Page 70 - Orthodoxy Zizioulas

O r t h o d o x y
God the Father and the Origin of Being
If we take as our starting point the study of the ancient creeds,
we immediately observe that all of them begin with a refer-
ence to the Fatherhood of God. This origin is clearly baptis-
mal, going back to the command of Christ in Matthew 28:19.
This fact is significant in itself: the idea of God as Father did
not arise from speculative reflection about God, but from
ecclesial experience. Only within, and through incorporation
into, the life of the Church can God be recognized as Father.
This is precisely what the baptismal origin of divine Father-
hood implies.
In the early creeds, the idea of God as Father appears close-
ly connected with cosmology. “I believe in God the Father
almighty,” declares the old Roman creed of the second cen-
tury. At this point, however, an important exegetical question
arises: to which word does “Father” properly belong? Should
we read the clause as “I believe in God who is Father almighty,”
or as “I believe in God the Father, who is almighty”?
This question is not merely grammatical; it carries deep
theological significance. Many earlier exegetes (such as Kat-
tenbusch) argued that “Father” should be attached to “al-
mighty.” Yet, as J. N. D. Kelly rightly points out, there is no real
basis for such an interpretation, since no such honorific ex-
pression for God exists in either the Old Testament (in the
Septuagint) or the New Testament.
On the contrary, the expression “God the Father” appears
frequently in the New Testament. The Apostle Paul repeat-
edly uses phrases such as “Grace and peace from God the
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