Editor’s note: On Thursday of Holy Week, Jesus prayed in tremendous anguish among the olive trees in the Garden of Gethsemane. He prayed in petition because He didn’t want to suffer as none of us do, but He also prayed in submission because to Jesus, God’s will is the most important. He went to His Abba knowing God the Father loves Him and He modeled for us how to pray to God who loves us, too. Let’s learn more from Praying the Names of God for 52 Weeks by Ann Spangler and The Jesus Bible.
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ב
αββα, πατήρ
AB, ABBA, PATER
Though the Old Testament provides many rich names and titles for God, the New Testament reveals Him most fully. Jesus, in fact, shocked and offended the religious leaders of His day by claiming that He had a Father/Son relationship with the God whose name they feared even to pronounce. Furthermore, by inviting His followers to call God “Father,” He made this the primary name by which God is to be known to His followers. Because of Jesus, we can boldly pray the prayer He taught His disciples, “Our Father who art in Heaven.”
Key Scripture
So he went at once to his father. While he was still at a distance, his father saw him and felt sorry for him. He ran to his son, put his arms around him, and kissed him. — Luke 15:20
God Reveals His Name in Scripture
Luke 15
Open your personal Bible translation and read the same passage. Circle each instance you see the word FATHER used in the passage below.
All the tax collectors and sinners came to listen to Yeshua. But the Pharisees and the experts in Moses’ Teachings complained, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 11 Then Yeshua said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the property.’ So the father divided his property between his two sons.13 “After a few days, the younger son gathered his possessions and left for a country far away from home. There he wasted everything he had on a wild lifestyle. 14 He had nothing left when a severe famine spread throughout that country. He had nothing to live on ...17 “Finally, he came to his senses. He said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more food than they can eat, while I’m starving to death here? 18 I’ll go at once to my father, and I’ll say to him, “Father, I’ve sinned against Heaven and you. 19 I don’t deserve to be called your son anymore. Make me one of your hired men.”’ 20 “So he went at once to his father. While he was still at a distance, his father saw him and felt sorry for him. He ran to his son, put his arms around him, and kissed him. 21 Then his son said to him, ‘Father, I’ve sinned against heaven and you. I don’t deserve to be called your son anymore.’ 22 “The father said to his servants, ‘Hurry! Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s celebrate with a feast. 24 My son was dead and has come back to life. He was lost but has been found.’ Then they began to celebrate. 28 “Then the older son became angry and wouldn’t go into the house. His father came out and begged him to come in...31 “His father said to him, ‘My child, you’re always with me. Everything I have is yours.
αββα, πατήρ
Understanding the Name
The Hebrew Scriptures normally depict God, not as the Father of individuals but as Father to His people, Israel. Pious Jews, aware of the gap between a holy God and sinful human beings, would never have dared address God as Ab (Hebrew) or Abba, the Aramaic word for “Daddy,” which gradually came to mean “dear father.” Jesus shocked many of His contemporaries by referring to God as His Father and by inviting His followers to call God “Abba, Father.” Rather than depicting God as a typical Middle Eastern patriarch who wielded considerable power within the family, He depicted Him primarily as a tender and compassionate Father, who extends grace to both the sinner and the self-righteous.
The most frequent term for “father” in the New Testament was the Greek word pater. The first recorded words of Jesus, spoken to His earthly parents, are these: “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” (Luke 2:49 NIV). In John’s gospel, Jesus calls God His Father 156 times. The expression “Abba, Pater” (AB-ba pa-TAIR) is found three times in the New Testament, all in prayer. It is the form Jesus used in His anguished cry in Gethsemane:
Abba, Father, everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will. — Mark 14:36 NIV
Connecting to the Name
1. Who is Jesus speaking to when He tells the story of the wayward son? What might be a counterpart audience in our world?
2. How have you experienced the kind of grace this father extended to his son?
3. Why do you think the wayward son fails to offer to become one of his father’s hired servants, as he had planned?
4. How is grace offered to both the lawbreaker and the lawkeeper in this story?
5. With whom do you most identify in this story? Why?
6. Jesus does not tell us how the older son responded to his father’s explanation. Why do you think the story is left open-ended?
7. What does this parable reveal about our heavenly Father, our Abba?
Praying a Passage with God’s Name
Thank Jesus for leading you to the Father. Imagine yourself one of His flock and then focus on the name Abba, Father, as you read John 10:27–30.
27 My sheep respond to My voice, and I know who they are. They follow Me, 28 and I give them eternal life. They will never be lost, and no one will tear them away from me. 29 My Father, who gave them to Me, is greater than everyone else, and no one can tear them away from My Father. 30 The Father and I are one.”
Praying the Name Abba for Myself
Look up and read: Deuteronomy 33:27. Imagine the Father’s arms around you, destroying every enemy.
Promises from Abba
The Elohim who is in His holy dwelling place is the Ab of the fatherless and the defender of widows. 6 Elohim places lonely people in families. He leads prisoners out of prison into productive lives, but rebellious people must live in an unproductive land. — Psalm 68:5-6
Don’t be afraid, little flock. Your Father is pleased to give you the Kingdom. — Luke 12:32
For Deeper Study
Read the following passages, considering the names ABBA and PATER and how their meaning relates to the context of the passage.
Psalms 68:5–6, Psalm 103:13–14, Luke 12:32, 2 Corinthians 1:3, Hosea 11:1–2, 1 John 3:1–2, Matthew 5:43–48, Matthew 6:9–13, Matthew 6:28–32
Excerpted with permission from Praying the Names of God for 52 Weeks by Ann Spangler, copyright Ann Spangler.
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Abba, Father
Going a little farther, He fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from Him. “Abba, Father,” He said, “everything is possible for You. Take this cup from Me. Yet not what I will, but what You will.” — Mark 14:35-36
Jesus was a Son. Understanding Jesus’ relationship to His Father is essential to understanding who Jesus is. When Jesus prayed in this passage, He used the word “Abba,” which is the Aramaic word for “dad”. When Jesus uttered His Father’s name in both terms, it revealed a love both in His heart language and in the common language of the day, and it represents Jesus talking to God in the most personal of terms.
Jesus talked to His Father as a loving son would talk to his dad.
The circumstances of this conversation were dire. Jesus was talking about “the hour” and “the cup” He was to drink, which foreshadowed His impending death (Mark 10:38). Figuratively, the cup held God’s judgment for the sin of the world. Jesus knew that He had to drink it in order to fulfill the Father’s plan for His life, for the redemption of His people.
In Jesus’ suffering, we discover a wonderful truth about God’s love. Our heavenly Father works everything together for the greatest good in the long run, even if that good requires difficult seasons for His children in the short run. The presence of pain and suffering does not negate the goodness of God as a Father to His children. Instead, God’s presence is what helps carry His people through pain and suffering. Believers can look to God and call Him “Dad” as well:
The Spirit you receive does not make you slaves, so that you live in fear again; rather, the Spirit you receive brought about your adoption to sonship. And by Him we cry, ‘Abba, Father’. — Romans 8:15
Excerpted with permission from The Jesus Bible, copyright Zondervan.
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Your Turn
We have the privilege of coming to God as child goes to his or her daddy. We can even call Him “Dad”! We are His kids and He loves us far more than we could ever comprehend. Just as Jesus did, we can go to Him for anything and everything, from our joys and celebrations to our desperate, anguish-filled worries. Go to God with your heart today! ~ Devotionals Daily