Jesus/God as Father, Husband, and Brother Quiz

Answer: Father

The complete verse reads, "See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not know us, because it did not know Him" (1 John 3:1, New American Standard Bible).

Evangelical Christianity teaches that God is one God, but He consists of three distinct persons; somewhat like how a human being has a body, soul, and spirit, but is still one. The passage here is in reference to God the Father, who is called the Father not only because He is the Father of God the Son (Jesus), but also because He is like a father to Christians. The New Testament states that when people believe in Jesus as the Son of God and they are born-again by the Holy Spirit, the Father adopts them as His own, so they become God's children. What's more, because Jesus is the Son of the Father and Christians are the sons and daughters of the Father, Jesus becomes their brother, spiritually.

Romans 8:14, New American Standard Bible:
"For all who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons [rather children] of God."

Answer: Husband

Jeremiah 3:6-10, New American Standard Bible:
"Then the Lord said to me in the days of Josiah the king, 'Have you [Jeremiah] seen what faithless Israel did? She went up on every high hill and under every green tree, and she was a harlot there'. I [the Lord] thought, 'After she has done all these things she will return to Me'; but she did not return, and her treacherous sister Judah saw it. And I saw that for all the adulteries of faithless Israel, I had sent her away and given her a writ of divorce, yet her treacherous sister Judah did not fear; but she went and was a harlot also. Because of the lightness of her harlotry, she polluted the land and committed adultery with stones and trees. Yet in spite of all this her treacherous sister Judah did not return to Me with all her heart, but rather in deception,' declares the Lord."

In Jeremiah 3:1-14, God is figuratively Israel's husband and also Judah's husband. Israel began as one nation, but then it split into two kingdoms. The Southern part of Israel began to be called "Judah", while the Northern part was called simply "Israel".

God reminded Israel that He was her husband, but because she was unfaithful with many different "lovers"--literally, idols or gods--He had to divorce her. However, He gave Israel the ability to return to Him. He could have just destroyed her, but He wanted her to repent and be His wife again.

A Christian belief seems to be that God divorced Judah after Jesus Christ died. However, this means that He was still married to Judah before that. This is apparently important because Jesus, the Son of God, came from the tribe of Judah. I might say that, if God the Father was "married" to Judah and Christ descended from Judah, then Judah was, in a way, the mother of Christ! Remember that Mary probably came from the tribe of Judah through Nathan, while Christ's adoptive father, Joseph, also descended from Judah through Solomon. Revelation 12 includes a vision of a pregnant woman trying to escape from Satan. She was pregnant with the Christ or Messiah. Catholics tend to think that this refers to Mary, but some Protestants believe that the woman is the personified Israel. She wears a crown with twelve stars on her head because the stars represent Israel's twelve tribes.

Answer: Brother

The correct answer is brother, because Jesus called His disciples His "brethren" or "brothers" in John 20:17. In addition, clearly if Christ's Father is also the disciples' Father, that makes Christ their brother.

In the full verse of John 20:17, Jesus told Mary Magdalene to stop clinging to Him (New American Standard Bible). She was the first person to see and talk to Jesus after His resurrection. She, along with His mother and other female followers, watched Jesus die a horrible death. She was evidently so happy to see Him alive that she didn't want Him to leave, but He had made it clear that He had to go away so that the Holy Spirit could come (see John 16:7). The embrace that Mary Magdalene gave Jesus seems similar to the one that the bride in the Song of Solomon gave to her beloved. Is it possible that Mary Magdalene is symbolic--notice that I said symbolic--of the bride of Christ, which is commonly believed to be the church? This is precisely what Pastor Jeff Myers says in his article, "The Gardener and the Beloved". Mary Magdalene is symbolic of the church, the bride of Christ who sought Him in the Song of Solomon and sought Him on the first Easter morning. She (the church) can't cling to Him yet because their marriage hasn't happended yet; it won't happen until Christ's (the groom's) second coming. I never really understood why Jesus didn't let her keep hugging Him before, but now I get it!

In the Song of Solomon, the groom calls the bride, "My sister, my bride". Do you see where I am going with this? While I still think that the Song of Solomon is primarily a literal depiction of Solomon and his bride, many Christians have believed that it is symbolic or metaphorical for Christ and the church. I can see that interpretation, too. If we understand God as Father, Brother, and Husband, and specifically Jesus as Brother and Husband, well, it makes perfect sense why He would say "My sister, my bride"!

(Even though many Christians believe that the church/disciples are the "bride" of Christ elsewhere in Scripture, the correct answer is still brother here. This is because Jesus Himself referred to Peter, John, etc. as His brothers, not His bride.)

Answer: Brother

Hebrews, chapter 2 is all about Jesus being both divine and human. Verse 9 states that Jesus temporarily made Himself a little lower than created angels because of His death, but as their Creator (God) He was way above created angels.

