“Yet You, O LORD, are our Father. We are the clay, and You are the potter; we are all the work of Your hand.” — Isaiah 64:8 (BSB)
“Pray then like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name.’” — Matthew 6:9 (BSB)
“For as the Father has life in Himself, so also He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.” — John 5:26 (BSB)
“One God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.” — Ephesians 4:6 (BSB)
As Creator, the Father brought all things into being by His Word and through His Spirit (Genesis 1:1–2). His fatherhood is not merely metaphorical, but deeply real: He is the sovereign Lord over all creation, yet personally involved and lovingly attentive to His children. Isaiah 64:8 captures both His majesty and tenderness: “You are our Father… we are all the work of Your hand.” God the Father is not distant or impersonal, but the source of all life and the one to whom Jesus teaches us to pray: “Our Father in heaven.”
In Anglican theology, the Thirty-Nine Articles begin with a confession of God the Father as “the Maker and Preserver of all things.” The Book of Common Prayer repeatedly addresses God in prayer as “Almighty and everlasting Father,” affirming both His transcendence and His care. To know God as Father is to live in the comfort and security of His sovereign love, which is made known through Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son.
This fatherhood is not general only—it becomes personal in Christ. As John 1:12–13 says, all who receive the Son are given the right to become children of God, born not of human will but of God. When we confess, “I believe in God the Father Almighty,” we are proclaiming that we belong to Him by adoption, through the grace of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. His fatherhood is a covenant reality, not merely a natural one.
As J.I. Packer powerfully wrote in Knowing God, “If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out how much he makes of the thought of being God’s child, and having God as his Father.” This is the heart of Christian identity: to be known, loved, disciplined, and protected by God the Father Almighty, through Jesus Christ His Son, in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.
Irenaeus emphasized the Father as Creator, sovereign over all, and the source of the Son and Spirit.
Tertullian (c. 155–220 AD) declared: “We believe in one only God, and no other beside Him, the Creator of the world, who produced the Word, His Son, and the Spirit.” — Apology, 21
Tertullian saw the Father as the foundational Person of the Trinity, from whom the Son and Spirit proceed.
St. Athanasius (c. 296–373 AD) affirmed: “The Father is the fountain of the Son and the source of the Spirit; yet all three are of one essence and indivisible.” — Letters to Serapion, 1.20
Athanasius clearly articulated the eternal relationships within the Trinity, with the Father as the source.
St. Gregory Nazianzen (c. 329–390 AD) explained: “The Father is the begetter and the emitter—He is the cause, not in time, but in order. He is the principle of the Son and the Spirit.” — Oration 29.2
Gregory distinguished the Father’s role as origin without dividing the divine essence.
St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430 AD) wrote: “The Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God; but the Father is not the Son, nor the Spirit. The Father is the source and sender.” — On the Trinity, 4.20
Augustine reinforced the unity and distinction in the Trinity, identifying the Father as the one who sends.
An Anglican Catechism (Expanded) offers over 350+ Scripture-based answers to the core truths of the Christian faith. Each entry includes biblical texts, theological insight, and reflections from historic and contemporary Anglican voices. Rooted in the classical tradition, it is designed for teaching, discipleship, and spiritual formation.
An Ancient Worship Movement invites readers into the rich, historic worship of the early Church rediscovered through the Anglican tradition. This book calls believers into a deeper, Spirit-filled encounter with Christ through timeless practices.
St. Thomas Church
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St. Thomas Church is a Church planting movement in ancient tradition.
