A New Testament Theology of God as Father (Abba) as the

LIBERTY UNIVERSITY

JOHN W. RAWLINGS SCHOOL OF DIVINITY

A New Testament Theology of God as Father (Abba) as the Hermeneutical Key to the

Teaching of Christ on Prayer in the Gospels

A Dissertation Submitted to

the Faculty of the Liberty University School of Divinity

in Candidacy for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Bible Exposition

John Joseph Schmelzer

Lynchburg, Virginia

May 2, 2024

APPROVAL SHEET

A New Testament Theology of God as Father (Abba) as the Hermeneutical Key to the Teaching

of Christ on Prayer in the Gospels

By:

John Joseph Schmelzer

READ AND APPROVED BY:

Program Director: ____________________________________________

Richard Fuhr, Ph.D.

Chairperson: ____________________________________________

C. Fred Smith, Ph.D.

Second Reader: ____________________________________________

William Victor, Ph.D.

DEDICATION

To my abba and imma (mom and dad), to whom besides God Himself, I owe every good thing

and blessing this side of Heaven.

Dad, thank you for teaching me what a father 

the Lord has allowed me to do so much research and writing on the topic of His Fatherhood

because long before my doctoral studies, He placed me under the tutelage of a true father, a man

heart, who introduced me to Abba long before I entered the academy. Thank



cared for, so protected, believed in and championed by you and mom. Thank you for loving our

family se deeply and sacrificing so much for each of us. You are so loved and honored by us all

and I pray I can make you proud.

Mom, I equally dedicate this dissertation to you. Words cannot express how much I love you and



are! You homeschooled me and instilled a deep and seemingly endless love for learning in my

siblings and I

you serve people wholeheartedly, and you live with such zeal and ferocity for the glory of God.

nd to make Jesus the all-consuming passion of my life.



you bring life and light with you wherever you go. Thank you for all of your love, support, help,

and for always being a listening ear and friend. I love you and honor you!

I pray that my life would be worthy of what you both have sacrificed and invested into me. I pray

that the Lord would reward you far more than you could ever imagine for your love and support

in my life and the lives of so many others. I love you both so much more deeply than my words

can express. This dissertation is dedicated to you both!

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I am so grateful and indebted to so many wonderful people who have loved, supported, and

helped me in innumerable ways to make the completion of this dissertation a reality.



anyone could deserve in a lifetime. Thank you will never be enough to express my gratitude.

A mi hermosa esposa Ana Paula, nunca podría haber hecho esto si no fuera por ti. Gracias por

ser la esposa más cariñosa, amable, paciente y comprensiva que un hombre puede pedir. ¡Ni

siquiera conocemos el matrimonio fuera del proceso de escritura de la tesis! Eres mi mejor amiga

y el amor de mi vida. ¡Estoy tan emocionado por una vida entera de servir a Dios a tu lado y por

todas las aventuras que viviremos y experimentaremos juntos! ¡Te amo!



thankful for each of my brothers, sisters, grandparents, suegros, and parents who have been such

a support to me during this process. Each of you make my life a joy!

I owe a great debt to my church family and community, Joy Church Medford. Thank you to each

of you for walking through this process with me. Thank you for being patient and supportive of





and fashioned as a pastor-theologian.

There are so many other pastors, leaders, professors, and others to whom I am so thankful and

would not be here today if it were not for your love and investment into my life. My whole life I

have been privileged to have been served by such incredible pastors and leaders who have

invested more into me than I ever could have asked for. There are countless teachers and

professors along the way who have helped shape me into the man I am today. May I take what

it for the glory of God.

I thank Dr. Fred Smith, my supervising mentor and now friend who walked beside me every step

of this Ph.D. dissertation journey. Thank you for the countless hours you invested into me and

for going far above and beyond what was required of you to help me finish successfully. I

treasure you and your wife and I cherish every moment I get to spend with you both.

Finally, and most importantly, to each member of the Trinitarian Godhead of love, I owe you my

whole life as a sacrifice and offering for your glory. Another dissertation ought to be written of

how worthy you are and how much you deserve. Abba, I love you, 

and honored to be called your son. Lord Jesus, the cry of my heart is that you would receive the

reward of your suffering in and through my life. May you be praised, honored, and glorified

through me and may I not waste your sacrifice on my behalf but rather, may I take what I've

received from you and use it for your honor! Precious Holy Spirit, I treasure your friendship.

Thank you for who you are and all you do. I bless you God! Hallelujah! Maranatha!

 
i 
 
Table of Contents 
Abstract ....................................................................................................................................... v 
Chapter 1: Introduction, Literature Review, & Methodology ................................................. 1 
Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 1 
Dissertation Topic.................................................................................................................... 2 
Thesis Statement ...................................................................................................................... 3 
Addressing the Need: Rationale for Study and Expected Contribution .................................. 3 
Methodology: Biblical Theological Historical-Grammatical Exegesis ...................................... 7 
Historical-Grammatical Exegesis ............................................................................................ 8 
Biblical Theology .................................................................................................................. 11 
Literature Review ...................................................................................................................... 13 
Chapter by Chapter Synopsis .................................................................................................... 25 
Chapter 2: Ancient Near Eastern and Israelite Historical and Cultural Background to God 
as Father ...................................................................................................................................... 30 
Introduction: Ancient Near Eastern and Israelite Historical and Cultural Background to God as 
Father ......................................................................................................................................... 30 
Ancient Near Eastern Backgrounds to Yahweh as Father in the Old Testament ...................... 32 
Comparative Methodology Procedure and Approach Concerning ANE Material ................ 34 
Theoretical Framework for Describing the Relationship Between the Biblical Text and the 
Ancient Near Eastern Material .............................................................................................. 36 
Analysis of Key Ancient Near Eastern Texts............................................................................ 38 
Mesopotamia and the Sumerian Literature ............................................................................ 39 
Egyptian and Canaanite Literature ........................................................................................ 42 
Conclusions Concerning the ANE Material .......................................................................... 46 
Concept of Divine Fatherhood In Ancient Israel ...................................................................... 49 
Conclusion: Summary of Divine Fatherhood In Ancient Israel ................................................ 58 
Chapter 3: Old Testament Theology of God as Father ........................................................... 60 
Introduction: Old Testament Theology of God as Father ......................................................... 60 
Exegetical Analysis of Key Old Testament Texts .................................................................... 60 
Deuteronomy ......................................................................................................................... 61 
Isaiah ...................................................................................................................................... 64 
Malachi .................................................................................................................................. 69 
Psalms .................................................................................................................................... 72 
2 Samuel & Chronicles .......................................................................................................... 78 

 
ii 
 
Jeremiah ................................................................................................................................. 87 
General Old Testament References To Yahweh as Father and Israel as His Children ......... 96 
Conclusion: Summary of Old Testament Exegetical Analysis ............................................... 103 
Chapter 4: God as Father in Second Temple Judaism .......................................................... 108 
Introduction: Second Temple Judaism and the Background of the New Testament .............. 108 
Survey of God as Father in Second Temple Judaism.............................................................. 109 
Tobit..................................................................................................................................... 111 
3 Maccabees ........................................................................................................................ 112 
Wisdom of Solomon ............................................................................................................ 116 
Sirach ................................................................................................................................... 119 
Jubilees ................................................................................................................................ 124 
God as Father in Qumran Texts ........................................................................................... 125 

Job) ...................................................................................................................................... 130 
Conclusion: Summary of God as Father in Second Temple Judaism ..................................... 133 
Chapter 5: Jesus of Nazareth’s Unprecedented Approach to God as Abba Father ........... 137 
 ............. 137 

Use of Abba as an Address for God in His Life and Ministry ................................................ 140 
Linguistic and Historical Analysis of Abba Father in the First-Century ............................. 141 
 ................... 148 
 ............................. 155 
 ....................... 156 
Conclusion ............................................................................................................................... 159 
Chapter 6: New Testament Theology of God as Father (Abba)............................................ 161 
Introduction: New Testament Theology of God as Father (Abba) in the Gospels .................. 161 
God as Father in the Gospel of Mark ...................................................................................... 164 
   ................... 165 
 ............................................................. 169 
God as Father in the Gospel of Matthew (Part 1) ................................................................... 172 
 .................................................. 174 
 ...................................... 178 
 .............................................................. 184 
 ........................... 187 
 .......................................... 187 

 
iii 
 
-28) ............... 188 
Conclusion to God as Father in the Gospel of Matthew...................................................... 193 
God As Father in the Gospel of Luke ..................................................................................... 194 

Bold, Persistent Prayer ........................................................................................................ 200 

Prayer ................................................................................................................................... 208 
Remaining Lukan Texts Related to God as Father According to Jesus .............................. 215 
 ...................................................................... 218 
God as Father in the Gospel of John ....................................................................................... 220 
God As Father in the Prayers of Jesus ................................................................................. 223 
Jesus and the Resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:41) ........................................................... 224 
-28) ................................. 229 
 ......................... 232 
 .......................................... 239 
Prayer and The Father in John 14:13-14, 15:7, 16:23-24 .................................................... 240 
 ..................................................................... 249 
Chapter 7: A Theology of God as Abba (Father) as the Hermeneutical Key to the Teaching 
of Christ on Prayer in the Gospels (Theological Implications)............................................. 253 
Introduction: Theological Implications of Dissertation .......................................................... 253 
A Theology of God as Abba (Father) as the Hermeneutical Key to the Teaching of Christ on 
Prayer in the Gospels............................................................................................................... 254 
 -Speaking Christians in Corinth and Rome and its 
Theological Significance for the Early Church ................................................................... 257 
The Explosion of Father Language in the New Testament and the Supremacy of God as 
Abba in the New Covenant .................................................................................................. 262 
God as Father in Paul ....................................................................................................... 263 
God as Father in the Rest of the New Testament............................................................. 268 
The Transformation of Christian Prayer Addressed to God as Abba Father .......................... 275 
The Intimacy and Access of  Made Available Through Adoption (
 ............................................................................................................................................. 276 
The Transformational Nature of Prayer in the Old and New Testaments in Relation to God 
as Father (  ..................................................................................................... 286 
Prayer in the Old Testament in Relation to God as Father .............................................. 287 
Prayer in the New Testament in Relation to God as Father ............................................. 289 

Chapter 8: The Impact and Applications of a New Testament Theology of God as Father

(Abba) in Relation to Prayer for Individual Believers, Theology, and the Contemporary

Church (Theological Applications) ......................................................................................... 295

Introduction and Summary ...................................................................................................... 295

Synopsis .................................................................................................................................. 297

Practical Application ............................................................................................................... 302

The Academy or Theological Study in General .................................................................. 302

The Contemporary Church and Especially Ministers.......................................................... 305

Individual Believers ............................................................................................................. 307

Summary and Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 309

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 311

Abstract

When Jesus of Nazareth lifted His eyes to Heaven in Matthew 6:9 and taught His disciples to

address Yahweh, the covenant God of Judaism as Father ( ), this was an offense of

blasphemy and presumption culpable of death for His Jewish audience; unless it was true (John

5:18). Not only was Father the distinctive and unique term given to God by Jesus, but there is

almost universal scholarly consensus that behind the Greek 

 ) (Mark 14:36). In both the ANE and Jewish contexts of the Old Testament and first-century

Israel, it was unparalleled and unprecedented to address Yahweh directly as Father. To do so

with the intimate familial term Abba evokes an intimacy and access no one had ever employed

before Jesus. The thesis of this dissertation is that the hermeneutical key to the teaching of Christ

concerning prayer is His relationship with and revelation of God as Abba Father.

That is, Christian prayer is categorically distinct from Old Testament or Jewish Prayer

because disciples of Christ are invited to approach God in an unprecedented manner as their

Abba Father just as the Lord Jesus did, transforming the entirety of the Christian religion. Jesus



unparalleled against the religious background of His time. New Testament prayer is categorically

distinct when compared with its Old Testament and Jewish counterparts and the explanation is



teaching concerning God as Abba is an invitation to His disciples into the heart of Trinitarian

love to enjoy the same intimacy and access with Abba that He did. This means that all Christians

have unprecedented and unparalleled access to God as His sons and daughters most clearly

displayed in the extraordinary privilege and gift of Christian prayer in Jesus' name, empowered

by the Holy Spirit, addressed to Abba Father.

Chapter 1: Introduction, Literature Review, & Methodology

Introduction

When Jesus of Nazareth lifted His eyes to Heaven in Matthew 6:9 and taught His disciples to

address Yahweh, the covenant God of Judaism as Father ( ), this was an offense of

blasphemy and presumption culpable of death for His Jewish audience; unless it was true (John

5:18).

Not only was Father the distinctive and unique term given to God by Jesus, but there is

almost universal scholarly consensus that behind the Greek is the Aramaic Abba ( )

(Mark 14:36

distinct or

unique for His time and among His contemporaries? If the answer is a resounding yes, this then



as Abba Father.

While no one in the Old Testament ever addressed God directly and intimately as their Father



God as His Father and His invitation to His disciples to join Him in approaching God in this



teaching concerning the Christian life and the kingdom of God as well as being especially

evident in His personal relationship with God through prayer always addressed as Father

For a book-length treatment of this issue and for a seminal work which will be utilized frequently

throughout this study, see: Joachim Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus (London: SCM, 1967).

Craig S. Keener, Matthew, Vol. 1, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove:

InterVarsity Press, 1997), Mt 6:913.



became a proper name for God. It embraces every feature in the understanding of God which comes to light in the

Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 262.

(Abba).

Thus, the fatherhood of God is a central theological tenet in the personal life and

ministry of Jesus as expressed in each of the Gospels.



disciples concerning Christian prayer.



Gospels presents a radically different approach to prayer than that of the Old Testament or

Second Temple Judaism. A few examples include the intimacy of the disciples' address to God

as Father in Matth



confidence and dependence upon God as Father in Matthew 7:7-11 and Luke 11:9-13. These are

on

Christian prayer into something almost unrecognizable from its Jewish heritage. It is the

relationship between these two significantly distinct Christological theological emphases that this

study seeks to bring together to understand and interpret them both in light of the other.

Dissertation Topic

The topic of this dissertation is a New Testament theology of God as Father (Abba) as the

hermeneutical key to the teaching of Christ on prayer in the Gospels. The goal of this dissertation

The only exception to this amidst one hundred and seventy references to God as Father on the lips of



Father in His prayer.

Marianne Meye Thompson, The Promise of the Father: Jesus and God in the New Testament (Louisville:

Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 85.





 

Early Christian prayer and identity formation, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 336, 112,

edited by R. Hvalvik and K.O. Sandnes (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014), 126.

This topic and the significant literature addressing this issue will be addressed most fully in chapter 7 of

this dissertation.

will be to evaluate the Gospels' presentation of the life and ministry of the Jesus specifically in

His robust treatment of God as Abba Father and its relationship to His instruction on prayer. It is





they enjoy with Him in the new covenant which this study will explore.

Thesis Statement

The thesis that this dissertation will explore is that the theological and hermeneutical key

to understanding the teaching of the Lord Jesus concerning prayer is His relationship with and

revelation of God as Abba Father. That is, Christian prayer is remarkably distinct from Old

Testament or Jewish Prayer because disciples of the Christ are invited to approach God as Abba



promised guarantee of reward is not merely a new approach to prayer, it is an intrinsic shift and



His sons and daughters.

Addressing the Need: Rationale for Study and Expected Contribution

This study depends upon the significant contributions of many others who have set the stage

for this research. There are two major strands of theological focus and emphasis that this project

seeks to incorporate and then contribute to. First, as will be demonstrated in the literature review,



and specifically the Aramaic Abba. The fact that this was a central theological tenet in the life

and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth is one that few scholars deny. While there is a variance of

opinion concerning how unique or distinct this perspective of God was against a Jewish

background from the Old Testament period until the Second Temple Judaism in which Jesus

lived, almost all agree that at the very least, Jesus highly emphasized and elevated this



Abba concerning God to be something unprecedented, remarkably distinct from the Jewish

approach, and place more theological and interpretive significance on this term. Either way,

much progress has been made in highlighting such an important theological belief from the life

and ministry of Jesus.

On the other end of the spectrum are an increasing number of modern studies dealing

with the topic of biblical prayer. Once again, there have been a number of significant works

produced in the preceding decades not only addressing the topic of prayer in a systematic

theological manner or from a philosophical angle dealing with the logical mechanics of prayer

but rather, there has been a surge of biblical-theological research tracing prayer through the

biblical canon.

This is a major contribution in increasing focus and biblical treatment of one of

-theological works have emphasized the unfolding

revelation not only of covenants or the redemptive history of salvation but also how this affects a

developing Scriptural understanding of prayer. As the covenants unfold and the promises of

Yahweh are fulfilled in and through the Messiah, there is a seismic shift in the Bible's

presentation of prayer and how New Covenant believers engage in it.

While there is much work

yet to be done in this field, biblical theology has made key advances and crucial contributions.

What then is the need for this study? What is the rationale for this research project addressing

a New Testament theology of God as Father (Abba) as the hermeneutical key to the teaching of

These works will be briefly treated in the literature review and more fully in chapter 7.



unparalleled use of Abba Father for God and His instruction for His disciples to do the same transformed Christian

prayer. This is represented most clearly in the intimacy and access believers have to God as His sons and daughters

expressed through their address of God as their Abba Father.



examining the convergence of these two fundamental biblical doctrines. Few if any scholars have

drawn attention to the correlation between the discontinuity of the Old 

practically non-existent theology of God as the personal Father of believers, the explosion of this

language and imagery in the Gospels especially concerning prayer, and the extraordinary shift

that takes place between the two Testam





through prayer and the impact this has upon the theology of the rest of the New Testament is an

insightful connection that has not been explored at length.

Thus, this study is unique from others in exploring the connection between the novelty of

God as Abba Father in the New Covenant which became a key tenet of first-century Christian

d through prayer.

That is, based upon the research that ensues, this research project posits that the theological and

hermeneutical key to understanding the teaching of the Lord Jesus concerning prayer is His

relationship with and revelation of God as Abba Father.

These claims are predicated upon two central theological conclusions which will be treated in

this work. First, in agreement with Jeremias, while there is the beginning formation of an Old

Testament understanding of God as Father, there is nothing that resembles the intimacy and



the same. To verify this claim, this study will investigate three major elements of Jewish

theology to grasp the significance and nuanc

These include first the entirety of the Old Testament, second, the intertestamental writings

including the Apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, and third, key works from the first-century period

representing the cultural theological moment during the life and ministry of Jesus. If, as this

study posits is true, the New Testament view of God as the personal Father of every believer is



Aramaic Abba in His life and ministry, this is the first foundational theological discovery that

must be accounted for.

Second, this research project is also dependent upon the belief that Christian prayer is

remarkably distinct from Old Testament or Jewish Prayer because disciples of Christ are invited

to approach God as Abba Father just as Jesus did and taught them to do following His example.

Prayer is certainly a major element and theme of the Old Testament and subsequent Jewish

history and writing. However, the approach and manner in which Jesus prays and instructs His

disciples to do so is also another major development in the redemptive-historical timeline

unfolding throughout the Scriptures. Once again, how believers are instructed to pray is not

merely a new approach to prayer, it is an intrinsic shift and essential transformation in the

roach their Abba Father in prayer based upon the New Covenant.

Believers, through Jesus Christ, have been given intimacy and access to the Father in a way that

Old Testament saints could only dream of. How is this possible? What is this invitation

predicated upon? In nearly every instance in the Gospels, this novel approach to prayer is

directly linked to God as Father. Thus, it is plausible, and this study will seek to explore whether

New Covenant identity as sons and

daughters of Abba Father.



theological topics addressed above; God as Abba Father and New Testament prayer according to

Jesus. Rather, it is the juncture of these two major theological doctrines and their correlation to

one another that has not been explored at length. Building upon the best scholarship in both

fields, this research project seeks to uncover a new theological link between these two central

Christian beliefs and demonstrate how they are dependent upon one another and just how



unprecedented intimacy and access to Yahweh because, through Jesus, Yahweh can be called

and approached and enjoyed as Abba Father.

This is a truly remarkable, extraordinary, scandalous, shocking, and unexpected



amily through





brightly as one more beautiful element of the multifaceted diamond of the Gospel and the

blessings of the New Covenant made available through the Lord Jesus, His and our Abba Father,

and the precious Holy Spirit.

Methodology: Biblical Theological Historical-Grammatical Exegesis

As was hinted at above, the research methodology of this study will adhere primarily to

historical-grammatical exegesis and biblical theology. Or, the methodology and approach of this

project can be referred to as Biblical Theological Historical-Grammatical Exegesis. The thesis of

this research project depends upon historical-grammatical exegesis of the biblical text.

Employing historical-grammatical exegetical principles, the bulk of this dissertation will consist

of detailed exegesis of the biblical text including attention to pertinent historical, literary, and

theological issues which have direct relevance to the topic. Then based upon these exegetical

conclusions, the thesis will be tested against the Scripture in a biblical theological manner and

demonstrated to not only be congruent with biblical teaching but to be a helpful and insightful



God as Abba. Thus, historical-grammatical exegesis and biblical theology are the two

determinative and guiding methodological principles for this study. Each of these will be defined

and explained below for insight into the methodology of this project.

Historical-Grammatical Exegesis

Three works are foundational in establishing the historical-grammatical methodological

approach of this study. The first is the Hermeneutical Triad of History, Literature, and Theology

by Andreas Köstenberger and Richard Patterson. The hermeneutical approach and methodology

presented in this text and adopted by this study affirms a hermeneutical triad that emphasizes the

significance of the historical context/setting, the literary conte



genre and finally to the study of a concrete literary unit in its discourse context, our method

embodies the principle of interpreting the parts (words) in light of the whole (canon and



This Hermeneutical Triad is significant for this study in emphasizing first, the

influence that the historical elements of the text have upon subsequent exegesis. While this study

focuses primarily on the New Testament, this material is inextricably impacted by the historical

material from the Old Testament, Second Temple Judaism, and the surrounding first-century

Graco-Roman environment of the New Testament. The same is true of the literary background

and features of the New Testament text, and finally, both the theological background and themes.

Andreas J. Köstenberger and Richard D. Patterson, Invitation to Biblical Interpretation: Exploring the

Hermeneutical Triad of History, Literature, and Theology (Grand Rapids: 2011, Kregel Academic), 25.

A second insightful and influential work guiding the research methodology of this study

The Hermeneutical Spiral

hermeneutical methodology here is that b



This approach stresses two central interpretive convictions. First, the centrality of authorial

-to discover the intention

of the Author/author (author = inspired human author; Autho

This is a core presupposition of evangelical hermeneutics. The biblical interpreter is seeking to



the ultimate divine author. The interpretive task is to discover the authorial intent which stands in

the divine balance between divine and human author. Thus, if the text is to be rightly understood,

it must be done so through the key historical, literary, and theological elements of the biblical

text as intended by the author. Simultaneously, as E. D. Hirsch so helpfully introduced and











The Hermeneutical Spiral 



approach affirmed by this study which is central to the exegetical work that follows.

Grant R. Osborne, The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical Interpretation

(Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 23.

Osborne, The Hermeneutical Spiral, 24.

E. D. Hirsch Jr, Validity in Interpretation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967), 103-126.

Osborne, The Hermeneutical Spiral, 23.

A final work that helps guide the research methodology of this study incorporates

elements from both the Hermeneutical Triad of History, Literature, and Theology, and The

Hermeneutical Spiral, is Inductive Bible Study. This is



presents an application of the exegetical conclusions in a practical methodology. In their words,



should be studied in terms of these three dimensions, the inductive method builds a framework

for methodical, step-by-step study that embraces all facets of the h

This is a

guiding methodological approach that marks this study in affirming both the significance of the

historical, literary, and theological elements of the text and examining them through the classic

inductive Bible study method.

