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A comparison of Rom. 8: 14-17 with Gal. 4: 5-7 would lead us to place side by
side, as parallel experiences, the receiving of the spirit of adoption, the witness of the
Holy Spirit Himself, and the reception of the spirit of His Son:--
"To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts,
crying, Abba, Father. Wherefore thou art no more a servant but a son; and if a son, an
heir of God through Jesus Christ" (Gal. 4: 5-7).
Where Romans speaks of the witness of the Spirit Who testifies that we are the
children of God, Galatians tells us that God sent the spirit of His Son into our hearts,
crying, "Abba, Father". The spirit of His Son, therefore, is the spirit of adoption, for both
lead to the same cry, "Abba, Father". "Children" of God in one case, and "sons" of God
in the other, are heirs. What a confirmation of our glorious acceptance, relationship, and
standing.
"Abba, Father."--One word is Chaldee, and the other Greek. Some commentators
think that these two words are used to indicate the union in one family of Jew and
Gentile. Their use, however, by our Lord in the garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14: 36)
makes it impossible to accept this suggestion. The Syriac Version reads, "Abba, my
Father" or "Abba, our Father". Bishop Middleton says:--
"The article has here, or elsewhere, the force of a possessive pronoun. Abba was the
Oriental term, by which children familiarly addressed their parents; the addition of "my
Father" was requisite to give solemnity and force."
The only places where these words occur together are in the record of Gethsemane,
and in the record of the gift of the spirit of adoption to the redeemed. The Redeemer in
His agony, the redeemed in their joy; suffering and glory inter-related. If we are soon to
hear of sharing His sufferings, of joining in creation's groan, let us remember that we
have the spirit of Christ, the spirit of sonship, whereby we cry, "Abba, my Father".