The person of the Father in the Trinity is the Father of the Son (who is Jesus Christ).
Through the Father, everything in the universe was made, everything from the physical, material world and beyond.
We also believe that God is present in the universe as well as beyond it, which we often call heaven. When Christians speak of God as Father, it is a way of expressing relationship, care, and love – not a statement about gender.
The Bible uses this language to show that God is personal and loving, like a parent who nurtures and protects. In Methodist teaching, we use this term because it is part of the historic creeds (Christian statements of belief) and the Bible, but we also affirm that God is beyond human categories of gender.
You can read more about God in the Father in the Bible:
- Genesis 1, 2 When God began to create the heavens and the earth, the earth was complete chaos, and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good, and God separated the light from the darkness. God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, the first day.
Read full text - John 1:1-10 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.
Read full text - Colossians 1:14-17 in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation, for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers—all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
- Colossians 2:12-15 when you were buried with him in baptism, you were also raised with him through faith in the power of God, who raised him from the dead. And when you were dead in trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive together with him, when he forgave us all our trespasses, erasing the record that stood against us with its legal demands. He set this aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in it.
- Psalm 73 Truly God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled;
my steps had nearly slipped.
For I was envious of the arrogant;
I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
Read full text - 1 Corinthians 15:24-28 Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, after he has destroyed every ruler and every authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be destroyed is death. For “God has put all things in subjection under his feet.” But when it says, “All things are put in subjection,” it is plain that this does not include the one who put all things in subjection under him. When all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will also be subjected to the one who put all things in subjection under him, so that God may be all in all.
