Dear Ones to the Lord (and to me!),


I was looking at Romans 8:15 this morning. This well-known verse says:
"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!"
That quote is from the New King James Version of the Bible and it is an accurate translation but often with this version we miss out on the flavors of emotion expressed in the original languages.

Two other translations have much to add to our understanding of this verse.

The Amplified Bible phrases it this way, "For [the Spirit which] you have now received is not a spirit of slavery to put you once more in bondage to fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption - the Spirit producing sonship - in [the bliss of] which we cry, Abba! [That is,] Father!
Did you catch that? The fact that we are adopted into God's family through faith in Christ and the sealing of the Holy Spirit should put us in a state of BLISS! And in response to that position of bliss we cry, Father!

The New Living Translation states the verse like this, "So you should not be like cowering, fearful slaves. You should behave instead like God's very own children,, adopted into His family - calling him, "Father, dear Father."
Again, notice the intense feeling described - we don't just call God "Father" - but "Dear Father". And this word, dear, means precious, sweet and beloved.

May God cause His truth to touch not only our minds but our hearts! May we truly find our bliss in belonging to Him and may we call to Him from a heart of tender affection, "Dear Father!"