The God
& Father
Of Our Lord
Jesus Christ
I am always interested, as I read the Scripture, to observe the various titles and descriptions of God that I come across. Paul seems to be concerned that we understand the chain of authority that runs from God, the Father to the Lord Jesus Christ. In verse one Paul mentioned that he was an Apostle of Jesus Christ "by the will of God". The indication is that Paul’s office came, ultimately, because of the Father’s authority. In verse 2 we see the Father, along with the Lord Jesus, as the origin of the grace and peace Paul wishes the Ephesians. Now here are in verse three we see that the Father stands first to receive praise because of Christ’s work.
Such " Father-centeredness" is foreign to many churches today. For many churches, the emphasis in worship is more on the congregation’s experience of that worship than it is on the God being worshiped. If there is joy and rejoicing, if there is thanksgiving, if there is a feeling that we have worshiped, then we must have worshiped! How different it is to center on worshiping the Father in the way in which the Bible prescribes. Don’t make the mistake of seeing this as a minor issue. It is anything but minor. That we yield praise in any fashion other than that which the Bible commands is a serious matter. It is certainly a matter worthy of careful consideration and self-examination.
It is also significant that God is identified here as both of the "God" as well as "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ". It is easy for us to understand what "the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ" means. We all remember the Bible’s teaching concerning miraculous Virgin Birth of our Lord. We know that "the power of the Almighty" overshadowed her and she became pregnant.
But what does it mean that the Father was also "... the God of our Lord Jesus Christ"? We can look at this phrase in one of two ways. Either this is saying that the blessing mentioned later comes from God who is also the Father of Jesus Christ; or we can read it, as is proper, as a connecting of the authority of the Father with the ministry of the Son.
It is difficult to conceive of the idea of the Lord Jesus Christ, himself fully God, relating to the heavenly Father as his God. Many would ask why this was this necessary? How is it that the God man and needed to have a God? We answer lies in understanding the that is the wrong question to ask. Of course Christ did not need a "God" in the way that you what I, as created beings need one. The issue is not Christ’s need at all! There is an order to creation. That order begins with God. When Christ undertook the incarnation, he inserted himself into the created order. We read in the New Testament that Christ was obedient to all of the Law. This submission to the order that God had imposed on his creation was a necessary part of Christ’s mission to redeem. References to the Father as Christ’s "God" are references to this submission by the Lord Jesus in his office as the son of God.
Once again, we see an emphasis on the continuity and consistency of the Scriptures. The Father is consistently portrayed as the ultimate authority. Both the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit submit themselves, as a matter of function, to the authority of the Father. This subordination is purely to facilitate God’s plan and is never intended to imply any kind of inferiority on the part of the Son or of the Holy Spirit.