Our Father

These are the words by which the prayer is often known, Pater Noster, Vater Unser, Padre Nuestro, in Latin, German, and Spanish respectively. In spite of this, the power and promise contained in these two words is often overlooked. The Heidelberg Catechism provides a short, general explanation of the phrase:

Question 120. Why has Christ commanded us to address God thus: "Our Father"?
Answer: That immediately, in the very beginning of our prayer, he might excite in us a childlike reverence for, and confidence in God, which are the foundation of our prayer: namely, that God is become our Father in Christ, and will much less deny us what we ask of him in true faith, than our parents will refuse us earthly things.

The Fatherhood of God is at the heart of the Gospel, which is, as J. I. Packer put it, a plan of "adoption through propitiation" (Knowing God 214). This phrase is packed with meaning, but the clearest understanding of it comes from a series of Scriptures that it brings to mind:

(1 John 3:1 NASB) - See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him. 
 (1 John 4:10 NASB) - In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
(Ephesians 1:5-8a NASB) - He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace which He lavished on us.

These verses show that it was God's plan from eternity to adopt us His children, because of His immeasurable love for us. Even more, His plan always centered on the Cross. It pleased God to pour His wrath upon His begotten Son, Christ, in order to bring us, His adopted children, to Himself. 
What must we do to take part in this adoption? In the midst of his prologue, in which the deity of Christ and the mystery of the Incarnation are revealed, John records an answer: "But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name" - (John 1:12 NASB). In this, I have found something that is, for me, the greatest of all Christian truths. Not only are we justified by our faith in Christ, but we are also adopted by means of that same faith, and that faith alone. That is to say that there are two legal actions accomplished at the moment of belief. Firstly, we are acquitted, cleared of all charges related to our sin; this is justification. Secondly, we are adopted by the Father, legally brought into His family. God the Father, having signed, as it were, the adoption papers in the Covenant of Redemption. It seems plain to me, that without the Cross, adoption would be a violation of God's justice. In the Cross, then, all that is necessary for the adoption of believers has taken place. 
The benefits of adoption are numerous, but best described by Christ in His Sermon on the Mount:

(Matthew 7:7-11 NASB) - "Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, when his son asks for a loaf, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, he will not give him a snake, will he? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give what is good to those who ask Him!"

With this, Christ answers the foremost modern objection to the teaching of adoption. This objection does not concern the truth of adoption, but rather the nature of fatherhood on Earth. "Because my father was imperfect, why should I trust God to be perfect?" Jesus here does not say that earthly fathers are imperfect, but that they are evil. These fathers whom Jesus is addressing appear to be good fathers, if not the best! Even so, they are still evil, by virtue of the depravity. If even the best are evil, then what can be said for the worst? God is, by this, better than the best, by virtue of Who He Is.
The rest of this series, then, can be fairly said to be an exposition on adoption, as every characteristic meditated on will add another quality to the Father, and one more reason to marvel at our adoption.

I'm not one for introductions

The first thing I am going to post on this blog is a series of meditations on the Lord's Prayer. These meditations will do again what has already been done in the Heidelberg Catechism, that is, examine each phrase as a statement of doctrine. I seek to be more detailed, and more personal than the catechism, but I will not, I am sure, be as correct in my statements as the catechism is. These meditations are not intended to evangelize, and most certainly are written to convert anyone. These meditations are, as the rest of this blog will also be, the musings of a young Christian exploring the depths of the mystery that is the Gospel of Christ.

It may be objected, in this series of meditations, that I do not refer to prayer enough. To that I say only this: my intention is not to look at prayer, with this prayer as the model; instead, my intention is to see this prayer as a revelation of God's character. In this, I will take Christ's command to "pray in this manner" to mean, "when you pray, keep these characteristics of God in mind." In bringing these things to my mind now on this blog, I hope to remember them, and keep them in my heart. I urge any who might read this to do the same. More to come tomorrow, or rather later today, with the first meditation.