Greek · Strong's G5
ἀββᾶ
Abbá (ah-BAH)
noun, masculine (indeclinable, Aramaic loanword)
An Aramaic word for father used by Jesus and by believers under the Spirit to address God with intimate, familial trust.
Abba is an Aramaic word for father carried over untranslated into the Greek New Testament. It appears only three times in Scripture—on the lips of Jesus in Gethsemane (Mark 14:36), and twice in Paul's letters where the Spirit prompts believers to cry it out (Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6). In each case the Greek translation ho patēr ("the Father") is added beside it, suggesting the early church repeated the word as a piece of Jesus' own prayer language even in Gentile congregations.
The long-popular claim that abba means "daddy" overstates the case. In first-century Aramaic usage it was the natural, warm word a child or grown son used to address his father—neither baby talk nor formal address, but the language of an established, trusting relationship. What is remarkable is not the word itself but who used it: Jesus addressed the holy God of Israel with the intimate term ordinarily reserved for one's own father, and then taught His disciples to do the same (Matthew 6:9).
Paul presses the theological weight: when the Spirit of God's Son enters our hearts, He produces this very cry, evidence that adoption has actually taken place. To pray "Abba, Father" is therefore not presumption; it is the Spirit-given voice of every son and daughter who has been brought home through Christ.
Common English renderings
- Father
- Abba
Key verses
"And he said, Abba, Father, all things are possible unto thee; remove this cup from me: howbeit not what I will, but what thou wilt."
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"For ye received not the spirit of bondage again unto fear; but ye received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father."
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"And because ye are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father."
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Related words