Most religious activity is based upon the assumption that one can know God at all. This is something we perhaps take for granted, but it is not at all a small matter. If God is knowable by his creation, it is only because He has revealed Himself to us, and at great cost. Knowing God, if it is possible, is sheer gift and grace.
It is one thing to know of God, but quite another thing to be on familiar terms with God. To call God “Father” is a surprisingly intimate term, and one that is actually not all that frequently used in the Hebrew Scriptures. They were far more likely to use (or avoid using) the term Yahweh. By the time of Jesus that name was probably not used out of reverence and fear, being replaced by Adonai (“The Lord”) or Ha Shem (“The Name”). These were probably the names Jesus used when he prayed the Shema and other Hebrew prayers.
It is important to understand that this is the God to Whom Jesus prayed, the God of the Hebrew Scriptures (which we call the Old Testament) and of the Hebrew people. There was no other God but Yahweh for Jesus. And while we do see both the Spirit and the Son referenced or foreshadowed in descriptions of the divine in the OT, there is an overriding emphasis on the unity of Yahweh as One. There is no division or multiplication of gods in the OT. And there is not yet a fuller revelation of Yahweh as Trinity such as we see in the NT. This does not mean that Yahweh becomes Trinity in the New Testament, but that Yahweh was more fully understood in that light with the coming of Jesus and the Spirit. So we have to take the description of Yahweh in the OT on its own terms.
At the same time we have to be careful not to imagine a break between the God of the Old and New Testaments. The revelation of Yahweh to his people Israel is the revelation that Jesus speaks about and carries on. Jesus does not reveal a new God but fulfils the revelation of the God of Abraham, Isaac, Rachel, Joseph, Ruth, Esther, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Elijah, Micah, Amos, etc...This is the God who alone is Creator (Jer 10:11-12), King (Deut 10:14-17), Judge (Ps 33:13-15) and Saviour (Ps 68:19).
Part of the fulfilment of this revelation was the way in which Jesus called God “Abba” or Father. This was, of course, not unknown in Israel. The term Father was used for God in the OT, and God is often described in fatherly terms. But Jesus’ emphasis on this relationship was unique and striking, and has led to the Christ-follower tradition of referring to God as “Our Father.” We must not presume to have the same relationship with the Father as Jesus does, as we are not the only begotten Son of God. But because of Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf, the gift of his righteousness, and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit on us and in us, we have been adopted as children of God. So we can know God as Abba Father, both through Scripture and through experience and prayer.
It then behooves us to understand in what way we might use the name “Father”, and the Hebrew Scriptures are essential guides in this discovery. What we must not do is simply think about what we know of fatherhood and then assume that God must be like that, only bigger. That is the wrong way around. We should instead see how God reveals himself through Scripture and then see what that makes of fatherhood. For one thing, Scripture does not only use the metaphor of Father, but also describes God as Parent, and even as Mother (see Deut 32:18; Ps 27:10; Isa 42:14; Isa 49:15). “Fatherhood” is a very important concept, but it should not be used as a club to reinforce harmful patriarchies or painful associations people in our world may have of the word “Father”.
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