From the Aramaic אַבָּא, transliterated into Greek as Ἀββᾶ (Abba): father, in the form used within a household. Semantic force: This is domestic speech, not liturgical. It was the word a child used to his own father in ordinary conversation, and no Jewish prayer of the period addressed God with it. Theological depth: That the word survives untranslated in Greek letters to Greek-speaking churches indicates how startling it was. It is preserved in the New Testament exactly where the Spirit's work in producing sonship is described.

Supporting Scriptures

Abba, FatherNew Testament

“And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; take away this cup from me: nevertheless not what I will, but what thou wilt.”

(KJV)

Christ Himself uses it in Gethsemane, which is where the church's permission to use it comes from.

No More a ServantNew Testament

“Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.”

(KJV)

Paul draws the conclusion in the next verse: not a servant, but a son, and an heir through God.

Thou, O LORD, Art Our FatherOld Testament

“Doubtless thou art our father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel acknowledge us not: thou, O LORD, art our father, our redeemer; thy name is from everlasting.”

(KJV)

Abba is not a word Israel had never reached for. Isaiah reaches for it against the evidence: though Abraham be ignorant of us, thou art our father.

The Exposition

And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. Note the order, because Paul is precise and the sequence is regularly reversed in practice. Not: you cry Abba, and therefore you are sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit who cries it. The sonship comes first; the experience of it follows and is produced by God, not manufactured by the believer. The word itself is the surprising part. Abba is Aramaic, not Greek, and Paul leaves it untranslated in a letter to Galatians who did not speak Aramaic — which means it had already become something the churches said. It was household speech, the word a child used to his own father in the ordinary business of the day. No Jewish prayer of the period addressed God this way; the distance was thought too great for that kind of familiarity. And then Christ used it in Gethsemane, in the worst hour of His life, and the church inherited the vocabulary from Him. The pastoral force of this lands on the specific fear of the person who believes the doctrine of adoption and cannot feel it: that they are tolerated rather than wanted, kept on as staff rather than family. Paul's answer is that the very impulse to call God Father is not evidence you have worked something up. It is the Spirit of His Son, in you, doing the crying.

The Altar

Begin your prayer today by addressing God as Father, and stop long enough to consider that the impulse to do so was given to you.

Daily Reading & Meditation

Passage:

Focus: Follow Paul's comparison between an heir under age and a servant, and note what changes at the time appointed of the father.

Ask yourself: What word do you naturally reach for when you address God? Notice whether Father feels earned or given. The impulse to use it at all came from Him.

Abba, Father, because I am a son You have sent forth the Spirit of Your Son into my heart, crying Abba. Silence my orphan fears today by that Spirit of adoption. I ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus, Your only begotten Son. Amen.

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