathers from the post-Biblical era who painted a different portrait than the one God painted of Himself?

[1] The God of your “father” here, but also the God of your “fathers” in Exodus 3:13-16 and elsewhere.

[2] Deuteronomy 6:1-2.

[3] Acts 3:14; 7:52; 1 John 2:1.

[4] See John 5:18 and John 10:30.