Christian Pure

Is Jesus Our Father or Our Brother? Our Brother; God Is Our Father

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • Jesus taught his disciples to pray to God as “Our Father” (Matthew 6:9) and called them his brothers (John 20:17), and the New Testament never calls him their Father.
  • He kept his own sonship apart from theirs, speaking of “my Father and your Father” (John 20:17), a distinction the Catechism draws out (Catechism 443).
  • Isaiah 9:6 calls the promised child “Everlasting Father,” which the Septuagint gives as “Messenger of great counsel” and the Vulgate as “Father of the world to come.”
  • John Calvin read “Father” in Isaiah 9:6 as “Author,” a description of what Christ is to believers rather than of his essence.
  • Oneness Pentecostals teach that Jesus is the Father, while Latter-day Saints call him Father in particular senses and hold that the Father and the Son are separate beings.
  • Jesus’ mother is Mary and Joseph raised him, and Christians confess God the Father as his Father.

He is our brother. The New Testament calls Jesus the brother of believers and never their Father. He taught his disciples to pray to God as “Our Father,” and after the resurrection he called them “my brothers” (John 20:17). The title “Everlasting Father” comes from Isaiah 9:6, which most churches do not read as making him the Father. In Gethsemane Jesus prayed, “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36). Paul says the Spirit puts that same cry in our mouths: we have received…

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Bibliography (Click to show)
  • Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version: Isaiah 8:18; 9:6; Matthew 1:18–25; 3:16–17; 6:9; 23:9; Mark 14:36; Luke 1:34–35; 2:48–49; 3:23; John 10:30; 13:33; 14:9–10; 16:23; 20:17; 21:5; Romans 8:15, 29; 1 Corinthians 8:6; Galatians 4:4–7; Hebrews 2:11, 13. https://www.biblegateway.com/
  • Isaiah 9:6 in the Septuagint, translated by L. C. L. Brenton (numbered 9:5). https://ebible.org/eng-Brenton/ISA09.htm
  • Isaiah 9:6 in the Latin Vulgate and the Douay-Rheims Bible. https://www.drbo.org/lvb/chapter/27009.htm and https://www.drbo.org/chapter/27009.htm
  • Isaiah 9:5 in the Jewish Publication Society translations of 1917 and 1985, and Rashi on Isaiah 9:5, Sefaria. https://www.sefaria.org/Isaiah.9.5 and https://www.sefaria.org/Rashi_on_Isaiah.9.5
  • Great Compline, “God is with us,” St. Jonah Orthodox Church. https://www.saintjonah.org/services/great_compline.htm
  • John Calvin, Commentary on Isaiah, 9:6. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/calvin/calcom13.xvi.i.html
  • Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraphs 443 and 2789. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P1G.HTM
  • Augustine of Hippo, Tractates on the Gospel of John 121.3. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/1701121.htm
  • John Chrysostom, Homilies on Hebrews, homily 4. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/240204.htm
  • Council of Nicaea (325), the Nicene Creed. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/3801.htm
  • United Pentecostal Church International, “Our Beliefs,” and the position paper “The True Humanity of Jesus Christ” (2004). https://upci.org/our-beliefs/ and https://upci.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/The_True_Humanity_of_Jesus_Christ.pdf
  • First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, “The Father and the Son: A Doctrinal Exposition” (1916), reprinted in Ensign, April 2002. https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/ensign/2002/04/the-father-and-the-son?lang=eng

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