Verse 6
God also sent the Holy Spirit to indwell believers and to motivate us to approach God. The "heart" is the seat of the will (cf. Proverbs 4:23). Our relationship with God can be intimate rather than formal. We can call Him "Daddy." "Abba" means that in Aramaic (cf. Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15-16).
"However, we oversentimentalize this word when we refer to it as mere baby talk and translate it into English as ’daddy.’ The word Abba appears in certain legal texts of the Mishna as a designation used by grown children in claiming the inheritance of their deceased father. [Note: Footnote 192: See Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, s.v. "abba," by G. Kittel.] As a word of address Abba is not so much associated with infancy as it is with intimacy. It is a cry of the heart, not a word spoken calmly with personal detachment and reserve, but a word we ’call’ or ’cry out’ (krazo). . . .
". . . it would be presumptuous and daring beyond all propriety to address God as Abba had Jesus himself not bidden us to do so." [Note: George, pp. 307, 308.]
"Most of the Jews knew both Greek and Aramaic. But there remains the question why Jesus used both in his prayer. Was it not natural for both words to come to him in his hour of agony as in his childhood? The same thing may be true here in Paul’s case." [Note: Robertson, 4:302.]
"The presence of the Spirit is thus a witness of their sonship." [Note: Lightfoot, p. 169.]
"The purpose of the Son’s mission was to give the rights of sonship; the purpose of the Spirit’s mission, to give the power of using them." [Note: H. B. Swete, The Holy Spirit in the New Testament, p. 204.]
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