Verse 17 states that Jesus needed to be a human being so that He could be a priest for human beings. Note, however, that His brethren aren't humans in general. While Jesus died for everyone, verse 16 makes it clear that His brothers are the descendants of Abraham. The way I see it, this includes both ethnic Hebrews and spiritual Hebrews, with the latter being Gentile Christians who become spiritual Hebrews through faith in Jesus (see Galatians 3:29). The ethnic Israelites are brothers according to the flesh, while Christians are brothers (or sisters) according to the Spirit.

The Christian belief is that Israel rejected their own Messiah, so Jesus turned to Gentiles to preach the Gospel. But the Book of Hebrews was written to Hebrews or Jews who converted to Christianity, so I don't think we should downplay Christ's ethnicity. The Hebrew Messiah HAD to be of Hebrew ethnicity and from the tribe of Judah as well. So, yes, Christ being a literal or physical Hebrew was vital for His humanity/incarnation. Many scholars believe that His mother descended from the tribe of Judah, specifically through King David's son Nathan. They base this on the Gospel of Luke. Just like Jews today, Jesus received Jewishness from the mother! Jesus Himself acknowledged that He had several biological relatives in Nazareth, even though they rejected His claim of being the Son of God (Mark 6:4).

Answer: Husband

The Old Testament contains many passages in which God is the husband and Israel is His wife; sadly, Israel was usually an adulterous wife. Instead of worshipping her Hebrew God alone, she worshipped many different gods of pagan cultires *in addition* to her own God. It was the same thing with Judah. The kingdoms were compared to cheating spouses and/or prostitutes and personsified as such women. Their figurative adultery was literally idolatry.

In Ezekiel 16, God is speaking specifically to the personified city of Jerusalem. He tells her about how He found her alone and in desperate need of love. So He took her and gave her food, clothing, and care, even to the point of making her a beautiful queen. But she became so confident in her beauty that she broke the covenant and went after every lover she could find, like a prostitute would. It's like God was telling Jerusalem that she was originally ugly and rejected by most men, but He loved her, and yet she had the audacity to betray her first love by going with men whom didn't want her initially.

In chapter 16, verse 20, the husband and wife relationship is actually very strong. He told her that she took the children that she had *borne to Him* and sacrificed them to the idols. Obviously, God is saying that the babies born in Jerusalem were like babies that a wife bore for her husband.

Also note that in verses 11-14, God gave Jerusalem a lot of fine jewelry, including a necklace, bracelets, earrings, and a nose ring. This is figurative, but it resembles Genesis 24:47-48, in which Rebekah was given bracelets and a nose ring to show that she would be Isaac's wife. Ancient Middle Eastern culture didn't have the same type of engagement and wedding rings that Western culture does. It appears that other jewelry, especially nose rings, were what women wore to portray that they were entering marriage covenants. I think it's very cool how Ezekiel goes into such details to show that Jerusalem--a city in Judah--was God's wife!

Answer: Brother

See Matthew chapter 12 for this verse's context. But to summazrize, Jesus's mother, Mary, and His brothers, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas, were waiting to speak to Him. It doesn't exactly say why they wished to talk to Him, but some readers have speculated that they, or at least the brothers, wanted to "knock some sense" into Him, as the saying goes, because they thought He or His message was insane. According to Mark 3:21, Christ's earthly family thought that He was insane and, according to John 7:5, His brothers were NOT believers.

I don't think Mary thought that Jesus was insane. It's possible that she just wanted to talk to Him because she wanted to; maybe she didn't see Him often.

At any rate, when a man told Christ that His mother and brothers were waiting to talk to Him, He stretched His hand to His disciples and called them His mother, brothers, and sisters. I personally think that because Jesus emphasized the feminine relationships so much, it means that female followers, such as Mary Magdalene, were present. The text simply says "disciples" but because Jesus said "whoever . . . " I think it is pretty clear that Jesus means ALL His disciples, past, present, and future, not just the twelve male ones.

A note about James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas: Many Protestants believe that these were the biological children of Mary and her husband, Joseph. They consider that the phrase "His mother and brothers" has an obvious meaning. Catholics argue that these were Christ's cousins--perhaps the children of a different Mary, the wife of Clopas--or possibly Christ's step-brothers; Joseph's children from a previous marriage.

Answer: Father

"Abba" means "father" in Hebrew and Aramaic. In addition, the verse includes not just "Abba" but also "Father" in English. In other words, the concept of God as Father isn't just implied here. It is explitcly stated.

Is there a distinction between the titles of "Father" and "Daddy"? Maybe, especially when it comes to God. I think most people will probably agree that while the words are technically synonymous, "Father" is more formal than "Dad" and "Daddy" are. When it comes to God, some Christians like to call Him "Daddy" because it sounds warm and inviting. On the other hand, "Father" is the term used in the New Testament and other Christians believe that "Daddy" is disrespectful to the LORD of the universe. I guess the debate as to whether Christians can call God their Daddy will go on for a while.

