Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Galatians 4:6

"And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father." — Galatians 4:6 (ASV)

Paul has already pointed out the first great redemptive act of God in history: God sent his Son. Here he adds the second act: “Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’ ” In other words, to the other doctrines of the faith already spilling over from vv.4–5 Paul now adds Trinitarian teaching, for he is telling us that salvation consists in its fullness of acts by God the Father in sending both God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Moreover, this salvation is both objective and subjective. God the Father sent the Son in order that believers might have the position of sons and daughters, and he sent his Spirit so that they might have the experience of the same reality. We should notice that the gift of God’s Spirit is not something the children of God are to strive after as if, having been given salvation, they must now work to realize it or achieve it on a higher level. The Spirit is the gift of God to all believers because they are sons and daughters.

How do Christians experience what is theirs objectively? Paul suggests that this is primarily through the reality of God’s presence made known to them in prayer. Before, they were alienated from God, who indeed did not even hear them. Now, being made members of his family, Christians are permitted and even urged to cry, “Father.” “Abba” is the Aramaic word for “Father,” suggesting an intimate relationship with God. “Father” was the word Jesus habitually used in his prayers to God (e.g., Matthew 11:25; Mark 14:36; 17:1, 5, 21, 24–25) and which he passed on to those who through him became God’s children (Matthew 6:9).