One popular and broadly accepted idea that has eroded, if not eradicated an appropriate fear of God in prayer and worship is the promotion of 'abba' as 'Daddy God.' The phrase now dominates popular thinking and any mention of "fear and trembling" before the Lord is too quickly dismissed, at times discouraged or even disdained. But candidly, the idea is flawed.

Here are our choices - make up our own rules, fashion a god according to our likes, pick and choose his characteristics like we do items at a buffet. But that is the very heart of idolatry. It is, however, a practice - consciously and unconsciously happening in our churches. The other option is the study of the self-disclosures of God, the manner in which He dictates that we approach Him. And he does dictate the manner in which we approach Him. Most people have never opened a Bible, used their concordance, and prayerfully set out on a journey through the pages of Scripture to know God. They have forged an image of God based on popular notions, the lousy theology of praise music, the preaching and teaching they have heard. We can't make up our own rules for approaching God or fashion Him to our liking. Nor should we trust the popular culture, not even the prevailing church culture with regard to its view of God. This is too important. You and I need to know God - for ourselves, and that does not mean
by ourselves in some exclusive and separated manner. But it does mean arriving at a core of certainty, because we have read the passages ourselves and marked up our Bibles.
Doug Small

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Cliff

Greetings

I do think there are times when one is very broken to rightly approach "ABBA FATHER" I know in times of great sorrow coming to my HEAVENLY FATHER knowing HE loves me and HIS desire is to comfort me has given me much hope and peace. Of course as with anything man is prone to go to extremes and distort the right view of our most awesome and Holy LORD. One can become almost legalistic in their view of how we come before the LORD, while others can become flippant and without understanding of who GOD truly is.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. Good things to consider.
God bless
maryjane

"I do think there are times when one is very broken to rightly approach "ABBA FATHER"'

Doug Small's issue is not with the usage of the term "Abba Father," but with the less reverent interpretation of the word
- Daddy. The main issue is that we don't loose our reverence for God. We shouldn't use terminology that lessens or cheapens
His glorious name and character.

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Cliff

Doesnt abba mean something more than just father? I have heard that abba was a term that hebrew children called their father, like yoing children here say "dada".

That being said, i certainly dont feel comfortable calling God "daddy".

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Todd

"Doesnt abba mean something more than just father?"

If you look the word Abba up in the Strong's Concordance it says that it is a word of Chaldean Origin that means Father.

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Cliff

I think Romans 8:15 sums it up pretty well:

"For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.”"

Abba, being an intimate word for father in Aramaic (language of daily life).

While I'm not in the habit of addressing God as 'papa' or 'daddy', I don't think they are inherently irreverent terms. I address my earthly father as "daddy", and it is certainly not void of respect or irreverence.

Come to think of it - I speak of "my father" to others, but rarely address him directly as "father". This is perhaps related to my cultural roots - in certain Asian languages (e.g. Chinese, Japanese), there are separate terms for "father". Each term would vary in its formality, but generally there's a formal term (usually when speaking of your father to others, or speaking of someone else's father), and an intimate term (reserved for the child to address his father; intimate and reverent).

Jesus addressed his people as "friends"... are we comfortable with addressing Him, and viewing Him, as "friend" too?

The reality is that we can treat our parents and our friends pretty poorly. So perhaps the connotations which we attached to certain terms - like "daddy", "friend" - are not only affected by cultural usage, but somewhat reflective of our relationship with others too.

It is true there is a lack of reverence for God, but I believe it is an equal concern that many Christians see God as remote and distant, and have yet to experience the fullness of God - the intimacy of God our Father, the reality of His love, and His empowering for us to be sons and daughters. I think the lack of reverence and the remoteness of God often go together.

