What does it mean to be a Christian father? That is a question that me and I believe many Christian men have often wondered. if you are like me and didn’t grow up in a Christian home, you probably had no idea what being a Christian father meant, even when you first accepted the call from God.
Often times we aren’t given a playbook on how to be a biblical dad. Of course the Bible is indeed our playbook in this aspect, however it certainly helps to have a better understanding of what the word says about biblical fatherhood and that can often come from other Christian men. older guys who have been through the ups and downs of parenting and raising children. they often have wisdom that comes with experience, and experience that us younger dads don’t necessarily have.
It also comes from the church. the church should lean into teaching men, especially new fathers, on how to really dig into the role of a Christian dad. and honestly, the church has failed at that, at least here in America. The American church has become increasing feminine, being plagued with a toxic form of feminism. And we wonder why men aren’t going to church as much.
This isn’t an attack on churches. It’s a realization for American churches and it’s my prayer that God moves in the American church to bring it back to biblical values. Values that include biblical masculinity and biblical femininity. Because when the church has both of these working together, it’s a beautiful picture of the Gospel.
So back to the main question, what does it mean to be a biblical father? Let’s look at the Bible.
First and foremost, Psalm 103:13 says: As a father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him.
As Christian fathers, our compassion is likened to the compassion of the Lord. What a high calling but a noble calling the Lord has given to Christian dads.
Next, I want to look at Proverbs 22:6: “Train up a child in the way he should go;
even when he is old he will not depart from it.“
Now, this doesn’t specify fathers, however, as the head of the household, it is our responsibility as fathers to mentor our children and train them. We do that by modeling our behavior. We do that by correcting them (in a Godly way). We do that by instructing them. And we do that by praying with them and for them. These are ways to examine ourselves as fathers and whether or not we are mentoring and training our children up in the Lord.
Next, we go to the New Testament. Ephesians 6:4: “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
Here, Paul is telling us that fathers should not be provoking our children to anger. Fathers should be gentle to their children. Being an antagonist to our children is exactly opposite of what Paul is telling us. We need to be gentle with them. and bring them up, again, in the instruction and discipline of the Lord.
So what we can gather from the scriptures about biblical fatherhood is this:
A biblical father is loving.
A biblical father is compassionate.
A biblical father is gentle.
A biblical father is a mentor.
A biblical father is disciplined.
A biblical father has self control.
We can always look back to the scriptures for our guide to biblical fatherhood. And the perfect example of all of these traits is our Lord Jesus Christ, who fulfilled all these traits perfectly. He was and is the ultimate example of what biblical fatherhood looks like.
I pray that you all really dig into your role as a Christian father. It is not an easy calling. It comes with many challenges. However it is a high calling given to us as Christian men from the Lord himself. We will fail at this. But Jesus Christ offers us grace upon grace (John 1:16). I pray you remember this.
-Chris-