Romans 8:14-16
Of all of the names of God that appear in the Bible, only one was revealed to us through the life of Jesus in the New Covenant. Jesus said, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world” (John 17:6). Jesus never revealed Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Shalom or any of the other Old Testament Hebrew names for God; but He did reveal “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36). Jesus brought God from the distant mountain of Sinai to the close mountain of Zion. We now can see God as our Everlasting Father and as our Abba.
The Holy Spirit was so jealous of this word ‘Abba’ that He refused to allow the translators to change it. It appears three times in the New Testament, with the third coming in Galatians 4:6. It means “daddy”, and it remains the most intimate way to address our fathers unto this day. By giving the believer the right to call God, “Abba”, and the Holy Spirit is testifying of the fatherly love that our heavenly Father shows toward us.
“Abba, Father” removes the distance between God and man, bridging the divide that our law-keeping and our sinning have created. No longer do we view Him as angry and judgmental; but now He is our daddy that takes us in His arms and protects us from all harm.
Before we know God as Abba, we fear Him because of our failures and sins. This is why Paul tells us that we have not received the spirit of bondage “again to fear”. We feared God in an unholy way before we met Christ, and this fear was bondage. Now that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, we no longer are in bondage to fear.
When Paul tells the Galatian church that they can cry “Abba, Father”, he goes on explain to them that they should “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). Only when you feel the distance between you and God has been taken out will you cry out to Him as your daddy. When you feel that comfort to call Him that, you will know that you have been made free from the Law of performance and works. To go back into that formalism, where God is not your daddy, is to go back to law, which brings back the yoke of bondage.
We have the Spirit of adoption working in us, identifying us as God’s prized possessions. Since we have been adopted into His family, we are joint-heirs with Christ, meaning that we receive everything that He has coming to Him. He has paid it all, and now due to the adoption process of God, we are the recipients!
Never feel condemned for getting on intimate terms with God. Some will tell you that God is holy and august and that if you call Him “Daddy” you are getting too familiar with Him. Don’t you dare say that to my daughter about how she should talk to me! She belongs to me and I belong to her and she has the right to call me “Daddy” anytime and every time that she desires. I never want her to feel so distanced from me that she feels it necessary to call me “Pastor Paul”; that would turn my stomach! If you are that close to your children, how much closer do you think our Daddy God wants to be to us?
Of all of the names of God that appear in the Bible, only one was revealed to us through the life of Jesus in the New Covenant. Jesus said, “I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world” (John 17:6). Jesus never revealed Jehovah-Jireh, Jehovah-Nissi, Jehovah-Shalom or any of the other Old Testament Hebrew names for God; but He did reveal “Abba, Father” (Mark 14:36). Jesus brought God from the distant mountain of Sinai to the close mountain of Zion. We now can see God as our Everlasting Father and as our Abba.
The Holy Spirit was so jealous of this word ‘Abba’ that He refused to allow the translators to change it. It appears three times in the New Testament, with the third coming in Galatians 4:6. It means “daddy”, and it remains the most intimate way to address our fathers unto this day. By giving the believer the right to call God, “Abba”, and the Holy Spirit is testifying of the fatherly love that our heavenly Father shows toward us.
“Abba, Father” removes the distance between God and man, bridging the divide that our law-keeping and our sinning have created. No longer do we view Him as angry and judgmental; but now He is our daddy that takes us in His arms and protects us from all harm.
Before we know God as Abba, we fear Him because of our failures and sins. This is why Paul tells us that we have not received the spirit of bondage “again to fear”. We feared God in an unholy way before we met Christ, and this fear was bondage. Now that we are redeemed by the precious blood of Jesus, we no longer are in bondage to fear.
When Paul tells the Galatian church that they can cry “Abba, Father”, he goes on explain to them that they should “Stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage” (Galatians 5:1). Only when you feel the distance between you and God has been taken out will you cry out to Him as your daddy. When you feel that comfort to call Him that, you will know that you have been made free from the Law of performance and works. To go back into that formalism, where God is not your daddy, is to go back to law, which brings back the yoke of bondage.
We have the Spirit of adoption working in us, identifying us as God’s prized possessions. Since we have been adopted into His family, we are joint-heirs with Christ, meaning that we receive everything that He has coming to Him. He has paid it all, and now due to the adoption process of God, we are the recipients!
Never feel condemned for getting on intimate terms with God. Some will tell you that God is holy and august and that if you call Him “Daddy” you are getting too familiar with Him. Don’t you dare say that to my daughter about how she should talk to me! She belongs to me and I belong to her and she has the right to call me “Daddy” anytime and every time that she desires. I never want her to feel so distanced from me that she feels it necessary to call me “Pastor Paul”; that would turn my stomach! If you are that close to your children, how much closer do you think our Daddy God wants to be to us?
