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Quick answer: The Greek word for father is pater (πατήρ, pronounced pah-TAIR), Strong’s G3962. It appears over 400 times in the New Testament and can mean a birth father, an ancestor like Abraham, a spiritual mentor, or – most often of all – God. It is the word Jesus puts at the front of the Lord’s Prayer: “Our Father which art in heaven” (Matthew 6:9). And it is the same word, letter for sound, as the English “father.”
Word Study: Where It Comes From
Pater is one of the oldest words we can trace. Linguists reconstruct it back to the ancestor language behind Greek, Latin, Sanskrit and the Germanic tongues, which is why it turns up almost unchanged across half the world: Latin pater, Sanskrit pitar, Gothic fadar, English father. The English word is not a translation of pater at all – it is the same word, worn smooth by centuries of Germanic speech, where the old p softened into f and the t into th.
You speak its descendants every day. Paternal and patron come from the Latin twin. Patriarch comes straight from New Testament Greek (patriarches, “chief father”). Patriot comes from patris, “the land of one’s fathers.” Even pattern began life as a spelling of patron – the father figure whose example you copy. Hidden inside all of these is the same idea: a father is the one you come from, the one you belong to, and the one you resemble.
Here is what makes the New Testament usage so striking. Greek religion already called its chief god “father” – Homer’s stock phrase for Zeus is “father of men and gods.” But that title meant something like “ruler and begetter of everything”: distant, powerful and largely uninterested in you. It was not a word for close, everyday conversation. When Jesus picked up this ordinary household word, He did something the Greek world had not done with it. He made it the normal, daily, personal way to speak to God – and then handed that way of speaking to His followers.
The Gospel of John uses pater for God more than a hundred times. In Matthew 6 alone – the Sermon on the Mount’s teaching on giving, prayer and fasting – Jesus says “your Father” again and again, in almost every other verse. The word is not decoration. It is the frame the whole spiritual life is built inside.
Where This Word Appears in the Bible
| Reference | KJV Text | What the word is doing |
|---|---|---|
| Matthew 6:6 | “But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.” | A Father who is present in private, not only in public worship |
| Matthew 6:9 | “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.” | The opening word of the prayer Jesus taught – Pater hemon, “Father of us” |
| Matthew 23:9 | “And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.” | Only one pater holds ultimate authority over your life |
| John 14:9 | “Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?” | Jesus as the visible picture of what the Father is like |
| James 1:17 | “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” | The Father as the steady, unchanging source of every good thing |
Verse Deep Dive: Ephesians 3:14-15, Where Every Family Gets Its Name
“For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named.” In English this reads like a pleasant line about God’s big family. In Greek it is a deliberate play on words that you simply cannot see in translation.
Paul bows before the Pater, “of whom every patria is named.” Patria (Strong’s G3965) is built directly on pater. It means a family, a clan, a line of descent – literally “a fatherhood,” a group of people traced back to one father. Luke uses it when he says Joseph was “of the house and lineage of David” (Luke 2:4); “lineage” there is patria. So Paul is saying: every patria takes its name from the Pater. Some translations note that it could even be rendered “from whom all fatherhood is named.”
Notice which direction that runs. The common objection to calling God “Father” is that we are taking our own human fathers – with all their flaws – and projecting them onto heaven. Paul says the opposite. God’s fatherhood is the original. Every human family, every lineage, every father on earth is the copy, named after the real thing. Human fathers are not the measure of God; God is the measure of them.
That matters most for people whose earthly fathers failed them. If “father” only means what your own father was, then calling God “Father” can feel like a threat. But if every patria is named from the Pater, then a father who left, hurt or never showed up was a broken copy – not a true picture of the original. You are not being asked to trust a bigger version of the man who disappointed you. You are being invited to meet the one that fatherhood was always supposed to point to.
And look at how Paul names that original: “the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The Father is defined first through the Son. That is exactly what Jesus told Philip: “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). If you want to know what the true Pater is like, you do not start with your own childhood. You start by watching Jesus – the way He touched lepers, welcomed children, fed crowds and wept at a grave.
Not All “Father” Is the Same
Pater is one word, but the New Testament uses it – and its close relatives – in several distinct ways. Knowing which one you are reading changes the sentence:
- Pater as a birth father. The everyday sense: Zebedee in the boat with his sons (Matthew 4:21), or “Honour thy father and mother” quoted in Ephesians 6:2.
