God’s Image Study — Inside the Mind — Where the Word Leads
In our last post, we considered the difference between believing we need nothing and recognizing our need for God.
That raises another question: How do we come to know the Father and the Son?
Jesus speaks directly about this relationship. His words identify who sends, who draws, who receives, and who reveals. Each detail deserves our attention.
In John 6:44, Jesus says that coming to him depends upon the Father who sent him drawing the person. Then he explains:
“Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me.”
— John 6:45, LSB
The Father’s activity is essential to this passage. He sends the Son, draws people to him, and teaches. Hearing and learning from the Father lead toward Jesus. Jesus also identifies his own work: raising the person on the last day. See John 6:44–46.
Coming to the Son does not make the Father’s role disappear. It follows the Father’s activity.
Now place Matthew 11:27 beside this.
Jesus begins by identifying the Father as the one who has entrusted all things to him. He then describes the Father’s knowledge of the Son and the Son’s knowledge of the Father. The passage concludes:
“and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.”
— Matthew 11:27, LSB
The Son reveals the Father. His role is indispensable, and the passage expressly includes his will in that revelation.
Together, these passages give us a relationship to follow: the Father draws people to the Son, and the Son makes the Father known. They describe connected actions with distinct participants. We should preserve both.
This also helps us understand why putting the Father first must include honoring the Son.
In John 5:22–23, the Father entrusts judgment to the Son with the stated purpose that everyone honor the Son even as they honor the Father. Jesus adds that withholding honor from the Son dishonors the Father who sent him. See John 5:22–24.
We cannot claim faithfulness to the Father while refusing the honor he requires for his Son.
At the same time, receiving authority and honor does not erase the relationship between the one who gives and the one who receives. Paul takes care to preserve that distinction when describing the outcome of Christ’s reign.
In 1 Corinthians 15:24–28, Christ hands the kingdom to the God and Father. Paul explains that the one who subjected everything to the Son is himself excepted from that subjection. Then, when everything has been subjected to the Son, the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him.
The stated outcome is that God may be all in all. See 1 Corinthians 15:24–28.
Notice the progression. The Son reigns, enemies are overcome, death is abolished, and the kingdom is handed to the Father. The authority entrusted to the Son accomplishes its purpose while the Father’s position remains distinct.
This is central to the conclusion being developed in this first-commandment study: keep the Father above all, including the Son, while giving the Son the honor the Father commands.
The Son leads us into knowledge of the Father. His work gives us reason to attend closely to the Father who sent him.
For our own examination, we can ask:
Am I acknowledging the Father’s activity in drawing and teaching?
Am I listening to Jesus as the one who reveals the Father?
Does my understanding preserve both the Son’s authority and the Father who entrusted it to him?
Am I willing to let these stated relationships correct the way I speak about them?
As we consider putting no other god before YHWH (יהוה), these questions help us keep our attention on the relationship Scripture actually describes.
Threads to Follow
Hearing and learning from the Father.
The Son’s revelation of the Father.
Honoring the Son in obedience to the Father.
Entrusted authority and the Father’s explicit exception.
The kingdom’s outcome: God all in all.
The books were opened…
🌿 By Maria Emilia
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