In summary, the research methodology of this study affirms and employs historical-

grammatical exegesis of the biblical text. As the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God,

the first task of biblical exegesis is to discover the meaning of the origin

then interpret and contextualize this to the significance for the modern reader. Historical-

grammatical exegesis is performed when attention is given to the historical background, literary

features, and theological message of the biblical text. It is in the proper understanding and

convergence of these three central elements of the Scripture that proper meaning is achieved.

Thus, this is the research methodological approach that this study will follow.

Richard Alan. Fuhr and Andreas J. Kstenberger, Inductive Bible Study: Observation, Interpretation, and

Application through the Lenses of History, Literature, and Theology (Nashville: B & H Academic, 2016).

Biblical Theology

The second research methodological distinctive of this study is a biblical theological

approach and interpretation of the text.

Biblical theology is diverse and definitions vary among

its adherents and practitioners.

An introductory definition provided by the New Dictionary Of

Biblical Theology is that biblical theology is the

Theological interpretation of Scripture in and for the church. It proceeds with historical

and literary sensitivity and seeks to analyse and synthesize the Bible's teaching about God

and his relations to the world on its own terms, maintaining sight of the Bible's

overarching narrative and Christocentric focus.

Two elements are key here which are marks of the biblical theological approach. First, biblical

theology seeks to understand the meaning and intention of the Scripture in its original context.

Each biblical author and text is treated on its own and allowed to speak for itself within its

unique place in the biblical story of redemptive history. A biblical-theological approach

acknowledges and affirms the unity and diversity of the Christian Scriptures. There is a diversity

of perspectives represented within the canon and between the Testaments that does not negate

the unity of the theological witness of the Scriptures. Thus, biblical theology explores the unity

amongst the diversity of biblical authors and allows each to contribute their unique voice to the

unified theology of the Bible.

For helpful introductions to the task of biblical theology as a theological discipline, see: Graeme

Goldsworthy, Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and Principles (Westmont:

InterVarsity Press, 2013); John Goldingay, Biblical Theology: The God of the Christian Scriptures (Westmont:

InterVarsity Press, 2016); Geerhardus Vos, Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments (Eugene: Wipf & Stock,

2003); Ben Witherington, Biblical Theology: The Convergence of the Canon (Cambridge: Cambridge University

Press, 2019); Desmond T. Alexander and Brian S. Rosner, New Dictionary of Biblical Theology (La Vergne: IVP,

2020).

For an introduction and survey to five distinct approaches to biblical theology which represent the

majority of views, see: Edward W. Klink III and Darian R. Lockett, Understanding Biblical Theology: A

Comparison of Theory and Practice (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2012).

Alexander and Rosner, New Dictionary Of Biblical Theology, xxxiii.

Second, biblical theology pays special attention to the nature of unfolding revelation in

the biblical story of redemptive history. Unlike systematic theology which synthesizes the

variety of Scriptures on a topic into a unified position, biblical theology traces ideas as they



humanity throughout history demands a sensitivity to the theological developments of

redemptive history. This is especially relevant to the 

in relation to God the Father and the explosion of New Testament usage after His life and

ministry represents a significant development in redemptive history. Biblical theology notes the

significance of this shift and can more accurately understand the nature and significance of this

major theological development in light of Old Testament Scripture and an awareness of the

overarching narrative of Scripture and redemptive history. Thus, as the New Dictionary Of

Biblical Theology notes,

Biblical theology is principally concerned with the overall theological message of the

whole Bible. It seeks to understand the parts in relation to the whole and, to achieve this,

it must work with the mutual interaction of the literary, historical, and theological

dimensions of the various corpora, and with the interrelationships of these within the

whole canon of Scripture. Only in this way do we take proper account of the fact that

God has spoken to us in Scripture.

This demonstrates as well the integration between historical-grammatical exegesis and biblical

theology. Historical grammatical exegesis as the hermeneutical treatment of the historical,

literary, and theological elements of the Bible incorporated with a biblical theological awareness



characteristics of the methodological research approach of this dissertation. Therefore, the

Alexander and Rosner, New Dictionary Of Biblical Theology, xiv.

exegetical work that follows in this study will be marked by the implementation of historical-

grammatical exegesis and a biblical theological approach.

Literature Review

As previously stated, this dissertation depends on the faithful exegetical labors of many who

have previously addressed these topics. Therefore, here we present a literature review of the most

significant theological and exegetical works addressing both of these issues. Because this

dissertation seeks to find the exegetical connection between these two distinct theological



the Aramaic Abba to address God the Father will be surveyed. Some works will overlap and

address both of these topics. However, many works surveyed will specifically address one of the

two major themes of this study. Thus, this literature review will distinguish between those works

which address each topic individually or which are relevant to both issues.

Joachim Jeremias is the seminal and one of the most influential scholars known for his work

concerning God as Abba Father in the life and ministry of Jesus. Any work that treats the topic

Abba in the New Testament always includes

reference to and interaction with Jeremias. Many of his works are significant concerning God as

Abba Father. The primary and most influential of his works is The Prayers of Jesus.

Nearly

There are a variety of works which follow this kind of methodological approach to the text. For a survey

of biblical theological works which embrace historical-grammatical exegesis, see the following: Desmond T.

Alexander, From Eden to the New Jerusalem: An Introduction to Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Kregel

Academic & Professional, 2009); Gregory K. Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old

Testament in the New (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011); J. Scott. Duvall and J. Daniel. Hays, God’s

Relational Presence: The Cohesive Center of Biblical Theology (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2019): Thomas R.

Schreiner, The King in His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids: Baker

Academic, 2013); Chris Bruno, Jared Compton, Kevin McFadden and D.A Carson, Biblical Theology According to

the Apostles: How the Earliest Christians Told the Story of Israel (Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2020); Graeme

Goldsworthy, Gospel and Kingdom: A Christian Interpretation of the Old Testament (Exeter: Paternoster Press,

1981); Christopher J. H. Wright, The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission (Grand

Rapids: Zondervan, 2010).

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus.



 The Prayers of

Jesus.

Several elements make The Prayers of Jesus especially significant. First, Jeremias was one of





explored later in this study. Based upon detailed exegesis of the biblical text and related

background material, Jeremias concludes, no analogy

at all 

From this





language for God in the Old Testament as well as in the Ancient Near Eastern context of the Old

Testament. Jeremias bases his views of God as Father on the biblical foundation of the Jewish

Scriptures as well as examining the Old Testament against its ancient religious neighbors. This

informs the cultural and theological environment from which Judaism came. Finally, Jeremias

also includes a detailed examination of ancient Palestinian Judaism. This is especially significant

in understanding how the Old Testament idea of God as Father developed during the



Jewish predecessors and contemThe

Prayers of Jesus but is also continued in his works Jesus and the Message of the New Testament,

New Testament Theology, Rediscovering the Parables, The Lord's Prayer, and The Sermon on

For example, a search in Google scholar shows that at the time of writing this dissertation, there are

nearly 7,000 works citing  The Prayers of Jesus.

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 57.

the Mount. This makes Jeremias one of the seminal and most influential voices in the discussion

concerning God as Abba father and its theological implications concerning prayer. For, Jeremias

ayers of





James Barr. Barr and Jeremias stand at two ends of the discussion as influential opinions that

 issue has the memorable

title, ’Abbā Isn’t ‘Daddy



to God using the Aramaic Abba. Barr agrees with Jeremias in several places. For example, in

‘Abba, Father’ and the Familiarity of Jesus’ Speech, which addresses



of the fatherhood of God for Jesus is amply evidenced in many places and is not in question







of its connection with the sole term 'Abba', and the nuance that is imparted to it through that



This phrase here is an apt summation of where Barr differs and challenges



significance in the first century.

Joachim Jeremias, New Testament Theology: The Proclamation of Jesus (New York: Charles Scribner's

Sons, 1971), 67.

91(741), 1988, 179.

Ibid.

Barr explores these two points at length in ’Abbā Isn’t ‘Daddy.

While affirming some of





of concern is that Abba should not be understood as a childlike expression comparable with



Barr admits that Jeremias never





Second, whereas Jeremias argues that behind

each New Testament example of Father in the Gospels stands the Aramaic word Abba on the lips

of Jesus as the ipsissima vox Jesu, Barr claims that this is impossible to prove and is thus an

untenable position.

Third, Barr posits that Abba could either be Hebrew or Aramaic and is not

the only word that can be employed to express this concept.

Finally, while Barr says it is

possible that addressing God as Abba originated with Jesus, he expresses doubt that this is truly a



Jeremias and Barr have been discussed at length because, in modern research, nearly every

author addressing the issue of the fatherhood of God in the Gospels and the New Testament sides

either with Jeremias or Barr or finds a mediating position somewhere i

Father which is undeniably significant in

the Gospels but to the implications of His use of Abba has major hermeneutical implications.

The Journal of Theological Studies 39, no. 1 (1988): 28-47.

Ibid., 46.

Ibid., 28.

Ibid., 46-47.

Ibid., 47.

Ibid.



and are influential theological voices in the continued dialogue. While the examples and claims

of these authors will be examined and employed within this study, th

views and is therefore highly influenced and impacted by his exegetical conclusions concerning





A scholar with a similar perspective to Barr is Willem VanGemeren. Writing a response to

Jeremias at the same time as Barr, Abbā’ in the Old Testament, VanGemeren also critiques



Father.





and intensification of this theme in the unfolding story of redemptive history.

A significant work that adds to an Old Testament understanding of God as Father and helps

shed interpretive light on the New Testament is a doctoral dissertation by David Tasker entitled,

The Fatherhood of God: An Exegetical Study from the Hebrew Scriptures

beneficial in that it begins with a survey of the fatherhood of the gods in Ancient Near Eastern

literature, performs a thorough analysis of the primary texts in the Old Testament that address the

Fatherhood of God from a biblical perspective, and concludes with a summation of a biblical

theology of God as Father and the key implications of his research.

 Journal of the Evangelical Theological

Society 31, no. 4 (December 1988): 38598.



Andrews University, Dissertations & Theses Global, 2002.

Along these lines, another beneficial study contributing to a theological understanding of

Knowing God the Father Through

the Old Testament.

Wright affirms both the novelty of the intimacy and familiarity with which

Jesus addressed God as Father while at the same time tracing the continuity of this idea through

the Old Testament text.



and His frequent address of God as Father in relation to three major background sources; Ancient

Near Eastern Literature, the Old Testament text, and works from Second Temple Judaism. From

these three categories, two kinds of works are meaningful to this study. These are works that

relate to the fatherhood of God as well as works related to prayer including the presence or

absence of Father language or imagery. Due to the vast amount of material in these categories

from these three periods, the works which address both prayer and Father language for God are

given preference.

There is growing attention being given especially to the material from

Second Temple Judaism and thus a growing number of works addressing this topic.

A few examples of these resources include the following. First, Nijay Gupta has a relevant

study of Abba language utilized by Christ compared to similar language in the Babylonian

Talmud in Reading Mark in Context: Jesus and Second Temple Judaism.





provides further texts and resources to continue this discussion. Geza Vermes does something

Christopher J. H. Wright, Knowing God through the Old Testament Three Volumes in One (Downers

Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2019).

The primary material from these significant periods is addressed in chapters 2-4 and is not included in

this literature review.

Nijay K. Gupta, Reading Mark in Context: Jesus and Second Temple Judaism (Grand Rapids:

HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2018).

similar in his work, Jesus in the Jewish World.



the context of first-century Palestine as well as in light of significant literature from the period

including the Dead Sea Scrolls. Three insightful works addressing the topic of prayer from these

periods which can be grouped together are, The Development of Penitential Prayer in Second

Temple Judaism,

Ancient Jewish Prayers and Emotions,

and Prayer and Poetry in the Dead

Sea Scrolls and Related Literature.

These three works are especially significant for they

provide a window into the prayer and praise of Ancient Israel and the significant background and

contemporary material from the New Testament.

Progressing from key background works and those focused primarily on the Old Testament,

there are a variety of influential studies as well continuing this discussion into the New

assic work by A.T

Robertson, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning God the Father.







significant Old Testament theme. Another classic work at a more lay level emphasizing the

Geza Vermes, Jesus in the Jewish World (London: Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, 2013).

Mark J. Boda, Daniel K. Falk, and Rodney Alan Werline, The Development of Penitential Prayer in

Second Temple Judaism (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007).

Renate Egger-Wenzel and Stefan C. Reif, Ancient Jewish Prayers and Emotions: Emotions Associated

with Jewish Prayer in and Around the Second Temple Period (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2015).

Eileen M. Schuller, Jeremy. Penner, Ken M. Penner, and Cecilia Wassen, Prayer and Poetry in the Dead

Sea Scrolls and Related Literature: Essays on Prayer and Poetry in the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature in

Honor of Eileen Schuller on the Occasion of Her 65th Birthday (Leiden: Brill, 2012).

A.T. Robertson, The Teaching of Jesus Concerning God the Father (London: Forgotten Books, 2012).

centrality of God as Father in the life and ministry of Jesus and at the heart of the Christian faith

is The Forgotten Father by Thomas A. Smail.



The Promise of the

Father.

Thompson affirms the influence Jeremias has had upon all subsequent theological



Once again, anyone dealing with





agree with Jeremias, and disagree, and her summation and response to his views are significant.

She also includes important work on God as Father in the Old Testament and Second Temple



and the theological implications of these views.



concerning God as Father. Beyond larger more general works, there is specialized research being

performed directly dealing with Abba in a continuation of the discussion begun primarily by

Jeremias. Two examples are provided here. The first is The Place of Abba in Mark’s Christology

by Thomas Caulley.

In addition to exploring the importance and connotation of Abba in the

Thomas A. Smail, The Forgotten Father (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,

1980).

Marianne Meye Thompson, The Promise of the Father: Jesus and God in the New Testament (Louisville:

Westminster John Knox Press, 2000).

Ibid., 21.

 Bulletin for Biblical Research 32 (4)

2022: 394416.

Gospels employed by Christ, Caulley also seeks to incorporate the other New Testament





study entitled, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba: Its Sources and Impact on the Idea of the

Fatherhood of God in the New Testament by Stefan Szymik.







teaching the extraordina

recorded in the New Testament writings would have been unthinkable.

Thus, Szymik





A significant development in modern theological research is a growing interest in

biblical-theological treatments of prayer. These are especially noteworthy for they treat one of

the central topics of this dissertation in the same biblical-theological manner that this study seeks

to do. Four texts specifically represent this kind of work which traces the topic of prayer through

the Old and New Testaments in a biblical-theological manner paying special attention to how

this theme develops throughout the canon.

The first is Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer by Gary

Millar.

Millar notes that while extensive studies on prayer have been conducted regarding

Christ, the Gospels, Paul, Psalms, and others, he was not aware of any whole biblical theology of



 Verbum Vitae 38, no. 2 (2020): 485502.

Ibid., 497.

Gary Millar, Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer (Downers Grove:

InterVarsity Press, 2016).

prayer beginning in Genesis and working through all the biblical material until Revelation.







greatest contribution made by the study. Millar supports a strong continuity between the

Testaments and their approach to prayer.

Similar to Millar, Patrick D. Miller also wrote a biblical-theological survey of the

The Form and Theology of Biblical Prayer which at the time of authorship, the Journal of

Religion -language study of the issue of biblical



As the name implies, Miller is concerned with examining the biblical text to develop a

scriptural theology of prayer in the Old and New Testaments. Of special concern to Miller is the

relationship between religious faith and prayer in the Scriptures. Mill





Richard Longenecker makes a unique contribution in His New Testament theology of

prayer, Into God’s Presence: Prayer in the New Testament.

The exegetical work performed by

the group of contributing scholars concerning New Testament prayer is excellent, but it is the

background research and conclusions that are especially valuable. The first section of the work

consists of four essays aimed at establishing a historical and theological background to New

Millar, Calling on the Name of the Lord, 16.

Ibid.

Journal of Religion 76 (October 1996): 61516.

Patrick D. Miller, They Cried to the Lord: The Form and Theology of Biblical Prayer (Minneapolis:

Fortress Press, 1994), 2.

Richard N. Longenecker, Into God’s Presence: Prayer in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans

Pub Co, 2001).

Prayer in the Old Testament or Hebrew Bible

not only surveys the Hebrew Scriptures but demonstrates where Jewish prayer differed from the

Prayer in the Greco-Roman World

Christian prayer are shown to be countercultural in the Greco-Roman context as lacking many of

their pagan elements and reflecting a much more personal and intimate relationship. The third

and fourth essays are related in dealing with the intertestamental and Second Temple Judaism

Prayer in Jewish Life of the First Century as Background to

Early Christianity-Prayer in the Dead Sea Scrolls-88). This material is often

overlooked in understanding the perspective of Jesus, a first-century Jew, regarding prayer. Thus,



pertinent historical, literary, and theological background sources.

Finally, David Crump contributes a focused study on A New Testament Theology of

Petitionary Prayer. The author works his way through the New Testament corpus beginning with

the Synoptic Gospels and concluding with the book of Revelation before offering a summary and

k at

hand is very specific: to construct a New Testament 

The focus

is on rigorous exegesis of select biblical passages and from these findings, to allow the New

Testament itself to form a theology of petitionary prayer.

While each of the four above works treated either whole biblical theologies of prayer or

the New Testament alone, two works of special significance to this study are those that treat only

the prayers of Jesus. Jeremias is one example of this already addressed above. Two more modern

David Crump, Knocking on Heavens' Door: A New Testament Theology of Petitionary Prayer (Grand

Rapids: Baker, 2006), 16.

works are mentioned here. First, is The Prayers of Jesus by Mark Jones.



simple exegetical survey of each prayer prayed by Jesus. For the study here, this is a helpful



concerning God as Father and specifically throug

second related work is Finding Jesus in His Prayers by Stephen Shoemaker. Similar to Jones,



and the importance this held for His own theology and the repercussions this has for a New

Testament theology of prayer a

example, Shoemaker writes,

I work with the assumption of the correctness of Joachim Jeremiasthat behind every



I have chosen to translate the Greek word backward into Abba rather than forward into



Thus, Shoemaker adds to the weight of 

God as Abba and the revolutionary consequences this had for first-century Jews and Christians

of all generations.

A final category of important works will be briefly considered here. One of the

significant points of this dissertation is the continuity or discontinuity between Old Testament

and New Testament prayer. This research study explores the intersection between prayer in the

two Covenants and specifically where the Fatherhood of God is involved. Thus, works treating

prayer in the Old Testament are meaningful in forming an Old Testament theology of prayer that

Mark Jones, The Prayers of Jesus: Listening to and Learning from Our Savior (Wheaton, Illinois:

Crossway, 2019).

Stephen H. Shoemaker, Finding Jesus in His Prayers (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2004), Introduction.



Abba and His disciples' invitation to pray to Him as such.

The first two works are by Walter Brueggemann. These are Great Prayers of the Old

Testament and Worship in Ancient Israel. In Great Prayers of the Old Testament, Brueggemann

presents expositions of twelve significant prayers in the Old Testament with the intention of



In Worship in Ancient

Israel

central texts, prayers, festivals, and practices of that worship.

Both works make a needed

contribution to prayer, worship, and religious practices of ancient Israel as necessary background



work, I Will Lift My Eyes Unto the Hills: Learning from the Great Prayers of the Old

Testament.

This is another survey of the central prayers and related texts in the Old Testament,

Finally, Herbert Lockyer in his work, All the Prayers of the Bible, also seeks to present a



Chapter by Chapter Synopsis

Chapters two, three, and four together will attempt to establish a significant historical,



Yahweh. The aim of chapter two is to examine the relevant Ancient Near Eastern and Israelite

historical and cultural material to form a cultural and theological background to God as Father in

Walter Brueggemann, Great Prayers of the Old Testament (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press,

2008).

Walter Brueggemann, Worship in Ancient Israel: An Essential Guide (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005).

Walter C. Kaiser, I Will Lift My Eyes Unto the Hills: Learning from the Great Prayers of the Old

Testament. Ashland: Lexham Press, 2018.

Herbert Lockyer, All the Prayers of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1959).



understanding of or approach to God as Father. Also, this chapter seeks to explore whether the

Old Testament references to God as Father were unique when compared with their religious

neighbors or if there is a similarity in their theological perspectives. Concerning the Israelite

conception of Father, the biblical presentation of what fatherhood ought to be is helpful in

formulating the imagery to which Yahweh appealed in revealing Himself as Father and will thus

be surveyed first before the rest of the Old Testament material.

Chapter three seeks to establish an Old Testament and Jewish understanding of God and

investigate if the Fatherhood of God was a key idea throughout the Old Testament. While there

are a few Old Testament texts that portray God as a Father to Israel, there is nothing like the

explicit teaching of Jesus anywhere in the Old Testament. The thesis of this study is largely



Old Testament and Jewish background

The bulk of this chapter will consist in a summary of key Old Testament texts dealing

with God as Father either in direct reference or in metaphor, allegory, or poetic imagery will be

examined. The goal is a biblical theological survey of the Old Testament

Yahweh and if the Old Testament laid a theological foundation and prepared New Testament



explored. Here the relevant Hebrew & Aramaic words for father are analyzed not only

concerning God but also in common, everyday language, and familial interactions in the Jewish

world. The goal is to treat each uniquely within its own historical, literary, and theological

environment to gain a thorough and 

presentation of God as Father.

In chapter four, the same approach will be employed as in the previous two chapters

concerning all of the relevant Second Temple Jewish literature. Here, the focus is on the non-

canonical Jewish prayers and relevant intertestamental writings including the Apocrypha,

pseudepigrapha, and other relevant literature from the period. If the thesis of this study is to be



Testament and non-canonical Jewish approaches. Thus, primary Jewish literature from the period

is analyzed here to explore this idea. What while be demonstrated is that while there are a few

relevant texts and prayers that contain Father language for God, none of the texts addressed from

the ANE, Old Testament, or Second Temple period ever address Yahweh using Abba or in the

same manner as Jesus in the Gospels.



intimate and familial Aramaic Abba as a direct reference for Yahweh will be investigated. This

will begin with an extensive linguistic, cultural, and historical examination of the Aramaic term

Abba in the first century in relation to other relevant Hebrew and Greek words used about God

throughout the New Testament. Then, the usage of Abba and Father language God in the New

Testament will be examined. Priority will be given 

and His direct addresses of Him throughout the Gospels. While the Gospels are the primary

focus, brief consideration is given as well to other texts throughout the New Testament for a

more robust understanding o

this term concerning God and its subsequent usage by the Apostle Paul and the early church

merits detailed study not only of this word but its implications for Christians based upon the

example and instruction of Christ.

In Chapter 6, this topic will be addressed in further detail and traced in a biblical

theological manner through the life and ministry of Jesus in the Gospels. Just as was done in the

Old Testament, the same methodological approach is employed here in the Gospels. While other

pertinent texts outside the Gospels are considered, the priority of exegetical significance is given



Gospels. Thus, a detailed section on each Gospel, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John are included



texts with exegetical significance for better understanding the centrality of God as Abba Father

in the New Testament and the transformational affects this had upon the Christian religion.

Chapter seven begins to explore the significant implications of the thesis of this study. The

biblical theological survey and all of the findings of the research are now employed to draw

theological conclusions about the relationship between God as Abba Fa

prayer, and the implications this has for Christians and the Christian religion. The goal is to

integrate the two central themes of this study; God as Abba Father in the New Testament and

ching on prayer. Based upon the exegetical foundations

of the first chapters of this study, these final chapters seek to synthesize these findings into

helpful and significant theological insights.