- Pater as ancestor. Abraham is called “the father of us all” (Romans 4:16) – not a biological claim about every reader, but a statement about whose family of faith we belong to.
- Pater as spiritual mentor. Paul tells the Corinthians, “though ye have ten thousand instructers in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel” (1 Corinthians 4:15). A teacher passes on information; a father passes on life.
- Patria – the family named from a father. The word at the heart of Ephesians 3:15, meaning a clan or lineage.
- Patriarches – “chief father.” Used of Abraham (Hebrews 7:4), Jacob’s sons (Acts 7:8-9) and David (Acts 2:29) – the founding fathers of Israel.
The Aramaic word abba, which the New Testament sets right beside pater in a few key places, is a story of its own – and deserves its own study rather than a footnote here. For the Old Testament side of this word, see our study of the Hebrew word for father, av.
Why the Original Word Changes the Meaning
In English, “Our Father” can sound like a formal liturgical title – something said in unison in a church, slightly stiff, slightly distant. In Greek, pater was the word a child used at the dinner table. The shock of the Lord’s Prayer is not that it is reverent. It is that something so reverent opens with such a homely word.
Knowing the word also guards against a misunderstanding. Calling God Pater does not mean God is male. God has no gender. The word describes a relationship – origin, belonging, provision, family resemblance – and Ephesians 3:15 shows that the relationship starts with God and flows down to us, not the other way round.
And it changes how you read Easter morning. After the resurrection, Jesus tells Mary Magdalene: “go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God” (John 20:17). All through John’s Gospel, Jesus has spoken of “my Father.” Now, for the first time in that Gospel, He puts “my Father” and “your Father” side by side – and calls the disciples His brothers. The cross and the empty tomb have opened the family. What was His by nature is now offered to us by grace.
Living It Out
Matthew 6 pictures a Father “which seeth in secret.” Try taking that literally this week. Once a day, go somewhere private – a parked car, a closed bedroom, a walk alone – and pray with no audience and no performance, starting simply with “Father.” Notice how different that feels from praying in front of others.
Then remember Paul’s “not many fathers.” Someone around you may need more than an instructor. Who could you pass life to – not just advice – by being steady, present and faithful in their corner?
Journal Prompts
- Ephesians 3:15 says every family is named from the Father, not the other way round. Where have you been measuring God by your own father – for better or worse? What would change if you let God be the original and your earthly father the copy?
- Jesus told Philip, “he that hath seen me hath seen the Father” (John 14:9). Pick one scene from the Gospels where Jesus shows tenderness or courage. What does that scene tell you about what the Father is like toward you?
- In John 20:17 Jesus says “my Father, and your Father” side by side for the first time in John’s Gospel. Write that sentence out with your own name in it. Which part is hardest for you to believe – and why?
Prayer
Lord, You are the Pater from whom every family on earth is named. Where my own picture of a father has been broken, let me see You as You truly are – in the face of Jesus, who showed me what You are like. Thank You that the risen Christ calls Your Father my Father, and that I can come to You in secret with no performance at all. Make me someone who passes on life, not just words, to the people You have given me. Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Amen.
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- The Greek word for father, “pater,” is the same word as English “father” – and Ephesians 3:15 says every family on earth is named after the Father, not the other way round. [Post URL]
- All through John’s Gospel, Jesus says “my Father.” After the resurrection He says, for the first time in John, “my Father, and your Father” (John 20:17). The family was opened. [Post URL]
FAQ
What is the Greek word for father in the Bible?
The Greek word for father is pater (πατήρ), Strong’s G3962. It appears over 400 times in the New Testament and is used for birth fathers, ancestors, spiritual mentors and, most often, God.
What does “Our Father” mean in Greek in Matthew 6:9?
The prayer opens Pater hemon, literally “Father of us.” Pater was an ordinary family word, so the Lord’s Prayer begins not with a formal title but with the word a child would use for a parent.
What is the difference between pater and abba?
Pater is the Greek word for father; abba is the Aramaic word Jesus would have spoken. The New Testament occasionally keeps the Aramaic and places the Greek right beside it, but pater is the word used throughout the rest of the New Testament.
Does calling God “Father” mean God is male?
No. God has no gender. Pater describes a relationship of origin, belonging and care. Ephesians 3:15 even reverses the usual assumption: human fatherhood is named after God, not God after human fathers.
