One of the objections made to Jesus being God in human flesh is that Jesus supposedly equates Himself with men by saying “Our Father” in the Lord’s prayer (Matthew 6:9).
Actually it is very interesting that Jesus never again utters the words “our Father” in the entirety of the Gospels. Surely He would have used those words again if He was equating Himself with men in His sonship.
The actual words He uses concerning the Father are:
“My Father” occurs in 36 verses.
“Your Father” in 16 verses.
“The Father” in 67 verses.
But He said, “our Father” only ONCE—in the Lord’s prayer!
Why is this? First let’s look at what is called “The Lord’s Prayer.”
In Matthew 6, He is teaching His disciples about prayer. He says “Your Father” 5 times as He is teaching about the disciples’ relationship to the Father in prayer. In the verse before the actual prayer, He says, “for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him. Pray then like this: Our Father…” (Matt 6:8-9a ESV, emphasis added ). This prayer is a model prayer for His disciples’ prayers.
M’s argue that He is including Himself in the prayer, as if it were a prayer He would pray Himself. That could not be true, because M’s and Christians both believe that Jesus was sinless, and yet in this prayer He says, “and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matt 6:12 ESV, emphasis added). Jesus could not have prayed this prayer. He is clearly crafting a prayer for His disciples to follow. And to clarify this, immediately after the prayer He says, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you,” (Matt 6:14 ESV, emphasis added) He does NOT say, “for if WE forgive men their trespasses, OUR heavenly Father will forgive US.” This verse also clarifies the kind of debt is being talked about in verse 12: the “debts” are “trespasses,” otherwise known as sins.
The fact that He never uses “Our Father” in any other context is VERY telling. It would be very normal and appropriate and expected to include Himself in all His teachings about man’s relationships with the Father, if He was equating His relationship with theirs, but He never does. In John 20:17, Jesus even goes out of His way separate Himself, saying as He is going up to heaven, “I go to my Father and your Father, my God and your God.”
The Son’s relationship with the Father is unique. In Matthew 11:27 He says, “no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him” (ESV)
The lack of other occurrences of “our Father” is actually a compelling argument for the uniqueness of Christ’s Sonship.