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The First Person of the Trinity--Triune Godhead: The Role of the Father

One of the essential doctrines of Christianity is the belief in the Trinity--or the Triune Godhead, which Christians believe the Bible teaches beyond the shadow of doubt.

"In the Beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God and the Word was God all things were made through Him and the Word became flesh and dwelt among us." (John 1:1; 1:3; 1:14.)

It is important to note that the Bible does not use these descriptive words. Regardless, throughout the Scriptures we see three persons of the Godhead mentioned. Many times working together and other times individually. It is in the individual mention we see the overall work and role of each person of the Godhead.

One of the "mysteries" of God, as the apostle Paul often refers to them, is that while we have three separate and distinct personalities--the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--they are one in nature and one in agreement. (1John 5:5-14.) In fact, they are so closely related; many times, it is hard to distinguish where one ends and the other begins. Nevertheless, there are very definite distinctions, which we will discuss in individual studies. In summary, we can put it like this: The Father initiates, the Son mediates, and the Holy Spirit seals the deal.

In this study, we will focus on God the Father and his role, while noting the close relationship and sometimes over-lapping roles with the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The Father as Initiator

God the father is the first to speak and set his incredibly amazing plan in motion. His motivation was his desire for relationships.

Following are passages where we see the Father initiate creation, conversation, and salvation. (Space prohibits the quoting of the complete text. For clarity and flow of context, read at least eight verses preceding, and eight verses following the text quoted throughout this study.)

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earthand the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the watersThen God said let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness" Genesis 1:1; 1:2b

In this passage of Scripture, the Hebrew word for God is Elohim. This word is plural-not meaning more than one God, but rather, God has more than one member. As we see in the above passage, while the Father spoke to His Son, the Holy Spirit was present.

"So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush" Exodus 3:4

"Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him, He has put Him to grief" Isaiah 53:10

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him, should not perish but have everlasting life." John 3:16

"No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws Him" John 6:44

These few passages confirm the role the Father plays as initiator. We see that He called to Moses to deliver his people; Israel. Then we see he made a way for salvation and a relationship to be possible by providing a mediator--and finally, we see that humanity is not the first to call to God; God is the first to call to man.

The Father as the giver of authority, faith, and grace

We are told in 1John 4:12 that no man has seen, nor is able to see the face of God. God the Father is holy and there can be no corruption in His presence. Not even humanity. As a result, He made access available through the Son. The following passages of Scripture will show us how the Father has given all authority to His Son and that He gave humanity a measure of faith so that they may respond to the call of God, by receiving the Jesus as the mediator between themselves and the Father.

"Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do...The Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will For as the Father has life in Himself, so He granted the Son to have life in Himself and have given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man" John 5:19-27

"For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith." Romans 12:3

"Let it be known to you all, and to all people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole" Acts 4:10

In these passages of Scripture, we can see distinctions in the roles of two of the members of the Godhead. We will discuss the third member, the Holy Spirit, in a future study.

This by no means is an exhaustive study on the role of the Father; still, I am hopeful it gives cause for further individual study by use of a concordance searching for the phrase "The Father."

Thank you for joining me today. Until next time, keep growing in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(C) Teresa Ortiz -  In Season Ministries, all rights reserved.

Related studies: The Essential Doctrines of Christianity; The Triune Godhead in Action.

» left by Rose from Pismo Beach Ca. (2 years 119 days ago.)

this is a good study as I have been visiting with the apostolic faith and was shocked to hear that they do Not believe in the trinity. only I wish you would have went on to talk about the Holy Spirit. you are welcome to email me and send me all of what you have on the trinity, thank you and God Bless you for this.     Rose Ortiz

» left by Teresa Ortiz (2 years 118 days ago.)

Hello Rose,

Thank you for reading. I am glad this is helpful to you. I do have a lesson on this site for Jesus, the second person of the godhead and another for the Holy Spirit, the third person of the God head. You can find it by clicking on my name at the start of this article.  Did you register here on WWbible studies? It is the only way I can find your email address. I will go look for it. 

I am not familiar with the Apostolic faith. I will have to do some research on it.  Thank you again. God bless you. I hope you get  a chance to read the other parts in this series.

 

» left by Uriel Facey from U.K. (2 years 58 days ago.)

