Abba! Father!

The love of my dad encouraged me to 
embrace the love of my Heavenly Father. 
This is a fun meal with him -- about a year before
he passed away. 

Scripture:

Rom. 8:12   So then, brothers and sisters, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh— ¹³ for if you live according to the flesh, you will die; but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For all who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God. ¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba! Father!” ¹⁶ it is that very Spirit bearing witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ—if, in fact, we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.

Observation:

The “So then” stands out, as Paul is reaffirming the Romans as “brothers and sisters.” This is the fourth time that he has addressed them in this way, and this is highly significant. Whether a Roman, or whether a Jew, we are called to be a part of one family, a family in which we do not live by the flesh, but by the Spirit. It is the Spirit within that creates the family resemblance and unites those who are dissimilar in the flesh to become One in the Spirit. 

Living in the Spirit means that we don’t live in slavery to our physical bodies. What we may have inherited in the flesh can be transformed by the presence of the Spirit. In Paul’s mind, there is no such thing as a half-hearted Christian who uses the desires of the flesh as an excuse for limited participation in God’s kingdom. “Since justification and sanctification are inseparable in the divine economy, the lowest degree of obedience expected of us as God’s children is the highest degree of which we are capable at any moment” (Edlin & Modine, NBBC). A person who is born-again, is to live a new life through the Spirit in anticipation of the resurrection, and this changes everything. 

In many ways the climax of this passage is verse fifteen when he says, “we cry, ‘Abba! Father!’” The intentionality of the use of language may be lost on us. “Abba” is the Aramaic term, which would have been used by the Jews of the day, and “Father” is written in Greek, which would have been used by those of Roman society. Paul is covering his bases and making sure that all of his readers understand the inclusivity of the phrase. The invitation into the family is for everyone — Jew and Greek alike. Adoption into God’s family is the greatest gift, and the Spirit bears witness that we may all become children of God. The infilling with the Spirit provides the family resemblance, as we no longer live by the flesh, but as joint heirs with Christ. 

Application:

Last week my husband and I had the privilege of attending the funeral of a friend from our missionary days. More than twenty five years ago, we all served together in Eurasia. Interestingly, those of us who came to the funeral talked about how we felt like family. We had all be put together, in a certain moment in history, to become a family that was serving God together. 

At that time the Berlin Wall had just come down and much of Europe was in a season of transformation. Just twenty to thirty years ago we didn’t have the ability to communicate to family and friends “back home” like we do today. A long-distance call cost a small fortune and so we had to rely upon those who were within physical proximity to become “family.” As we celebrated the life of Jan Weisen, the “family” gathered. While his biological family was present, there was this small sub-group, the Eurasia family that also came together. Time after time we used familial language with one another, until we finally realized that during that season of life, we had become like family. Just like family we had the “lore” to share, and it was the common experiences that shaped us into this most unlikely unit. We are not of the same nationality, nor do we share a common mother-tongue, and yet, we had been knit together by a moment in time that created a bond that went much deeper than flesh. 

It was a season, but it was also the Spirit that united us. We were one in Christ, one in mission, and we became one in Him. This is God’s plan for humanity. We have a loving Father who reaches out to us and invites us into his family. Sadly, it is the flesh that, far too often, becomes the barrier to accepting the invitation. We live in a world that celebrates the flesh and somehow believes that the Spirit is antithetical to our “true” fleshly selves. Sadly, this is not God’s intent for humanity, but it is the deception on a grand scale that will keep us from becoming all that we could as Spirit-filled children of God. 

There is no greater gift than to embrace our “Abba! Father!” Those words, spoken so endearingly, are life-giving and life-changing. Grace is extended to those who want to be welcomed into the family embrace. 

Prayer:

Abba! Daddy! Thanks for the hug. Amen.