Galatians 4:6

Galatians 4:6. God sent forth the Spirit of his Son into our hearts. Comp. Romans 8:9; Romans 8:14-17. The gift of the Spirit seems here to succeed the act of adoption, while in Romans 8:14-16 it is made to precede it. But there is between both an inseparable connection and mutual dependence, and the communication of the Spirit is not confined to a single act, but goes on increasing with the spiritual growth of the children of God. ‘Our' is better supported than ‘your.' A similar change of person as in the preceding verse, resulting from the vivacity of speech and the sympathy with the reader.

Crying; praying with strong desire and glowing fervor. Comp. Isaiah 19:20; James 5:4. In Romans 8:15, we read: ‘in whom we cry.' Here the Spirit himself appears as praying, and the believer as the organ. The Holy Spirit so deeply sinks into the spirit of believers and so closely identifies himself with them that He prays in them and through them as their advocate. Christ is their advocate at the right hand of God, the Spirit is the ‘other advocate' (E. V. ‘comforter'), indwelling in their hearts.

Abba, Father. ‘Abba' is the Aramaic word for ‘Father' (in Hebrew Aph), so childlike in its very sound, and sanctioned by the beginning of the Lord's Prayer, as originally uttered, also by His prayer in Gethsemane, Mark 14:36. Hence Paul retains it here as in Romans 8:15. ‘Father.' The emphasizing combination of the familiar Hebrew with the corresponding Greek name was probably a liturgical formula among Hellenistic Jews and Christians. (Meyer regards ‘Abba,' here as a proper name, which became the customary address to God in prayer after the example set by our Lord. Augustine and many others see here more than a translation, namely an allusion to the unity of the God of the Jews and of the Gentiles, and the unity of the Spirit, dwelling and praying in both.)