Before reading this article, first read this article:
Yeshua as the Visible Revelation of God
Abba Father,
Yeshua Came to Make the Father Known
The God who was known came to make known the God (Father) whom no one knew.
Deep summary
One of the deepest lines in the New Testament is the distinction between the Father and His Son Yeshua. This distinction does not mean that Yeshua is not God. On the contrary: the New Testament speaks of Yeshua in divine terms and connects Him to the glory, the works, and the identity of the God who was made known in the Old Testament.
Yet Yeshua is not the Father, who is the only true God (John 17:3). He is the Son of the Father, come forth from the Father, God from God. He was sent by the Father, spoke the words of the Father, did the works of the Father, and ultimately came to make the Father known.
John 1:18
No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.
Here lies the key. Yeshua did not come merely to give mankind more information about God. He came to reveal the Father. The Father had not been made known in the same way that He would be made known through the Son.
That is why Yeshua says:
Matthew 11:27
No one knows the Son except the Father; and no one knows the Father except the Son, and
anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.
This does not mean the Old Testament never refers to God as Father. It does. But the unique knowledge of the Father as Father of the Son, and access to the Father through the Son, are revealed in the New Testament in a new and decisive way.
At the same time, we must not diminish Yeshua below what Scripture presents. John writes:
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The Word was with God, and the Word was God. We then read that this Word became flesh.
John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
But Scripture also makes clear that a heavenly order and relationship exists between the Father and the Son. The Father has subjected all things to the Son, but the Father Himself is excepted from this. Yeshua has therefore truly received divine glory and all authority, but He does not stand above the Father. The Father is the One who subjects all things to the Son, and He Himself is not subject to the Son.
1 Corinthians 15:27
For He has put all things under His feet. But when He says that all things are put under Him, it is evident that He who put all things under Him is excepted.
With this, Paul shows that “all things” does not mean the Father stands beneath the Son. The One who subjected all things to Yeshua is Himself excepted. In this way, the distinction between the Father and the Son becomes visible not only in their mission and their speech, but also in their position and relationship. The Son stands under the Father.
The biblical line is therefore not: the Father is God, but Yeshua is not God. The line is:
- The Father is the only true God.
- Yeshua is truly God.
- Yeshua is the Son of the Father.
- The Father and the Son are not the same Person.
- Yeshua came to make the Father known.
- Through Yeshua we come to the Father.
The God who was known in the Old Testament becomes visible in the New Testament in Yeshua.
And Yeshua then makes the Father known.
Key conclusions from this study
- The Father is the only true God. Yeshua calls His Father this in John 17:3.
- Yeshua is truly God. John 1:1 calls the Word God, and John 20:28 has Thomas address Yeshua as his God.
- Yeshua is not the Father. The Father sends the Son, and the Son continually speaks of His Father.
- Yeshua came to make the Father known. John 1:18 says the Son has made the Father known.
- The Father was revealed by the Son in a unique way. Matthew 11:27 places this special knowledge of the Father with the Son.
- The divine glory described in the Old Testament is connected to Yeshua in the New Testament. John 12:41 connects Isaiah’s vision of God’s glory with Yeshua.
- YHWH may not automatically be applied to every text in the same way. The context and the way the New Testament uses a passage must be examined.
- Yeshua is the Way to the Father. He is not the endpoint of the distinction between Father and Son, but the One through whom we come to the Father.
- Abba Father is not a new personal name for God. It is the intimate form of address by which believers may approach the Father.
- The goal of the Gospel is that we come to know the Father, the ONLY true God (John 17:3), through the Son.
From the known God to the revealed Father
To understand this message properly, we must avoid pitting two truths against each other. Scripture does not teach that Yeshua is not God because the Father is called the only true God. Nor does Scripture teach that the Father and the Son are the same Person because Yeshua is God.
Scripture holds both truths together.
Yeshua is God.
Yeshua is the Son.
The Father is God.
The Father is not the Son.
Yeshua came to make the Father known.
It is precisely when these distinctions are maintained that the message of the New Testament becomes more sharply visible.
In-depth explanation
1. The Father Is the Only True God
One of the clearest statements of Yeshua is found in His high priestly prayer.
John 17:3
And this is eternal life, that they know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ,
whom You have sent.
Yeshua speaks here to His Father. He calls His Father the only true God and then distinguishes Himself as the One sent by Him.
