Our Father, who art in heaven
Heidelberg Catechism
Heidelberg Catechism Question 120. Why has Christ commanded us to address God: “Our Father”? That at the very beginning of our prayer he may awaken in us the childlike reverence and trust toward God which should be the motivation of our prayer, which is that God has become our Father through Christ and will much less deny us what we ask him in faith than our human fathers will refuse us earthly things.
Heidelberg Catechism Question 121. Why is there added: “who art in heaven”? That we may have no earthly conception of the heavenly majesty of God, but that we may expect from his almighty power all things that are needed for body and soul.
Westminster Shorter Catechism
Shorter Catechism Question 100. What doth the preface of the Lord’s Prayer teach us? The preface of the Lord’s Prayer, which is, “Our Father which art in heaven,” teacheth us to draw near to God with all holy reverence and confidence, as children to a father, able and ready to help us; and that we should pray with and for others.
- Isa. 64:9 “Do not be exceedingly angry, O LORD, and do not remember iniquity forever. Now consider, we are all your people.”
- Luke 11:13 “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
- Rom. 8:15 “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’”
- Eph. 6:18 “Pray in the Spirit at all times in every prayer and supplication. To that end keep alert and always persevere in supplication for all the saints.”
- Acts 12:5 “While Peter was kept in prison, the church prayed fervently to God for him.”
- Zech. 8:21 “the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, ‘Come, let us go to entreat the favor of the LORD, and to seek the LORD of hosts; I myself am going.’”
Study Catechism
Study Catechism Question 126. What is meant by addressing God as “Our Father in heaven”? By addressing God as “our Father,” we draw near with childlike reverence, and place ourselves securely in God’s hands. Although God is certainly everywhere, God is said to exist and dwell “in heaven.” For while God is free to enter into the closest relationship with the creature, God does not belong to the order of created beings. “Heaven” is the seat of divine authority, the place from which God reigns in glory and brings salvation to earth. Our opening address expresses our confidence that we rest securely in God's intimate care, and that nothing on earth lies beyond the reach of God’s grace.
- Rom. 8:15 “For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!’”
- Jer. 23:23-24 “Am I a God near by, says the Lord, and not a God far off? Who can hide in secret places so that I cannot see them? says the Lord. Do I not fill heaven and earth? says the Lord.”
- Acts 17:24-25 “The God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by human hands.”
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