The Spirit Prompts Us to Call God ‘Father’
… because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children. 7 Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. Romans 8:14-17
8:14-17 above is about the Holy Spirit’s witness, His assurance to us, that we are God’s adopted children. Paul has already explained two of the ways the Spirit does this:
(1) the Spirit leads us into holiness (8:14)
(2) The Spirit replaces fear with freedom in our relationship with God (8:15)
We now come to a third way.
(3) the Spirit prompts us when we pray to call God ‘Father’ (8:15)
Paul keeps side by side the Aramaic ‘Abba’ and the Greek (translated ‘Father’), reminiscent of Jesus own words in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:36). ‘Abba’ was an everyday word that belonged in the home and would not be used by a Jew of His God. This makes Jesus’ use of it all the more stunning, particularly when we realise this is how He taught His disciples to talk to God in prayer (Matthew 6:9; Luke 11:2). He wanted them to speak to the heavenly Father as a young child would to his or her father, with the same simplicity and confidence.
When we pray this way, we experience the inward witness of the Spirit. When we cry ‘Abba, Father’ it is the Spirit Himself bearing witness with our spirit that we are God’s children. The verb translated ‘bearing witness with’ has ‘syn’ as a prefix. ‘Syn’ means ‘together with’ meaning Paul is describing two witnesses, the Holy Spirit confirming and endorsing our own spirit’s consciousness of God’s fatherhood. ‘In that cry the Spirit of God joins with our spirit in testifying that we are God’s children’ (8:16 NEB). Paul might have had at the back of his mind that the Old Testament required two witnesses to establish a testimony (Deuteronomy 19:15). This isn’t to place our own human spirit on the same level as the Holy Spirit. The sense in this scripture is that the Holy Spirit bears a strong inward witness to our spirit that we are God’s children.
In 5:5 Paul said that God, through the Spirit, ‘has poured out his love into our hearts’ and here that the Holy Spirit affirms to our hearts that we are God’s children. Each verse is an example of the Holy Spirit’s inward assurance. He convinces us of the reality of God’s love and of God’s fatherhood. These can’t really be separated because the most conspicuous example of God’s love for us is seen in Him making us His children (1 John 3:1ff)
In the first half of Romans 8 we have seen something of the multiple ministries of the Holy Spirit. He has liberated us from the bondage of the law (8:2) while still empowering us to meet its just requirement (8:4). We now live each day according to the Spirit and set our minds on His desires (8:5). He lives in us (8;9), gives life to our spirit (8:10) and will one day give life to our bodies too (8:11). His indwelling compels us to live His way (8:12) and His power enables us to put to death our body’s misdeeds (8:13). He leads us as God’s children (8:14) and bears witness to our spirit that this is what we are (8:15,16). He is the foretaste of our inheritance in glory (8:17,23). Looking back, it is His indwelling that makes the fundamental difference between Romans 7 and Romans 8.