Throughout growing up as a member of the Latter-Day Saints, I have always known Christ to be my elder brother and have usually only referred to him as such. However, this week in my Book of Mormon class, we talked about how Christ is sometimes referred to as our father and it takes on even more meaning to the love that Christ has for us.
In Mosiah 5:7, King Benjamin states the following:
7 And now, because of the covenant which ye have made ye shall be called the children of Christ, his sons, and his daughters; for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you; for ye say that your hearts are changed through faith on his name; therefore, ye are born of him and have become his sons and his daughters.
As I said before, these are some of the last words from King Benjamin after gathering all of his people together. We often hear that we are "children of God" or "children of our Heavenly Father." King Benjamin, however, refers to the believers as "children of Christ...for behold, this day he hath spiritually begotten you." Someone who is a father is somebody involved in the birth of a child or the raising of a child. To me, this means that through the life of Jesus Christ, he gave us a "spiritual rebirth" and thus become our Father in a sense. How beautiful that is! Christ is not only our elder brother, he is also our Father in the sense that he has helped us to progress and grow, he has given us a rebirth.
As we strive to see Christ in numerous different perspectives, our love for him continues to grow! There are hundreds of different words that describe him throughout the scriptures and the more we learn about these names the more we will come to know our Lord and Savior, our Redeemer, our elder brother, and in a way, our Father.
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