First, this chapter opens by addressing the impact and theological significance of God as

Abba Father in the New Testament and the early church. Here, this study moves outside of the

verwhelming





 -speaking Christians in Corinth and Rome and its theological significance for

the early church. Second, the Explosion of Father language in the New Testament and the

supremacy of God as Abba in the new covenant. Each of these points affirms the thesis of this

study that a theology of God as Abba (Father) is the hermeneutical key to the teaching of Christ

on prayer in the Gospels.



prayer by the intimacy and accessibility of the privilege of addressing God as Abba Father will

he Gospels concerning prayer is

distinct from the Old Testament portrait of prayer, then the question must be asked, what has



Abba Father that has radically tr

of Christian prayer, and the entirety of the New Testament religion. Significant attention will be



into the family of God in and through the work of Jesus the Son by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Finally, in chapter eight, the impact and applications of a New Testament theology of God as

Father (abba) in relation to prayer for individual believers, theology, and the contemporary

church will conclude this study. Based upon the findings of this study, relevant applications will

be offered for each of these unique spheres with the goal of making a beneficial contribution to

the academy, the church, and the lives of believers.

Chapter 2: Ancient Near Eastern and Israelite Historical and Cultural Background to God

as Father

Introduction: Ancient Near Eastern and Israelite Historical and Cultural Background to

God as Father



relationship to prayer and the impact His relationship with God as Abba as expressed in His

prayers has for believers. However, Jesus did not live and minister within a historical vacuum.

Rather, He came to the Jewish people at a unique moment in redemptive history not to abolish

the covenant Yahweh had made with them but to fulfill it (Mt. 5:17). Thus, to properly

understand the historical, cultural, and theological implica

God as His Father as well as His instruction for His disciples to do the same, the Jewish

historical background must be explored.



most clearly in His personal prayers and His teaching to His disciples on prayer was distinct

from Old Testament and non-canonical Jewish approaches. An accurate historical and

theological understanding of the Jews' relationship with and vision of God in the Old Testament



on the topic represents a

noteworthy development in revelation taking place which is congruent with the Old Testament

but both unprecedented and unexpected, then this becomes one of the most significant facets of

His ministry. However, if Christ merely continued the perspective of the Jewish Scriptures

without making a notable development, then His theology of God as Father and use of Abba may

not be as theological weighty as some have posited.









to God as His personal Father and His instruction for His disciples to approach God, in the same

manner, represents a historic and theologically substantial addition to a new covenant

understanding of God and 



definitely that there is no analogy at all in the whole literature of Jewish prayer for God being



Therefore, to test these claims against the historical, cultural, and

theological world of the Old Testament Scriptures, detailed exegesis of key Old Testament texts

dealing with God as Father either in direct reference or in metaphor, allegory, or poetic imagery



ancestors and contemporaries.

What follows in this chapter is an introduction to the Ancient Near Eastern background of



human fatherhood in ancient Israel. The goal is to lay an adequate foundation for the historical,

cultural, literary, and theological backgrounds for the biblical-theological survey of the Old



is to study the Old Testament literature informed by the relevant background material to discern

if the Old Testament laid a theological foundation and prepared New Testament readers for



serve as the basis of this dissertation providing the necessary foundation for the subsequent

research.

Joachim Jeremias, The Central Message of the New Testament (New York: Scribner, 1965), 17.

Ibid.

Ancient Near Eastern Backgrounds to Yahweh as Father in the Old Testament

It is a well-known fact that the Old Testament authors lived within the context of the



influence their perception of the world and subsequently their writing.

The cultures, customs,



within which the biblical authors wrote.

Thus, the goal of this brief section is to better





ANE texts and their relationship with and impact upon the Old Testament revelation of Yahweh

as Father, ANE cognitive environment criticism must first be defined to explain the task ahead.

Cognitive environment criticism is defined as,

The goal of this discipline is to recover the cultural layers from the world behind the text

that were inherently understood by the ancient audience but have been long lost to our

modern world. Texts, along with iconography, serve as windows to the cognitive

environment of the ancient world.



meaning and importance of cognitive environment criticism.

The modern man lives in the



individualism, globalism, social media, market economy, scientific naturalism, an expanding



Whether one agrees with these ideas or not, modern

Jonathan S. Greer, John W. Hilber, and John H. Walton, Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament:

Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2018), 333.



Bulletin for Biblical Research 29, no. 1 (2019): 1.

Greer, Hilber, Walton, Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament, 333.

Walton, Understanding Torah, 1.

culture is thoroughly drenched in these viewpoints and cultural elements and is influenced by



hey shared in large part with

their ANE neighbors. Much of their cognitive environment is foreign to the modern cultural



ubiquitous agency of the gods, the role of kingship, divination, the centrality of the temple, the





against the current of the socially acceptable river of ANE culture (i.e. monotheism, iconoclasm,

morality, prohibition of using magic), much of what remains is thoroughly drenched in the ANE

cultural river.



should be to assume that, unless the Bible directs otherwise, Israelite thinking is characterized by



This makes a significant

impact on how the biblical exegete approaches the OT text, the ANE parallels, and subsequently

interprets the text.

If Walton is correct and Israel and subsequently the Old Testament Scriptures were

written within the same cultural river as their ANE neighbors, then cognitive environment

criticism is a necessary task for the biblical exegete. Walton sums up this argument aptly, stating:

Ibid., 3.



be neither surprised nor critical. At other times, however, the revelation of God encouraged them to struggle out of

the current into the shallows, o

with the cultural river, it is important to remember that they were situated in the ancient cultural river, not immersed

ohn H. Walton and J. Harvey Walton, The Lost World of Torah

(Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2019), 11.

Walton, Understanding Torah, 4.



interpreters of the biblical text. God communicated within the context of their cultural



communicators for Israelite audiences, and the message took shape according to the

internal logic within their language and culture. We cannot be assured of authoritative

communication through any other source, and we must therefore find the message of God

as communicated through those intermediaries in their ancient cultural river.

Therefore, based upon this brief presentation of cognitive environment criticism and the

methodological approach above, this section will briefly address the key ANE texts that have a

a Father. The goal will

be a more accurate and informed interpretation of the biblical material from within the cognitive

environment of the ANE.

Comparative Methodology Procedure and Approach Concerning ANE Material

Before addressing the ANE material itself, it must be discussed that there are several

methodologies adopted by scholars in addressing the ANE background materials to the Old

Testament. The primary question is, how aware were the writers of Scripture of the ANE

writings, thought, and worldview as well as how or if they included this in their writings or were

influenced by them?

The question of methodology seeks to identify this relationship and

influences the biblical exegete in how much interpretive weight is given to these parallels. While

there are various approaches to this task,

Walton gives an overview of five procedures to





A brief analysis of each of these will be provided below.

Walton and Walton, The Lost World of Torah, 11.

Greer, Hilber, Walton, Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament, 333.

The ‘Comparative Method’ in Biblical Interpretation—Principles and Problems,”

in Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient Near East, ed. Frederick E. Greenspahnx (New York: New York

University Press, 1991).

Greer, Hilber, Walton, Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament, 333-335.

As its name implies, the borrowing position states that Israel borrowed much of their

material from the ANE. Adherents to this view believe that since there is similarity and some of

the ANE sources predate the biblical text, there must be direct borrowing by the biblical authors.

The polemical position views any use of ANE material by the biblical authors as polemic against

-texts position is similar to the polemical view

yet slightly less strong. Rather than polemicizing the ANE, this approach views the biblical

renditions of ANE stories merely as an alternative rendition or viewpoint of the same material. In

the echo approach, the Old Testament authors are viewed as making faint and veiled references

to the ANE material. The depth of their knowledge and understanding of these materials varies,

yet the echo idea remains consistent according to this view. Finally, the position of diffusion

claims that the general ideas of the ANE circulated through literature and orally yet were not

readily available to Hebrew Scribes or the general population. Rather, they were general cultural

norms in the ANE in which Israel lived and thus account for much of the similarity.

Which methodology is to be preferred? Two methodological questions must be asked

each time a text is approached before the appropriate method can be chosen. The first is

concerning content, how aware and influenced were the writers of Scripture of the ANE writings,

thought, and worldview? Was this something they could have known? Did they have access to

this material? Or did this idea, custom, or literature function completely separate from Israel?

Depending upon their probable knowledge and familiarity of a parallel, the scholar can begin to

deduce how much relevance it had upon the specific author of Scripture.

The second question

is related to intent. Is there any evidence that this specific biblical author referred to, quoted,

Ibid.

Tyndale Bulliten22 (Jan 1971): 5-9.

echoed, or sought to polemicize a certain ANE writing or concept?

There must be some



Then, based

on the results of these two methodological questions, the best approach for assessing the parallel

can be employed.

For this reason, the comparative methodology employed by this study is the necessity of

both content and intent by the biblical author to substantiate a legitimate parallel. For an ANE

parallel to be proven influential on the exegesis of the biblical text, there must be evidence of a

relationship in content and intent between the ANE source and the biblical author. Thus, when

comparing the ANE material against the biblical text, these two elements must be present for a

substantive parallel to be drawn.

Theoretical Framework for Describing the Relationship Between the Biblical Text and the

Ancient Near Eastern Material

Using the methodology of content and intent established above, this study concludes that

the best approach concerning the theoretical framework between the Old Testament text

regarding its ANE parallels is a balanced and nuanced combination of diffusion and polemic by

the authors. Why is this distinction to be preferred? When the Bible is compared and contrasted







accounts and not as unique nor new is missing the significance of the differences and distinctions

between the Bible and the ANE material.

The positions of borrowing, counter texts, and mere

The ‘Comparative Method’ in Biblical Interpretation, 83.

Journal of Biblical Literature18, no. 1 (Mar 1962).

John N. Oswalt, The Bible Among the Myths (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009), 80.

John D. Currid, Against the Gods: The Polemical Theology of the Old Testament (Wheaton: Crossway,

2013), 33.

echoes do not account for the deeply rooted and systemic differences between materials.

At the

same time, this study does not affirm that every reference or use of ANE material by the biblical

authors is always polemical

but that there is much polemical material contained within the

Scriptures.

That being said, there is also the element of cultural diffusion between the Israelites

and their ANE neighbors. They were generally aware of cultures, customs, and practices between

their shared cultures and some of the many divergent practices between them because of their

shared cultural river or cognitive environment.

Thus, the Old Testament authors wrote from

within the ANE framework with a balanced and nuanced combination of diffusion and polemic,

utilizing the pertinent ANE materials to serve their desired ends. This position roughly resembles

 In his own words, Walton describes the biblical author,

He is a protagonist in a conversation, whether engaged in borrowing and reworking,

debate (polemic), reflection (counter-text), or casual intertextuality, or simply

characterized by general awareness of the way ideas were framed or approached in the

ancient world.

What does this mean for our theoretical framework? Using the methodology outlined above,

after establishing whether or not the biblical author had knowledge or access to the ANE parallel

Although this author does not agree with the conclusions made by Delitzsch, even he affirms the

widespread differences between the Hebrew Scriptures and the ANE materiel. See, Friedrich Delitzsch, Babel and

Bible: Two Lectures Delivered Before the Members of the Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft in the Presence of the

German Emperor (United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, 2018), 136.

For an in-depth exploration of polemical theology, though focused more on New Testament themes, see:

Svorad Zavarský ed., et al., Themes of Polemical Theology Across Early Modern Literary Genres (Cambridge:

Scholars Publisher, 2016).





against Idolatry in the Old Testament.” Journal of Biblical Literature 43, no. 34 (1924): 22940.

Greer, Hilber, Walton, Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament, 334.

Ibid., 335.

(content), we assess his motivation in using the material (intent).

We do this with the basic

supposition that generally, the author wrote from a balanced and nuanced combination of



or cognitive environment as her ANE neighbors. When the parallels are clearer, the most

common use is one of polemic using the ANE material for the theological benefit of Israel using

the ANE materials to do so in a polemical manner.

Analysis of Key Ancient Near Eastern Texts

With this important foundation having been laid concerning cognitive environment

criticism and the methodological approach and perspective of this study, a brief survey of the

pertinent ANE material will be provided. The goal is to see where the biblical authors were

influenced by cultural diffusion from their religious neighbors, where they actively resisted them

through polemic, or where they were simply distinct from them in their understanding of

elites were not the first or only people

to picture their God as a father. Extant texts from ancient Babylon and Egypt picture God as a

father because he is the creator of all the earth, the father of the king and, in henotheistic religion,

the father of a

The most significant ANE regions to be examined here are those

Further examples of this will be explored in chapter 3. As each Old Testament text is examined, the

relevant ANE parallels or background will be considered in the exegesis.

This is a complex and extensive topic to address. This study can merely scratch the surface of the

relationship between the Old Testament and the Ancient Near Eastern world. For a thorough introduction to the

issue and helpful texts to begin, see the following: Bill T. Arnold, Nancy L. Erickson and John H. Walton, Windows

to the Ancient World of the Hebrew Bible: Essays in Honor of Samuel Greengus (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2014);

Christopher B. Hays, Hidden Riches: A Sourcebook for the Comparative Study of the Hebrew Bible and Ancient

Near East (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014); Victor H. Matthews, Old Testament Parallels: Laws

and Stories from the Ancient Near East (New York: Paulist Press, 2016); Richard A. Freund, Digging Through the

Bible: Understanding Biblical People, Places, and Controversies through Archaeology (Maryland: Rowman &

Littlefield Publishers, 2008); John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible

Background Commentary: Old Testament (Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2000).

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 40.

of Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Canaan. As the following survey will demonstrate, these cultures

-

Thus, based on the preceding material,

the relevant material must be treated from these cultures and compared and contrasted with that

of ancient Israel.

Mesopotamia and the Sumerian Literature

The Sumerians from ancient Mesopotamia are the first recorded peoples to develop

ethical, religious, social, political, and philosophical ideas.

For the ancient Sumerians, like

many of the ANE religions, creation was attributed to a pantheon of gods who were physically

active in the procreation of each other, the universe, and humankind. In Sumerian religion, this



gods included An, Ki, Enlil, Enki, Nanna, and Utu. Later on, instead of an original goddess

mother, there is a version of the Atrahasis Epic from early in the 2

millennium BCE where An



A distinct difference that immediately emerges from the ANE material and that of ancient

Israel is not only the plurality of deities both male and female but also the explicitly sexual

Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 16.

The Fatherhood of God: An Exegetical Study From the Hebrew

Scriptures, was invaluable in developing this section. His approach to the ANE literature and his discussion of it in

the context of Yahweh as Father in the Old Testament was formative for developing this section. Focusing this

discussion on Mesopotamia, Egypt, and Canaan follows his example directly. For a more detailed treatment of this



Samuel Noah Kramer, The Sacred Marriage Rite: Aspects of Faith. Myth, and Ritual in Ancient Sumer

(Bloomington. Indiana University Press. 1969). 3; Idem., From the Poetry' of Sumer: Creation. Glorification.

Adoration (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979). 51-52; Idem., History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-nine

Firsts in Man s Recorded History (Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press. 1981); Idem., Sumerian

Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third Millennium B.C. (Philadelphia: University of

Philadelphia Press. 1972); Idem., The Sumerians. Their History. Culture, and Character (Chicago: University of

Chicago Press, 1963).

Stephanie Dailey. Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood. Gilgamesh and Others (Oxford:

Oxford University Press. 1989). 9.

nature of their creation accounts and their physical and sexual involvement in creation. One text

will be quoted here for illustration, but this is a concept that is common in the literature of the

f for holy Heaven, Heaven, the noble

god, inserted his sex into the wide Earth, Let flow the semen of his heroes, Trees and Reed, into





in the ANE world can be seen to stand in stark contrast with the material in the Old Testament

text.

As Stuart notes,

Many ancient and modern religions are sexually dualistic in their view of deity. They

believe that both male and female gods exist, and that many, if not all of them, are paired.

In some instances the pairing is a marriage; in others it is what we might call

cohabitation-or even an affair. Such dualism is absolutely foreign to the teaching of the

Bible. To the dualistic Canaanites, on the other hand, it was illogical to think that their

god Baal would be celibate. He had to have a consort, whom we know as Asherah (Judg

3:7; 1 Kgs 18:19).

This point could be illustrated countless times throughout the ANE literature. Suffice it to say,



Enlil was another



In a liturgy to Enlil, his role as progenitor

Disputation Between Tree and Reed. 5-10; Kramer. Poetry of Sumer. 30.

Many of these ANE texts are not only sexual in nature but explicit in their content and description of the



his eye from that spot, After father Enki had lifted it over the Euphrates, He stood up proudly like a rampant bull, He

lifts the penis, ejaculates, Filled the Tigris with sparkling water. The wild cow mooing for its young in the pastures,

the scorpion (-infested) stall, [The Tigris is surrendered] to him, as (to) a rampant bull. He lifted the penis, brought

the bridal gift, Brought joy to the Tigris, like a big wild bull [rejoiced (?)] in its giving birth. The water he brought is

rought, its checkered grain, the people eat it. He filled the



The Sumerians, 179. Once again, this is only illustration among countless that could be provided.

Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2020), 37-38.

Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 18.

Kramer, History Begins at Sumer, 88.

and creator is celebrated against the sexual imagery of the procreative power of a bull, Enlil,

father of the land, 

Throughout the Sumerian

literature, Enlil is consistently viewed as a paternal figure because he is the progenitor of all

things.

100

Two other Sumerian deities addressed as fathers were Nanna and Utu.

101

The same

physical relationship between the gods and all humanity is continued in these characters as well.

In the Akkadian literature, the same general understanding of the deities as physical progenitors

of humankind and a pantheon of gods is reflected in the Gilgamesh Epic, the Atrahasis

Epic, and the Enuma Elisha.

102

In the ANE literature, another distinction with the Hebrew vision of Yahweh as Father is

the purpose for the creation of humans. Whereas Yahweh created humankind for friendship,

relationship, intimacy, and communion, in Sumerian mythology, the gods created humans to ease

their load and do their work for them.

103

That is, the overwhelming perspective of the ANE is



by supplying them with food, drink, and shelter so that they might have their full leisure for their

divine 

104

Therefore, even a brief survey of the ANE material demonstrates the

Stephen Langdon. Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms. Publications of the Babylonian Section, vol. 10. no. 4

(Philadelphia: University Museum. University of Pennsylvania. 1919). 292.

100

Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 27.

101

The Sumerians, 143; Kramer, Sumerian

Mythology', 74.

102

For a discussion and survey of this literature, see: Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 41-46.

103

While this is the prevalent characteristic of the intention of the deities in creating humans to serve their

own selfish purpose, there is an interesting text that is the exception, not the norm, for a ANE deity caring for rather

than demanding form their 

are their mother, you, you are their father, Ututhe orphan, Ututhe widow, Utu, the orphan gazes up to you as his

father, Utu, you show favor to the widows like thei-34. in Kramer. Poetry of Sumer. 96.

104

The Harvard Theological Review 49, no. 1

(1956): 56.

growing consensus that the biblical vision of Yahweh as Father differed diametrically from the

religious and cultural environment of the Ancient Near East.

Egyptian and Canaanite Literature

In the plentiful and expansive religious literature of ancient Egypt,

105

there is evidence





106

While the Egyptian literature, religious material, and theology concerning their

deities vary widely throughout their history and across the geographic landscape, three primary

religiopolitical centers can be identified, Heliopolis, Memphis, and Thebes.

107

The beliefs of

Heliopolis are best preserved in the Pyramid Texts' dated to about 2350-2175 B.C.E.

108

As with

the Sumerian material, all of the Egyptian texts contain a form of cosmogony, accounting for the

origins of all things, a theogony, accounting for the origin and the descent of the deities, or a

combination of both.

109

The Egyptian literature also incorporates sexually explicit details

concerning the origin of both creation and the deities themselves. After the explanation of his

ho

105

The goal of this dissertation is not an extensive treatment of the Egyptian or ANE material. Rather, this

brief survey is merely meant to provide the necessary background information for accurately interpreting and

understanding the biblical text. Thus, for further treatment of the plethora of Egyptian and other ANE material

available, see the following works: Glenn S. Holland, Gods in the Desert: Religions of the Ancient Near East

(Lanham,: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated, 2010); Gaston Masparo, Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt

(Milton: Taylor & Francis Group, 2005); Richard A. Gabriel, Gods of Our Fathers: The Memory of Egypt in

Judaism and Christianity (New York: Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2001); Susan Thorpe, Daily Life in Ancient

Egyptian Personal Correspondence (Oxford: Archaeopress, 2021).

106

Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 47.

107

Ibid.

108

Samuel A. B. Mercer, The Pyramid Texts: In Translation and Commentary (New York: Longmans

Green. 1952).

109



Denkmal. Numen 23. no. 2 (1976): 82.

(once) came into being, who masturbated in On. He took his phallus in his grasp that he might



110

This is merely one example that represents the theological outlook of ancient Near



view of Yahweh as Father and His activity in creation contrasts with that of their ANE

contemporaries. The origin story of humanity also differs greatly in the Egyptian literature.



tears. Thus, an interesting point emerges in contrast to the biblical picture. In the ANE, it was





111

As will be

demonstrated in the subsequent survey of the Old Testament, this is a blatantly contrary

perspective to that of the biblical authors.

The Egyptians also believed that the Pharaoh was the son of the god Re, born of one of

his priests' wives, enabling the Pharaoh to be an actual son of Re.

112

The divine paternity of the

Pharaoh and the unique relationship he enjoyed with the deity as his father was a significant

theme in ancient Egypt.

113

Perhaps most significant to this present study is that there are





110

Ut.527.1248. in R. O. Faulkner. The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, vol. 1 (Warminster. England: Aris

and Phillips. 1973). 198.

111

Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 51.

112

Pascal Vernus, The Gods of Ancient Egypt (New York: John Braziller, 1998), 83.

113

For an extensive study of this issue throughout Egyptian history, see: Ronald J. Leprohon, The Great

Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary (Williston: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013).



114

While this is an interesting example, two points must be made. First, this is not an illustration of

a living person addressing the deity as such but rather, in the mythology of a deceased Pharaoh

 understanding of their literal

connection to the gods as their father and their role as a divine is diametrically opposed to that of

the Hebrew Scriptures. This point is critical to be understood to see not only the difference

between the biblical text and the ANE perspective but also to see the great care with which the

biblical authors used to distinguish Yahweh as Father and the ANE and at times utilize polemic

to do so. As Tasker so eloquently addresses,

-gods of the ANE in at least one important

regard. Nowhere in the biblical account is there a hint of humans becoming gods, unlike

the pharaohs, for example, that became gods on their ascension to the throne. There are a

number of places that spell out at length that once a human always a human, as seen in



own procreative powers (as seen in the sexual procreative acts of the ANE father-gods),





orms the pattern for the

Father-son relationship with all His children.

115

This has been a mere surface-level survey of the Egyptian material. Once again, the sheer

quantity and complexity of the material and the variations among various religiopolitical centers

equates in a wealth of material and perspectives.

116

However, a few points can be made to

summarize the Egyptian vision of their deities as father figures. As demonstrated above, there is



114

Ut.485A. 1030, in Raymond Faulkner, The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts (Oxford: Clarendon, 1969),

172.

115

Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 233.

116

A an extremely helpful and beneficial resource to treat and explore each of these topics in greater detail

is the following: George Hart, The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses (Florence: Taylor &

Francis Group, 2005).

This includes the generation of other gods (theogony), the creation of the world and all things

(cosmogony), as a father to the pharaohs, and in helping deceased souls safely pass into the

afterlife into the presence of Re.

117

In Canaan, the Ugaritic literature concerning El and Baal is informative in analyzing the

pertinent background information concerning an ANE vision of god(s) as a father.

118

Interestingly, whereas in the preceding literature surveyed the conception of the deities as father





119





120



progenitor, as bull, as was seen in the Sumerian literature concerning their gods, and finally, as

king.

121

Baal is another significant divine figure in the Canaanite religious literature for he is the

son of El.

122

As the son of El, while Baal plays a significant role as a deity in Canaan, the

imagery of the gods as a father is the least prominent here than in the other ANE material

surveyed.

123

However, as with all of the ANE world, the connection between humanity and the

117

Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 74.

118



and the Father Image in several Contemporary Ancient Near Eastern Myths: A Comparison." Studies in Religion 14,

no. 3 (1985): 347-354.

