CCC 238 Many religions invoke God as “Father”. The deity is often considered the “father of gods and of men”. In Israel, God is called “Father” inasmuch as he is Creator of the world.1 Even more, God is Father because of the covenant and the gift of the law to Israel, “his first-born son”.2 God is also called the Father of the king of Israel. Most especially he is “the Father of the poor”, of the orphaned and the widowed, who are under his loving protection.3
CCC 441 In the Old Testament, “son of God” is a title given to the angels, the Chosen People, the children of Israel, and their kings.4 It signifies an adoptive sonship that establishes a relationship of particular intimacy between God and his creature. When the promised Messiah-King is called “son of God”, it does not necessarily imply that he was more than human, according to the literal meaning of these texts. Those who called Jesus “son of God”, as the Messiah of Israel, perhaps meant nothing more than this.5
CCC 709 The Law, the sign of God’s promise and covenant, ought to have governed the hearts and institutions of that people to whom Abraham’s faith gave birth. “If you will obey my voice and keep my covenant,. .. you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.”6 But after David, Israel gave in to the temptation of becoming a kingdom like other nations. The Kingdom, however, the object of the promise made to David,7 would be the work of the Holy Spirit; it would belong to the poor according to the Spirit.
1 Cf. Deut 32:6; Mal 2:10.
2 Ex 4:22.
3 Cf. 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 68:6.
4 Cf. Dt 14:1; (LXX) 32:8; Job 1:6; Ex 4:22; Hos 2:1; 11:1; Jer 3:19; sir 36:11; Wis 18:13; 2 Sam 7:14; Ps 82:6.
5 Cf. I Chr 17:13; Ps 2:7; Mt 27:54; Lk 23:47.
6 Ex 19:5-6; Cf. 1 Pet 2:9.
7 Cf. 2 Sam 7; Ps 89; Lk 1:32-33.