You Tube Theology

A theologian who has profoundly affected me and yet who is way too little known is Athanasius, the fourth century church father. And the reason is particularly, his theology is in many ways built around one transforming sentence, which is this. He said, "It is more pious and more accurate to know God as Father through the Son than to know Him as Creator only." What he's getting at there is that in our knowledge of God, it's easy to say, "Okay, so there is a great creation out there. Who is God? God's the Creator." Athanasius would say, "Yes, that's true, but before he was Creator, who was he? Who is God essentially?" And you know who God most essentially, most deeply is in the deepest recesses of eternity by His self revelation in the Son. And through the Son, you see a God you never dreamed of, but the Creator is one who sends His Son. And so in the Son we see God is a Father. You never guessed that. And that changes the shape of the Gospel. Through Jesus, we see God is eternally a loving Father. Therefore, He's not merely a Creator who's been rebelled against, He's been a Father rejected and who calls us to Himself not merely to be acceptable citizens but to be as beloved, embraced children there to call Him our Father. What Athanasius did there was call us many years ago to a fresh love of the beauty of a Fatherly loving God. Before God is ever ruler or Creator, in eternity His deepest identity is Father. And that changes and sweetens the Gospel.