Our Father, who is in heaven

By My Father…Matthew 10:32

Jesus often referred to God as His Father. Two reasons come to mind. First, it is a true statement, God is the Father of Jesus. Second, Jesus could be honoring a long held Jewish tradition. 

During the days of Jesus, Jews considered saying the name of God as “taking the name of the Lord in vain, the third commandment, Exodus 20:7. To help honor God’s name, they substituted the word Adonai instead. Adonai is Hebrew for Lord. Years later even the word Adonai became a sacred word. This led to other words to be substituted for the name of God. Words like “the Name” or “The High” or “the Power” as in Matthew 26:64: hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power. The list includes “Elohim,” which literally means gods. 

A lesser known word used in everyday conversation was “heaven” was also used to refer to the sacred name of God. For this reason, we notice in Matthew’s gospel we read about Jesus speaking of the Kingdom of Heaven but in Mark and Luke’s gospels, both Gentiles, we read “Kingdom of God.” Another example is found in Matthew 21:25: The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men? Or, from God or from mankind? See Verses 25, 25, & 27.

Even so, the name of God could be used openly on two occasions and only in the Temple. One, during the daily blessing of the High Priest. Two, in the confession of the High Priest on the Day of Atonement. Only the High Priest could utter the sacred name of God and only in the Temple. 

Lastly, the word Jehovah, is not acceptable to Jews. The word Jehovah came much later when the Bible was being translated by Gentile scholars. Attempting to translate the Hebrew word Adonai. Adonai would have been written in Hebrew consonants. Which was then translated into Latin; then from Latin into English. In doing so, they arrived with Jehovah, a non-existent name of God. Loving Christians should avoid embarrassing themselves and irritating Jews by using Jehovah. We follow Jesus who taught us to pray to Our Father, who is in heaven…that His will be done. Amen