Finally, Brethren, Farewell — January 2026

Abba, Father!

The cry is an intense expression of love for and trust in God triune as our Father. Abba means Father in Aramaic. And Father is the translation of the Greek word meaning the same thing.

Christ cried that in the garden of Gethsemane in his unspeakable anguish and sorrow while looking into the cup of God’s wrath that awaited him at the cross.

Christ has sent forth his Spirit into our hearts, and the Spirit cries “Abba, Father” in his will for our perfection and glory in heaven and in his hatred of our sins.

And we cry “Abba, Father” in the power of the Spirit. We cry it because of what Christ did and because he sends forth his Spirit into our hearts, crying.

It is a cry that arises out of the Spirit-worked assurance that we are sons of God. Where there is no assurance, there will be no cry “Abba, Father.”

The apostle Paul says that we cry “Abba, Father” in our assurance of being sons because we have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear, but we have received the Spirit of adoption.

When the apostle says that we have not received the spirit of bondage again, he means that the spirit of bondage is the spirit that all men have by nature; and since we are justified, we have not received that spirit again. God did not justify us in order to give us the spirit of bondage. The work of the spirit of bondage is fear in men’s hearts. The spirit of bondage to fear is the spirit by which men will try to do something for God: to be better husbands or wives, to be better Christians, or to be better members of the church. They do this because they are afraid of God. They do not have the assurance that God is their Father and that they are his children, and so they are afraid of God. Out of that fear they try to do something for God in order to gain his approval. The spirit that moves them is the spirit of bondage: bondage under guilt, bondage under the law, and bondage to sin.

There will never be the cry “Abba, Father” that ascends to heaven out of such souls! Their cry can only ever be the cry “do not damn us!”

But we have received the Spirit of adoption!

The Spirit of adoption is the Spirit of Jesus Christ whom he received at his ascension and whom he sheds abroad in the hearts of his people. He is the Spirit of adoption because he assures us in our hearts that we are the sons of God. Jesus Christ sheds abroad God’s love in our hearts! And Christ does this because he assures us of our justification: We as the ungodly are justified and have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Where that gospel sounds forth, there the Spirit works assurance in the hearts of God’s elect people.

And by the Spirit’s power, we cry out “Abba, Father”—a cry that must be on this side of the grave, for it is a cry with tears of sorrow for our sins and confession of our wretchedness and a longing for the perfection of heaven promised to us through the righteousness of Jesus Christ freely given!

In heaven we will sing “Abba, Father” in the perfection of our salvation!