Answer: Father

The famous verse declares that God gave His Son to the world because He loved it. In order for God to have a son, He must be a father. Indeed, the Father is the first member of the Holy Trinity.

But what does it mean that the Father is a father and Jesus is His Son? Did the Father create His Son? Or, God forbid (pun intended) did He have a sexual relationship to produce His Son? No. In fact, according to the Bible, Christ's mother was a virgin and she was also betrothed to a man (not God). According to the New Testament, Jesus existed with God (the Father) and was also God (the Word). If one looks at Christ's own words in John 17:5, He said, "Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was" (New American Standard Bible). It's true that in one sense Jesus was the son of God because He had no human father (see Luke 1:35), but many Christians also believe that the Word was always the Son.

Christians believe that when they become Christians, they also become God's other children.

Answer: Husband

2 Corinthians 11:2 New American Standard Bible (NASB):
"For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin."

This is one verse that many Christians use to argue for the identification of the church as Christ's bride of Revelation. The other verse is Ephesians 5:25, which tells Christian men to love their wives like Christ loves the church.

Not everybody agrees that the church is the bride (others suggest it is the New Jerusalem or Israel) but many Christian denominations have taught that the church is the bride. Regardless of whether or not the church overall (that is, all born-again Christians everywhere) is the bride, it is clear from this verse that Paul tells the Corinthian church members that he betrothed them to Christ. Some dispensationalists who believe that ethnic Israel is the bride argue that in 2 Corinthians 11's context, Paul makes no real reference to the Lamb's bride of Revelation. The argument is that Paul was simply using an analogy to illustrate how the Corinthian Christians, whom apparently struggled with sins, needed to be like a virgin engaged to her fiancé. Another argument is that elsewhere in Paul's letters, he calls the church "the body of Christ", not the "bride of Christ".

In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul states how important it is to remain pure to Christ: to avoid false doctrines and false Christs. "For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted . . ." (verse 4, New American Standard Bible). Just as a virgin is supposed to remain a virgin until her wedding night, so should Christians abstain from idolatry and false religions, etc., to be faithful Christians.

Like I said, we clearly have Paul telling them that he betrothed them to Jesus. The matter depends on how one interprets that.

Answer: Husband

According to Revelation 21, an angel gave John a vision of "the bride, the wife of the Lamb" (verse 9). The Lamb, of course, is Jesus. If one takes verses 9-11 literally, Christ's bride is the New Jerusalem. She will be--as the name implies--a brand new version of Jerusalem. She probably won't be simply a restored Jerusalem, because according to the Bible, the current Earth, including Jerusalem, will be destroyed by fire. The New Jerusalem will essentially be Heaven on Earth. There will be no more sin, death, pain, sickness, or sorrow. She will be like the Garden of Eden, but perhaps even better. When Jesus prayed that His Father's will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven, I think that He was primarily referring to the New Jerusalem.

Okay, so I have described the New Jerusalem. But honestly, I want to say a lot more than that. Not all Christians believe that the New Jerusalem itself will be the bride of Christ. Some do, but traditionally, many Christians have believed that the church, a.k.a. the city's inhabitants, will be the real bride. They argue that it makes more sense that Jesus would "marry" people and not a city. Jesus loves and died for people, not real estate. Therefore, these Christians believe that the New Jerusalem isn't truly the bride, but it is portrayed as the bride because it contains the bride. Interestingly enough, in the NASB at least, verse 11 describes the New Jerusalem with the feminine pronoun (her), but verses 12 and onward use the gender-neutral pronoun (it).

In addition to the belief that the church or the city is the bride of Christ, some Christians propose that the bride of Christ is actually the nation, or perhaps many of the nation, of Israel after she recognizes Jesus as her Lord. They base this belief on several Old Testament passages in which God seems to promise to remarry Israel, such as (but not limited to) Isaiah 62 and Hosea 2.

An argument for ethnic Israel being the bride is that according to Revelation, the bride needs to "make herself ready", which is a concept that, according to this view, makes little sense regarding people who already believe in Jesus, but appears more logical for a group of people who (currently, at least) don't.

An argument against Israel being the bride is replacement theology, the idea that all of the positive promises that God made to Israel in the Old Testament no longer apply to literal Israel, but rather they belong to "spiritual Israel", the church.

There is yet another view, one which I find highly intriguing. This view argues that the church is indeed the bride of Christ, but the Father was the one married to Israel in the Old Testament and He will remarry her. According to Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum in "The Wife of Jehovah and the Bride of Messiah", only when the reader makes a distinction between the bride of the Father and the bride of the Son do supposed biblical contradictions vanish.

P.S. I'm not advocating a certain view. Views include replacement theology (the belief that the church is the true Israel; God no longer has a plan for ethnic Israel), dispensationalism (the belief that God will keep the promises that He made to ethnic Israel; the church and Israel are distinct) and one that I haven't discussed, which is remnant theology (the belief that even in the Old Testament, God only considered a remnant of Israel to be His people). I'm just including things I find interesting for the sake of, well, interesting info.