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“search the scriptures” John 5:39
Materialism holds sway in our contemporary world. Most people live as if what is seen and touched is of ultimate value.1 In contrast, the scriptures tell us that reality is composed of both material and spiritual things. Although the divine title ‘the Father of spirits’ only occurs once in the Bible, Heb. 12. 9, the concept permeates both Testaments. The Almighty is spiritual, and this determines our composition as His creatures: we are not merely material, we also have a spirit. As Henry explains, ‘See what man is; he is a spirit in flesh, a soul embodied, a creature wonderfully compounded of heaven and earth. See what God is; he is the God of the spirits of all mankind. He forms the spirit, Zech. 12. 1. He fathers it, Heb. 12. 9. He has an ability to fashion it, Ps. 33. 15, and authority to dispose of it, for he has said, All souls are mine, Ezek. 18. 4’.2 Gooding agrees, saying that ‘God is the author of the human spirit, and whether a man is converted or unconverted, as a human being he is a compound both of flesh on the one hand and spirit on the other. And the writer, talking to Christians, says we know him as a Father who educates and trains, and if need be chastens us, but since he is the Father of our spirit shall we not be subject to him?’3Practically this has great bearing on Christian living - especially regarding our worship and service. The designation ‘Father of spirits’ brings out a richness of our maker’s power, knowledge, and intimacy with His people.4
The title ‘the Father of spirits’ appears to indicate the same concept as the book of Numbers, ‘the God of the spirits of all flesh’, Num. 16. 22; 27. 16.5It reveals the Almighty’s work as humanity’s Creator, as well as demonstrating His perfect knowledge of men’s hearts. Korah, Dathan, Abiram, and their acolytes revolted against Israel’s divinely ordained leadership. Despite the rebels’ protest of unfairness, and the accusations that they levelled against Moses and Aaron, ‘the Father of spirits’ knew that their charges were specious. Rather than a moral revolution, this was a humanistic powerplay against divine authority. They slanderously attacked the existing order in a vain attempt to grasp the reins of leadership for themselves.
God’s wrathful response, threatening to wipe the nation out, elicited a plea for mercy from these godly men. They called on ‘God’ to spare the people and only judge the rebels.6This intercession was reminiscent of Abraham’s effort on behalf of the cities of the plain, rhetorically asking, ‘Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?’ Gen. 18. 25. Moses and Aaron knew that the Creator of our spirits knows what is in our minds and therefore judges discerningly.7He perfectly distinguishes between the innocent and the guilty. As Spurgeon observes, ‘We do but see the fair externals of things, but the great Father of spirits searches the hearts and tries the reins of the children of men, and judges after a higher standard’.8
This title’s second appearance is in Numbers chapter 27 verse 16, where Moses prayerfully links ‘the God of the spirits of all flesh’ with the historic name ‘the Lord’, reminding the reader of His covenantal promises to Israel, Exod. 3. 14-18.10 He asks for a successor to lead the nation, and the Lord responds by appointing Joshua, who previously served as Moses’ assistant, Num. 11. 28. For humans, choosing reliable leaders is fraught with uncertainty and often leads to disappointment - Saul is a notable example of this sort of unfaithful king. But God knows human hearts and what they will do in the future; accordingly, He could be trusted to choose the best shepherd for Israel. The conquest generation could go into the Land confiding in Him and His wise selection of the commanding general. Even in our age, we must look to the Lord to raise up the right leaders in the local church.10 In personal decisions, believers may also safely ask Him to guide and provide for us, as a well-known poem avers,
‘He knows, He loves, He cares, nothing this truth can dim.
He gives His very best to those who leave the choice with Him’.11
The conflict between God’s way and man’s regarding the spiritual and the material looms large in the book of Hebrews. It seems that Jews of that day were throwing the physical nature of Judaism in the face of Hebrew-background believers. One can imagine them saying, ‘We have a physical temple in Jerusalem with a physical high priest, and tangible sacrifices. What do you Christians have?’. The answers to these challenges can be found in the ‘better’ things found in Christianity, which Hebrews unpacks. Christians have a Saviour who is better than angels, ch. 1. He is a better leader than Moses or Joshua, Heb. 3, 4; a better high priest with a better covenant which has better promises, chh. 7, 8. His sacrifice is better in quality and extent, and only needed to be offered once for all, chh. 9, 10. In Christ, the physical types and shadows give way to spiritual and eternal realities. Maturity and completion is provided in place of the transitory and earthly.