For me, well - I just go with Romans 8:15 and freely address Him as "Abba, Father" =)

by yuehan on 2013/3/9 8:54:23
It is true there is a lack of reverence for God, but I believe it is an equal concern that many Christians see God as remote and distant, and have yet to experience the fullness of God - the intimacy of God our Father, the reality of His love, and His empowering for us to be sons and daughters. I think the lack of reverence and the remoteness of God often go together.

For me, well - I just go with Romans 8:15 and freely address Him as "Abba, Father" =)

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I very much like what you shared here. Great post really appreciated what you said :)

God bless
maryjane

"It is true there is a lack of reverence for God, but I believe it is an equal concern that many Christians see God as remote and distant, and have yet to experience the fullness of God - the intimacy of God our Father, the reality of His love, and His empowering for us to be sons and daughters. I think the lack of reverence and the remoteness of God often go together."

Very True! It does seem (at least in American Christianity), that there is a much greater emphasis placed on the loving and giving qualities of God, than those qualities that ought to make us tread carefully with reverence. I don't think that it was the writer's intent to deny the loving & tender relationship between the Father and His children, but to remind the Church to not lose site of the holiness and otherness of God in our worship.

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Cliff

wow, thank you so much for this post. something i've been wrestling with for some time. i did a quick google search and i found something interesting:

http://aramaicdesigns.blogspot.com/2009/06/abba-isnt-daddy-traditional-aramaic.html

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Abba Isn't Daddy - The Traditional Aramaic Father's Day Discussion
It is traditional that I bring up the common myth that the Aramaic word "abba" means "daddy" around this time of year, but I must admit that this is the first year in a long time that sightings of that anecdote among the blogs are few. (So either, there isn't as much interest this year, or people are actually doing their research. :-) )

So, for those of you who aren't familiar with this particular meme, it is common to find around the Internet and in sermons throughout the world that where Jesus is recorded in the New Testament to use the Aramaic word "abba" that the term was an informal word, the likes a child would refer to their pop (i.e. "dad" or "daddy").

This stemmed from an idea that was originally proposed by a scholar named Joachim Jeremias (b1900-d1979); mainly, that the form "abba" originated from "child-babble." The connection between "abba" and "daddy" was then popularized by his following.

However, this idea was immediately challenged by a number of other scholars, such as James Barr who published an article entitled "Abba Isn't 'Daddy'" (in the Journal of Theological Studies) which outlined the numerous problems with such an assertion and addressed them in detail.

Overall, I believe that Mary Rose D'Angelo summed up what happened next nicely:

"Jeremias began almost at once to retreat from the claim that "abba" had the same connotations as "daddy." In a sense, Barr's title (but only his title) misrepresents Jeremias. Even as Jeremias acknowledged that the word was in common use by adults and was used as a mark of repect for old men and for teachers, he continued to stress the origins in babytalk and the consequent intimacy as a special component of Jesus' use of the word. This meaning seems to have been the basis on which he regarded Jesus' use as absolutely distinct from the Judaism of his time.

The NT itself gives quite a different reading of αββα. Each of the three occurrences of αββα in the NT is followed by the Greek translation ο πατερ, "the father." This translation makes clear its meaning to the writers; the form is a literal translation -- "father" plus a definite article -- and like abba can also be a vocative. But it is not a diminutive of "babytalk" form. There are Greek diminutives of father (e.g., παππας [pappas]), and the community chose not to use them.

--Mary Rose D'Angelo. Journal of Biblical Literature, Vol. 111, No. 4 (Winter, 1992), pp. 615-616


And beyond this, many years after Jeremias' death, modern linguistic study of how children pick up speech has completely discounted his conclusions of abba as "babytalk."

But...

There is still a point of confusion: In Modern Hebrew, "abba" has become commonly used as... You guessed it: "Daddy." So, when a Hebrew speaker happens upon this anecdote, to them it makes "perfect sense." :-)

The myth survives.

Nevertheless, happy Father's Day to all of the pas, fathers, pops, dads, papas and daddies out there, wherever you are!

Peace,
-Steve

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Will