Romans 8:15

RSV - For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the spirit of sonship. When we cry, "Abba! Father!"

TEV - For the Spirit that God has given you does not make you slaves and cause you to be afraid; instead, the Spirit makes you God's children, and by the Spirit's power we cry out to God, "Father! my Father!"

Though Jesus words were reported in the original texts of the New Testament in Greek, his everyday language was Aramaic. Some of the original Aramaic foundation of dialog and names can be seen throughout the New Testament. The Aramaic word Abba, which is used in Mar 14:36, Rom 8:15, and Gal 4:6, can be translated as Father. In Aramaic more nearly has the significance of the term Daddy or Papa. World-renown Joachim Jeremias, an Aramaic specialist and an authority on early Christian history, published a classic article entitled "Abba" (reprinted in Jeremias' book, The Prayers of Jesus, Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1967, 1978, pages 11-12), in which he wrote:

For orientals, the word 'Father', as applied to God, thus encompasses, from earliest times, something of what the word 'Mother' signifies among us. Both these aspects of fatherhood, absolute authority and tenderness, are also characteristic of the Old Testament statements about God as 'Father'.

 

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