Spiritual Fatherhood Balance :
This has been a subject of controversy here are my musings on it rightly dividing the word of truth.
1 Corinthians 4:14 -15 (NKJV paraphrased)
I write to you as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
Note the following - Paul didn’t say he was their father but he called them children. This means he was a different kind of ‘father’ to them. He identified the kind he was next - “for in Jesus Christ I have begotten you”.
The Greek word translated ‘begotten’ - γεννάω gennaō; to regenerate: — bear, beget, be born, bring forth, conceive, be delivered of.
The type of FATHER he was and referred to in these verses is: been used as an instrument to save a soul - to bring people to Christ.
This kind of fatherhood can also be extended to those you nourish in the word and oversee their spiritual growth and development. That’s why he said to his children in Galatia:
My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you. - Galatians 4:19
This type of fatherhood should not be confused with the one Jesus warned us about in:
And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven. - Matthew 23:9
The word father in Hebrew is (πατήρ) patēr;
No man should be called this but you can have a FATHER that is your GENNAO that won you to Christ and raised you in the word.
God is the Pater of all things not man. Pater means ORIGINATOR , BEGINNER, FOUNDER…
Jesus warns us clearly not to call any man on earth Pater in Matthew 23:9.
Men can be a Gennao which means TO BRING FORTH, TO CONCEIVE, TO BEGAT, TO GIVE BIRTH…
When you preach to someone, and the person gets born again (‘gennaoed again’) you have ‘gennaoed’ not ‘patered’. You gave birth spiritually.
When you give birth naturally you have gennaoed. (that is where the word genealogy was derived from - Matthew 1)
That child existed before physical birth. God created that person first (the spirit) So God is the originator of that person, the Pater.
- GOD IS THE EVERYONE’S PATER.
- YOUR PARENTS ARE NATURAL GENNAO THE ONE THAT PREACHED AND NURTURED YOU IN CHRIST IS YOUR SPIRITUAL GENNAO NOT PATER.
The case of Jesus is a perfect example: And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. - Matthew 1:16
The word begat is gennao, men gennao men. Joseph didn’t gennao Jesus, the Holy Spirit action on Mary did (Matthew 1:18). But God the father is His Pater:
Jesus said unto them, for I proceeded forth and came from God. - Matthew 1:16
(Please read the previous editions on the 23rd and 24th of July for a backstory on this series).
I just want to buttress the difference between pater and gennao again before I continue. The action of the Holy Ghost on Mary brought forth Jesus here on earth, but He existed long before 3 BC.
Jesus said unto them, for I proceeded forth and came from God. - John 8:42
The verse above clearly shows how Jesus was ‘patered’ and the verse below shows how Jesus was ‘gennaoed’.
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. - Luke 1:35
This understanding of God as source of all things (pater) and men used as a vessel to bring others into the kingdom (gennao) has been suppressed in religious settings; Men want to be the pater themselves.
When God puts a little bit of His purpose here on earth in the heart of a man or woman, who goes ahead to structure an organisation around that purpose, who is the originator of that purpose or vision?
Is it God or the Man?
In medieval ages, the mail delivery system comprise humans & sometimes animals or birds. Imagine a scenario where a messenger arrives with a note from a King to his army general in the battle field. And the messenger says he is the author of the letter.
Just take a moment and think about it.
Like my little son will say, ‘Dad it doesn’t make sense!’
And truly, it doesn’t make sense. The messenger might lose his head for that.
That purpose and vision you say is yours is actually God’s. You are employed by Him as a vessel to be used here on earth to bring God’s plan and purposes to pass. It is fine to own it but we shouldn’t forget the originator. Jesus taught his disciples to pray thus: ‘…thine Kingdom come, thy will be done on earth’.
So we should be careful not to play God or replace God in the heart of those He sent to us to pastor. In other words, don’t pater when you are supposed to gennao. God is the Source of the Vision, God is your Source.
As ministers, we are messengers. Jesus, the head of the Church, called the heads of the seven churches, Angels:
Revelation 2:1 - Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; the word angel ἄγγελος aggelos; means a messenger; a pastor: remember our ‘messenger’ from the last episode? That is who you as a Pastor, Bishop, Primate or whatever name you go by in your denomination. You are the Sent One; A Messenger!
God is still the Owner of the message, we are just couriers.
God still owns the people we pastor, we are just His messengers to them: Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me. - Isaiah 6:8
There was a call in heaven, the call was as a result of the purpose of God on earth. The person that answered said, SEND ME! The sent one is a MESSENGER.
The awareness of our true identity should never be lost throughout our ministry days. If you start a ministry or denomination, it doesn’t change the fact that we are messengers.
Peter never exalted himself to any position or demand to be called Pope. The disciples never called him their Father, or did they teach the people to call him father.
I like the movement where they call themselves brothers, though amongst them is a man others look up to for direction who occupies the gennao position. But they never call him ‘father’, they do this in totally submission and obedience to Jesus’ instructions which I believe supersedes any other.
because of the ulterior motives of the leaders, founders of these organisations. Probably for ignorant and selfish reasons, in my own opinion, some have skewed this revelation to favour themselves; more so, to aid their personal agenda.
As religious leaders, we should be careful not to fall into these trappings. I have purposefully set people around me, my wife for one, to call me to order if I stray on some certain issues I have seen ruin leaders. Because you can have this understanding and yet get beaten by self and its whims.
I understand that the world is littered with fathers who because of what they went though in life especially in the hands of their natural fathers, cannot be any better as a father. So their experience has distorted their ability to be better fathers with no good example to learn from. By God’s grace, one of the favoured few that has a GREAT father. Looking back on hindsight, I can attest that Rev. Azuka Obi is one of the greatest men to walk planet earth. He formed my perception of whom a father should be even before I learnt from the scriptures and who a husband should be to his wife. He modelled this with integrity, modesty and uncanny love.
Sadly, some spiritual fathers carry their emotional wound unto ministry and relationship with their sons. And they go ahead and wound a lot of people because of the wound they bear themselves. They are blind to this hidden part of who they are. A real and true father would rather lose than have their sons suffer loss. They would love their sons to the detriment of their well being. They will never curse or wish them evil. It still shocks me to know that Jesus knew very well who Judas was and will be and yet loved him they way he did. He entrusted him with the finances! I know what you will say: “am not Jesus, I didn’t come to die on the cross”. As correct as you are, we need to balance every thing with wisdom.
My point is that we should walk in love, and that what’s Jesus did. He walked in love until death, forgiving everyone and not holding anyone’s sins against him. A spiritual father should pour out himself onto his sons, teach, train, coach them to success.
💗
See you at the next one!
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