"Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.....
...Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him....
...Whosoever is born of God --doth not commit sin--; for His Seed remaineth in him: and he --cannot-- sin, because he is born of God."
- 1 Jn 3:1–3,1 Jn 3:6–7,1 Jn 3:9
" Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name’s sake.
I write unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.
I write unto you, young men, because ye have overcome the wicked one.
I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
I have written unto you, fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.
I have written unto you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one."
- 1 Jn 2:7–14
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Biblical Living 101 - Relationships - Father
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What can we say about a relationship that God Himself has chosen to inhabit and be known by? ? Beyond the obvious, there are some great insights to be had and also show how all scripture points back to Love! Let's jump in...
It starts with the very word - Father, Abba - itself - made up of the Hebrew characters Aleph, and Bet. (Alphabet anyone?)
The character Aleph is not by itself, this Aleph is special as indicated by the little "tav" underneath the A (see below). A is the first letter in the Hebrew Alphabet, and also represents the number 1. (We think you will enjoy P. Joseph Princes study on the significance of this Aleph-tav ... here is the link https://www.josephprince.com/…/aleph-tav-jesus-signature-in…).
He is the 1, the First Cause, the Prime Mover. The Alpha, and the Omega (Greek).
B or Bet, is the 2nd letter, and the Hebrew word Ben (B and N) means son. It takes two to tango, and we see Father/Son. We combine 1 and 2 to get Ab, or Abba.. Father.
Next to Mama...which is easily made by the lips, Ab-ba is just as easily lisped by infants. It doesn't require the subtlety of the "th" sounds or the "d" , "st" or the "uf" sounds (rough).... (You just tested it by saying abbabab too .. didn't you :-)) - so now we can look at the word...
אָב [ʾab /awb/] n m. A root; 1215 occurrences;
AV translates as “father” 1205 times, “chief” twice, “families” twice, “desire” once, “fatherless + 369” once, “forefathers + 7223” once, “patrimony” once, “prince” once, and “principal” once. 1 father of an individual. 2 of God as
father of his people. 3 head or founder of a household, group, family, or clan. 4 ancestor. 4A grandfather, forefathers—of person. 4B of people. 5 originator or patron of a class, profession, or art. 6 of producer, generator (fig.). 7 of
benevolence and protection (fig.). 8 term of respect and honour. 9 ruler or chief (spec.). - Strong, J. (1995). Enhanced Strong’s Lexicon.
What a variety of attributes associated with this word ranging from originator to patron!
We first see it mentioned in Genesis - Adams one and only prophecy .. "For this reason a man shall leave his -father and his mother-, and be joined to his wife; and they shall become one flesh." - (Ge 2:24)
We not only get the concept of father and mother, we are also shown God's plan of redemption via yet another relationship - Marriage. Adams one-liner is pregnant with meaning!
Here's our post on that when we were talking about the concept of work ... http://tabernacleoftheholyspirit.org/…/185-biblical-liv…
No sooner has the term been defined, when we see it immediately put to use in ---- wait for it --- Genealogies !!!! Genesis 5:3 shows us the Spirit keeping track of Fathers and sons from Noah onwards!
Now, Genealogies are probably the most boring things you might ever read in the Bible, and why most well meaning Bible students never make it past the "begats"... but consider this ....
God was concerned about, remembered, and wrote down the names of each and every individual!
And He does this, not once, but many times. If there is a surer proof that God cares about individual human beings, we don't know what that could be!
It gets better... when you look at the names...
Strongs Dictionary starts with "Ab"/Father, but when you look at related words, especially names that begin with Ab. Abigail= My Father is Joy, Abijah = God is my Father, Abiezer - My Father is Help, Abi-tal - My Father is the dew, Abimelech - My Father is King, Absalom - My Father is peace (!) you get the idea....
God as Father, wasn't just a New Testament, Christ introduced, concept! We see Him hiding in plain sight!
