Romans 8:15

ἐλάβετε. Again an appeal to baptism.

πάλιν. Though still δοῦλοι in a true sense (cf. Romans 6:18-19; Romans 6:22) the spirit in which they serve is not a spirit of slavery but of sonship.

πν. υἱοθεσίας. Cf. τὸ πνεῦμα τοῦ υἱοῦ αὐ., Galatians 4:6. It is a spirit of sonship because it is the effect of the Spirit of His Son; cf. 9.

υἱοθεσίας = the status of sons by adoption, sonship by adoption; cf. 23, Romans 9:4; Galatians 4:5; Ephesians 1:6 only. It is the right of son and heir, given out of the natural order, as in the ease of Jacob. cf. Deissmann, Bibelstudien II. pp. 66, 67; the stress here is of course on the sonship, not on the way it came; cf. Hebrews 12:7.

ἐν ᾧ κ.τ.λ. Corresponds to εἰς φόβον of the preceding clause—not slaves to a master but sons to a Father: the reference seems to be direct to the ‘Lord’s Prayer,’ as the norm of Christian prayer, the new basis of appeal to GOD.

Ἀββά ὁ πατήρ. Cf. Mark 14:36; Galatians 4:6. The repetition is not merely for interpretation, but for emphasis; of. S. H., Lft ad Gal. l.c[159], Chase, Texts and Studies, I. 3, p. 24.

[159] l.c. locus citatus

ὁ πατήρ. Nom. for voc. (not merely a Hebraism; of. Moulton, pp. 70, 235).