Our Father Which Art, etc.
In the opening of this word, or title of God, two questions are to be opened.
1. Question: Whether by this title, father, is signified the whole Trinity or some one person thereof. Answer: Sometimes this name is attributed to all the persons in Trinity, or any of them. Malachi 2:10. Have we not all one father, etc. Luke 3:38. Which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. And in Isaiah 36. Christ is called the father of eternity, because all that are truly knit to him, and born anew by him, they are eternally made the sons of God. Again, often it is given to the first person in Trinity, as in those places where one person is conferred with another. And so in this place principally for some special respects, this title agrees to the first person. For first he is the father of Christ as he is the eternal word of the father, and that by nature, because he is of the same essence with him. Secondly, he is the father to Christ in respect of his manhood, not by nature or adoption, but by personal union, because the human nature does subsist in the person of the word. Thirdly, he is a father to all the faithful by adoption in Christ.
2. Question: Whether are we to pray to the Son and the Holy Spirit as to the Father? Answer: Invocation belongs to all the three persons in Trinity, and not only to the father, Acts 7:59. Stephen prays, Lord Jesus receive my spirit. 1 Thessalonians 3:2. Now God our father and our Lord Jesus Christ guide our journey to you. 2 Corinthians 13:13. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you. And men are baptized in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit, that is, by calling on the name of the father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Some may say, this prayer is a perfect platform of all prayers, and yet we are taught to direct our prayers to the father, not to the Son, or Holy Spirit. I answer, the father, Son, and Holy Spirit, are three distinct persons, yet they are not to be severed or divided, because they all subsist in one and the same Godhead or divine nature. And further in all outward actions, as in the creation and preservation of the world, and the salvation of the elect, they are not severed or divided: for they all work together, only they are distinguished in the manner of working. Now if they be not divided in nature or operation, then they are not to be severed in worship.
And in this place we principally direct our prayers to the father, because he is the first in order: yet so, as then we imply the Son and Holy Spirit. For we pray to the father in the name of the Son by the assistance of the Holy Spirit. And to whatever person the prayer is directed, we must always remember in mind and heart to include the rest.