The Names tell the story better than any theology ever could! Everyone is familiar with "El", and “Jah", but Ab.... now there's a study in names you can do (Strongs Lexicon will help).
Fatherhood, like money, is a concept that has both spiritual and practical implications. This week our text connects last weeks' post on the very concept of relationships/walking with God - to this week - the concept of Fatherhood as given to us by the beloved disciple John.
We talked about Love being the root of all relationship and also the guide for practical sin-minimized living, and that is the connection that the apostle is making in this epistle as well. His focus in the epistle, is on abiding in the constant fellowship of the Father (practical sin free living as a means of staying connected to Him).
We are kind of backing into the walk from the relationship - but hopefully you can see that the two are connected - relationship implies a shared connection. Loving your brother ... thats it!
The Apostle marvels at the love of the Father, that He should call us sons. This is echoed in his reasons for writing to the congregation (our second text).
When we were children, the Father decided to forgive our sins for -His Names sake-. Independent of our worthiness, our works, our sins, our depravity - God glorifies Himself in His relationship to man. God empties Himself of divinity to partake of human flesh so that He can, through His effort, give us treasure out of the richness of His Grace for us to enjoy!
Little children cannot make decisions for themselves, but God lovingly chooses them and we see the Apostle saying, that we (even as children) can come to KNOW Him! Hallelujah!
We were like children sinning and disobeying our parents without understanding why it was wrong, but our parents forgave us all that when we didn’t even know what forgiveness meant!! God electing to save us, exactly parallels what we know to be true - kids will be kids ( but some are just born nasty ). We had no clue who God was but He saved us and drew us to the knowledge of Him.
The Elders are addressed next (FATHERS)... here is the wisdom of gray hairs - these Fathers have come to know THE FATHER that has been from the beginning. Repeated exactly the same way twice!
Young Men last of all... Children that -will become- Fathers - they will need to learn to overcome the wicked one by growing up in His knowledge, from their childish stage. The Apostle says this in the PAST tense... "Have Overcome"... why?
Its the last sentence in our first text. Please note the difference between the highlighted phrases - "DOES NOT commit sin", and "CAN NOT commit sin", and the difference in the reasons for them.
DOES NOT means and implies - "chooses not to". Why? Because the Spirit of God (His Seed - giving Birth to us) remains in US, and prompts us to avoid sin, choose Love.
CAN NOT means and implies - "is unable to". Why? Because every one that is Born of God, as Christ told Nicodemus - has passed from death to life forever! Hallelujah! Your sins no longer count against you! Ever! This is why you "can't" sin in the legal sense, because those sins have been paid for before you ever committed them.
This is the Father's standard of Love! It is amazing...His Grace to His children, electing them when sinners, supporting their growing up as young men, to the calm confidence of the fathers who know and trust their Shepherd, and reflect His character in the raising of their children!
In return, in the Law we are told, "Honor your Father and Mother". (He is BOTH).
Honor is rightfully due to God as a Father, and His representatives on this earth, our earthly Fathers.
Sadly, in this day and age, Father, is not always a word that has pleasant associations for many. Sin has always been an issue - and broken parent-child relationships for many reasons (divorce, remarriage, out of wedlock).
We have a quick read on honoring parents here ...
http://tabernacleoftheholyspirit.org/…/83-the-law-6-the…,
and on proper parenting as illuminated in the Lord's prayer ...
http://tabernacleoftheholyspirit.org/…/75-parenting-a-guide…)
Fatherhood is a solemn responsibility, and reflects a man grown to full maturity - has overcome youthful lusts, has come to know the Father, has the Word abiding in Him, and is able to overcome his own flesh, the world, and the devil! Fathers shirk this, or present a bad image to their children at great peril.
Our Lord is extremely protective of His image, and this relationship is one He has designed, nourished, and cherished for millennia, and will do so for all eternity!
Hallelujah!