“And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.”
Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, 'Abba, Father.' — the Spirit's sending ('apostellō' — mission-dispatch) into the believer's heart ('kardia') is the evidence and effect of adoption: the Spirit witnesses to our sonship by enabling us to cry 'Abba Father' (Aramaic intimacy + Greek fatherhood), a privilege once exclusive to Christ but now extended to the redeemed.
Church Fathers on Galatians 4:6
“And because you are sons, God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. So that you are no longer a bond-servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir through God.” Had not we been first made sons, we could not have called Him Father. If then grace has made us freemen instead of slaves, men instead of children, heirs and sons instead of aliens, is it not utter absurdity and stupidity to desert this grace, and to turn away backwards?
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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