SOUNDING OUT:
Abba, Father , by Nathan James

  Did you ever ask yourself, “Why did God create the earth?” I have, and I’ve seen the answer in God’s Word. In Genesis, we see clearly that the world was made for mankind. Indeed, even the stars, so very far away, are there for us.

  The sun, moon, and stars were all made for mankind, to give us light, and seasons, and days, and years, and to be signs showing God’s master plan. The stars announced the birth of Jesus Christ. That’s how the wise men knew to come looking for “...he that is born King of the Jews….” (Matthew 2:2) It wasn’t because God lacked servants that He made the earth. He had the angels to serve Him, and to acknowledge Him as God. What was it, then, that God gained in mankind? It was the father-son relationship. That is something God did not have with the angels.

  God’s heart’s desire was fulfilled in mankind, but not in every man and woman. Although some teach that everyone is a child of God, this is not what God says in His Word. God has said that Jesus Christ is His firstborn. Christ, whose birth was foretold in the Scriptures, and heralded from the sky, was the first to truly be God’s Son. He is called the “only begotten” Son of God (John 3:16) because He is the only one who is God’s Son by physical birth. The Scriptures testify to the closeness of the Father and the Son.

  Jesus Christ had great confidence in his relationship with his Father, and he and God looked forward to a whole family of sons,

  Who now makes up this family? Who are these “many brethren?” They are the men and women whom God knew would believe in Jesus Christ. These are the sons for whom God lovingly prepared the earth. When you and I believed and confessed Jesus as the Lord, we became born again. Now, we are brothers of Jesus Christ and, truly, sons of God.

  The Lord has left us a phrase in the Word that highlights the closeness of this father-son relationship which He so longed for throughout the ages. This phrase is, “Abba, Father.” It is rather amazing that the word abba has been preserved, and even carried into our modern English Bibles. Abba is an Aramaic word, and it was transliterated into Greek letters when it was written in the Greek manuscripts. It was later transliterated into English letters. It is a foreign word that God has preserved to draw our attention, and it shows us something amazing.

  The Greek word for “father” is pater, and it has a broad usage. Pater could mean a father, or an ancestor, or a respected elder, or the inventor/originator of something. It was also used as a title of honor for teachers, and even members of the Sanhedrin, the ruling council of ancient Israel. The Hebrew and Aramaic word that is equivalent to pater is ab. Ab is very formal, and was used in ways similar to those mentioned for pater. Abba (from ab), on the other hand, was used very specifically of one’s actual father. It is more intimate, like the English word “daddy.” Some scholars say that Jesus, who spoke Aramaic, not Greek, referred to God as his abba frequently. Speaking to God in such an informal and familiar way would have been seen as disrespectful by the religious leaders of the time. That’s because the Jews never spoke to God as their father. Throughout the Old Testament, the believers’ relationship to God was that of servants to their lord. Jesus Christ, however, was God’s only begotten Son. He had every right to call his Father, “Daddy.”

  There is only one place where abba is recorded in the Scriptures as being spoken by a man to God. That is in the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus Christ prayed privately to His Father before His crucifixion.

  This is not flowery, poetic speech. This is not a lengthy and ornate prayer. This is God’s Son coming to his Father with a heavy heart, saying, “Father (Dad), if there is any other way....” If it were possible, Jesus didn’t want to be scourged and mocked; he didn’t want to be beaten and crucified; he didn’t W ANT to die. He went to God with the simplicity of a child to his father, his daddy. “Nevertheless” he said, “not what I will, but what Thou wilt.” He made his decision to follow God’s plan.

  Although this is the only place in the Bible where Jesus is recorded as saying, “Abba, Father,” amazingly, this phrase occurs two more times in the Word. Upon whose lips has God put these words?

  We, who have been saved according to Romans 10:9, and are born again of incorruptible seed (I Peter 1:23), are now sons of God (I John 3:2). The essential part of this is the holy spirit that God gave us at the moment we believed. It is a “sonship” spirit, and it is by this spirit that we can call God our abba, “daddy.”

  The final occurrence of abba is in Romans 8. Here, again, we are told about the spirit we have received. In the King James Version, it is called a “...Spirit of adoption (huiothesia).” Adoption, however, is a poor translation of the Greek word huiothesia. The problem is that we don’t have an exact English word that matches it. It actually means, “the quality or state of being a son,” or “sonship.” The term was applied to adoptions during ancient Roman times, and that sense of the word has carried over into our English Bibles. According to Roman law, a man would give the huiothesia to another, thereby making him a son by adoption.

  Interestingly, under the law of the times, a Roman citizen could legally disown a son by birth. If the son was a disappointment or a disgrace, the father could disown and disinherit him. If the man, however, picked out someone and made him his son by giving him the huiothesia, he could never disown him. The thinking may have been that he knew in advance what he was getting into.

  Brothers and sisters, God knew what He was getting into when He made us His sons. He knew who we were, and who we would become. He foreknew us, as we have seen from Romans 8:29. He chose us, knowing what blessings we will be to Him in the ages to come. We can never disappoint God, and He will never disown us. He has written it in His Word, which He magnified above all His name (Psalms 138:2b). We are children of God, and no matter what, we can come to Him with open hearts and child-like simplicity. Just like our Lord and elder brother, Jesus Christ, by the spirit, we, too, can say, “Abba, Father.”

[This article originally appeared in The Ryburn Christian Chronicle, Vol. IV No.2, Winter 2007]