This distinction must not be ignored. But neither may it be used to deny Yeshua’s deity. John 17:3 says the Father is the only true God; John 1:1 says at the same time that the Word was God.
It is therefore a matter of distinction, not a denial of Yeshua’s deity.
The Father is the Source and the One who sends. Yeshua is the Son who is sent by the Father.
2. Yeshua Is Truly God
Anyone who reads only John 17:3 and skips the rest of the New Testament gets an incomplete picture. The Gospel of John begins with a very powerful declaration about Yeshua.
John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
The Word was with God. So there is distinction. But the Word was God. John thereby does not allow the Word to be reduced to merely a human representative.
John 1:14
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…
The Word that was God became flesh. From this line, the identity of Yeshua becomes visible.
John 20:28
And Thomas answered and said to Him: My Lord and my God!
Thomas speaks these words directly to the risen Yeshua. The New Testament therefore does not present Yeshua as someone who merely acts on God’s behalf, but as the One who truly stands in divine glory and identity.
Yeshua is God.
But Yeshua is not the Father.
3. The God of the Old Testament and Yeshua
When we then go back to the Old Testament, we see that the God of Israel makes Himself known as YHWH. The Name is connected to God’s revelation to Moses.
Exodus 3:14-15
And God said to Moses: I AM WHO I AM. He also said: This is what you are to say to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you. … The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.
The Old Testament knows the God of Israel as YHWH. But when we read the New Testament, we find remarkable connections between the glory and works of YHWH and Yeshua.
John 12:41
Isaiah said these things because he saw His glory and spoke about Him.
John refers here to Isaiah’s prophetic vision. In Isaiah 6, Isaiah sees the glory of the LORD. John then applies this to Yeshua.
The glory that Isaiah saw is connected by John to Yeshua.
This gives rise to an important biblical line: the God who was known in the Old Testament (that is, not the Father) is uniquely revealed in the New Testament in the Son.
The Old Testament calls God Father in several places:
- “Are You not our Father?” (Isa. 63:16),
- “You are our Father” (Isa. 64:8),
- “You shall call Me: My Father” (Jer. 3:19), and
- “Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” (Mal. 2:10).
Yet within this line, this does not mean that Israel knew the Father Himself as Yeshua came to reveal Him. They knew God from His revelation to them and called Him Father, but they did not know the Father as the One who stands above the Son. Yeshua therefore came to make known a reality that had been hidden from them: the Father Himself. The Son knows the Father in a unique way and is the only One who has known the Father directly.
That is why Yeshua says: “No one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him” (Matt. 11:27). The coming of Yeshua therefore brought not merely more knowledge about God, but the revelation of the Father through the Son. This distinction is powerfully confirmed in 1 Corinthians 15:27: all things are subjected to the Son, but the One who subjected all things to Him is excepted from this. The Father is thus not the Son; the Father stands above the Son. Yeshua came forth from the Father, made the Father known, and brings us through Himself to the Father.
4. Yeshua Did Not Come to Present Himself as the Father
Here arises the distinction that is so often lost. Because Yeshua is God, some conclude that He must therefore be the Father. But Yeshua Himself continually speaks of the Father as Another.
John 5:30
I can do nothing on My own. As I hear, I judge, and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.
The One who is sent is not the same Person as the One who sends.
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- The Father sends.
- The Son is sent.
- The Father gives the command.
- The Son obeys.
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This does not diminish Yeshua. Rather, it reveals the special relationship between the Father and the Son.
5. No One Knows the Father as the Son Knows Him
Here perhaps lies the most important key to understanding the statement that Yeshua came to make the Father known.
Matthew 11:27
No one knows the Son except the Father; and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.
Yeshua is not speaking here about the first use of the word Father. The Old Testament indeed uses that word in several places for God.
The statement goes deeper. The Son possesses a unique knowledge of the Father and makes this knowledge known to others.
That is exactly what John confirms:
John 1:18
No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.
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- The Son knows the Father.
- The Son makes Him known.
- The Son reveals the Father.
- The Son brings us to the Father.
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6. “Whoever Has Seen Me Has Seen the Father”
When Philip asks to see the Father, Yeshua answers:
John 14:9
Jesus said to him: Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know Me, Philip? Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”?
