Abba

Abba is an Aramaic word for “Father” — warm, intimate, the name a child uses at home. Jesus used it in his deepest prayer in Gethsemane, and by the Spirit, we are invited to use it too.

Paul writes that we have received “the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.” The distant, almighty God of the universe becomes, through Christ, our Father — and we his beloved children.

This is perhaps the most astonishing intimacy in all of Scripture. The same God who is Elohim the Creator and El Elyon the Most High welcomes us to call him Abba — Father, Papa, the nearest of names.

If you have ever longed for a father's love, Abba is the name to come home to. Through Jesus, God is not only your Lord and Maker but your Father, and you are truly his child.