Abba, Father - Jerry Bridges

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by Him we cry, Abba, Father (Romans 8:15).

But when the time had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full right of sons. Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of His son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, "Abba, Father" (Galatians' 4:4-6)


What does it mean to be adopted as sons of God? For one thing, it means that we have been brought into a close personal relationship with Him.

Remember, we were rebels on death row, awaiting our execution date. But when  God pardoned us, He adopted us and brought us into His royal family.

What's more, we have confident and ready access to Him.

He gives us the privilege of addressing Him as "Abba, Father."

Abba was the word for father in the Aramaic language of Jews in Paul's day.

It was a term of intimate endearment toward and confidence in the one so addressed.

It was the term used by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, when He prayed to his Father that the cup of wrath might be taken from Him (Mark 14:36).

And Paul tells us that because of our adoption of as sons we can address the eternal God of the universe -- the One whom we have rebelled against - as "Abba, Father."

--From The Gospel for Real Life, Chapter 12, by
Jerry Bridges