Session 1: "The Pastor as Son of the Heavenly Father" - D. A. Carson
You can't have a father without a son, nor a son without a father. Don Carson developed a biblical theology of this pair, "Father and Son," by looking at four father-son motifs in the Bible.
1) The heavenly father and the nation of Israel as a son (Ex 4:18-26, esp v22).
2) God as the father of David and his line, the kings of Israel. (2 Samuel 7:1-17).
3) God as the father of all who believe.
Carson says of Ephesians 3:14,
I think what that is saying is that God is the archetypal father. Whatever true notion we have of father anywhere, God himself is the archetype. It's not that we have fathers and then we project them on God and say, "Well God must be like that." It's just the opposite. God is the heavenly father and whatever notion of fatherhood we have that is valid comes from him.
Thats why I've spent as much time as I have on God being the father to the king, God being the father to the people, God being the father to Christ. You must see those things first before you begin to tease out what this means for us being fathers. Otherwise, we're constantly in danger of merely projecting our insights--good, bad, and indifferent--back onto God, instead of starting the other way....
If we are to be the sons of God at the end, we will perfectly reflect him in every possible way that finite human beings can reflect him.
After presenting these three points as preamble (a very long intro, he noted), Carson got to the main point of his message.
4) Pastors are sons of the heavenly father and brothers of the royal son. Carson expalins,
The pastor as son simply flows from what the Bible says about all Christians being sons of the heavenly father, for pastors must remember that before they are pastors they are Christians.
