The God And Father Of The Lord Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 1:3)

by Jim Seddon, Liverpool, England | Category: General | Jul 1993

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ

It is often said that the phrase "the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ" is the highest form of addressing God. It is used five titnes in the New Testament and reveals on the one hand, the relationship between the Father and the Son, and on the other, the grace of the Lord Jesus in identifying Himself with us. The order of this title is (a) God, and (1)) Father.

God ever was and is eternally the Father of the Lord Jesus, but only through His incarnation as the Son of Man, did the Father become His God. The title Father is related to His eternal Sonship. The title God is related to His Manhood.

The phrase "Son of Man" is used about eighty five times in the New Testament, and the Lord loved this tide, which reveals His kinsman relationship with us. In the night in which the Lord Jesus was betrayed He took bread and said, "This is My body, which is for you... also the cup, after supper, saying, This cup is the New Covenant in My blood" (1 Cor. 11:

23-25); body and blood; thus we have expressed the humanity of the Lord Jesus ChrisL It is marvellous grace indeed that He should choose, in this title "God and Father", to express His humanity before His eternal Sonship,

revealing how precious His humanity istoHim.

Solomon, speaking figuratively of the Lord Jesus, wrote "When He marked out the foundations of the earth: then I was by Him as a master Workman: and I was daily His delight

rejoicing in His habitable earth; and My delight was with the sons of men"' (Prov. 8:29-31). He became one with us in the fullest extent, sin apart, that we might become one with Him.

This oneness with Him is revealed in the words of the resurrected Christ which He spoke to Mary. In doing so, He reversed the order and applied it to us, to reveal the relationship His death has brought us into with Himself and His Father. "I am not yet ascended unto the Father: but go unto My brethren, and say to them, I ascend unto My Father and your Father, and My God and your God" (John 20:17).

Hebrews 2:11, also reveals this same oneness in relationship with us, "For both He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified are all of One (God): for which cause He (Christ) is not ashamed to call them brethren".

Well may we with Peter raise a note of praise and say, "Blessed be the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Peter 1:3).

Jim Seddon, Liverpool, England | Jul 1993
General