This does not mean that Yeshua is saying He is literally the same Person as the Father. That would contradict the rest of the conversation, in which Yeshua speaks of the Father as the One who sent Him.
The meaning is that Yeshua perfectly represents and reveals the Father. Whoever truly knows the Son sees the Father as He is revealed through the Son.
Yeshua is the visible revelation of the invisible Father.
7. The Father Is Greater Than Yeshua
Yeshua never acted as though He were the Father Himself. He makes a distinction instead.
John 14:28
You heard Me say to you, I am going away, and I will come back to you. If you loved Me, you would rejoice, because I said, “I am going to the Father”; for My Father is greater than I.
This statement must not be explained away. Yeshua says that the Father is greater than He is.
Within this biblical line, that means there is a genuine order and relationship of origin:
- The Father is the Source.
- The Father sends the Son.
- The Son comes from the Father.
- The Son does the will of the Father.
- The Son receives authority from the Father.
This does not deny Yeshua’s deity.
It makes the distinction between Father and Son visible.
8. Yeshua Receives Authority from the Father
After His resurrection, Yeshua says:
Matthew 28:18
And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying: All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Me.
Note the word given. The Father is the One who gives. The Son receives.
Paul, too, ultimately describes a very clear distinction between the Father and the Son. Paul writes that all things are subjected to Yeshua, but immediately adds that the One who subjected all things to Him is Himself excepted from this. The Father has therefore subjected all things to the Son, but the Father Himself is not under the authority of the Son. This confirms that Yeshua is truly exalted and receives all authority, while the Father remains above the Son. This is not a denial of Yeshua’s divine identity, but a distinction in position and relationship between the Father and the Son.
1 Corinthians 15:27-28
For He has put all things under His feet. But when He says that all things are put under Him, it is evident that He who put all things under Him is Himself excepted. And when all things are subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will also be subjected to Him who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all.
The Son reigns. The Son receives authority. The Son ultimately subjects Himself to the Father.
The Father remains the God above the Son.
9. Yeshua Came to Make the Name of the Father Known
Yeshua says in His prayer:
John 17:6
I have made Your Name known to the people You gave Me out of the world. They were Yours, and You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word.
The question then is: which Name did Yeshua reveal?
The answer must not be reduced to a new word the disciples had to learn to pronounce. In the Bible, Name means far more than merely a sound or a form of address. It concerns identity, character, authority, and revelation.
Yeshua made the Father known through His words, His works, and His perfect obedience.
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- He showed who the Father is.
- He spoke what the Father gave Him to speak.
- He did what the Father gave Him to do.
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10. “Abba Father” Is Not a New Name, but a New Relationship
Yeshua teaches His disciples to pray:
Matthew 6:9
Our Father, who is in heaven. Hallowed be Your Name.
Later we read:
Romans 8:15
...but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry: Abba, Father!
Abba is therefore not a replacement for the Name YHWH. It is the intimate form of address by which the children of God may approach their Father.
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- Yeshua did not come to give us a different god.
- He came to bring us to the Father.
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11. “No One Comes to the Father Except Through Me”
The whole message comes together in one statement of Yeshua.
John 14:6
Jesus said to him: I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
Yeshua does not say:
“No one comes to Me except through the Father.”
He says:
“No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
The direction of the Gospel thereby becomes visible:
FROM THE FATHER → THROUGH THE SON → TO THE FATHER.
The Son is the Way. The Father is the One to whom the Way leads.
12. Yeshua Reveals the Father Who Stands Above Him
When all the texts are laid side by side, a remarkable but consistent picture emerges.
- Yeshua is God.
- Yeshua is the Son.
- The Father is God.
- The Father is not the Son.
- Yeshua comes from the Father.
- The Father sends Yeshua.
- Yeshua obeys the Father.
- The Father gives Yeshua authority.
- Yeshua reveals the Father.
- Yeshua brings us to the Father.
This is not a contradiction. This is the distinction that the New Testament itself makes.
The error arises when people think there are only two possibilities: either Yeshua is God, or the Father is God. Scripture does not force us into that choice.
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- Yeshua is God.
- The Father is the only true God.
- Yeshua is not the Father.
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13. The God of the Old Testament Becomes Visible in Yeshua
The God of the Old Testament has not been replaced by a new God in the New Testament. The New Testament presents Yeshua precisely in continuity with the divine revelation that preceded it.