119

Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 75.

120

For access to these ancient texts, see: John C. Gibson, Canaanite Myths and Legends (London:

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2004); James B. Pritchard and Daniel E. Fleming, The Ancient Near East: An

Anthology of Texts and Pictures (Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2011).

121

Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 76-88.

122

Miller, God as Father in the Bible and the Father Image in several Contemporary Ancient Near Eastern

Myths, 349.

123

For further works treating the cultural, historical, literary and religious world and background of the

Ancient Near East, see the following: Michael B. Hundley, Gods in Dwellings: Temples and Divine Presence in the

Ancient Near East (Williston: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013); C. L. Crouch, Jonathan Stökl, and Anna Elise

Zernecke, Mediating Between Heaven and Earth: Communication with the Divine in the Ancient Near East (New



evidently widespread concept of God could have developed. A father was thought of as the

procreator, not just of his own immediate children born of his wife or wives, but of the whole



124

Thus, while the least developed or

clear, the Canaanites too shared in the cognitive environment of the ANE as owing their

existence to the pantheon of gods.

125

Conclusions Concerning the ANE Material

Having surveyed some of the most significant ANE literature in an attempt to understand

the cognitive environment of the ANE from which the Hebrew Scriptures arose, a few major

conclusions can be made before addressing the Old Testament text. First, the Old Testament

stands in radical contrast to the ANE religious worldview in its steadfast presentation of

monotheism against the pantheism of the ANE. Yahweh is the sole creator and deity of His

people. This could not be in more discontinuity with the shared perspectives of the peoples of the

ANE. The biblical text lacks all elements of theogony, a pantheon of gods, divine competition,



role as the sole deity for Israel is both a distinct and a polemical charge against the pantheism of

false gods reverenced by the ANE world.

126

York: Bloomsbury Academic & Professional, 2014); Anne Porter and Glenn M. Schwarz, Sacred Killing: The

Archaeology of Sacrifice in the Ancient near East (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012); Eric

M. Trinka, Cultures of Mobility, Migration, and Religion in Ancient Israel and Its World (London: Routledge,

2022); Marc Van De Mieroop, A History of the Ancient Near East, Ca. 3000-323 BC. (Newark: John Wiley & Sons,

Incorporated, 2015); Louis Lawrence Orlin, Life and Thought in the Ancient Near East (Ann Arbor: University of

Michigan Press, 2007).

124

Mason, Old Testament Pictures of God, 55.

125

Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 76.

126





sheep (Lev 19:19), or boiling  lawed, as was

A second significant distinction between the Old Testament and the ANE literature is that

the biblical material has an obvious lack of sexually explicit content in its presentation of the

creation of the universe. There is absolutely no trace of any kind of physical involvement by

Yahweh or sexual activity in the creation of the cosmos or of humankind. That is, since Yahweh



but portrays it to be of a different nature, showing more of a parental concern for offspring rather



127

This will be demonstrated clearly in the

subsequent exegesis of the Old Testament texts related to Yahweh as Father. Third, and related



physical procreation or literal begetting of them as His children:

The nature of the Father-child relationship that God enjoys with humans is one based on

covenant, and rules out any correspondence with the ANE notion of father-god

progenitorship. The covenant motif is seen when God establishes the people at the

Exodus, divides the inheritance of the nations (Deut 32:8-9, echoing Gen 10), finds them

in the desert (vs. 10), leads them (vs. 12), and causes them to ride on the heights (vs. 13).

Covenant is also seen with the promise of a perpetual Davidic dynasty.

128

As the subsequent exegesis will illustrate, the Old Testament authors are relentless in their



of them through deliverance from Egypt. This is perhaps another example of the polemical

nature of the Old Testament or at the very least, a conscious and concerted effort by Yahweh

Himself and the biblical authors to distinguish Yahweh from any conception of ANE parallels.

A fourth distinction that was addressed above is that the ANE purpose and explanation

for the creation of humanity could not be more dissimilar from the biblical portrait. In the Old

ritual sex in worship, also essentially dualistic. The worship of any god other than Yahweh was forbidden, and this

certainly inHosea-Jonah, 37-38.

127

Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 254.

128

Ibid., 245.



very own image (Genesis 1:27). In the ANE world, humankind is either the accidental result of

-class source of labor and relief of the gods. Thus, the

Hebrew religion gave meaning, purpose, and dignity to every human life whereas the ANE drew

a significant distinction between the gods and the subservient role of humans. Finally, this point

itself addressed the radical discontinuity between the character of Yahweh as Father against the

malicious, sexually deviant, and combative nature of the ANE gods. As Martin argues, the

Israelite conception of Yahweh as a Father could not have been borrowed from the ANE

pantheon of gods for in 



129



in God as the Father of his people was their theological reflection on the mystery of God's choice

of Israel, expressed in his action by which they were rescued from slavery and given a lan

130



relationship with their cultural and religious neighbors, it is still maintained as the subsequent

exegesis will demonstrate that the Old Testament authors reflect a balanced and nuanced

combination of diffusion and polemic by the authors. The biblical text did come from the cultural

cognitive environment of the ANE. However, the biblical authors were not unaware of this.

Rather, they demonstrate either a conscious rejection of the religious perspectives of their time or

a full-blown polemic against the religious views of the time.

131

Therefore, when father language

129

Francis Martin, The Feminist Question: Feminist Theology in the Light of Christian Tradition (Grand

Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994), 271.

130

Ibid.

131

While this is true of the biblical authors, it is not always indicative of Israel as a whole. As Stuart notes,

there is evidence from within Israel itself of cultural and religious syncretism. However, this is not so for the biblical

text and the biblical 

Israelites during most of their history were not orthodox followers of the revealed truth, but apostatized idolaters, it



is radically different. This perceptive will now be tested against the Old Testament text and the

findings of this survey of ANE material will be incorporated into the subsequent exegesis.

Concept of Divine Fatherhood In Ancient Israel

Before surveying the Old Testament text and each of its individual references to Yahweh

as Father, a brief attempt must be made in attempting to reconstruct the Jewish understanding of

fatherhood outside of these religious contexts. That is, just as the ANE material informed the

cultural and religious milieu of the period, even more significant is the historical and cultural

understanding of father that can be formed from the pertinent Jewish material. A historical,

cultural, and religious understanding of what came to mind when the biblical authors appealed to





served as a ti

132

Thus, the historical

and cultural place of the father within the Jewish family and society formed the theological

backdrop for the religious texts employing this kind of imagery.

133

is reasonable to imagine that at least some of them would corrupt the worship of Yahweh in the style of dualistic

Canaanite religion, and begin to believe that Yahweh ought to have a goddess consort, too. This did, indeed, happen

(cf. Deut 16:21; 2 Kgs 23:6). Extrabiblically, inscriptions and paintings found at the Sinai wilderness shrine of





were they. It was dualistic, forbidden by the Mosaic Law, but believed and prac

Hosea-Jonah (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2020), 37-38.

132



 Verbum Vitae 38, no. 2 (2020): 488.

133

For further research and discussion on this topic, see the following works: Felix Albrecht and Reinhard

Feldmeier, The Divine Father: Religious and Philosophical Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity (Boston:



 Revue De Qumrân 20, No. 2 (78) (2001): 287

 Anglican Theological Review 82, no. 3 (Summer, 2000): 519-36.

The biblical text itself which will be surveyed will be the most informative and pertinent

background material. However, a few brief comments and assertions will be made in preparation

for the exegetical analysis which will ensue. There are three primary underlying ideas behind the





134

This is one of the

clearest implications behind the imagery of fatherhood. An example of this is Proverbs 23:22



father is involved in the physical procreation of His child, so too Yahweh will be likened to a

Father as the ultimate source behind the formation and creation of His people. As will be

demonstrated through the subsequent exegesis, Yahweh is demonstrated explicitly to be the

creator not just of Israel but of the entire cosmos and all that exists (Genesis 1-2). At the same



metaphorical imagery of Him as Father in any way that could be confused with the ANE cultural

and religious landscape around them. This is significant for,



the creation of all peoples (cf. Isa. 45:9

neither to God as universal creator nor to some attribute or quality of God. It refers

specifically to God's purposes and blessings for Israel (Isa. 63:16; 64:8; Jer. 3:19; 31:9).

This is where Israelite faith takes a turn from its neighbors. While it speaks of the one

God, creator of all that is, as Father, it limits that Fatherhood particularly to the people of

Israel.

135

Thus, the biblical authors exercise great precision in their references to Yahweh as Father to

distinguish between His covenant relationship with Israel and His creation of them through

134

Marianne Meye Thompson, The Promise of the Father: Jesus and God in the New Testament

(Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 39.

135

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 41.

election and rescue from Egypt and His general role as creator of all people (Jer. 31:9; Deut.

32:46; cf. Deut. 32:18).

136

A second element of Yahweh as Father that emerges from this metaphorical imagery is

that just as a father cares for, protects, and provides for His children, so too does Yahweh for His

children.

137

This is another foundational concept behind the biblical imagery of Yahweh as a

Father and its connection to human fatherhood. Every Jew before and during the Old Testament

 cost to himself,

providing for them whatever needed, and protecting them against any attack, danger, or threat.

This idyllic role of the natural father in the family is what the biblical authors appeal to when

 

refers to the image of an Israelite family, which was close to the inspired authors, in which the

father had a special place as their parent, provider and educator, but also their guardian and



138

A few examples of this will be provided here to illustrate this point as a significant



n for His children

(Psalm 103:13) Interestingly, as has already been noted and will continue to be addressed, the



against the ANE framework appears. What is clear is that the imagery of the father in Israelite

136

Rex Mason, Old Testament Pictures of God (Oxford: Smyth and Helwys, 1993), 5256.

137

Thompson, The Promise of the Father: Jesus and God in the New Testament, 39.

138

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 488.

society is one that was connected to tenderness and compassion. This is illustrated beautifully in



The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you

in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your

God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this

place. (Deuteronomy 1:30-31 ESV)



Israel in not merely rescuing them from Egypt but in carrying them Himself like a father carries

a son. Every Jew would have either seen or experienced first-hand the intimate experience of

carrying their own son in their bosom. It is this experience that the biblical author appeals to in



ociety consisted not only in practical care for his children

but also in spiritual leadership and instruction (Deuteronomy 6:6-9). This teaching role and

responsibility for the instruction of the child in Hebrew culture is summarized in the famous





children was to not only bring them into this world or care for them during his lifetime but to





ESV). This was mentioned in the first role of a father in Israelite society above and plays a

significant role in the biblical text.

While this section is focused on the Old Testament, a brief statement about the New

Testament and the place of Jewish fathers during this period must be made here, especially

 teaching

concerning God as Father stands at a significant place in revelation history at the close of the Old

Covenant and the commencement period of the new. At the same time, the familial culture and



the continuity between the Old and New Testament imagery concerning God as Father. That is,

The Gospels depict Jesus' speaking of a new family gathered about him, a family that

honors the Father and does his will. Jesus promises that the heavenly Father will provide

for his children as a father provides bread for his children. And Jesus speaks of the

kingdom as an inheritance that God gives to them. This tapestry is woven with threads

that come from the pages of the Old Testament, and reappear in Jewish literature

contemporary with Jesus.

139

Detailed exegesis of pertinent New Testament texts will be reserved for later. For now, two brief

references will be made that provide significant insight into understanding the Jewish role of the

father in the family. In Mathew 7:7-11 and Luke 11:9-13, Jesus appeals to the gracious and





 

and boldness in approaching their Heavenly Father. It is within the practical context of a child

d that

Christ invited His disciples to pray. The implications and details of this will be discussed later

on. For now, what is important to note is that in both the Old and New Testaments, there is

continuity in that one of the chief responsibilities of a Hebrew father was to care for, provide for,

and protect his children. This has significant theological significance for the subsequent exegesis

of every text that appeals to Yahweh as a Father. Latent within the imagery is a loving father

who cares for the needs of His children.

The final major idea behind the Jewish conception of Yahweh as Father is that



139

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 54-55.



140

It is difficult to stress how essential this concept was in Hebrew

culture and the exegetical impact it has upon all subsequent treatment of the biblical text. One of

the ten commandments which became the bedrock of Hebrew culture and religion commanded

t



This command was reiterated in Leviticus 19:3, Deuteronomy 5:16, and reaffirmed by Jesus as

the very words of God in Matthew 15:4. Thus, honor due a father is one of the clearest

underlying concepts behind biblical usage of paternal language for Yahweh. To feel the weight

and gravity of this command in Israelite society, a passage will be quoted from Deuteronomy 21:

If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the

voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his

father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at





Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the

evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear. (Deuteronomy 21:18-21)



In Leviticus 21, if someone struck (21:15) or cursed (21:17) his father or mother, he also was to

be put to death. Within Israelite society, the severity of 

parent is difficult to overemphasize (Proverbs 20:20). Therefore, the repeated demand



not a metaphorical concept lacking a clear antecedent. When the biblical authors appealed to



background of Jewish law toward natural parents that informed this imagery.

141

140

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 54-55.

141

The nature of fatherhood and familial relationships in the Ancient Near East is a complex one. For a

historical, theological, and religious introduction to this topic see the following works: John H. Walton, Ancient

This theme of honor and obedience to Yahweh is central in the Old Testament. This is

true in each instance where Yahweh is directly addressed or referenced as Father. In addition to

this, in the plethora of occurrences where Israel is called to either honor or obey Yahweh, in





Lord and Father tempers the exegesis and approach to texts concerning honor and obedience. For



142

Thus, He

deserves to be honored, reverenced, and obeyed.

At the same time, as has been discussed, the Father also has an intimate relationship with



tempered by his tender love and care for His child. The Hebrew child is commanded to honor

and obey his father, but this honor and obedience was never intended to be sheer duty or

demanded by strict regulation. Rather, the child was to willingly and gladly respond to the

e from a heart of love, thankfulness,

and gratitude. Malachi 1:6 is a clear example of this where the Lord Himself ties these ideas



honor? And if I am a master

later on in this study. For now, the point is to illustrate that just as the culture of fatherhood in

Israelite society consisted of honor and obedience based upon the Jewish Law but also the

Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible (Grand

Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006); John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible

Background Commentary: Old Testament 

Journal of Biblical Literature 133, no. 1 (2014): 8

 The Biblical Archaeologist 11, no. 2 (1948): 2440.

142





looms behind references to Yahweh as Father.

Scriptural examples of this concept abound throughout the Old Testament text. One

further example among many is the connection between honor and obedience to Yahweh and His

You did not

obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he



-47 ESV) This text illustrates that

as Father, Yahweh not only desires the rote obedience of His people but as a Father desires

willing and joyful obedience from his children, Yahweh desires the same from Israel.

The necessary implication of this as illustrated above is that in a Hebrew family where

the father is commanded to be honored and obeyed, if this is not heeded by the children, the

ies the natural role of a

father as the primary disciplinarian in a family with the imagery of Yahweh as a Father who does



 again, it is the role of the Father within Israelite

society that forms the cultural and theological foundation for this imagery applied to Yahweh.

When Yahweh is addressed as father and when His discipline or correction is in view, it is the

underlying c

metaphor.

143

The book of Proverbs provides one of the most extensive and clear demonstrations of the

relationship between the idea of honor and obedience and the call for discipline, reproof,

143

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 39.

correction, and rebuke of the disobedient and dishonoring child. Throughout the book of

Proverbs, children are repeatedly called to listen to and obey their parents as the application of

 commandment, and



144

In addition to this, fathers are





145

The correlation between honor and obedience due to a father, a



when this command was not heeded formed the backbone of Hebrew family life.

It is this core tenet of the familial structure that enriches and illuminates the biblical

-12 is a key text that ties each of these

concepts together and illustrates their relationship to Yahweh as Father

the Lord's discipline or be weary of his reproof, for the Lord reproves him whom he loves, as a

-12 ESV). Here, attention is drawn to the

reality that an earthly father disciplines 



as a father who delights in His children. The demand for honor and obedience is once again

placed within the 



Father is present even in the context of the Davidic kingship who enjoyed the elevated status as



commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men,

144

Other examples include Proverbs 15:5, 23:19, and 13:1.

145

Other instances of this include Proverbs 22:15 and 29:15.

-15 ESV).

146

Therefore, the

honor and obedience due to fathers demands their role of discipline and correction in the lives of

children. If this is true of human and earthly fathers, how much more so for Yahweh, the Father

of Israel? Thus, honor and obedience are one of the central components of understanding

fatherhood in ancient Israel, and the imagery of this when applied to Yahweh,

147

Conclusion: Summary of Divine Fatherhood In Ancient Israel

In summary, there are three primary underlying concepts behind the role of the father in

Ancient Israel.

148

The first is that the Jewish father was understood as the source, origin, and

founder of the family. As the source of life for the individual and the family line, the father was

responsible for leaving an inheritance to his children.

149

Second, in an appeal to one of the

clearest elements of human fatherhood, fathers in Israel were tasked with caring for, providing

for, and protecting their children. Finally, fathers were to be honored, reverenced, and obeyed by

their children. The punishment according to mosaic Law was severe if this command was not

heeded and therefore children were commanded to honor and obey their fathers and fathers were

instructed to train, rebuke, and correct their children. These three major aspects of a Jewish

146



(2001). Dissertations. 152., 257.

147

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 39.

148

Two works that were formative in developing this tripart understanding of fatherhood in ancient Israel

and its implications for theological texts related to Yahweh are: Marianne Meye Thompson, The Promise of the

Father: Jesus and God in the New Testament (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000); David Russell

Tasker, "The Fatherhood of God: an Exegetical Study From the Hebrew Scriptures" (2001). Dissertations. 152.

149

A fascinating example of honor and obedience to a father figure who serves as the source and origin of a

family in the Old Testament is that of the Rechabites in Jeremiah 35:1-11. While this topic falls outside the scope of

this dissertation, see the foll

The History of the Rechabites Twenty-Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, 23(4), 2014,

307-The Expository Times,

113(10), 2002, 333-The Expository Times, 107(5), 1996, 137-140;

 Journal for the Study of the

Pseudepigrapha 13, no. 2 (October 2002): 185207.

conception of the father are present from the Old Testament period all the way through Second



is, as the begetter but also the



150

These three major historical

and cultural elements of ancient Israelite fatherhood must be incorporated into all subsequent

exegesis of the biblical text and are significant in forming the Jewish conception of fatherhood.

150

Carey A. Moore, Tobit: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: The Anchor

Yale Bible, 1996), 275287.

Chapter 3: Old Testament Theology of God as Father

Introduction: Old Testament Theology of God as Father

The previous chapter provided a robust introduction to the Ancient Near Eastern



the concept of human fatherhood in ancient Israel. The goal was to lay an adequate foundation

for the historical, cultural, literary, and theological backgrounds for the biblical-theological



this chapter. Special attention will be given throughout this exegetical analysis of the diverse yet

unified witness of the Old Testament to linguistic analysis of key terms and language employed

for Yahweh by the biblical authors. The goal of this chapter is to examine the Old Testament

literature informed by the relevant background material to continue to discern if the Old



revelation of God as Abba. The combined historical, cultural, literary, and theological material

from the present, preceding, and subsequent chapters will serve as the foundation of this



usage of Abba Father for Yahweh.

Exegetical Analysis of Key Old Testament Texts

There are at least fifteen direct references in the Old Testament to God as Father.

151

This





addressing the Old Testament text. First, unlike the New Testament, in each of the fifteen Old



151

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 12.



152

rather than between God and individual Israelites. The only potential exception to this





153



Ancient Near Eastern religious contemporaries. This too is important for one must not impose

foreign ideas and concepts from the Ancient Near Eastern world



meaningful in establishing New Testament backgrounds but also for providing the historical and

theological framework for the non-canonical Jewish material including Palestinian Jewish

literature, the apocrypha and pseudepigrapha, and 1

-2

century Jewish writings. These three

points should be considered and kept in mind as the Old Testament text is now explored.

Deuteronomy

The first direct reference to God as Father in the Old Testament is in Deuteronomy 32:6

appearing in the Song of Moses:

154



people? Is not he your father



The song functions as a part of the witness to the renewal of the covenant; when the

Israelites sang it, they would bear witness to their understanding and agreement to the full

 a song of

witness for the present, but one that would continue to be sung in the future, thus bearing

a continuing witness of the covenant commitment and reminding the people of the

implications of a breach of the covenant.

155

152

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 21.

153

Ibid.

154

Peter C. Craigie and Ronald Kenneth Harrison, The Book of Deuteronomy (Grand Rapids: William B.

Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976), 28.

155

Ibid.



created ( ), made ( ), and established ( ) Israel reach far beyond the context of







156

The two most significant concepts for understanding God as Father according to the Old

Testament emerge in this text and are latent with all subsequent usage throughout the biblical

text. First, Yahweh is presented as the Father of Israel corporately, not as the Father individually

of every believer as in the New Testament. This concept will continue to be discussed at length

as the Old Testament references to God as Father are analyzed. The children of Israel

collectively are Fathered by God and while they are each His sons and daughters, their

relationship to Him is corporate and communal.



Ancient Near Eastern religious contemporaries.

157



reflects the ancient oriental concept of divine fatherhood. Still, there are fundamental differences.

Not the least of them is that in the Old Testament, God the Father and Creator is not thought of

as ancestor or pro

158

Deuteronomy 32:6 is a key text that begins to establish this

theological distinction between Yahweh as Father in contrast to pagan notions of the same

156

Craigie and Harrison, The Book of Deuteronomy, 28.

157

This is an example of what was argued in the previous chapter. The biblical authors appear to be aware

of the worldview and religious beliefs of their ANE neighbors. Thus, in their presentation of Yahweh as Father, they

employ a balanced and nuanced combination of diffusion and polemic. They were aware of the religious cognitive

environment of the ANE and consciously rejected it in their presentation of Yahweh as Father in drawing clear

distinction between the nature of His paternity against the pagan idea of this in relation to their gods. This affirms

Behind the Scenes of

the Old Testament, 334.

158

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 12.



with the historical election, rescue, and redemption of Israel as His sons and daughters:

qānāh, not the more familiar bārāʾ which is employed

in Gen. 1:1. The same verb (qānāh) is used in Exod. 15:16 in the song celebrating the

Exodus from Egypt. Thus the phrase he created you, in its context, alludes to both the



d in the grace and covenant love of the Lord, and for Israel to

forget that grace and to act perversely was tantamount to forgetting its very raison



159



as their Father as well as clearly distinguishing between Jewish beliefs and those of their





The decisively new factor here is that the election of Israel as God's first-born has been

made manifest in a historical action, the Exodus from Egypt. Combining God's

fatherhood with a historical action involves a profound revision of the concept of God as

Father. The certainty that God is Father and Israel his son is grounded not in mythology

but in a unique act of salvation by God, which Israel had experienced in history.

160

These two points will be tested throughout the Old Testament as every instance of God as Father

is analyzed in direct contrast to the ANE perspective of god(s) as their father. As Smail points

out, the Hebrew understanding of Yahweh as Father was distinct from the religious views of the

period and has sig

Testament begins to define God's fatherhood in a way that is in deliberate and fundamental

contradiction with the pagan notions of divine paternity. Jesus' use of Abba has all that behind it



161

159

Craigie and Harrison, The Book of Deuteronomy, 28c.

160

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 13.

161

Thomas A. Smail, The Forgotten Father (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,

1980), 36.

Therefore, to summarize,

It is not in the context of creation and natural relationship but in that of historical election

and final redemption that the father/son relationship between God and his people is

hesitantly allowed to come to reserved expression within the Old Testament. When the

notions of Father and Creator are uncharacteristically brought together in the song of

Moses in Deuteronomy 32.6 the thought is of his freedom and authority as Creator which

claims his people's obedience rather than of any natural bond between them.

