Question
Why Do Christians Call God Father?
Christians call God Father because Jesus taught them to, and because Scripture reveals God as Father in two ways: He is the eternal Father of the Son, and He is the Father of all who come to Him through Jesus. Father does not mean biological fatherhood. It means a real, personal relationship.
Author | Shafraz Jeal
Updated,
25 Apr 2026
Intro
Two things Father does not mean
Before anything else, Christians are clear about what they do not mean.
Father does not mean God has a wife.
Father does not mean God produced a child physically.
Father does not mean God is male in human terms.
Father does not mean the Son is younger or less divine than the Father.
If those were the claims, Christians would reject them. The Bible rejects them too.
What Father does mean
It means an eternal, relational truth about who God is — and an invitation into that relationship for those who trust Jesus.
The word Father, when Christians use it about God, is never about biology. It is about relationship. The Bible uses Father language for two distinct but connected truths.
First, the eternal relationship. Before creation existed, before time began, the Father loved the Son and the Son was with the Father. John 17:24 shows Jesus speaking of the Father’s love for Him “before the foundation of the world.” This is not a family in the human sense. It is the eternal, inner life of the one God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in perfect relationship. The Son is not created. The Son is not younger. The Son is eternally from the Father and shares the Father’s divine nature.
Second, the covenant relationship. God is also called Father of His people. In the Old Testament, Israel is called His son (Exodus 4:22). In the New Testament, this becomes much more personal and direct. Jesus teaches His disciples to pray, “Our Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). Those who trust in Jesus are called children of God, adopted into His family (John 1:12, Romans 8:15). This is not biology — it is adoption. It is chosen, loving, covenantal fatherhood.
This is why Christians do not consider it disrespectful to call God Father. They are not dragging God down. They are using the exact language Jesus used and taught. In the Gospels, Jesus calls God Father over 170 times. That alone should settle whether it is a Christian invention.
Father also captures something important about God’s character. A good father is not distant. He provides, protects, corrects, and loves. That is how God relates to those who belong to Him through Christ. Matthew 7:11 says if sinful human fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, how much more will the heavenly Father give good things to those who ask Him.
It is worth saying what this does not take away from God’s greatness. Calling God Father does not make Him less majestic, less holy, or less sovereign. In fact, the Lord’s Prayer starts with “Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.” Father and holy are held together in the same breath.
So when Christians call God Father, they are not replacing His majesty with familiarity. They are saying that the one true God, who is holy and high, is also personally committed to His people like the best kind of Father — and that this relationship is possible through Jesus.
For Muslims, calling God Father can sound disrespectful, or worse — it can sound like a claim that God has a child in a physical sense. Both are serious concerns. Christians need to answer them directly, not dodge them.
Why Muslims Ask This
Christians call God Father because the Bible does. It describes God’s eternal relationship with the Son and His loving, covenantal relationship with His people — never a biological fatherhood.
Christian View
Islam rejects any idea of God having a son or being a father in a relational sense, treating such language as shirk or disrespect. Christianity agrees God has no physical son, but insists that Father and Son are biblical language for an eternal relationship within the one God and a covenant relationship with His people.
Islamic View
The Father and the Son, eternally:
John 1:18 — the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared Him.
John 17:5, 24 — Jesus speaks of shared glory and love with the Father before the world existed.
Hebrews 1:3 — the Son is the brightness of the Father’s glory and the express image of His person.
God as Father of His people:
Exodus 4:22 — Israel is called God’s son.
Isaiah 64:8 — “You are our Father; we are the clay, and You our potter.”
Matthew 6:9 — Jesus teaches, “Our Father in heaven.”
John 1:12 — those who receive Jesus become children of God.
Romans 8:15 — by the Spirit we cry, “Abba, Father.”
Galatians 4:4–7 — God sends His Son so that we might be adopted as sons.
1 John 3:1 — see what kind of love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God.
Biblical Basis
“Calling God Father is shirk or disrespect”
It would be, if Christians meant it biologically or if they were adding a partner to God. They are not. The Bible uses Father language for an eternal relationship within the one God and a covenant relationship with His people, not for anything physical. Christians honour God by using the language He Himself uses.
“If God is Father, then God had relations with a woman”
This is the assumption Christians are most eager to deny. The Bible never teaches this. Jesus’ conception in Mary was by the Holy Spirit, not by any physical act (Luke 1:34–35). Father in Christian theology is relational, not reproductive.
“The Qur’an says God is not a father”
The Qur’an rejects the idea of God begetting a child in a physical way (Surah 112). Christians reject that too. So the Christian and Muslim objection to a physical fatherhood is the same. The disagreement is over whether Father can also carry a relational, non-physical meaning — and the Bible says yes.
“Wasn’t Father language added later?”
No. Jesus Himself uses Father language constantly in the Gospels. He teaches the Lord’s Prayer beginning with “our Father in heaven.” This is not a later tradition. It is the core of Jesus’ own teaching.
“Doesn’t this make God too human?”
Only if fatherhood were a human invention. Ephesians 3:14–15 says God is the Father “from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” Human fatherhood is a faint reflection of God’s fatherhood, not the other way around.
Common Objection
Christians call God Father for one simple reason: that is what Jesus called Him, and that is what the Bible teaches Him to be.
It is not biological. It is relational. It describes who God is eternally — Father of the Son — and who God becomes to those who trust Jesus: their Father, by adoption, by grace, and by the Holy Spirit.
Calling God Father does not dishonour Him. It honours Him, because it uses His own words.
Conclusion
Why this matters
If God is not Father, then Christianity is wrong about who God is. But if God is Father, then everything changes.
Prayer is no longer a performance — it is a child speaking to a Father.
Obedience is no longer a transaction — it is a response of love.
Assurance is no longer guesswork — it rests on adoption, not achievement.
Jesus did not reveal God as a distant master. He revealed Him as a holy, loving Father — and then opened the way for sinners to know Him that way too.
That is what makes the gospel good news. Not just forgiveness — but family.
Why It Matters
Read What Does Father Mean in Christianity? next, then Do Christians Believe God Has Children? to see how this fatherhood extends to believers.
Many assume “Father” in Christianity means God physically produced a son. It does not. It never has. Every responsible Christian teacher across history has rejected that idea.
The Aramaic word Abba in Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6 is an intimate word for father. Paul uses it to describe how the Spirit enables believers to speak to God with the same kind of trust Jesus did.
FAQs
Does calling God Father mean God has a wife?
Did Jesus really call God Father?
Isn’t the Qur’an right that God is not a father?
Can non-Christians call God Father?
Is God male?
Author
Shafraz Jeal
Shafraz Jeal is the founder of By Design Ministry, created to help people discover Jesus, understand the Bible, and grow in faith. After encountering Christ in 2016, his life was radically changed, and that journey continues to shape everything he shares.