John writes that all things came into being through the Word.
John 1:3
All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.
Paul writes likewise:
1 Corinthians 8:6
Yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came, and for whom we live, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came, and through whom we live.
Here again we find exactly the distinction that stands at the center.
The Father – from whom all things are.
Yeshua – through whom all things are.
The Father is the Source. The Son is the divine Mediator through whom creation came into being.
14. The Father Was Not the Message of the Old Testament as He Was Revealed Through the Son
The Old Testament does speak of God as Father, but the question is whom they truly knew. They knew God as He had revealed Himself to them, but they did not know the Father Himself as the Father who stands above the Son. What they knew as God and Father was the divine revelation that had appeared to them — and within this line we understand that revelation to be the Son, Yeshua, whom they did not yet know in His coming as man. Only when Yeshua came was the Father Himself made known in a unique and decisive way. The Son knew the Father as no one else knew Him and came to make the Father known. That is why Yeshua says that no one knows the Father except the Son and the one to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him (Matt. 11:27). Yeshua therefore brought not merely new knowledge about God, but revealed the Father who stands above Him. This distinction is also confirmed in 1 Corinthians 15:27: all things are subjected to the Son, but the One who subjected all things to Him — the Father — is excepted from this. The Father is thus not the Son, and the Son is not the Father. The Son came forth from the Father, made the Father known, and brings us through Himself to the Father.
What is unique in the New Testament is that the Son reveals the Father out of His own unique relationship with Him.
John 1:18
No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.
Therefore, the coming of Yeshua is a decisive moment in God’s revelation.
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- The Son comes from the Father.
- The Son knows the Father.
- The Son reveals the Father.
- The Son brings people to the Father.
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15. The Father Was Not Made Known in the Same Way
The Old Testament shows that Israel knew God and could even refer to Him as Father. Yet this does not mean they knew the Father Himself as Yeshua came to reveal Him. They knew the God who had revealed Himself to them, but the deeper reality that this God is the Father of the Son, who stands above the Son, was only fully made known through Yeshua. Yeshua Himself says: “No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.” With this, Yeshua makes clear that knowledge of the Father is a revelation from the Son. John likewise writes that no one has ever seen God, but that the only begotten Son has made Him known. Yeshua did not come, then, to introduce an unknown God, but to make the Father known: the One who sent Him, the One to whom He prays, and the One who stands above Him.
Matthew 11:27
“All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him.”
John 1:18
“No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has made Him known.”
John 17:25-26
“Righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You, and these have known that You sent Me. And I have made Your Name known to them and will make it known, so that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
This is why the distinction is essential: Israel knew God, but not the Father. The Father was made known by the Son in a unique and perfect way. Yeshua came forth from the Father and did not point to Himself as the endpoint, but brought us through Himself to the Father.
15. The Heart of the Gospel
The Gospel is therefore not only about the question: “Who is Yeshua?” It is also about the question: “Who is the Father whom Yeshua came to reveal?”
Yeshua is the Way to the Father. He is the Son sent by the Father. He is God, yet He calls His Father His God.
John 20:17
Jesus said to her: Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brothers and say to them: I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.
This is extraordinarily important. The risen Yeshua speaks of My God and My Father.
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- The Father is the God of Yeshua.
- Yeshua is the Son of the Father.
- And through Yeshua we may become children of this Father.
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Practical application
1. Know the Father through the Son
The goal of the Gospel is not merely knowledge about God. Yeshua brings us into a relationship with the Father.
2. Do Not Diminish Yeshua
The distinction between Father and Son does not mean that Yeshua is merely a man or an angel. The New Testament speaks of Him as God and connects Him with the divine glory.
3. Do Not Make the Father and the Son the Same Person Either
The Father sends the Son. The Son prays to the Father. The Father gives authority to the Son. The Son subjects Himself to the Father.
4. Learn to Approach God as Father
Through the Spirit of adoption, believers may cry out:
ABBA, FATHER.
5. Read the Old Testament Through the Revelation of Yeshua
The coming of Yeshua does not destroy the Old Testament. It opens our eyes to the deeper connection between the earlier revelation and the revelation of the Son.
6. Hold Fast to the Distinction
Yeshua is God.
The Father is the only true God, above God.
Yeshua is not the Father.
Through Yeshua we come to the Father.
