Calvin Synod Herald, 2012 (113. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2012-01-01 / 1-2. szám
4 CALVIN SYNOD HERALD ‘Heavenly Father’ Jesus’ Words Did The Son Teach Us Wrong? In dropping the words “heavenly Father” from the UCC Constitution, the delegates summarily spumed the teaching of Jesus, and two thousand years of Christian biblical teaching. Driven by a feminist passion for “inclusive language,” the efforts have not been received sympathetically in Calvin Synod. When the New Century Hymnal was introduced to the UCC Delegates at the 1995 General Synod, held at Oakland, California, the prayers to “Mother” God met with disdain by the four Calvin Synod delegates present, and at that point in the worship they walked out en masse. It still is not in use in the Synod’s churches. So many of its hymns have had words neutered, to avoid any masculine terms as Father, King, Lord, Master, etc. There is a “sad history of the church characterized by division,” but its pages have been written by leaders who have led the UCC into waterless places, and many have simply walked away to other churches, chosen to ignore it and do their own thing, or openly resist the bad changes. In numerous resolutions to the UCC General Synod, the courageous voice of Calvin Synod has been heard in opposition to blatantly unbiblical actions. Most recently, other voices have joined the chorus and most Synod churches have also aligned with Faithful and Welcoming Churches. The UCC has gotten out of step with biblically sound churches throughout the world. Really, Was Jesus Wrong? “Our Father, who art in heaven,” begins the prayer Jesus taught his disciples when they asked him how to pray. Was Jesus wrong by speaking of ‘our Father’? When we read the gospel according Matthew, Jesus used the phrase repeatedly: 5:16. 5:45, 6:01, 6:09, 7:21, 10:32, 10:33, 12:50, 16:17, 18:10, 18:14, plus other variations as 18:19, 23:09. Did Jesus misspeak? The apostle Paul, writing to the Galatians (4:Iff), said that in the depths of our hearts we too are led to cry out, “Abba! Father!” He points out that we are sons by adoption, and no longer slaves but sons and heirs. Sure, he could have used sons and daughters, and heirs and heiresses, but why? His audience understood - it was like everyday life. Was Paul wrong too? The biblical revelation is full of history, prophesy, poetry, hymnody, parables and a multitude of common life illustrations about the heavenly Father that humans can relate to and understand. Through them we have learned about God, and the Son of God found them good ways to explain the attributes and love of our Father in heaven. Most importantly, if we take them away we lose the very instruments that God intended to reveal more of himself. Without understanding God as Father, the story of Mary’s conception and Jesus’ incarnation, in all its simplicity understandable to children and the unlearned, and the miraculous works of God would have had to be written for scholars and theologians to sort out. A well known professor of UCC’s Congregational roots, on hearing of amending the UCC Constitution,” said, “I can’t agree that there’s any ‘shortcoming’ in the ‘heavenly Father,’ since it’s how our Lord taught us to address God.” An old revival song pleads, “Give me the old time religion ... it was good enough for grandpa and good enough for grandma, and it’s good enough for me,” Without taking that too far, it’s easy to see that the faith of millions, redeemed through the ages by simple belief in the grace of their heavenly Father, lacks a necessity for improvement upon the words in the Bible spoken by God’s people or his Son Jesus. Shall we trust his words, or are the words of a UCC resolution superior? Who Is God The Heavenly Father? “In the beginning was the Word,” John wrote at the start of the fourth Gospel. But how do we know that? It is by the revelation of God through the Son. Theology teaches us the biblical truth that all we know about God is by the Word. And John also wrote there that the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, in the Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth. By definition, he is the Son and therefore he has a Father. In a chapter of “Theology in Reconstruction, ’’ to clarify the relationships of the Persons of the Trinity, the late, renowned theologian Dr. Thomas Torrance, wrote, “it is only in and through the Son or the Word that God has revealed himself. The Spirit does not utter himself but the Word and is known only as he enlightens us to understand the Word.” Drawing on Athanasius works, we learn how the early Church defined the Trinity and Jesus, the divine Son of God. It was the error of pre-Reformation philosophical Rationalism that the Reformers shook off, the chilly and ethereal “Deity” of the Primal Cause,” and brought a new emphasis on the creator Father. It is not the austere God of philosophy, rather the Father of Abraham, David, Mary and Jesus who hears prayers. It is to our Father that we turn and implore, “Father, have mercy upon us, and grant us your peace.” That Jesus should for our sakes use the “heavenly Father” was natural. Dr. Torrance, one of the foremost scholars of the Geneva Reformers, notes that John Calvin said, “It is certainly true that God cannot reveal himself to us in any other way than by a comparison with things we know. In his revelation God accommodates himself in his Word to the capacity of our understanding, and in such a way that he not only makes himself little, as it were, that we may grasp him, but forms our ear to hear and shapes our minds to understand. Apart from that self-accommodating grace, we have no predisposition or faculty to know him.” Is not this what Jesus was saying? Standing Firm With Jesus As the scholars have shown, it doesn’t take a college degree to make a common sense decision and address our “heavenly Father” as Jesus instructed us. Our revered Heidelberg Catechism, in concert with the Head of the Church, teaches us: “Question 26 - What do you believe when you say: T believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth’?” “Ans. ‘That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