162



but rather that the election and adoption of Israel through their historical rescue and redemption

is what makes Yahweh their Father. This makes the Old Testame

ANE counterparts and foundational for tracing the development of this Old Testament concept



163

Isaiah

Isaiah the prophet reflects the same approach to the nature and meaning of God as the

Father of Israel as that which was established in Deuteronomy. Three times in two different

rences are in Isaiah



acknowledge us; you, O Lord, are our Father, our 

63:16 ESV)

162

Thomas A. Smail, The Forgotten Father (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,

1980), 36.

163

For a variety of other commentaries and technical works that address this text, see: J. G. McConville,

Deuteronomy (Leicester: Downers Grove: 2002); Edward J. Woods and J. A. Thompson, Deuteronomy: An

Introduction and Commentary (Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2011); Christopher J. H. Wright, Deuteronomy

(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012); John D. Currid, A Study Commentary on Deuteronomy (Webster,

Evangelical Press, 2006); Jeffrey H. Tigay, Deuteronomy: [Devarim]: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New

JPS Translation (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1996); Daniel Isaac Block, Deuteronomy (Grand

Rapids: Zondervan, 2012).



164



in the past and His covenant fidelity and loyalty to His people, their current state of suffering,



165

The





s to the Lord as Father and

Redeemer, and the sense of the verse is that where even the greatest and most honoured members

of the family can offer no help, the fatherhood of the Lord and his Redeemer-kinship still



166



answer His people is found in the reality that Israel understood that they were sons and daughters

of Yahweh for He was their Father.

Three significant points emerge here that are in continuation of the theology expressed by



notions of literal physical paternal deity, Isaiah links the Fatherhood of Yahweh to the historical

events of His rescue and adoption of Israel. It is a common thread throughout the Old Testament

text regarding Yahweh as Father that it is tied directly to His rescue and adoption of Israel.

Oswalt comments on this, writing,

But what is the basis for such expectations that God should care about us? By what right

does the prophet expect that God should have feelings of affection and compassion

toward us? The answer goes back to the election of the people of God (v. 8). Who

brou



164

John N. Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40-66 (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing

Company, 1998), 38.

165

J. Alec Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction Commentary (Westmont: InterVarsity Press,

1998), 860.

166

Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 860.

64:7 [Eng. 8; Deut. 32:6). This is a profound thought: Israel is not an ethnic, or linguistic,

or national entity, but a spiritual one. God is their Father.

167





A second significant point shared with Deuteronomy and one that will be demonstrated

time and time again throughout the Old Testament is that Yahweh is the Father of Israel plural,

not in an individual sense as will be developed and presented by the Lord Jesus. In the Jewish

perspective, God had elected, rescued, and adopted Israel as a people and they together were the

children of Yahweh. Isaiah reflects and continues this theological view. Finally, a significant



assumes Israel would have understood. He does not defend or explain Yahweh as the Father of

Israel. Rather, he merely appeals to a point that he knew Israel would have identified with and



than the deepest we humans know, that between a parent and a child. Although Abraham might

deny his children, God cannot. This is why the prophet is so bold as to call on God to do what he



168



in the reality of His historical election, rescue, and adoption of His people. Isaiah appealed to a

common view of God as the Father of all of Israel with the assumption that his audience would







d you are our potter;

167

Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, 38.

168

Ibid.





one who brought Israel into existence, and they are now in 

169

It is in this

context of lament and calling upon Yahweh to remember His people that Isaiah once again

employs Fatherhood language and imagery for the Lord. In congruence with his earlier usage,

Isaiah appeals to Yahweh as the one who had called and created Israel and therefore, even in the

midst of their sin, would Yahweh once again show mercy to his children. As Motyer so

eloquently summarizes,

There is another side to the changelessness of God. On the one hand, he is changeless in

his requirements (4 5), on the other, he is equally changeless in grace and mercy. Once

he has constituted himself the Father (63:16) of his people that too is unalterable. So the

present stanza moves from the grim admissions of verses 6-7 to plead you are our Father

(8a) and we are all your people (9d) making these the basis of prayer that anger may

cease (9a), iniquity be forgotten (9b), and favorable attention return (9c).

170

Thus, a theme emerges in Isaiah as well as in the reference from Deuteronomy that based upon



their Father. Yahweh had bound Himself to His people through His love and even in the midst of

suffering and abandonment

would be stirred. It was Yahweh who brought Israel into existence as His children and therefore,



appeal is made upon the reality that,

Israel is the distinct creation of God. This was a central point of the historical

reminiscence of 63:7-14: God did not call Israel into existence, give them his covenant,

and lead them into the promised land because they deserved it for their faithfulness, but



169

Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, 48.

170

Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 868-869.

Father, not in any ontological sense, as the following image indicates, but in the sense

that he is responsible for their existence. The same thought was expressed in 63:16.

171



relationship to Israel as well as His character and disposition toward them. Yahweh is not a

distant disinterested deity like those of the ANE. Rather, He is a loving, gracious, kind,

compassionate, and merciful Father whom His children could call upon in their time of trouble.

Isaiah also makes a unique contribution to the portrait of Yahweh as Father in the Old

Testament. Isaiah includes in the imagery of Father that of creator employing the metaphor of a

he father, nor the pot but

for the potter, nor the artefact but for the craftsman. It is in this sense that the three figures are



172

This is not new imagery to Isaiah, but here it takes on a further depth of meaning.

173



confidence that if Yahweh brought Israel into existence, surely he would not abandon them even

in their suffering. Oswalt highlights the significance of this imagery,

Here the point is more poignant: can the artist simply toss aside the thing on which he has

lavished care and attention, into which he has put so much of himself? Thus Isaiah

appeals to God: although our sin cannot be denied, neither can the nature of our

relationship with you. Surely you will not allow our sin to frustrate your creative

purposes, will you?

174

171

Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, 48.

172

Motyer, The Prophecy of Isaiah, 869.

173

Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, 48.

174

Ibid.



the other Old Testament examples while also incorporating the connection between Yahweh and

His role as creator with the imagery of potter and clay.

175

Malachi

This survey attempting to formulate an Old Testament theology of God as Father

continues with the prophet Malachi. Malachi presents two further notable and significant

references to 

a message addressed to Israel in the post-

rael mediated through

Moses, and behind that to the promises to the patriarchs, of which the Jewish community in



176

Malachi is also unique in that both of his appeals to Yahweh as



ster. If

then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the Lord of

hosts to you, O priests, who despise my name. 



Malachi shares a few major presuppositions with his fellow Old Testament authors. First,



supports this claim by arguing that it is an:

Indisputable truth is that God is the Father and the Lord of his people. Nobody could

justly deny it. The father-son relationship between God and Israel was stated at the

175

For further exegetical treatment of Isaiah, see the following works: John L. Mackay, A Study

Commentary on Isaiah (Faverdale: Evangelical Press, 2008); Rev. Geoffrey W Grogan, Tremper Longman III, and

David E Garland, Proverbs - Isaiah (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,, 2017); Edward J. Young, The Book of Isaiah: The

English Text, with Introduction, Exposition, and Notes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965); Barry G Webb, The

Message of Isaiah: On Eagles’ Wings (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1996).

176

Anthony R. Petterson, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2015), 324.

beginning of the Exodus deliverance, when Moses proclaimed the word of the Lord to



Afterward this relationship was mentioned explicitly (Deut. 32:6; Isa. 63:16; 64:8; Jer.

3:4, 19; Mal. 2:10; Ps. 89:27) or by way of comparing it with the human relationship



.

177

Thus, as a post-exilic prophetic text representing late tradition in Israel, Malachi adds once again



with the other Old Testament texts addressing God as Father the view that Yahweh was the

corporate Father of Israel distinct from how the New Testament will develop this theme.

Malachi also adds further depth of meaning and nuance to the Jewish theology of

Yahweh as Father. Malachi combines and contrasts the realities of Yahweh as both Father and

Master of Israel. Hill writes concerning the significance of this:

father and master.

The idea of YHWH as Father is tied to his role of creator (2:10; Deut. 32:6) and

specifically to his election of Israel as his chosen people (1:2; 3:17). The nation that

YHWH is master ’ādôn) over his servant Israel is rooted in the Sinai

covenant, establishing God as suzerain over his vassal Israel after he had delivered or

redeemed them from slavery in Egypt.

178



Yahweh who is both their Father and Master. Whereas the modern understanding of God as

Father expresses intimacy and closeness, Malachi deepens the biblical understanding of the word





179



of Yahweh as

177

Pieter A. Verhoef, The Books of Haggai and Malachi (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing

Company, 1987), 169.

178

Andrew E. Hill, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary (Westmont:

InterVarsity Press, 2012), 24.

179

Edmond Jacob, Theology of the Old Testament (New York: Harper, 1958), 61-62.



due Yahweh as both Father and Master.

The second instance of Yahweh addressed as Father in Malachi is in Have we not

all one Father? Has not one God created us? Why then are we faithless to one another, profaning



linguistic parallels to two previous Scriptures examined, Deuteronomy 32:6 and Isaiah 64:8.

180



again, all of the biblical authors are in agreement concerning the nature of Yahweh as the creator

of Israel in a manner distinct from the ANE religious beliefs of the time.

181

For the biblical







182

This is a recurring theme and a significant theological point

throughout the Old Testament text.



covenant love and promises toward them actualized in calling them out of Egypt and forming

them into His family (Hos. 11:1). This means that for Israel uniquely, Yahw





183

Malachi confronts and rebukes Israel for their



their Father and creator and in their rebellion, they are not only transgressing their Lord and

180

Verhoef, The Books of Haggai and Malachi, 206.

181

Greer, Hilber, Walton, Behind the Scenes of the Old Testament, 335.

182

Ibid.

183

Ibid., 205.

Father but also being faithless to one another and profaning the covenant of their fathers. This



unique creation of Israel as His sons and daughters against His general creation of all humanity.

As Petterson highlights,

These two questions highlight the special relationship Yahweh has with his people: the

national covenant is understood in terms of a kinship relationship with Yahweh and with

one another. If these associations are recognized, then the creation is more likely a

reference to the creation of the nation in the exodus (cf. Exod. 15:16; Deut. 32:6; Isa.

43:21) than to human creation.

184



fidelity upon the unfolding revelation and understanding of Yahweh as both Father and creator of

loses as it opened, with



185

Though He is a spurned Father by His people, He

is still the Father of Israel, nevertheless. Thus, when Jesus arrived on the scene and began to

reveal in greater depth and clarity the nature of God as Father and the implications of this for His

New Covenant children, though unforeseen and unexpected, He continued a conversation begun



186

Psalms

Twice in the Psalter is the Lord referred to directly as Father. The first example will be

treated briefly for it is similar to the other usages already discussed. The second opens a new

184

Petterson, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, 347.

185

Ibid., 332.

186



following exegetical works: Thomas Edward McComiskey, The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository

Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009); Iain M. Duguid, A Study Commentary on Haggai, Zechariah,

and Malachi (England: EP Books, 2010); Walter C. Kaiser, Malachi: God's Unchanging Love (Grand Rapids: Baker

Book House, 1984); Tremper Longman and David E. Garland, The Expositor's Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids:

Zondervan, 2011).

discussion of another significant and distinct Old Testament theological understanding of

Yahweh as Father that will be explored in a few texts. The first example is found in Psalm 68:





power to save.

187





vulnerable, in particular, orphans, widows, the lonely and prisoners (Exod. 22:22-24; Ps. 146:6-

9).

188



fatherless as their Father.

189

Two significant points emerge here concerning the Old Testament picture of Yahweh as

Father. First, this is the first reference where Yahweh is pictured more generally as acting as a

father of the weak and defenseless instead of as the particular Father of his covenant people. As



o justice and from

oppression to vindication. He changes sorrow to 

190

Thus, the Psalmist here uses



concern for the needy distinct from His unique commitment to His covenant people Israel. As

s and judgment on the lawless are marks of true

187

Gerald Henry Wilson, W. Dennis Tucker, and Jamie A. Grant, Psalms: From Biblical Text-To

Contemporary Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002), 935.

188

Tremper Longman III, Psalms (Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 341.

189

Willem A. VanGemeren, Psalms (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2017), 598-599.

190

VanGemeren, Psalms, 599.





191

A second notable theological point that emerges here is the connection between



important theme that will be developed by Jesus in His life and ministry and discussed at length



holiness and His Fatherly role and care are two essential elements of His person and character

that cannot be separated. By linking these two concepts together, the psalmist is preparing

readers for the New Testament development of this theme where Jesus introduces His disciples



functions as a foundational text for this Old Testament revelation of Yahweh as the Father of

Israel who cares paternally for His people from His Heavenly throne. This is latent throughout

the Old Testament but explicitly connected here as VanGemeren excellently notes:



the families of human beings. His eyes focus on the destitute and the oppressed, whose

rights are trampled by the powerful and the rich. Because Israel experienced oppression



powerless (cf. Ex 22:22-24; Pss 10:14; 146:9; Isa 1:17, 23; Mal 3:5; Jas 1:27).

192



holiness is intimately tied to His Fatherly love, care, and concern for His people. Here in Psalm

68, this theme of Yahweh as a holy Father ruling and reigning with all sovereignty and authority

for the good of His children and even the general good of all creation begins to emerge. The

191

Derek Kidner, Psalms 1-72 (Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 257.

192

VanGemeren, Psalms, 599.

connection between this Old Testament idea and the New Testament revelation and continuation

of it will be discussed in a subsequent section of this study.

The next reference in the Psalter to Yahweh as Father introduces a significant and major

development in the Old Testament revelation of this theological concept. All of the references to

Yahweh as Father thus far have been tied to His relationship with Israel collectively as their

Father who because of His compassionate love elected, rescued, and redeemed them from

slavery due to His covenant promises and called them His very own children (Exodus 4.22;

Hosea 11.1). Here, a second facet of Yahweh as Father arises distinct from this other Old

Testament theme. This significant addition to an understanding of Yahweh as Father in the Old

Testament is His unique relationship to David as King and His commitment to the Davidic

Dynasty as Father. The first instance to be examined is Psalm 89:26-27 and subsequently, 2

Samuel 7:14 and parallels I Chronicles 17:13, 22:10, and 28:6.

193

Psalm 86 addresses specifically



194





-27 ESV).

The Psalm is organized around a tripartite structure. The first section addresses the

kingship of Yahweh (1-18), the second His covenant with David as His chosen kingly ruler (19-

 covenant people and

their present suffering (38-52).

195

To begin, this passage is unique for this is the first text



193

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 12.

194

VanGemeren, Psalms, 763.

195

Ibid.

Yahweh is figured as the Father of this individual. The theological foundation for understanding

this passage and the theology it contains is the beautiful prophecy of 2 Samuel 7:4-17.

196

The

heart of the promises given to David is an eternal throne and an eternal Kingdom and a unique

role for himself and all who will sit upon this throne who will have the honor of calling Yahweh

Father and embrace their identity as His son.

197





David was an eternal rule and dynasty.

198

These covenant promises and commitments made to

David and his progeny in the context of Father and son form the theological background for

interpreting this Psalm.

The bulk of exegetical treatment concerning this central Old Testament idea will be given

to the text from which this theology passage is derived from. However, to appropriately address

this Psalm, a few comments will be made. First, it is undeniable based on the context of 68:19





199

Second, this represents a development in Jewish

theology that Israel not only understood themselves as having Yahweh as their Father



raelites could be called the sons of God, David the king was the



200



Fatherhood as the basis for His fulfillment of His covenant promises, here concerning the nation

196

Derek Kidner, Psalms 73-150 (Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2014), 73.

197

Ibid.

198

VanGemeren, Psalms, 769.

199

Ibid.

200

Longman, Psalms, 422.



concept of Yahweh as Father represents both Israel collectively and the special role He plays as

the Father to the David king. Finally, as has already been hinted at, the Old Testament





more astounding claim and unprecedented blessing.

201

These privileges belonged to Israel as a

collective whole, here uniquely, only David and those who would follow after Him in his royal

line would have special access to and relationship with Yahweh as their Father and they as His

firstborn sons.

202

Finally, another point that arises here and will be addressed in detail in subsequent



fulfillment in the coming messianic ruler.

203

All of the promises to David and his descendants





204

This is an expansive issue throughout the

psalms and prophetic writings for they look to the messianic ideal of what the Davidic dynasty

was meant to be and clung to the promises of Yahweh to David in the hope of the day the

Messiah would finally come and bring all of the promised covenant blessings.

205

Each of these

201

Kidner, Psalms 73-150, 77.

202

Longman, Psalms, 422.

203

Ibid., 425.

204

Philip J. King, A Study of Psalm 45 (Rome: Pontifical Lateran University, 1959), 117. Quoted in,

VanGemeren, Psalms, 779.

205

VanGemeren, Psalms, 779.

are noteworthy 

as Father.

206

2 Samuel & Chronicles

It is difficult to overestimate the theological significance of 2 Samuel 7:1-17 and its

parallels in 1 Chronicles 17:13, 22:10, and 28:6 for understanding the overarching storyline of

Scripture and Old Testament theology itself.

207

There are many significant points of discussion

that go beyond the intended scope of this dissertation.

208



certainly stands as the central theme of 2 Samuel and potentially even as the heart of the entire

Old Testament.

209

This is not true only of the Old Testament but the Davidic covenant and



phrase Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham (Matthew 1:1) where David, the





210

206

For further treatment on the book of Psalms and the issues addressed here, see: Allen P. Ross, A

Commentary on the Psalms. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic & Professional, 2011); Gerald Henry Wilson, Psalms:

From Biblical Text- to Contemporary Life (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002; James M. Hamilton Jr., Psalms, Vol. 1:

Psalms 1-72: Evangelical Biblical Theological Commentary (Bellingham: Lexham, 2021); Idem., Psalms, Vol. 2:

Psalms 73-150: Evangelical Biblical Theological Commentary (Bellingham: Lexham, 2021); John Goldingay,

Psalms (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006); Peter C. Craigie, Marvin Tate, Psalms 1-50, Volume 19: Second

Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2018); Marvin Tate, Psalms 51-100, Volume 20 (Grand

Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2018); Leslie C. Allen, Psalms 101-150, Volume 21: Revised Edition (Grand

Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2018).

207

Ronald F. Youngblood, 1 and 2 Samuel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017), 35.

208

For further detailed and helpful exegetical sources treating 2 Samuel, see the works cited in this section

and the following: A. A. Anderson, 2 Samuel, Volume 11 (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2015);

Bill T. Arnold, 1 and 2 Samuel (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2014); Dale Ralph Davis, 2 Samuel: Out of

Every Adversity (Fearn: Christian Focus, 2001); P. Kyle. McCarter, II Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction,

Notes, and Commentary (Garden City: Doubleday, 1984).

209

David Toshio Tsumura, The Second Book of Samuel (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing

Company, 2019); 18.

210

Ibid., 18-19.



encouragement for His people in the Old Testament period as they clung to the promise of the

eternal house or dynasty of David through his offspring, an eternal throne, and an eternal

kingdom.

211

Subsequently, these promises also functioned to bolster the Messianic hopes of



dynasty for the future kings of Israel and Judah with the ultimate hope of Yah

Genesis 3:15 of a conquering Messiah to be fulfilled now not through humanity in general but

specifically through a Son of David.

212

Finally, as would be expected, the covenant promises to





David.

213

This will be discussed later in this survey, suffice to say for now, the Davidic covenant



interpretation of the coming of Jesus the Christ.

214

The verse which is pertinent to this study and stands as the climax of the Davidic

covenant is 2 Samuel 7:14:

215



commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of



addressing the relevant implications and significance. Just like those given to Abraham,

211

Tsumura, The Second Book of Samuel, 18-19.

212

Youngblood, 1 and 2 Samuel, 35.

213

Ibid.

214

Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary (Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press,

1988), 230.

215

Ibid.



216

Though he longed to do so, David

would not be permitted to build Yahweh a permanent dwelling place. It would be through



built. The immediate referent of the te

immediate context and the parallels (1 Chronicles 17:13, 22:10), in 1 Chronicles 28:6, it is made



Solomon your son who shall build my house and my courts, for I have chosen him to be my son,



and clearest referent of this prophetic promise to David.

217

At the same time, these promises

pointed to the Davidic dynasty which would outlast any individual Davidic heir and thus



218



David. Finally, and most significant to the theology of both the Old and New Testaments is the



and includes their unique access to Him as Father, this prophecy was ultimately and most

remarkably fulfilled in Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David.

219

This promise to David would

become one of the most important and significant prophetic preparations for the coming of Jesus



The significance of the eternal covenant between the Lord and David for the New

Testament writers cannot be overemphasized. These words played an essential

preparatory role in developing the messianic expectations that were fulfilled in Jesus. The

hopes that were raised by the Lord's words-that God would place a seed of David on an

eternal throne and establish a kingdom that would never perish-were ones that no Israelite

or Judahite monarch satisfied, or even could have satisfied. But they were ones that the

216

Youngblood, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1297t.

217

Ibid., 1297u.

218

Tsumura, The Second Book of Samuel, 139.

219

Youngblood, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1297u.

first-century These words played an essential preparatory that fulfilled Jesus. hopes

Christians understood Jesus to fulfill.

220



understanding of their relationship with Yahweh and the nature of the coming Messiah.

Ultimately, no son of David could fulfill these promises in the manner in which Jesus Christ the





-33).

221



promises to David fulfilled both immediately in Solomon and finally in Jesus Christ demonstrate

and prove undeniably His faithfulness and commitment to his covenant promises. That is,

r to his promise to Abraham (Gen. 12:1-3),

God graciously deals with David in the same way in order that the plan of salvation be further

fulfilled and finally completed in the life and death of his son Jesus Christ, the Messiah (2 Sam.

7:11b-

222

Therefore, 2 Samuel 7 is central to understanding both the Old and New



As was previously stated, the dependence of the Psalmist in Psalm 68 on this prophecy is

undeniable. Amid the overwhelming commitment of Yahweh to David and the establishment of

an eternal Davidic kingdom and throne, the crown jewel of these promises is the unique



this is a significant development of usage distinct from those that have preceded it, at the same

220

Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1996), 338

221

Tsumura, The Second Book of Samuel, 18.

222

Ibid., 18-19.

time, there is much here that is in congruence with the general Old Testament understanding of

Yahweh as the covenant Father of Israel.





223

Once again, this is a significant distinction between the Jewish understanding of Yahweh as their

Father through covenant and adoption and the ANE framework of divine paternity based on

sexual and or physical begetting. As is clear from the context, just as is true for Israel



unique privilege of having direct access to Yahweh as their Father and they as His sons.

224

The



225

The Lord uniquely chose Samuel, Saul, and David, and through the Davidic dynasty, the future

kings of Judah including the long-awaited Messiah.

226

Therefore, though the relationship the





Messiah, the nature of this sonship through covenant and adoption matches the overarching Old

Testament theology of God as Father.

227

A second observation pertinent to this study is that of all the Old Testament references

that directly address Yahweh as Father, this is the only instance of an individual having access to

Yahweh as Father individually apart from the corporate sense and understanding of Yahweh as

223

Youngblood, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1297u.

224

Tsumura, The Second Book of Samuel, 139.

225

Youngblood, 1 and 2 Samuel, 35.

226

Ibid.

227

Youngblood, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1297w.





adopted them as His own covenant people.

228

His promises and commitment to them are

corporate and communal and their relation to Him is the same. Repeatedly the biblical authors



commitments to them and demonstrate His fidelity to His promises. Here, then, along with Psalm

89 which has the same referent, is the only instance of an individual having the privilege and







venant with David and

subsequently to his heirs emerges. Thus, the Davidic covenant stands as a unique example of



Finally, the significance of this promise not merely to David, Solomon, and all of their

progeny but in preparation for the Messiah is remarkable. Of the prophecy in general and the

Davidic Covenant,

The New Testament writers took their cue from Jesus himself. Three of Jesus' claims

concerning himself allude to this verse. First, Jesus claimed he would build a temple (cf.