Summary
The Bible presents no contradiction between the Father and Yeshua. It reveals a distinction that is in fact necessary to understand the Gospel properly.
Yeshua is truly God. The Word was God, and the Word became flesh. Thomas calls the risen Yeshua “My Lord and my God.” John also connects the glory Isaiah saw with Yeshua.
But Yeshua is not the Father. He speaks to the Father, is sent by the Father, receives authority from the Father, and calls the Father His God. In John 17:3, Yeshua calls His Father the only true God.
This gives rise to an important biblical line:
THE FATHER → THE SON → HUMANITY
The Father is the Source. The Son is the One who comes from the Father. Yeshua is God, and at the same time reveals the Father who stands above Him.
What is unique about Yeshua’s coming, then, is not that He told mankind that a God exists. Israel knew the God of the covenant. Yeshua came to make known something deeper: the Father.
No one knows the Father as the Son knows Him.
And the Son has made Him known to us.
THE ONLY TRUE GOD → THE FATHER
HIS SON → YESHUA
THE WAY → THROUGH YESHUA
THE DESTINATION → THE FATHER
ABBA FATHER
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Is Yeshua God?
Yes. John 1:1 says the Word was God, but the Father is the only true God. read: Yeshua as the Visible Revelation of God
2. Is Yeshua the Same Person as the Father?
No. The Father and the Son are consistently distinguished from each other. The Father sends the Son, and Yeshua speaks to His Father.
3. According to John 17:3, Who Is the Only True God?
The Father, not the Son. Yeshua speaks to His Father and calls Him the only true God.
4. Does John 17:3 Mean Yeshua Is Not God?
No. John 17:3 distinguishes between the Father and the Son. John 1:1 and other texts simultaneously speak of Yeshua in divine terms. See question 1.
5. Was the Father Completely Unknown in the Old Testament?
Not in the sense that the Old Testament never calls God Father. Those they called Father were not God the Father Himself, but the Son, whom they thought was the Father. But Yeshua brings a unique revelation of the Father: the Son knows the Father in a unique way and makes Him known to whomever He wills.
6. Why Does Yeshua Say the Father Is Greater Than He Is?
John 14:28 makes clear that there is a distinction in position and origin. The Father sends the Son, and the Son receives from the Father. This does not mean Yeshua is not God.
7. Is YHWH Yeshua?
The New Testament connects various attributes, works, and Old Testament passages relating to YHWH with Yeshua. John 12:41 is an important example of this. But every text must be examined in its own context; not every mention of YHWH may simply be mechanically assigned to the Father or the Son.
8. Why Is John 1:18 So Important?
Because John says that no one has seen God and that the Son has made Him known. This supports the central idea that Yeshua reveals the Father to mankind.
9. What Does “Abba Father” Mean?
Abba is an Aramaic form of address for father. It is not a replacement for YHWH as a personal Name. It expresses the intimate relationship in which God’s children may call upon their Father.
10. Why Does Yeshua Say: “No One Comes to the Father Except Through Me”?
Because Yeshua is the Way by which people come to the Father. He reveals the Father and brings those who believe in Him to God.
11. What Does “Whoever Has Seen Me Has Seen the Father” Mean?
Yeshua reveals the Father perfectly. Whoever truly knows the Son sees in Him the character, will, and actions of the Father. It does not mean the Father and the Son are the same Person.
12. Why Is Yeshua the God of the Old Testament?
The New Testament connects Yeshua with divine glory, creation, and Old Testament texts. John 1:1-3, John 12:41, and other passages form important parts of this biblical connection.
13. Is the Father Greater Than Yeshua?
Yes. Yeshua Himself says: “My Father is greater than I” (John 14:28). The Father is the Source and the One who sends; Yeshua is the Son who is sent by Him.
14. Who, Then, Is Ultimately the Goal of Our Path?
The Father. Yeshua says: “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Yeshua is the Way to the Father.
15. What Is the Core of This Study?
That we must hold fast to the biblical distinctions without pitting one truth against another.
YESHUA IS GOD.
THE FATHER IS THE ONLY TRUE GOD.
YESHUA IS NOT THE FATHER.
YESHUA CAME TO MAKE THE FATHER KNOWN.
THROUGH YESHUA → TO THE FATHER.
The Son reveals the Father, so that we
may know the only true God as Abba Father.
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