After discussing the Jewish-Christian divide, Hebrews chapter 12 presents the confluence of mankind’s spiritual and material aspects. Human beings are spiritual and material, and this has a direct bearing on God’s parental training of His people. The passage argues that if we respected and heeded our earthly fathers, then how much more ought we to obey our Father in heaven who is the Creator and sustainer of our physical and spiritual life. He knows our entire being - internally and externally; therefore, He trains us perfectly - even employing life’s trials for our sanctification. Morris elucidates this principle, ‘When people subject themselves to God, accepting life’s sufferings as discipline from his fatherly hand, they enter the life that is alone worthy of the name’.12
Our true spiritual parentage is indicated by our response to His revelation through His Son. As the Lord Jesus explained, ‘If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He
sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it. But because I tell the truth, you do not believe Me. Which of you convicts Me of sin? And if I tell the truth, why do you not believe Me? He who is of God hears God’s words; therefore you do not hear, because you are not of God’, John 8. 42-47 NKJV. As His children, we should submit to ‘The Father of spirits’. His disciplinary work develops the abundant life that He promised, John 10. 10, and we can trust Him to do what is best for us. We worship Him ‘in spirit and in truth’, 4. 24, and His Spirit intercedes for us, teaches us, and conforms us to His image, Rom. 8. 26-30; 1 Cor. 2. 10-16. At His coming, we will be glorified body, soul, and spirit, 1 Thess. 5. 23.
A noted scientist comments on the naturalistic assumptions of scientific materialism and how the fact of ‘information’ refutes them, ‘information is coming to play a central role in the understanding of nature, and information is not material, even though it is usually carried on a material substrate. Information is not therefore reducible to matter, and some physicists even suggest that information is primary and matter secondary … This notion converges with the biblical claim that God the Word is primary and matter is secondary, John 1. 1-3 … Indeed, according to the biblical world-view, not only is mind not the same as brain, mind actually is the primary “stuff” of the universe. For the eternal Word who is God is spirit and not material at all, John 4. 24’. John Lennox, Against the Flow, Monarch, 2015, pg. 343.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, Hendrickson, 1994, pg. 210. Italics original.
David Gooding, Three Creation Stories and Three Patriarchs. Eight Studies on Understanding the Major Sections of Genesis, Myrtlefield Sermons, Myrtlefield Trust, 2019, pp. 36, 37.
F. F. BRUCE contends that in Hebrews chapter 12 verse 9 it ought to be translated ‘the Father of our spirits’; the margins of the Revised Versionof 1881 and the American Standard Version also have this translation. This indicates that Hebrews is particularly emphasizing our Maker’s close connection with humanity. ‘God, as a spirit, is infinitely more excellent than all material beings, and all created spirits. Their perfections are derived from him … Hence it is said of him, that “he only hath immortality”, 1 Tim. 6. 16. He is an infinite spirit; and it can be said of none but him, that “his understanding is infinite”, Ps. 147. 5’. Thomas Boston, Works, Vol. 1, George and Robert King, 1848, pg. 78. ‘As such He has at heart our highest spiritual welfare. “By these things men live, and wholly therein is the life of our spirit”, Is. 38. 16, R.V., with Deut. 8. 3’. W. E. Vine, Collected Writings: Hebrews, Thomas Nelson, 1996, n/a.
Similar divine titles were used in ancient apocryphal Jewish literature; for example, ‘the Lord of the spirits’, 1 Enoch 37. 2; 2 Maccabees 3. 24. It is possible that the title points to God’s creation of all spiritual beings - angels and humans included.
Elohim - the creator.
1 Sam. 16. 7; Prov. 15. 11; Heb. 4. 13.
C. H. Spurgeon, Metropolitan Tabernacle, Vol. 28, pg. 25.
Transliterated as Jehovah / Yahweh / YHWH.
Acts 20. 28; 1 Tim. 3; Titus 1.
From the poem, ‘The Weaver’, attributed to Florence M. Alt or Grant Colfax Tullar.
Leon Morris, ‘Hebrews’, in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Hebrews through Revelation, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, Vol. 12. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1981, pg. 137.
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