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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Galatians 4:6 - 4:6
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
Because ye are sons (ὅτι)
For ὅτι in this sense at the beginning of a clause see Rom 9:7; 1Co 12:15; Joh 15:19; Joh 20:29. The emphasis is on sons. The spirit would not be given is ye were not sons. Others take ὅτι as demonstrative, as a proof that ye are sons; but examples of such usage are wanting. It is not a proof of the fact of sonship that the apostle is giving, but a consequence of it. Comp. Rom 8:16, where the witness of the Spirit attests the sonship.
The Spirit of his Son
The Holy Spirit which animated Jesus in his human life, and which, in the risen Christ, is the life-principle of believers. See 1Co 15:45, and comp. Rom 8:9-11. The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ, Rom 8:9, Rom 8:10, where Paul uses Spirit of God, Spirit of Christ and Christ as convertible terms. The phrase Spirit of Jesus Christ only Phi 1:19. In Joh 3:34 Christ is represented as dispensing the Spirit. He is fully endowed with the Spirit (Mar 1:10; Joh 1:32): he sends the Spirit from the Father to the disciples, and he is the burden of the Spirit's testimony (Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7, Joh 16:9, Joh 16:10, Joh 16:15). The Paraclete is given in answer to Christ's prayer (Joh 14:16). Christ identifies his own coming and presence with those of the Spirit (Joh 14:17, Joh 14:18). Paul identifies him personally with the Spirit (2Co 3:17).
Our hearts
Note the interchange of persons: we might receive, ye are sons, our hearts. Comp. Rom 7:4.
Crying (κρᾶζον)
A strong word, expressing deep emotion. The verb originally represents the sound of a croak or harsh scream; thence, generally, an inarticulate cry; an exclamation of fear or pain. The cry of an animal. So Aristoph. Knights, 1017, of the barking of a dog: 285, 287, of two men in a quarrel, trying to bawl each other down: Frogs, 258, of the croaking of frogs. This original sense appears in N.T. usage, as Mat 14:26; Mat 15:23; Mat 27:50; Mar 5:5, etc., and is recognized even where the word is used in connection with articulate speech, by adding to it the participles λέγων, λέγοντες saying, or διδάσκων teaching. See Mat 8:29; Mat 15:22; Mar 3:11; Joh 7:28, etc. In Mar 10:47 the inarticulate cry and the articulate utterance are distinguished. At the same time, the word is often used of articulate speech without such additions, as Mar 10:48; Mar 11:9; Mar 15:13, Mar 15:14; Luk 18:39; Act 7:60; Act 19:34; Rom 8:15. It falls into more dignified association in lxx, where it is often used of prayer or appeal to God, as Judges 3:9, 15; 4:3; 6:7; Psalm 21:2, 5; 27:1, 54:16; and in N.T., where it is applied to solemn, prophetic utterance, as Rom 9:27; Joh 1:15, and is used of Jesus himself, as Joh 7:28, Joh 7:37; Joh 12:44, and of the Holy Spirit, as here. The Spirit gives the inspiration of which the believer is the organ. In Rom 8:15 the statement is inverted. The believer cries under the power of the Spirit.
Abba, Father
Comp. Mar 14:36; Rom 8:15. Ὁ πατήρ the Father, is not added in order to explain the Aramaic Abba for Greek readers. Rather the whole phrase Ἁββά ὁ πατήρ had passed into the early Christian prayers, the Aramaic title by which Christ addressed his Father (Mar 14:36) being very early united with the Greek synonym. Such combinations of Hebrew and Greek addresses having the same meaning were employed in rabbinical writings. Comp. also Rev 9:11; Rev 12:9.