Did Old Testament Jews address God as Father, and why attack Jesus for it in John 5:18?
A viewer asks whether Old Testament Jews addressed God as Father the way we do, and if so why the Jews wanted to harm Jesus for calling God his Father in John 5:18.
Answer
Yes and no. There are about a half a dozen passages in the Old Testament where the prophets call God Father, so the name is not unique to the New Testament. What is unique is that the people did not use the word Father when addressing God; only the prophets did. So it does double duty: on the one hand it connects us with the Father of the New Testament, since it is the same God, and it let those who were listening to the prophets' message, which most of Israel was not, have a peek at the fact that God is a Father. That would then be carried over into the New Testament once Jesus came. So yes, for a special, privileged few who listened to the prophets, God was known as Father, but for the mass of people in Israel, no, they did not know God as their Father.