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“Happy 'Abba' Day (Father's Day 2025)”
Categories: marriage & family, theology“When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, ‘Abba! Father!’ So you are no longer a slave, but a son…” (Gl. 4:4-7)
In that passage (and also in Rom. 8), Christ’s apostle talks about us calling God our abba—our father. That word, used only three times in the whole Bible, is Aramaic (not Hebrew) for ‘father’ and is used exclusively to describe our relationship with our heavenly Father. It’s a rudimentary word—a set of syllables that children can learn very early in life (similar to ‘dada’ in English). And, as many preachers and teachers have said, it communicates closeness, dependency, and intimacy; like an infant’s total dependence on and closeness with his father. Many have likened its connotation to the close comfort of the English word ‘daddy.’
But there’s another important aspect to the word: the imperative of obedience. One author told about a simple exchange he overheard between a Jewish father and son in the Tel Aviv airport: the father said to the son, “When I ask you to do something, I want you to call me abba.” And that’s how it functions in God’s word, too. Every time that the word is used in the Bible, it’s in a context that emphasizes obeying the father. Jesus prayed with that word when he said, “Yet not what I will, but what you will” (Mk. 14:36). Paul talked about our willful obedience as sons of God; not just him controlling us as slaves (Rm. 8:15, Gl. 4:6).
A son who looks up to his father as ‘abba’ recognizes their intimacy and also his own submission to the father. Like an adult son who has been placed in charge of his father’s estates because his father has learned that he can trust the son, God asks us to steward his grace on Earth — to live and lead his way; not our own. And like sons and daughters who are both close to our father and immensely respectful of his authority, we pray to “our Father who is in Heaven.” He is our God; our Maker; our Redeemer; our Savior… our abba. And we are his dutiful, close, trusting sons.
- Dan Lankford, minister