Matt 26:61; 27:40; Mark 14:58; 15:29; John 2:19-22). Second, he claimed to possess an

eternal throne (cf. Matt 19:28-29). Finally, he claimed to possess an imperishable

kingdom (cf. Luke 22:29-30; John 18:36).

229





228

Youngblood, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1297w.

229

Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, 341.

authors applied this promise to Jesus as the Messiah and emphasized the significance.

230

First, in

Hebrews 1:5, the Davidic promise is applied directly to Jesus Himself in defense of His



 

ESV) It is noteworthy that the New Testament authors appealed to the Davidic covenant and the





against the Jewish theological background especially in light of the frequent references to Jesus

as the Son of David or having the throne and kingdom of His father David.

231

As will be

explored throughout this study, Jesus would introduce His disciples to the awe-inspiring reality

that through Him, all Christians can approach Yahweh, the covenant God of Israel, as Abba

Father.

However, using the language of sonship and Fatherhood, Christ Himself and the author

of Hebrews also understood and interpreted the Davidic promise uniquely about Jesus. Jesus was



This theme started in the Gospels and continues throughout the New Testament as this reference



Jesus by the gospel writers to highlight his messianic and divine origin as the fulfilment of such



232

Thus, based upon the prophetic

230

Youngblood, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1297u.

231

Matthew 1:1, 1:20-22, 12:23, 15:22, 21:9; Mark 10:48, 12:35; Luke 1:32-33, 2:11, 3:31-32; John 7:42;

Romans 1:3; 2 Timothy 2:8; Revelation 5:5.

232

Craig L. Blomberg, The Historical Reliability of the Gospels (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press,

1987), 251.

promise to David, Jesus is The Son of God in the ultimate fulfillment of this covenant with David



The second New Testament reference to the specific promise of Yahweh being a Father

and a son of David being His son is found in 2 Corinthians 6:18. In the context of Paul applying

the realities of the New Covenant to believers, instructing them that they are the temple of the

Holy Spirit, and encouraging them to embrace a life of holiness, he appeals to the beautiful

promise of 2 Samuel 7:14 in a unprecedented and unexpected development of the application of

this prophetic promise:

I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and

they shall be my people. Therefore go out from their midst, and be separate from them,

says the Lord, and touch no unclean thing; then I will welcome you, and I will be a father

to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty. (2

Corinthians 6:16b-18 ESV)

This text represents a unique combination of Old Testament quotes, references, and paraphrases.

This includes material from Leviticus 26:12; Isaiah 52:11; Ezekiel 20:41; 2 Sam 7:14; Isaiah

43:6; and potentially Jeremiah 32:38 and Ezekiel 37:27.

233

What is so remarkable here is that the

most climactic Old Testament promise reserved solely for David and His royal heirs is now

applied to all New Covenant believers. Through Jesus Christ, the Son of David, and the ultimate

nt with David, all believers now have intimate access to Yahweh

as Father in a manner unimaginable in the Old Testament. The very same text which is used to

defend the messiahship of Jesus is also applied to the wonderful blessing and privilege of what it

nant.

234

233

The nature of this combination of Old Testament quotes, references, and paraphrases was brought to my

attention by the NET Bible, Biblical Studies Press, Study Note, 2 Corinthians 6:16b-18.

234

There are three Old Testament parallels to 2 Samuel 7:14 which record the very same promise from

Yahweh given to David. Those are, 1 Chronicles. 17.13; 22.10; 28.6.

This theological development will be especially significant as this study moves to the

New Testament and the development and continuation of the theme of Yahweh as Father and the

implications this has for New Testament believers. Suffice it to say for now, it is impossible to



His promise to Him in 2 Samuel 7:14. Besides the theological ramifications in the Old Testament

and how it expands the Jewish vision of Yahweh as Father, it also has major theological and

exegetical importance in the New Testament applied in a variety of manners as demonstrated

here. In summary, Yahweh is faithful to His promise and this is demonstrated undeniably in His

covenant commitment to David and His precious invitation to treat the Davidic heirs as sons and

to be to them a Father. This promise was ultimately and finally fulfilled in the coming of Jesus of

Nazareth, the Son of David, who would be the only one able to receive an eternal kingdom and

sit upon an eternal throne as the very Son of God Himself. Through His finished work, all

believers would have unprecedented intimacy and access with Yahweh receiving the fullness of

Yahweh Father and they too

being His sons and daughters. The full effect of this New Testament development of an Old

Testament theme and its theological implications and ramifications will be treated in the

following chapters.

steadfast love from him, as I took

it from him who was before you, but I will confirm him in my house and in my kingdom forever, and his

-14 ESV)









While there is some theological nuance and important differentiation between the presentation of this promise by the

author od 2 Samuel and Chronicles, because they record the same promise, only the reference in 2 Samuel was

treated directly.

Jeremiah

There are at least three direct references to Yahweh as Father in the prophet Jeremiah.

Each of these instances will be treated in seeking to form a holistic Old Testament theology of

Yahweh as Father of Israel. The first two are found in Jeremiah chapter three. The immediate



235

Chapter two opens the first prophetic section of the book with Jeremiah confronting Israel for

their infidelity to Yahweh and calling them to repentance. This first major section opens in

chapter 2:1 and concludes in 4:4.

236

Thus the entire section revolves around this dual theme of



calling them back to covenant fidelity through repentance to Yahweh.

237

Interestingly, the two

references to Yahweh as Father coincide with the main theme of the section, with the first



My





e against Israel in chapter two.

Yahweh condemns Israel for adopting the pagan practices and beliefs of their ANE





238

235

J. A. Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980), 137.

236

J.R. Lundbom, Jeremiah 1–20: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York &

London: The Anchor Yale Bible, 1999), 249-331.

237

Ibid.

238

Ibid.

As a thief is shamed when caught, so the house of Israel shall be shamed: they, their



 me, and



are your gods that you made for yourself? Let them arise, if they can save you, in your

time of trouble; for as many as your cities are your gods, O Judah. (Jeremiah 2:26-28

ESV)

Israel had forsaken Yahweh like an unfaithful wife and now,

239

as a stubborn and rebellious

child.

240

The stark contrast between their desertion of Yahweh their Father in pursuit of false

gods reveals that their desperate pleas to Him due to punishment and the onset of draught are not

genuine.

241



empty appeal to Him as Father.

242

Though they now seek to appeal to His mercy and claim Him





Yahweh di





243

Thus, a few significant principles arise from this text which are insightful for the ever-

growing and expanding Old Testament vision and understanding of what it means for Israel to

esignation for



244

239

Andrew J. Dearman, Jeremiah, Lamentations (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing,

2002), 58-59.

240

Tremper Longman III, Jeremiah, Lamentations (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008), 75-76.

241

Derek Kidner, Jeremiah (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2014), 36.

242

Ibid.

243

Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, 141.

244

Lundbom, Jeremiah 1–20, 303.

was present enough within the Jewish religious worldview that when they were in need, even

after great apostasy and infidelity against Yahweh, Israel knew that if they wanted to return to

Him, they would do so as His children in pursuit of their covenant Father. In the text, Yahweh

does not rebuke them for approaching Him wrongly or correcting their theological understanding

of Him as their Father, only that their sinful actions discredited their theologically accurate

prayer.

A second point in this text that has repeatedly emerged throughout this study is the



245

In verses

26-28 of chapter 2, Israel is rebuked for their adoption of foreign and pagan religious practices. It

appears that Israel was influenced by their ANE neighbors and looked to the creation, rather than

the creator, for their source of religious identity by putting their trust in idols crafted by their own

hands. Jeremiah employs biting satire and sarcasm here in not only condemning Israel for this act

of infidelity and apostasy against Yahweh but also in charging them with confusion in their

failure to even worship their false gods accurately.

246

Israel reverses the pagan understanding of





247

Here, however, Israel has called the female



248

Thus,

Israel is charged with both forsaking Yahweh for worthless and powerless idols and in their

245

This text further affirms the claims presented in chapter two concerning the relationship between the Old

Testament and the ANE world in which they lived and wrote within. Greer, Hilber, Walton, Behind the Scenes of the

Old Testament, 333-335.

246

Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, 132.

247

Dearman, Jeremiah, 51.

248

Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, 132.

pursuit of worshipping false gods, missing even the identity of the idols they sought to worship.



249

It was





250

Thus, once again the distinction

between the pagan understanding of divine paternity stands in stark contrast against the Old



The second usage of Father for Yahweh in Jeremiah occurs in this same chapter, in verse



beautiful of all nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from

following me. Surely, as a treacherous wife leaves her husband, so have you been treacherous to

-20 ESV). The context once again is

Yahweh confronting Israel for their apostasy and calling them to repentance. Verses 19-20 are

directly linked to the end of the poetic section in verses 4-5 with the interruption and assertion of

3:6-19.

251

The metaphor of Yahweh as Father and His desire for Israel to be His covenant sons is

coupled again with that of Israel as a treacherous and unfaithful wife.

252

The contrast is stark

when examining these two references to Yahweh as Father in Jeremiah 3.

253

In the first instance,

Israel is rebuked for calling upon Yahweh as their Father yet denying Him with the hypocrisy

and infidelity of their actions. In contrast to this, in verse 19, Yahweh reveals His desire to Israel

249

Dearman, Jeremiah, 51.

250

Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, 132.

251

Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, 148,

252

Dearman, Jeremiah, 60.

253

Lundbom, Jeremiah 1–20, 249-331.

that He intends to set Israel as His son, to bless them and that they would not merely call Him

Father but enjoy the blessing of this covenant relationship.

254

This revelation is especially significant in developing an Old Testament theology of

Yahweh as covenant Father in Israel for this text uniquely expresses the inner disposition and

desire of Yahweh Himself.

255

Here is a window into the heart of God and His longing for His

people even in their rebellion and apostasy.

256

Yahweh desired to be called Father by Israel, He

desired to care for them as His sons, and He desired to bless them abundantly. Jeremiah the

prophet serves not only as the mouthpiece of Yahweh but as the prophetic expression and

declaration of His deepest 

establish an intimate relationship with Israel. They would call him Father and be like sons to



257



their rejection of Him and rebellion against His desire toward them.

Thus, a few significant theological points emerge here that add significant depth, beauty,

and nuance to the ever-expanding Old Testament vision of Yahweh as Father. First, though Israel

is rebuked for calling Yahweh Father while persisting in their hypocrisy and infidelity, the

problem was not that their understanding of Yahweh was flawed. Rather, it was their hypocritical

approach to Him. Based upon prior Scriptural revelation, Israel understood their place as

 due to punishment, they sought to appeal to His

paternal nature as the basis for His intervention in their situation. Jeremiah the prophet opens up

and reveals the heart of the Father in a manner only the prophets can. What a dilemma is created

254

Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, 148-149.

255

Lundbom, Jeremiah 1–20, 318.

256

Longman, Jeremiah, Lamentations, 81.

257

Ibid.

in the heart of Yahweh when the desire of His heart to love and care for Israel as His children

and He as their Father is desecrated by their spiritual apostasy. The very ones who called to a

tree as their father and to a stone as the source of their life neglected and dishonored the very one

who created them, elected them, rescued them from Egypt, lavished His love upon them through

His covenant promises, and longed to be their Father. Jeremiah 3:19-20 then reveals the

passionate love, longing, and desire of Yahweh to serve as the Father of Israel and care for His

children. This desire was not negated by their desecration of this title. Yahweh called Israel to

repentance and to return to Him as their covenant Father.

The third instance of Yahweh as Father in the book of Jeremiah takes place within the



258



will lead them back, I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they

iah 31:9 ESV).

Jeremiah 9:7-



259

While

there is a great deal of theological significance latent within these verses, the focus will be upon

the father and son imagery used by Jeremiah the prophet.

The imagery employed by Jeremiah

260



people from the north and the from farthest parts of the earth as they walk beside brooks of water

258

J.R. Lundbom, Jeremiah 21-36: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York &

London: The Anchor Yale Bible, 1999), 368546.

259

Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, 388.

260



 5, 11; 41:18 20; 42:16; 43:1 7; 44:3 4; 48:20 21; 49:9 13).

Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, 389.

in return to their homeland.

261





His firstborn son and He as their Father.

262

Throughout Jeremiah Ephraim is a common

designation for Northern Israel and the former Northern kingdom which had been taken into

exile.

263

The term     is used both here and in Exodus 4:22 with roots in the Exodus



264

Significantly, the Father and son imagery of Yahweh to Israel is placed in the

context of His covenant commitment to them. Just as His rescue of Israel from slavery in Egypt

is what demonstrated that he was their Father and they His children, so too as Jeremiah

ntity as their

covenant Father and they as His firstborn son.

265





266

Therefore, when it is employed by the Old Testament authors, it carries

significant theological significance. This is certainly true here in Jeremiah. The clearest

connection between Yahweh as Father and His covenant commitment to Israel goes back to the

261

Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, 389.

262

Lundbom, Jeremiah 21-36, 425-426.

263





the entirety of the land, north and south, it is interesting that that term



 Israel, as in Jeremiah elsewhere (7:15; 31:9, 18,

Jeremiah 21-36, 425-426.

264

Lundbom, Jeremiah 21-36, 425.

265

Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, 389.

266

Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, 389; Lundbom, Jeremiah 21-36, 368546.



love for Israel was most clearly demonstrated in His election and rescue of them for Israel:

In Deut. 32:6 it is used to describe the close bond between Israel and Yahweh. Hosea



period (Hos. 11:1 ext.

Israel is the firstborn, not because she is superior to Judah but because Yahweh will

renew with her the same fatherly love he displayed in centuries past.

267

Thus, Father imagery for Yahweh tied to His covenant commitment to Israel is a rare, but

-

9, both of these theologically weighty Old Testament concepts are brought together to highlight

that even in their apostasy, rebellion, and amid punishment in exile, Yahweh was still a Father to

Israel and they were still His firstborn son.

268

What then are the significant theological points that arise from this text? First, as has

been demonstrated time and time again, in every instance of the Old Testament authors

addressing Yahweh as Father or appealing to this aspect of His nature, it is always in the context

-



dentity as His children amidst the nations.

Thus, Father on the lips of the Old Testament prophets or in the minds of the Jewish people was



A second significant theological point in the text is that Yahweh Himself appeals to His



269



267

Thompson, The Book of Jeremiah, 389.

268

Longman, Jeremiah, Lamentations, 307.

269



given to the sons of Joseph, Ephraim and Manasseh, and in Gen 48:820, where Ephraim is placed ahead of

Manasseh by a grandfather (Jacob) who himself supp



heart and interior emotional state of the Lord.

270

Resisting the often-held dichotomy between the



children as Father in the Old Testament, though sparse and progressively developing, prepares

the way for the explosion of revelation in the New Testament addressing God directly as Father.



Israel or to his historical action in saving them but to the wonder of His passionate love for His



do remember him still. Therefore my heart yearns for him; I will surely have mercy on him,

hful to His people because of

His covenant promises but also because of the mystery of His divine love toward them. This



How can I hand you over, O Israel?... My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm



This is a point that could be reiterated time and time again throughout the Old Testament

corpus. In Hosea 11 for example, Yahweh directly connects His deliverance of Israel and His

 him, and out of Egypt







28 [Eng

89:26

Lundbom, Jeremiah 21-36, 425-426.

270

Longman, Jeremiah, Lamentations, 307.

fidelity to His promises made to them must not be separated from His tender and compassionate

love and care for His beloved children. This theological revelation must be incorporated into

each instance of Yahweh pictured as the Father of Israel.

The final theological point to be made here is that once again, in complete solidarity with

the entirety of Old Testament revelation, it is Israel corporately who claims Yahweh as Father,

not any individual Israelite. The Old Testament is unanimous in its presentation of Yahweh as

the covenant Father of a corporate people in contrast to the development of this theme in the

New Testament. This point has been demonstrated time and time again in each instance of

biblical imagery for Yahweh as Father of Israel. This point is noteworthy for it highlights the

striking development of this theme in the teaching of Jesus of Nazareth and its novelty against

the Jewish Scriptural revelation and presentation of Yahweh as covenant Father.

271

This point

will be addressed in detail and at length in the subsequent sections.

General Old Testament References To Yahweh as Father and Israel as His Children

The preceding material has dealt with every direct reference to Yahweh as Father in the

Old Testament. The thesis of this dissertation is concerned primarily with direct references to

Yahweh as Father in seeking to establish a unified understanding of the 



Father in his teaching and prayer. For this reason, the detailed exegetical work has been limited

271

For further detailed exegetical and theological works which deal with the text of Jeremiah, see: Walter

C. Kaiser Jr., and Tiberius Rata, Walking the Ancient Paths: A Commentary on Jeremiah (Bellingham: Lexham

Press, 2019); John L. Mackay, Jeremiah: A Mentor Commentary (United Kingdom: Mentor, 2015); F. B. Huey,

Jeremiah, Lamentations (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993); R. K. Harrison, Jeremiah and

Lamentations: An Introduction and Commentary (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1973).

For a better theological understanding of Jeremiah the prophet and his work, refer to one of three works by Jack

R. Lundbom: The Book of Jeremiah: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation (Leiden: Brill, 2018); Jeremiah:

Prophet Like Moses (Eugene: Cascade Books, 2015); Jeremiah Among the Prophets. Cambridge: James Clarke &

Co., 2013).

to these direct references.

272

This delineation of material examined is due to the nature of this

investigation. It is not merely the concept of Yahweh as Father with which this project is

concerned. Rather, it is how Christ addressed the covenant God of the Old Testament directly

and personally as Abba Father and taught His disciples to do the same. Thus, the material of

most significance are the texts where Yahweh is addressed directly as Yahweh. This does not

mean that the other examples are not relevant, only that they are not as pertinent to this study,

However, a few of the most significant Old Testament texts concerning the Fatherhood of God or

sonship of Israel will be briefly addressed to provide necessary background information and

context as the New Testament text is approached.

Two of the most important and influential Old Testament texts which do not directly call

Yahweh Father but contribute to a theology of the sonship of Israel have been briefly addressed

in this study; Exodus 4:22 and Hosea 11:1. The foundation of all Old Testament references to







proclamation reveals,

The close and tender protected relationship of Israel to God, as firstborn son to father,

and to contrast it to the deadly fate that awaited the firstborn of Egypt, individualized in

Pharaoh's son. God had chosen Israel for election to a special status, that of firstborn son,

with the implication of inheritance that went with it. Israel's coming inheritance certainly

included the promised land of Canaan but included also the special relationship of God's

presence.

273

272



see: Christopher J. H. Wright, Knowing God through the Old Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2019).

273

Douglas K. Stuart, Exodus: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (Nashville:

B&H Publishing Group, 2006), 125.

Two major theological truths are communicated in this verse. First, the special relationship that

Israel will have with Yahweh as His children, for they are His chosen covenant people.

274

Second, this text also reveals the unique status that Israel as a nation enjoyed before YHWH (cf.

19:46).

275

Therefore, though it does not use the Word Father for Yahweh, Exodus 4:22-23 is a

foundational text in understanding Yahweh as the Father of Israel and their identity to Yahweh

 kingdom of priests and a h

(Exodus 19:5-6 ESV) Hosea 11:1 refers back to this event in recounting the historical reality



 mentioned above and therefore will

not be dealt with at length. 

electing love and adoption and redemption of Israel from slavery in Egypt was due to his love for

them as a Father desirous of His son. Both of these texts, while not utilizing the term Father for

Yahweh, contribute immensely to forming an Old Testament theology of Yahweh as the Father

of Israel.

The next set of texts do not address Yahweh directly as Father but instead, He is

compared with an earthly father. Each of these texts contributes to the overall picture of what it

means for Yahweh to be a Father to Israel and the nature of His relationship with them as His

 Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his



wilderness is understood through the lens of His love for Israel as their Father. In Deuteronomy



274

T. Desmond Alexander, Exodus. Apollos Old Testament Commentary (Downers Grove: IVP Academic,

2017), 106.

275

Ibid.





reference in Deuteronomy 8:5,





with His people being compared to that of a loving, gracious, compassionate, Father add a depth

of theological nuance to the texts exegeted above in this study.

Perhaps the most significant point that emerges from these few metaphors is the element

of love in the Old Testament authors' usage of Father for Yahweh. Whereas the ANE imagery of

divine paternity typically signified the literal and physical paternity of the gods for humans, it

lacks any element of love, compassion, or genuine care from the deities toward humanity. In the



paternal love for His people was latent in the usage based on the general Old Testament

perspective yet not highlighted at length. It is significant that in each of the above references to



exegesis and interpretation of the text.

Another non-direct reference to Yahweh as Father in the Old Testament is the refrain that

Israel and the Jews are the sons of Yahweh implying the Fatherhood of Yahweh. For example,

the instructions concerning holiness and the religious lifestyle of the Jewish people are rooted in



-theological

foundation for Yahweh as Father and creator, Deuteronomy 32:6, is a reference to Israel as



100



Israel receive a unique level of love, care, and attention from Yahweh because they are His

covenant children, at the same time, they bear a unique responsibility before Him to offer Him

their complete, undivided, and unadulterated devotion to Yahweh. Israel was uniquely punished



chosen covenant children.

The prophet Isaiah employs a litany of references to Israel as the covenant children of

Yahweh. The entire book opens with Isaiah placing his prophetic oracles in the context of Israel

as rebellious children against their Children have I reared and brought up, but they have





disobedience. These fi



they ought to have been faithful and obedient to Him. However, instead of offering Yahweh the

honor and obedience He deserves as their Father, they rebelled against Him and received

judgment. Thus, the employment of familial language was used by Isaiah to draw attention to

their covenant infidelity.

In chapter 30, the nature of the allusion changes. Instead of Isaiah calling Israel children



commitment to His children. Isaiah 30 is an oracle of hope that Yahweh will soon bring His



bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by

my name, whom I created for my glory, whom -7 ESV) This

101





order to stress the severity of their apostasy, rebellion, and covenant infidelity. Or it can be

-

keeping love toward His children and their special status among the nations as His children. The

context of Isaiah 30:6-7 makes this even clearer where just a few verses earlier, Yahweh





Israel 

children and He their Father. This dual nature of Father/son imagery is a significant development

to the unfolding Old Testament theology of what it meant for Israel to have Yahweh as their

Father.

A final and insightful example from Isaiah is Isaiah 45:10-





says the 

will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands?

 (Isaiah 45:10-11

ESV) This is another fascinating passage for Yahweh indirectly appeals to the fact that He is not

merely the creator of Israel but also their Father. Though they wrestle with His plan of

redemption and disagree with His methods, just as the clay cannot argue with its potter, neither





102

their theology but Yahweh himself places His dealings with Israel in the context of them as His

covenant children.

276

The other examples from the book of Isaiah were treated above. Those instances are not

mere references or allusions to Yahweh as Father but direct addresses employing the term Father

for Yahweh. Thus, while many of the references throughout Isaiah do not directly use the term

Father for Yahweh, Israel as His son and the implications of them being His children abound

throughout the prophetic text.

The final major text which includes Father and or son language which will be addressed

comes from the minor prophets, and that is Hosea.

277

Hosea 11:1 was discussed above as one of

the foundational Old Testament texts in formulating an Old Testament theology of Yahweh as

Father.

278

Here, a final important example concludes this biblical theological survey of the Old

Testament text. Hosea 1:10 helps demonstrate the ever-unfolding Jewish understanding of their

 the number of the children of Israel shall be like the sand of

the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And in the place where it was said to

them,  

of 

1:10 ESV). The messianic vision and their hope of restoration was that they would one day be



of the



279





276

Oswalt, The Book of Isaiah, clxi; Motyer, Isaiah, 325.

277

Youngblood, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1297w.

278

Lundbom, Jeremiah 1–20, 303.

279

David Allan Hubbard, Hosea: An Introduction and Commentary (Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2009),

47-48.

103



of 

280

This affirms the significant link throughout the entire Old



role as their Father.

281



is due to His election and covenant keeping with them rather than a physical or sexual

connotation of creation.

