THE SPIRIT OF ADOPTION, WHEREBY WE CRY, ABBA, FATHER

The word ‘Spirit’ appears twice in our verse and scholars are divided as to whether the capital ‘S’ should be used in both instances (in which case the Holy Spirit is meant), or whether, as DARBY prefers, the small ‘s’ should be used (in which case it means simply a temper, mood or state). LEON MORRIS, in his IVP Commentary, concludes that ‘Paul is here saying two things about the Spirit: first, negatively, that the Spirit believers received is not one of bondage; second, positively, He is a Spirit of sonship the Spirit does not make people slaves but sons’.¹

The Newberry Bible replaces the phrase ‘the Spirit of adoption’ with ‘the Spirit of sonship’. Adoption was common in the first century among both Romans and Greeks, though not among Jews. Indeed, among first-century Romans an adopted son was deliberately chosen by his adoptive father to perpetuate his name and inherit his estates. He was not inferior in status to a son by birth. This sense of ‘adoption’ seems close to biblical usage; in Galatians chapter 4 verse 5 and Ephesians chapter 1 verse 5, ‘adoption’ implies son-placing, the placing of all believers as mature, adult sons of God with all the privileges and responsibilities of sonship.

The Spirit inspires us to cry, ‘Abba, Father’. These two titles are also on the lips of Christ in Gethsemane, ‘Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee’, Mark 14. 36; and Paul quotes them, ‘And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father’, Gal. 4. 6. ‘Abba’ is an Aramaic word meaning ‘Father’. VINE writes that ‘it is the cry of an infant, the simple, helpless utterance of unreasoning trust, the effect of feeling rather than knowledge (cp. English “Papa”) “Father” is another mode of address. It is relationship intelligently realized by the one who utters it, and the two expressions together indicate the love and intelligent trust of the child’.²

The fact that ‘wecry, Abba, Father’ implies the intensity of our feelings. The Spirit will never encourage us to be casual as we draw near to the Father. We may confide in Him as in no one else. Let us ever do so, without reserve.

¹

L. MORRIS, The Epistle to the Romans, W. B. Eerdmans, pg. 314.

²

W. E. VINE, The Epistle to the Romans, Zondervan, 1948, pg. 120.