But John 14 clearly state that the father,Son and Holy Ghost are one; Jesus clears this up with his doubting disciples: "i and the father are One, you see me, you see the Father. i and my father will make our abode in you, this you will understand when you receive the Holy Ghost; the comforter. in Isaiah thus saith the Lord, I am the Lord that is my Name, there is none other God beside me, i will not give my praises to graven images, nor my glory to another. James also said," thou believest that there is one God, thou doest well. the Devils believe also and they tremble. Job says "he will rebuke you if you accepts persons. Deut Says "hear o Israel, the Lord is one Lord. 1 Timothy 3:16 says " and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness; God was manifested in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, Seen of angels, preached unto the gentiles believed on in the world, received up into glory. Dear beloved i know it is a great mystery, and difficult for some to understand, but the Lord our God is One. he reveals his attributes in Names and all his fullness comes togeother in the Lord Jesus Christ, Col 2:9. God bless you. amen. from Uriel Facey.

» left by Anonymous (2 years 58 days ago.)

Hello Eriel,  I agree completely,

I am not saying there is more than one God, I am saying it is One God - three "person"s - as in personalities, just as you said and I say in this and the other pieces, each - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit play a different role. I am sorry if this is confusing.  The Timothy passage is a great one! So is 1 John chapter 5 vss 5-7 that state the three agree as one and are one.

Thank you for reading and adding your input - it is great!

Many blessings to you!

» left by Pauline from Maine (2 years 10 days ago.)

Thank you so much. We had 'Christians' knocking on our door inviting us to their church...had all the 'right' answers for us - didn't even think of asking about their docttrine concerning the Trinity...thought is was a given for every born-again believer. They were from the First United Pentecostal Church. Sounds good. After we did some research (never made a committment; never even let them in the house...just never know if someone's preaching another gospel)...found out they were a "Jesus Only" cult; didn't believe in the Trinity--that there was one God (Amen!) but three "offices," not three Persons. Found this out when their pastor came to our door a week later. When I shared some scriptures with him, he basically suggested we write our 'questions' down and he'd be glad to come and talk to us. Politely dismissed him (don't want to argue doctrine...we're following a Person: Father, Son and Holy Spirit - not a doctrine. Thanks again--will be better prepared if there's a next time; will also be listening to the Holy Spirit. Amazing, when I went to look up "scriptures that confirm the Trinity" I found a site that actually said "the Trinity is blasphemous and from the depths of Satan..." I didn't even want to know how they arrived at that, but then came to your site and was refreshed!

» left by Teresa^(1,658) (2 years 10 days ago.)

Hi Pauline,

Thank you for sharing! I am glad this helped you feel better prepared for next time around. Doctrine is very important, and you are right. It would seem as if all who claim to be Christians would have the same essential doctrines, but the problem is many people do not understand what it means to be a Christian. So these false teachers and cults will use the name Christian to lewer others in.

The oneness doctrine is spreading like wildfire. So far, I have not met anyone who will actually explain it and when you bring up other passages, especially John 16 when Jesus is praying to his Father, they just wiggle out of that one.

A lot of cults will say, "Do you know the word trinity is not even in the Bible"? As if that is the case for why it is invalid.  Keep studying and growing. Stick to the word and seek the power of the Holy Spirit to lead you as you read your Bible. 

I also have a short study on the second person, and the third person of the God head. You can find them on my listing of articles or google them.

Come back and visit again! Keep sharing. We need to grow together. Lord bless you! Teresa

 

» left by Anna Johnson from Elmira Or (1 year 235 days ago.)

hi Teresa, you might not remember me, but I was your new neighbor in Elmira on Warthen Rd. just before you guys moved, I'm Anna Johnson and I'm at school right now working on a report about christian beliefs and I believe that it wasn't just a coincidence that I ran into your sight. I've been having trouble at school because some of the kids already gave a presentation on the same subject and it just wasn't true. So me and my BFF asked our teacher if we could come up with a rebutle. I was looking around on the internet and amazingly your site was the first one to come up on my google search. May God bless you and thank you a ton for all that you've done. you saved my backside just with this site.

» left by Teresa^(1,658) (1 year 234 days ago.)

Hi Anna! What a surprise!! I most certainly do remember you :-)   You may not remember but I had you in a few of my Wed club classes.  What grade are you in now?

I am so blessed to hear that this study was a big help to you, but even more blessed to know that you and your BFF are making a stand for the truth. Come back and visit us again! And please keep in touch and let me know how your rebutle goes.

Say hi to your mom and dad for me.   Big hugs, Teresa

 

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