282



was the Father of Israel and their place as His children depended upon their commitment and

fidelity to the covenant He made with them.

283

Conclusion: Summary of Old Testament Exegetical Analysis

It is of the utmost significance to accurately understand the Old Testament presentation

of Yahweh as Father as conceived in ancient Israel through their Scriptures for this forms the

theological and cultural background for the New Testament and the life and teaching of Jesus.



role of the father in Israelite society, provide the substantive framework for understanding the

assertions of the New Testament that God i

284

Thus, this

chapter has sought to thoroughly examine each instance of Father language for Yahweh in the

Old Testament text and formulate a biblical theological understanding of Yahweh as Father in

280

Andrew J. Dearman, The Book of Hosea (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company,

2010), 104.

281

Douglas Stuart, Hosea-Jonah (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2020), 37-38.

282

Stuart, Hosea-Jonah, 37-38.

283

For further treatment of Hosea 1:10 or 11:1 which are both pertinent texts for a holistic Old testament

theology of God as father, see the following works: Francis I. Andersen and David Noel Freedman, Hosea: A New

Translation With Introduction and Commentary (New Haven & London: The Anchor Yale Bible, 1980); Duane A.

Garrett and Paul Ferris, Hosea, Joel: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (Nashville: B&H

Publishing Group, 1997); Derek Kidner, The Message of Hosea (Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 1984); Thomas

Edward McComiskey, The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository Commentary (Grand Rapids: Baker

Academic, 2009).

284

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 38.

104

Israel.

285

Before moving to this same topic in Second Temple Judaism, a few concluding remarks

will be made to summarize the material presented here.

286

First, while the Fatherhood of God is one of the central theological tenants in the New





287

This study has surveyed the 15 primary

instances in the entirety of the Old Testament where Yahweh is called Father directly. Again, the

Fatherhood of Yahweh is significant to accurately understanding the Old Testament, yet, as

not the common or normal form of address to God in the Old



288



illustration of the scarcity of Fatherhood language in the Old Testament for Yahweh. For, where

Father would be expected to be used as a direct address to Yahweh based upon New Testament



289

This does not mean that the Old Testament teaching

concerning Yahweh as a Father or the examples of addressing Him as such are not significant



Old Testament, yet it is a very important one, revealing the nature of God and providing a



290

285

Once again, for thorough and detailed exegetical treatment of this topic, see the following works:

Christopher J. H. Wright, Knowing God Through the Old Testament (Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2019); David

An 

152.

287

of Scripture in the Formulation of Fatherhood in the Old Testament:

Pharos Journal of Theology, Volume 101 (2020), 3.

288

J. H. Wright, Knowing God Through the Old Testament (Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2019), 299.

289

Ibid.

290

 Kairos: Evangelical Journal of

Theology 10, no. 2 (July 2016): 213.

105

This is an essential point of this study that will have profound exegetical weight as the

New Testament text is approached. While this theme is present in the Old Testament and there is

a great deal of continuity between the Testaments with the Old Testament establishing the

necessary theological foundation for this concept, nothing could have prepared the Jewish people

for the unprecedented development of this theme and the explosion of its usage by Jesus and the

biblical authors in the New Testament.

291

The second important concluding remark to summarize an Old Testament conception of

Yahweh as Father is that primarily within ancient Israel, Yahweh was understood as the

corporate Father of Israel based upon His electing love and covenant with them. As has been

demonstrated, this is quite distinct from the ANE understanding of the gods as the physical



actions of covenant with the people of Israel, electing them as His chosen people due to his

passionate and tender love for them, rescuing them from Egypt, and calling them into corporate

and covenant relationship with Himself as their Father. This is perhaps the most foundational

manner of understanding Yahweh as Father i

inextricably tied to His electing love and covenant fidelity to Israel as His son and He as their

Father.

292





293

This idea was

291

For an excellent study exploring the continuity or discontinuity between the Old and New Testament

portraits, understanding, and teaching concerning Yahweh as Father, see: Alon Goshen-

in Rabbinic Judaism and Christianity: Transf Journal of Ecumenical

Studies 38, no. 4 (Fall 2001).

292





people, and I will dwell in the midst of them

Walter C. Kaiser Jr., Toward an Old Testament Theology (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House, 1978), 32.

293

Medved, The Fatherhood of God in the Old Testament, 21.

106

illustrated throughout the entirety of the Old Testament text in the preceding exegetical survey.

Thus, as Thompson so eloquently summarizes based on her own survey of the Old Testament

material,

In the Old Testament the designation of God as Father pertains primarily to the

relationship between God and Israel. Israel is God's firstborn child and, as such, is also

God's heir, who receives from God the promised inheritance, portion, or share of God's

blessings specifically intended for Israel. God provides, cares for, and sometimes also

disciplines Israel in its disobedience. As Father, God merits honor and obedience.

Obviously individuals are implicated in these statements, but the various promises and

injunctions focus on the relationship of the people to God, what God has done for them,

and on their obligations to each other within the community.

294

The only potential exception to this is found in the unique relationship Yahweh formed with the

Davidic kings. This was discussed above but even among the Davidic kings, their more



them, there are no direct examples of them understanding themselves as the individual rather

than corporate sons of Yahweh and they never address Him directly as Father.

295

The third significant point that emerges from this Old Testament survey is that there are

no examples of anyone addressing Yahweh directly or personally as Father in the Hebrew

Scriptures. When Jesus of Nazareth arrived on the scene, this was His favorite and only manner

of addressing Yahweh, the covenant God of the Old Testament. Thus, it may come as a surprise



explicit statements that recount a human being addre.

296

This becomes

exegetically crucial to understand as the New Testament text is approached. Again, this assertion



294

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 47-48.

295

Ibid.

296

Tasker, The Fatherhood of God, 266.

107

Him. Rather, it merely demonstrates that no one approached Him as intimately or directly as

Jesus of Nazareth. While it is correct to appeal to the fact that Father was not a novel way of

understanding Yahweh in the Old Testament, it also must be stated explicitly that no one ever

addressed Him directly in this manner in any way that resembles Jesus. Thus, while there is



of direct address for Him as such and His instruction for His disciples to do the same is truly

extraordinary and represents a sizeable shift and development of this theme.

297

Finally, the veracity, validity, and exegetical significance of the above point is

highlighted even further when it is taken into consideration that there is no use of Abba or a term

like it for Yahweh anywhere in the Old Testament. As will be explored in depth in the coming

sections of this study, this survey of the Old Testament has demonstrated undeniably that not

only does no one in the Jewish religion address Yahweh directly as their Father, addressing Him

as intimately as a child and claiming direct and personal access to Him was unthinkable. While



bordered on blasphemous. However, the intimate and personal fatherhood of God and the

accessibility believers have with Him through the New Covenant is not only a central theme for

the life and teaching of Christ but for all of the New Testament authors. This point will be

explored in the Jewish literature from the Second Temple period in the subsequent section.

Suffice it to say for now, no one addressed Yahweh with such intimacy and access in the entirety

of the Old Testament as Jesus would demonstrate so frequently in the New Testament.

297



way of understanding Yahweh or approaching Him. Rather, it merely demonstrates that no one approached Him as

intimately or directly as Jesus of Nazareth. Tasker posits that there is a possibility that some approached Yahweh in



that direction, and the evidences of such a close

The Fatherhood of God,

266.

108

Chapter 4: God as Father in Second Temple Judaism

Introduction: Second Temple Judaism and the Background of the New Testament

Another fundamental area of research to further understand the Jewish conception of

Yahweh as Father is the Second Temple Period. In recent decades, there has been an explosion

of attention and research directed at this crucial period of transformation and development of

Jewish theology between the Testaments.

298

For this present study, this period of theological

growth and development among the Jewish people is especially relevant for it is within Second

Temple Judaism that Jesus lived and ministered. A common error is assuming that the

perspective of the Old Testament authors reflects accurately the historical, cultural, and religious

environment of Jesus and His contemporaries. However, studying Second Temple Judaism

demonstrates that significant developments took place that must be explored to accurately the

world in which Jesus lived and ministered.

299

Therefore, before addressing the New Testament text and the teaching of Jesus of

Nazareth concerning Yahweh as His Father and the Father of all Christians, this significant

298

The historical, cultural, theological, and literary work being done on this topic is extensive. For an

introduction to this field of study and some helpful works, see the following: Lester L. Grabbe, Judaic Religion in

the Second Temple Period : Belief and Practice from the Exile to Yavneh (London: Routledge, 2000); Pieter Willem

van der Horst, Studies in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity (Boston: Brill, 2014); David Flusser, Judaism of

the Second Temple Period (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 2007); Brad Embry, Ronald Herms, and

Archie T. Wright, eds., Early Jewish Literature: An Anthology (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing

Company, 2018); John Joseph Collins and Daniel C. Harlow, The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism (Grand

Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2010); John Joseph Collins and Daniel C. Harlow, Early Judaism: A Comprehensive

Overview (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2012); Jonathan Trotter, The Jerusalem Temple in Diaspora:

Jewish Practice and Thought During the Second Temple Period (Boston: BRILL, 2019).

299

This is another significant area of research that deserves much more direct attention than this

dissertation can give. For a few resources to explore this idea further, see the following: N. T. Wright and Michael F.

Bird, The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First

Christians (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2019); Donald E. Gowan, Bridge Between the

Testaments: A Reappraisal of Judaism from the Exile to the Birth of Christianity (Allison Park: Pickwick

Publications, 1986); Mark Adam Elliott, The Survivors of Israel: A Reconsideration of the Theology of Pre-

Christian Judaism (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000); Paula Fredriksen, When Christians Were Jew : The First

Generation (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018); Jacob Neusner, Judaism When Christianity Began: A Survey

of Belief and Practice (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002).

109

period in Jewish history will first be addressed. It is important to note that this detailed treatment

of selected pertinent Second Temple Jewish literature is not meant to view them as authoritative

Christian texts or to assume that they rival the authority and inspiration of the Old Testament

text. Rather, the aim is to understand how ancient Judaism developed during this period. As N.T.

Wright noted, to understand the historical, cultural, religious, and literary background of Second

Temple Jews in the N



300

Therefore, what follows in

this present chapter is a survey of key Second Temple Jewish literature including the Apocrypha

and Pseudepigrapha with a special focus on the key historical, cultural, religious, and literary

background of Second Temple Judaism concerning their perspective of Yahweh as Father.

Survey of God as Father in Second Temple Judaism



departure from Old Testament usage or rather, if it was an expected development of an Old

Testament theme. While this question will be explored further in the next section, a significant

piece of theological and historical background to be addressed first is the pertinent material from

Second Temple Judaism.

301

Alongside the Jewish Scriptures, relevant texts and material from

Second Temple Judaism provide the most important background information for understanding



300

Ben C. Blackwell, John K. Goodrich, and Jason Mason, eds., Reading Mark in Context: Jesus and

Second Temple Judaism (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018), 14.

301

For a detailed and extensive study that addresses this issue at length, see: Marianne Meye Thompson,

The Promise of the Father: Jesus and God in the New Testament (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000).

110

God during the intertestamental period and the first-century or whether His views were as novel

as some scholars and this study posit.

302

There is a growing opinion among scholars that both the theology of the Old Testament

and Second Temple Judaism emphasized and prioritized an understanding of Yahweh as Father

than previously thought. For example, Marianne Thompson represents this view of affirming the

continuity between the New and Old Testament presentations of God as Father as well as that of

Second Temple Judaism against a stricter and more rigid dichotomy,

For although biblical scholars and theologians alike have sought to emphasize the

differences between Jesus' view of God and his Jewish context, important lines of

continuity run not only from the Old Testament to the New Testament but also from the

Old Testament through Second Temple Judaism, to Jesus and the New Testament.

303

address

of Yahweh as Abba Father. In the next chapter, these two views will be presented more fully. For

now, it is helpful to have a theological awareness that there is not unanimous agreement among

scholars regarding the continuity and or discontinuity between the two Testaments in relation to

Father language for Yahweh. What is undeniable is that the New Testament takes a minor theme

in the Old Testament and elevates it to one of utmost significance. Thompson, who was quoted

above affirming the continuity between the Testaments also concludes,

Still, it is unwise to exaggerate the number of passages that present God as Father. The



use of the term in the New Testament. But the scarcity of the term as over against the

302

Texts that speak of God as the Father of an individual or portray an individual addressing God as Father

include Wis. 2:16; 14:3; Sir. 23:1, 4; 51: 10; 3 Macc. 6:3, 8; Jub. 19:29; 4Q460 5 I, 5; 4Q382 55 II, 19; 4Q379 6 I,

17; Jos. Asen. 12: 815. Texts that speak of God as the Father of the nation include 1 Chr. 29:10 (LXX); Tob. 13:4;

Wis. 11:10; 1QH IX, 35; Ant. 2.6.8; 3 Macc. 2:21; 5:7; 7:6; Jub. 1:25, 28; Apocr. Ezek. fragment 2. Thompson, The

Promise of the Father, 48.

303

Marianne Meye Thompson, The Promise of the Father: Jesus and God in the New Testament

(Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 40.

111

New Testament does not signal radical discontinuity with the presentation of God in the

Old Testament.

304

Between the two Testaments, Second Temple Judaism provides an invaluable insight into the

theological state of the Jews just before and contemporary to the life and ministry of Jesus. For

this reason, it adds a wealth of insight to the present discussion and will be evaluated here before

moving to the New Testament material.

Tobit

The first example comes from the Apocrypha and is a quotation from the book of Tobit.

Tobit was most likely written between 250 and 175 BCE and therefore represents an important

text from before the time of Christ.

305

The context is a joyous prayer of praise to God

306

where



of every living being, Because he is our Lord, and he is our God. He is our Father, and he is God



307



continued in the Second Temple period. This usage is in continuity with what has been stated

concerning each Old Testament usage. Once again, Yahweh is the corporate and collective

Father of Israel and He is addressed as such, not in a direct or personal manner. When Jeremias

claims that there is nothing in the Old Testament or Second Temple literature that resembles

s addressed

304

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 39.

305

David A. DeSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance (Grand Rapids:

Baker Academic, 2018), 69.

306

R. J. Littman, Septuagint Commentary Series, Volume Tobit: The Book of Tobit in Codex Sinaiticus

(Leiden: Brill, 2008),

307

Carey A. Moore, Tobit: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New York: The Anchor

Yale Bible, 1996), 275287.

112

corporately as the covenant Father of Israel and not directly or personally as Jesus would instruct

Christians to do.

308

3 Maccabees

There are a few significant instances in 3 Maccabees of the author addressing Yahweh as

Father. The dating of the text is difficult to confirm definitively with a probable range between

217 BCE and 37-41 CE,

309

however, it was very likely written around 100 BCE.

310

While 3

Maccabees is significant for developing a thorough understanding of theology in the Second

Temple period, Jeremias notes that it should not be used as evidence that Father language was

widespread

311

because it was written in Greek, not Hebrew or Aramaic, and it was written

outside of Palestine.

312

While this is a useful assertion and is helpful in noting which texts carry

the most theological significance, 3 Maccabees does offer significant insight into Second Temple

Judaism.

313

Each of the instances of Father language used for Yahweh in 3 Maccabees will be

provided to show the primary material with only a brief comment.

The first example comes from chapter 2,

“

Then the God who watches over all things, the

first father of all, holy among the holy ones, heard this lawful prayer and scourged the one who

308

For further information on Tobit and other Apocryphal literature, see: Gerald West, John Jarick and

Lester L. Grabbe, Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible: Judith, Greek Esther, Tobit (Chicago: Eerdmans, 2021);

Irene Nowell, Jonah, Tobit, Judith: Volume 25 (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2015).

309

Gale A. Yee, Hugh R. Page Jr., and Matthew J. M. Coomber, The Apocrypha: Fortress Commentary on

the Bible (Lanham: 1517 Media, 2016), 241.

310

DeSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha, 278.

311

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 27.

312

DeSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha, 277.

313

For further information on 3 Maccabees and other literature outside of the Old Testament, see: Louis H.

Feldman, James L. Kugel, and Lawrence H. Schiffman, Outside the Bible: Ancient Jewish Writings Related to

Scripture (Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society, 2013).

113



Interestingly, Father is used here in two distinct manners from the general witness of the Old

Testament text. First, in the Old Testament, every reference to Yahweh as Father is always

connected to Israel and His covenant with them. Here, however, the author of 3 Maccabees



progenitor of all peoples which is foreign to the theological presentation of the Old Testament.

Thompson comments on this,



of these claims. The emphasis on the universal scope of God's Fatherhood and

sovereignty are features of Jewish monotheistic polemic. Inasmuch as Zeus is routinely

ref



314

Thus, while Father is used here for Yahweh, it is done so in a distinct fashion from the previous

material surveyed. A second theological difference is that here in Maccabees, the connection

between Yahweh as Father because He is creator is also a concept not found or at least appealed

to in the biblical text.

315

Once again, in a way that draws distinction between Israel and their



with His identity as the covenant Father of Israel. It is true according to the biblical witness that

Yahweh is both Father and creator. However, the biblical authors did not link these two concepts



by electing them in love and rescuing them from Egypt. Thus, while 3 Maccabees does employ

the title Father for Yahweh, it does so in a dissimilar way.

316

314

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 49-50.

315

Ibid.

316

 The

American Journal of Theology 1, no. 3 (1897): 577600.

114

3 Maccabees 6 contains two references to Yahweh as Father and one to Israel as His

children. These two direct addresses to Yahweh as Father appear in verses 3 

the descendants of Abraham, upon the children of sacred Jacob, father, a people set apart as your



Father, looked upon Jonah, when he was wasting away in the belly of a sea monster from the





known as the Amidah, the opening of which also appeals to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and



317

The theme and content of the prayer



sin/punishment/repentance-

318

What is of

importance here are the two references to Yahweh as Father. There is nothing necessarily novel



 them and His relationship with their

ancestors. Just as in the Old Testament text, Yahweh is the corporate Father of Israel, and His

relationship with them is based on His election, covenant, and rescue of them.

319



the prayer appeals to Yahweh directly as Father in a rather reminiscent manner to the Gospels.

However, a few comments must be made which affirm the novelty and significant development

made by Jesus of a rather obscure theme from the Old Testament and Second Temple Judaism.

317

Yee, Page, and Coomber, The Apocrypha, 244.

318

Ibid.

319

For further discussion of this prayer in 3 Maccabees, see: DeSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha, 289-290.

115



significance of this distinction will be explored at length in the upcoming section. Second, this is

not a prayer to be prayed by the masses as a template for prayer or one made by an individual.



320

Thus, while in continuation

with the theology of the Old Testament, this usage in the Second Temple period does not

develop a theology of Yahweh as Father or prepare the Jewish audience for the transformation of

this idea by Christ.

In 3 Maccabees 6:28, the author alludes to Yahweh as the Father to Israel by calling



who from the days of our ancestors until now has given our kingdom constant and notable



of the Old Testament. The perception of Israel as the children of Yahweh corporately appeals to

the Old Testament perspective and remains distinct from  development of this theme in the

Gospels.

The final example comes from 3 Maccabees 6:28. This usage is a metaphor of Yahweh



God surely shields the Jews and fights alongside them as a father for his childre

Maccabees 6:28 NRSVUE). This usage reflects the Old Testament theological understanding of



a more intense and striking

manner, it draws a strong distinction between the Jewish people and their Gentile



320

 Verbum Vitae, 38 (2), 2020, 485502.

116





321

While the Old Testament celebrates



author of 3 Maccabees uses this as a polemical image against the Gentiles through his appeal to

s covenant children. This stark polemicizing of the divine

Fatherhood of Yahweh is unique to 3 Maccabees and not present in the Old Testament text or in



Wisdom of Solomon

The Wisdom of Solomon is another Jewish text written in Greek by what appears to be a

Hellenized Jew residing in Alexandria.

322

Thus, while the examples from this text are significant

for reconstructing the theological milieu of the Second Temple period, it is not as influential in



and or from within Palestine. The first group of references to either Yahweh as Father or to Israel





323

the contrast between the righteous and the ungodly is explored. It is significant that



ve knowledge of God



Messianic way by early Christian interpreters (including Ambrose and Cyril of Alexandria) or to

a specific righteous person or priest at the time,

324

his enemies taunt him concerning his status as

321

DeSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha, 288.

322

Yee, Page, and Coomber, The Apocrypha, 128.

323

DeSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha, 127.

324

Yee, Page, and Coomber, The Apocrypha, 128.

117





-18 NRSVUE).

325

These three examples are relevant for although written outside of Palestine and in Greek,



 usage of Abba in

relation to Yahweh as His Father and the Father of his disciples was not new but rather a

continuation of Old Testament and Second Temple Jewish theology? To begin, while the







326

Thus, this information



its continued practice in the primitive church was a significant if not exceptional development,

then this material must be treated.

The usages in the Wisdom of Solomon and in the following Second Temple examples

stand in theological alignment with the Old Testament yet fall short of the developing picture of

Christ in the New Testament regarding Yahweh as Father. First, rather than a general usage

common among all Jewish people, the references in Wisdom of Solomon 2:16 and 2:18 are



325



53:12). In both, the righteous protagonist is depicted as a child of God (Wis. 2:13, 16, 18; Isa. 53:2) who bears

himself gently in the face of marginalization and death (Wis. 2:19 20; Isa. 53:7 9). - DeSilva, Introducing the

Apocrypha, 127.

326

Richard Bauckham, "The Sonship of the Historical Jesus in Christology," SJT 31 (1978): 249.

118



327



where it is applied directly to Jesus Himself, the messianic fulfillment of the Old Testament

kingship and the ultimate righteous sufferer.

328







directly tied to His covenant with Israel and their subsequent righteous actions in response.



access to Yahweh as their Father, the Old Testament and Second Temple period texts

cterize God as Father in relationship to the faithful, specifically in terms of God's care,



329

Thus, these references appeal



His covenant. While demonstrating that Yahweh as a Father to Israel is a theological concept in

the Old Testament and Second Temple material, the reality still remains as argued by Jeremias



330

in any way which

matches the New Testament material.

The final examples from the Wisdom of Solomon come from 11:10 and 14:3. In 11:10,



biblical imagery that coincides with that of the Old Testament. In 14:3, the author provides one



327

A. Peter Hayman, Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible: Wisdom of Solomon (Chicago: Eerdmans,

2021), 32-33.

328

Ibid.

329

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 53.

330

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 489.

119



NSRVUE) This is especially





First, while this is one of the only direct references to Yahweh as Father in all of the

Second Temple period literature, the author does not claim personal sonship to Yahweh but

rather addresses Him generally as Father. As the subsequent section will demonstrate, this differs

greatly from the New Testament instances in the life and ministry of Jesus. Second, as with every



other example in any Jewish literature whether canonical or non-canonical of anyone addressing

Yahweh as Abba in Aramaic as Jesus did. Finally, this usage comes from outside of Palestine

and is written in Greek and thus is not as decisive for this study. Therefore, while this is a

significant example and demonstrates once again that the fatherhood of Yahweh was a concept in



 address to



331



do the same still stands unparalleled in all of the Jewish literature.

Sirach

The next significant illustration of Father language used for God is found in the

Apocryphal text, Wisdom of Ben Sira. This text is especially relevant to this study for it was

written by Yeshua Ben Sira, a scribe living and teaching in Jerusalem, and writing originally in

331

Jeremias, Prayers of Jesus, 29.

120

Hebrew before being translated to Greek.

332

The dating of the text suggests that Ben Sira

completed his work in the 180s and his grandson translated the book from Hebrew to Greek after

-

333

For this reason, it is

especially insightful and determinative for understanding the theology of the Second Temple

Jews and their usage of Father language for Yahweh. Three references will be explored here. The

her and Master of my life, do not abandon me to

their designs, and do not let me fall among them!... O Lord, Father and God of my life, do not



because the author of the text appears to be employing an approach to Yahweh that never

appears in the Old Testament.

