God the Father Almighty
Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberg Catechism Question 26. What do you believe when you say: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth”? That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and earth with all that is in them, who also upholds and governs them by his eternal counsel and providence, is for the sake of Christ his Son my God and my Father. I trust in him so completely that I have no doubt that he will provide me with all things necessary for body and soul. Moreover, whatever evil he sends upon me in this troubled life he will turn to my good, for he is able to do it, being almighty God, and is determined to do it, being a faithful Father.
Study Catechism
Study Catechism Question 7. What do you believe when you confess your faith in “God the Father Almighty”? That God is a God of love, and that God's love is powerful beyond measure.
- Lam. 3:22 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end.”
- Song 8:7 “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If one offered for love all the wealth of one’s house, it would be utterly scorned.”
- 1 John 4:8 “Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
Study Catechism Question 8. How do you understand the love and power of God? Through Jesus Christ. In his life of compassion, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead, I see how vast is God's love for the world — a love that is ready to suffer for our sakes, yet so strong that nothing will prevail against it.
- John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”
- Heb. 1:3 “He is the reflection of God's glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being.”
- 1 John 4:9 “God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.”
- Matt. 9:36 “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”
- Ps. 106:8 “Yet he saved them for his name's sake, so that he might make known his mighty power.”
Study Catechism Question 9. What comfort do you receive from this truth? This powerful and loving God is the one whose promises I may trust in all the circumstances of my life, and to whom I belong in life and in death.
- Ps. 12:6 “The promises of the Lord are promises that are pure, silver refined in a furnace on the ground, purified seven times.”
- Rom. 8:38-39 “For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Study Catechism Question 10. Do you make this confession only as an individual? No. With the apostles, prophets and martyrs, with all those through the ages who have loved the Lord Jesus Christ, and with all who strive to serve him on earth here and now, I confess my faith in the God of loving power and powerful love.
- Heb. 12:1 “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.”
- Rom. 1:12 “So that we may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith, both yours and mine.”
Study Catechism Question 11. When the creed speaks of “God the Father,” does it mean that God is male? No. Only creatures having bodies can be either male or female. But God has no body, since by nature God is Spirit. Holy Scripture reveals God as a living God beyond all sexual distinctions. Scripture uses diverse images for God, female as well as male. We read, for example, that God will no more forget us than a woman can forget her nursing child (Is. 49:15). “‘As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you,’ says the Lord” (Is. 66:13).
- Is. 49:15 “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”
- Is. 66:13 “As a mother comforts her child, so I will comfort you; you shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
- Matt. 23:37 “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
Study Catechism Question 12. Why then does the creed speak of God the Father? First, because God is identified in the New Testament as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Second, because Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of this Father. Third, because when we are joined to Christ through faith, we are adopted as sons and daughters into the relationship he enjoys with his Father.
- Rom. 1:7 “To all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
- John 14:9-10 “Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works.’”
- John 17:24 “Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
- John 1:12 “To all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God.”
- Gal. 4:6 “Because you are children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’”
Study Catechism Question 13. When you confess the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, are you elevating men over women and endorsing male domination? No. Human power and authority are trustworthy only as they reflect God’s mercy and kindness, not abusive patterns of domination. As Jesus taught his disciples, “The greatest among you will be your servant” (Matt. 23:11). God the Father sets the standard by which all misuses of power are exposed and condemned. “Call no one your father on earth,” said Jesus, “for you have one Father — the one in heaven” (Matt. 23:9). In fact God calls women and men to all ministries of the church.
- Gal. 3:28 “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”
- Eph. 5:21 “Be subject to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
Study Catechism Question 14. If God's love is powerful beyond measure, why is there so much evil in the world? No one can say why, for evil is a terrible abyss beyond all rational explanation. Its ultimate origin is obscure. Its enormity perplexes us. Nevertheless, we boldly affirm that God’s triumph over evil is certain. In Jesus Christ God suffers with us, knowing all our sorrows. In raising him from the dead, God gives new hope to the world. Our Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, is himself God’s promise that suffering will come to an end, that death shall be no more, and that all things will be made new.
- Ps. 23:4 “Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me; your rod and your staff—they comfort me.”
- 1 Pet. 1:3 “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By his great mercy he has given us a new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.”
- 2 Pet. 3:13 “But, in accordance with his promise, we wait for new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home.”
- Rom. 8:21 “The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
- Job 19:25 “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and that at the last he will stand upon the earth.”
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