The Name a Slave Would Never Dare Use | Romans 8:15

Formation to Transformation | A Worship Devotional · Jul 23, 2026 · 4m

You did not get a spirit of fear. You got a name to call God that a slave would never dare use. There is a word in the middle of Romans 8:15 that would have made a Roman audience flinch. Abba. It is a word children used at kitchen tables. A word that domestic servants were not culturally, legally, or relationally allowed to say. To use that word implied a standing the slave did not have. Slaves used the formal word. Sons used Abba. And Paul puts it in the mouth of the least likely person in the room. You. Two words carry this verse. The first is huiothesia — the Greek word for adoption, and…