A New Relationship

"The whole spirit of Old Testament religion was determined by the thought of God's holiness. The constant emphasis was that human beings, because of their weakness as creatures and their defilement as sinful creatures, must learn to humble themselves and be reverent before God...But in the New Testament we find that things have changed. God and religion are not less than they were; Old Testament revelation of the holiness of God, and its demand for humility in man is presupposed throughout. But something has been added. A new factor has come in. New Testament believers deal with God as their Father. Father is the name by which they call him. Father has now become his covenant name - for the covenant which binds him to his people now stands revealed as a family covenant. Christians are his children, his own sons and daughters, his heirs." J.I. Packer, Knowing God, pg. 202-203