334

Whereas in the Old Testament as has been studied in depth,

Yahweh is always addressed as the covenant Father of Israel, here in Sirach, in the Greek text,

Yahweh is addressed directly as Father. This direct address of Yahweh as Father personally in

the te



335

This quotation, if accurate to the original Hebrew of the text, has

considerable implications for this study. Could it be that this represents a pious Jew addressing

Yahweh directly as his Father before the arrival of Jesus? If so, this is one of the only examples

of this in all of the Jewish literature.

Some scholars see a significant resemblance between the material in Sirach and the

teaching of Jesus:

332

DeSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha, 142.

333

Yee, Page, and Coomber, The Apocrypha, 148.

334

Jeremias, The Central Message of the New Testament, 67.

335

Skehan W. Patrick, The Wisdom of Ben Sira: A New Translation with Notes (New Haven & London:

The Anchor Yale Bible, 1987), 262326.

121

The parallels between Ben Sira and the sayings of Jesus preserved in Matthew and Luke

are so striking and numerous as to render it certain that Jesus Ben Joseph knew and

valued some of the sayings that had originated with Jesus Ben Sira. The sayings and

instructions that Matthew compiled in the Sermon on the Mount contain numerous points

of connection.

336



material in Sirach,

337



can be proven that Ben Sira addressed Yahweh directly as Father, this would have significant

 which up to

this point has been widely agreed upon as having been novel and noteworthy for His time. For

example, DeSilva emphasizes this connection between Jesus Ben Sira and Jesus Ben Joseph

 

338

Is this connection

definitive then? If so, as some scholars have emphasized against Jeremias, it would question his



God. While Sirach represents an important text for this discussion, there is evidence to suggest





336

DeSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha, 174.

337

This discussion is beyond the scope of this study. However, for a brief introduction to this issue,



extending the prohibition of murder to include anger and demeaning speech) appears already in Ben Sira, for whom

economic oppression is prohibited by the commandment against murder (Sir. 34:25 27). Additionally, Ben Sira had

already linked setting aside anger against a neighbor with obedience to the commandments of God (Sir. 28:7; cf.

Matt. 5:21 22). Both Ben Sira and Jesus urge giving to the one who asks (Sir. 4:4; Matt. 5:42) and claim that



repetition in prayer (Sir. 7:14; Matt. 6:7); both address God as Father in prayer (Sir. 23:1, 4; Matt. 6:9; cf. James

3:9). One development in Ben Sira is especially arresting. The Jerusalem sage had taught that those who hope for

forgiveness from God must not harbor unforgiveness against mortals like themselves. If humans expect God, whose



 5; cf. Matt. 6:12, 14 15; 18:23 

DeSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha, 174.

338

DeSilva, Introducing the Apocrypha, 174.

122

The most significant point of interest for this debate is what was written in the original

Hebrew version of the text by Jesus Ben Sira. The text itself notes in the introduction that it is a

Greek translation of the original Hebrew (Sir. 1:15-25). Thus, if the original Hebrew text is

consulted, does it affirm that Yahweh is addressed directly as Father? Or, as the popular adage

goes, was something lost in translation? The translator himself notes in the introduction that his

translation does not fully capture the original meaning of the author as written initially in

Hebrew:

339

You are invited, therefore, to read it with goodwill and attention and to be indulgent in

cases where we may seem to have rendered some phrases imperfectly, despite our

diligent labor in translating. For what was originally expressed in Hebrew does not have

exactly the same effect when translated into another language. Not only this book, but

even the Law itself, the Prophets, and the rest of the books differ not a little when read in

the original. (Sirach 1:15-25 NRSVUE)







340





translation, not the original language, when the translator himself notes that the translation does

not fully convey the original meaning of the Hebrew. While this alone is enough to question this

position, Jeremias discusses this directly with the research and findings of other scholars citing a

notable discovery of a Hebrew paraphrase of this passage:

341





339

This is a significant point that the research of this study has not seen any other scholar address.

340

Jeremias, The Central Message of the New Testament, 67.

341

For a further and detailed discussion of this, see: Jeremias, Prayers of Jesus, 29.

123



stemming from Exodus 15:2, was widespread and appears elsewhere in Sirach.

342

merely on the admittedly weak

premise that the translation could potentially be flawed, but on explicit evidence that the original

Hebrew did not contain a direct address to Yahweh as Father but rather contained the more



343

The third reference to Yahweh as Father in Sirach is in chapter 51:10. The previous

discussion was detailed and everything stated above also bears interpretive weight here. In 51:10,

depending upon the translation one utilizes, the reverse situation appears.

344

The Greek version





this rendering, the text has no reference to Yahweh as Father. However, according to the Hebrew

   



345

A significant linguistic

parallel to this text is found in Exodus 15:2 where the identical phrase,     , is rendered as



reference to God as Father predating this type of usage by Jesus, the evidence is also strong in

ven if this does represent an extremely rare

342

Jeremias, The Central Message of the New Testament, 67.

343

JQR 21 (1930-31) 238.

344

For further treatment on the Wisdom of Ben Sira, see the following works: John Snaith, Eerdmans

Commentary on the Bible: Sirach (Chicago: Eerdmans, 2021); Benjamin Wright, Praise Israel for Wisdom and

Instruction: Essays on Ben Sira and Wisdom, the Letter of Aristeas and the Septuagint (Boston: BRILL, 2008);

Angelo Passaro and Giuseppe Bellia, eds., The Wisdom of Ben Sira: Studies on Tradition, Redaction, and Theology

(Berlin: De Gruyter Inc., 2008).

345

For a detailed discussion of the Hebrew here, see: Jeremias, Prayers of Jesus, 27-29.

124



employment of Abba in the common dialect of Aramaic still stands out as exceptional for here,



346

Thus, even

if this phrase should be translated as a direct reference to Yahweh as Father, it is an exceptional

and rare usage of this type of language for God, and it still falls short of what Jesus would

introduce through His life, teaching, and ministry





347

Jubilees

The Apocryphal Book of Jubilees was written around the second half of the second

century BCE.

348

A complicating factor to utilizing this book for this present study is that the





349

The textual evidence shows that the text was originally

written in Hebrew, translated from Hebrew into Greek and possibly into Syriac, and then from

Greek it was translated into Latin and into Ethiopic.

350

There are three direct references to

Yahweh as a Father in Jubilees with other allusions to this calling Israel the children of God. The

first examples appear in chapter 1:

Their souls will cleave to me and all my commandments. They will keep my

commandments. I will become their father, and they will become my children. They will

all be called children of the living God. Every angel and spirit will know them. They will

346

Jeremias, The Central Message of the New Testament, 67.

347

Jeremias, The Central Message of the New Testament, 67.

348

James VanderKam, Book of Jubilees (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2001), 11.

349

Jonathan Klawans and Lawrence M. Wills eds., The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha (Oxford: Oxford

University Press, Incorporated, 2020), 56.

350

VanderKam, Book of Jubilees, 14.

125

know that they are my children, that I am their father in uprightness and righteousness,

 the sight of all. Everyone will know that

he is the god of Israel, the father of all the children of Jacob, and the king upon Mount

Zion forever and ever. Zion and Jerusalem will become holy (Jubilees 1:24-25, 28)

These usages are in congruency with the Old Testament portrait of Israel as the corporate

children of Yahweh through his electing love, rescue from Egypt, and His covenant with them.

Other than demonstrating that the author of Jubilees in their reconstruct

continued this theological theme, there is nothing unusual here in relation to the Old Testament.

The same can be said for the third usage of Father language for Yahweh. In chapter 19, Abraham

blesses Jacob and once again in the con





understanding of Yahweh as covenant Father to Israel and offers no significant development to

this theme in the intertestamental period.

God as Father in Qumran Texts

One of the most significant sources for understanding Second Temple Judaism and

Fatherhood in Jewish conception are various

texts from Qumran.

351

As has been demonstrated at length throughout this study, direct addresses

of Yahweh as Father are extremely rare if not non-existent in the canonical and Second Temple

period Jewish literature. Thus, if a legitimate example can be found in the material from Qumran,

while this would represent a significant development in Jewish theology and an extremely



351

An insightful, thorough, and foundational study addressing this issue is one by Lutz Doering. His

The

Divine Father. Religious and Philosophical Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity. In Themes in Biblical

Narrative 18, eds. F. Albrecht and R. Feldmeier (Leiden: Brill, 2014), 107135.

126

as rare and unprecedented. This is important to note for significant Qumran discoveries have

taken place after Jeremias published his work which perhaps represents pre-New Testament

prayer addressed to Yahweh as Father.

Until recently, the only Qumran text referenced as providing evidence that God was

addressed as or thought of as Father by the Qumran community was 1QH IX, 35



352

While this text demonstrates that at Qumran they

continued the Old Testament understanding of Yahweh as the covenant Father of Israel in a



of this theme. Thus, based on the material at Qumran, the general agreement among scholars is

that as Jeremias argued, there are no examples of Yahweh being addressed directly as Father in

the Qumran community. However, some recently discovered material challenges this claim and

must be examined before the New Testament material can be treated.

There are two potential direct references to Yahweh as Father in the Qumran literature



ather, my God, do



353

This text is a prayer attributed to Joseph and

the dating of the original manuscript is debated. Doering claims that this text is palaeographically

dated to ca. 50 BCE.

354

Contrary to this view, Szymik affirms concerning this text and the

subsequent one to be explored (4Q460: frag. 4,5-

352

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 5o.

353

Doering, The Divine Father, 126.

354

Ibid., 127.

127

earlier (pre-Qumranic) and as the evidence of the religious influence of early Judaism on the



355

 ,

again, this text represents what may be one of the only direct references to Yahweh as Father in



one of the leadin

significant point is that in the psalm in 4Q372 1, we now have a pre-Christian Palestinian prayer



356

This is certainly a groundbreaking discovery that must

be incorporated into this discussion. Regarding this specific example, two major points must be

made. First, if this represents a direct address of Yahweh as Father in the Jewish material, the

languag



357



for Yahweh especially in relation to prayer and its theological significance and ramifications.

Thus, while there is a potential example in the Qumran material for a prayer addressed to

Yahweh directly as Father, this does not detract from the distinctive usage of Abba as a direct

address of God by Christ in the Gospels.

A second note concerning this Qumran text is the potential that this does not represent the

prayer of an individual, Joseph, but rather, that Joseph represents the northern tribes as a whole

and thus, this would not represent an individual addressing Yahweh directly as Father but rather

the community doing so as His covenant children. To quote Schuller once again, one of the

355

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 490.

356

 The

Catholic Biblical Quarterly 54, no. 1 (1992): 78.

357

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 50.

128



(although this was not my initial supposition in approaching the text) that 4Q372 1 is not an

exegetical reflection on Genesis, but rather a text in which the figure of Joseph stands for the



358

While this argument is not conclusive, it does signify that this prayer

addressed to Yahweh as Father in Hebrew and potentially done so not by an individual but the

g a

comprehensive survey of the topic of the Fatherhood of Yahweh in all of the Qumranic literature

writes,





used in the context of other, much more prominent divine epithets such as  , ,

, () , , or  , sometimes forming series. Text-pragmatically, the Qumran



Second Temple texts in statements of comparison, adoption, and identification.

359



unparalleled.

The second text to attest to such an address is 4Q460 frag. 4,5-



360

This is another potential direct reference to Yahweh made by an individual in prayer

as Father.

361

Once again, a few comments must be made here. First, the Hebrew language is

employed here with , which while significant, still shows that  was never utilized in

reference to Yahweh.

362

Thus, even if this represents an instance of Yahweh being addressed

358

 Revue de Qumrân 14, no. 3 (55) (1990): 368.

359

Doering, The Divine Father, 130.

360

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 490.

361

Schuller, A Text About Joseph, 363.

362

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 490.

129

directly in prayer in Hebrew, there is nothing that would have prepared the Jewish audience for

 for Yahweh.

363

A second important point to be made is



364

Based upon other fragments of this

manuscript, it could refer to one of the patriarchs, for example, Judah (cf. 7 5).

365

Or it could be a





366

This too is a crucial point for the discussion here.

Once again, what appears at first glance as a direct reference to Yahweh as Father by an

individual is once again in question. There is strong evidence regarding this text that either it is

placed in the mouth of one of the patriarchs and not an individual Israelite or it is employed by a

king or prophet which while significant, would still be representative of a rather rare usage, not a

e for Yahweh in the

Gospels is really without parallel in the entirety of the Old Testament and all of the Second

Temple period Jewish literature.

367

Thus, to conclude with Doering, it must be noted that,



to other, quantitatively more prevalent modes of speaking about God. At the same time, it

does have its distinct place in this context. In addition, the evidence for G

Qumran is qualitatively important in a number of respects. In its semantic and pragmatic

363

For a study that covers all of this material yet comes to slightly different conclusions than those



 Journal of Biblical Literature 111, no. 4 (1992): 618-619.

364

Doering, The Divine Father, 129.

365

Ibid.

366



and Miscellanea vol. 1 (DJD 36), Oxford 2000, 369 386.

367

This survey has been nowhere near exhaustive. However, the most significant examples from the

Qumran literature has been at least commented on. The complexity of this task is summarized by Schuller writing,

 study of all the available Second Temple prayer material, although



-85; 

Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period, ed. M. E. Stone (Philadelphia: Fortress,

1984), 551-78; Schuller, The Psalm of 4Q372 1 Within the Context of Second Temple Prayer, 6779.

130

features, therefore, it enriches and nuances the profile provided by other relevant texts

within Second Temple Judaism.

368

Final Texts (Joseph & Aseneth, Apocryphon of Ezekiel, Josephus’ Antiquities, Testament of Job)

While nowhere near exhaustive, the primary Second Temple Jewish texts have been

surveyed here in an attempt to reconstruct a thorough understanding of the Jewish theology of

Yahweh as Father.

369

A few final texts will be addressed with brief comments. The first is from

the Pseudepigrapha; Joseph & Aseneth.

370

It is generally agreed upon that the date of its original

composition is somewhere in the first century BCE or first century CE.

371

In 12:8-12, there is a



loving care and compassion to that of a father,

372



over me, As a father that loves his children and is tenderly affectionate, And snatch me from the



n Old Testament perspective of Yahweh as Father and contains no

noteworthy developments of this theme.

373

368

Doering, The Divine Father, 132.

369

For further study on the significant Jewish literature from the Second Temple period in relation to



 Revue De Qumrân 20, No. 2 (78) (2001): 287310.

370

For an introduction to the Pseudepigrapha, see the following work: Matthias Henze and Liv Ingeborg

Lied, eds., The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Fifty Years of the Pseudepigrapha Section at the SBL (Atlanta:

Society of Biblical Literature, 2019).

371

Susan Docherty, The Jewish Pseudepigrapha: An Introduction to the Literature of the Second Temple

Period (Minneapolis: 1517 Media, 2015), 40.

372

Daniel M. Gurtner, Introducing the Pseudepigrapha of Second Temple Judaism: Message, Context, and

Significance (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020), 56.

373

For detailed treatment of Joseph & Aseneth, see the following works: Patricia D. Ahearne-Kroll,

Aseneth of Egypt: The Composition of a Jewish Narrative (Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2020); Edith M.

Humphrey, Joseph and Aseneth (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2000).

131

Another reference in the Pseudepigraphic literature is a brief reference in the Apocryphon

of Ezekiel, sometimes referred to as Second Ezekiel.

374

While there seem to be some genuine

Jewish portions of these fragments, there are also clear Christian interpolations by what appears

to be a Christian editor.

375

There is a direct reference to Jesus Christ and the theology appears to

be influenced by Christian theology. Fragment two contains the following reference to Yahweh

 if the

list of your sins stretches from heaven to earth, and if they are as black as they can be, and you



Thus, while this is an interesting example, the high likelihood of theological interpolation, lack

of textual witness, and potential late date mean that this text should not be interpreted as

determinative for reconstructing a genuine Jewish theology of Yahweh as Father in this

period.

376

Ant.

2.6.8).

377



(Ant. 

the classic biblical conception of Yahweh as covenant Father of Israel for Josephus will apply

this title to Yahweh universally as "father and source of the universe, as creator of things human

and divine" (Ant. 7.380; 4.262).

378

He refers to Yahweh as "the Father of all'' (Ant. 1.230; 2.152),

374

 Revue de Qumrân 13, no. 1/4 (49/52)

(1988): 4558.

375

James H. Charlesworth, P. Dykers, and M. J. H. Charlesworth, The Pseudepigrapha and Modern

Research, with a Supplement (Chico: Scholars Press for the Society of Biblical Literature, 1981), 109-110.

376

For further treatment of this text, see: Lee Martin McDonald and James H. Charlesworth, eds., Non-

Canonical Religious Texts in Early Judaism and Early Christianity (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2014);

James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (Garden City: Doubleday, 1983).

377

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 48

378

Ibid., 52.

132

Ant. 1.20). Thus, once again, this type of



Iliad, 15.47), rather

than the more typical Old Testament designation of God as the Father of Israel or the Father of



379

Finally, the last Second Temple period Jewish work to be addressed is the Testament of

Job. This is a late work most likely produced by an Egyptian Jew in the first century CE after the

time of Christ.

380

There are a number of places in the Testament of Job where Yahweh is





381





382

Therefore, it is difficult to

determine whether these addresses of Yahweh as Father are genuine Jewish examples or

Christian interpolations.

383

Therefore, while the Testament of Job may be a further example of

Jewish prayer addressed to Yahweh as Father, the evidence is too inconclusive and thus cannot

be appealed to definitively in either direction.

384

379

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 52.

380

Gurtner, Introducing the Pseudepigrapha of Second Temple Judaism, 1397c.

381

 68.

382

 Outside the Old

Testament, 231248. Cambridge Commentaries on Writings of the Jewish and Christian World (Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1986), 232-233.

383

For further discussion of the Jewish and Christian relationship of the Testament of Job, see: Nicholas

Journal for the Study of the

Pseudepigrapha, 33(1), 51-74.

384

For further research concerning this text, see: Maria Haralambakis, The Testament of Job: Text,

Narrative and Reception History (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2014); Michael A. Knibb and Pieter W. Van

Der Horst, eds. Studies on the Testament of Job: Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series (Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press, 1990).

133

Conclusion: Summary of God as Father in Second Temple Judaism



address for Yahweh personally and the implications this has for His theology as a whole and

specifically for understanding New Testament Christian prayer and His instruction for His



employment of the Aramaic Abba for Yahweh within the first-century Jewish context. The last

two chapters have sought to examine both the Old Testament text and the theology of Second



novel and groundbreaking. The primary material has been examined in an attempt to test

re of Palestinian Judaism no evidence has yet been found of





385

Having examined both the Old Testament text and the Second Temple Jewish literature,

is this statement true? As the next chapter will illustrate, there is a variance of opinions and

conclusions on this topic. However, there are a few summary statements that can be made where

the majority of scholars are in agreement. First, in congruence with the theological portrait of



Judaism that God was thought of and addressed as the Father of the faithful, whether the faithful



386

The claim that there is no

evidence within Second Temple Judaism that the Jews understood themselves as the children of



385

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 57.

386

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 53.

134

nor is it the primary theme of this dissertation. Rather, the question first is whether or not Jews

ever understood themselves individually as children of Yahweh and if they addressed Him

personally and with such confidence as their Father.

Here is where there is a division among scholars based on the Second Temple Jewish



indicate that individuals understood the Fatherhood of God in a personal way, rather than a



387



understood to exercise mercy and discipline toward his children, whom he also cares for and

delivers. Typically, then, God is addressed as Father in petitions when people are in peril or



388



concerning the novelty of direct addresses made by Jesus for Yahweh as Father. However,

Jeremias is not alone in His contention that Second Temple Judaism does not provide sufficient

evidence that any Jews made direct prayers or addresses to Yahweh as their personal Father. As

Szymik argues in reference to the Jewish literature of the Second Temple period and the entirety

of the Old Tes



389

Thus,

there is no universal agreement on how the Jewish material ought to be interpreted and

understood.

A few final thoughts will be provided here. First, even if the very few potential references

to Yahweh as Father are genuine representations of this kind of understanding of Yahweh as the

387

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 53.

388

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 54.

389

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 489.

135

personal Father of individual Jews and able to be approached as such, this certainly was not the

primary nor common theological persuasion of Jews during this period. The fact that there is

detailed exegesis of these texts and still a contention regarding the findings represents the non-

decisive nature of the material available. Therefore, the few potential examples of Yahweh

addressed directly as Father by Second Temple Jews represent a rare and minority usage by Jews

during the period. This is true of the Old Testament text as well as was addressed in the



evidence nor examples in any of the Old Testament nor Jewish material for anyone ever

addressing Yahweh with the personal and intimate Aramaic term Abba,

We can say quite definitely that there is no analogy at all in the whole literature of Jewish

prayer for God being addressed as Abba. This assertion applies not only to fixed

liturgical prayer, but also to free prayer, of which many examples have been handed

down to us in Talmudic literature. We are thus confronted with a fact of the utmost

significance. Whereas there is not a single instance of God being addressed as Abba in

the literature of Jewish prayer, Jesus always addressed him in this way.

390

None of the texts addressed here or from the Old Testament or Second Temple period ever

address Yahweh as Abba. Jeremias is uncontested here by any textual evidence or argumentation

by scholars on this point.



exceptionally novel and unprecedented for any of His predecessors or contemporaries. In

s

disciples to approach Him with such unparalleled intimacy and access is also a divergence from

the classic Jewish theological approach to God. Therefore, in both respects, Jesus is employing

an unparalleled and unprecedented approach to Yahweh as Abba Father which is foundational to

the theology of the New Testament and one of the distinctive marks between Judaism and the

390

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 57.

136

Christian religion. This is the subject of the next chapter building upon the historical, cultural,

literary, and theological foundations of the Old Testament and Second Temple literature.

137

Chapter 5: Jesus of Nazareth’s Unprecedented Approach to God as Abba Father

Introduction: Jesus of Nazareth’s Unprecedented Approach to God as Abba Father

When Jesus of Nazareth addressed Yahweh intimately, personally, and directly as Abba

Father ( ) and instructed His followers to do the same, the Jewish understanding of

Yahweh as covenant Father of Israel experienced an unprecedented and unexpected

development.

391

The Old Testament text has been treated at length in an attempt to formulate an

accurate understanding of the Jewish conception of Yahweh as Father in relation to Israel. What

has emerged is the consensus that though Father was not a common designation for Yahweh in

the Old Testament or for the Jewish people, it was a significant theological theme that developed



theological shift as the New Testament text is approached demonstrated by the preceding

exegesis is that there are no examples in the Old Testament or Jewish history of anyone

approaching Yahweh personally or individually as Father and especially as Abba ( , .

392

As was demonstrated in the exegetical survey of every Old Testament direct reference to

Yahweh as Father, in every instance, Yahweh was addressed as the corporate covenant Father of

Israel as a collective people and never addressed by an individual Jew as their personal Father.

393

The same can be said concerning the Jewish literature from the Second Temple period.

394

This

point must be stressed for with the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth, the Jewish understanding of

391



Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), TDNT 1:6.

392





presenting a modern evaluation of his views against the most recent evidence.

393

Joachim Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus (London: SCM, 1967), 29.

394

Ibid.

138

Yahweh as covenant Father of Israel experienced an unprecedented and unexpected

development.

395

The following exegetical analysis of the New Testament text illustrates the

remarkable fact that the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth brought about the proliferation of

Father language for Yahweh evident not only in the Gospels but throughout the entirety of the

New Testament.

396



seventy times in the Gospels. Compared to the mere fifteen direct references to Yahweh as

Father in the Old Testament, this is a significant and unprecedented development of what was a

minor theme in the Old Testament now standing at center stage as one of the most central tenets

of New Testament theology. In every instance except one when Jesus addressed the covenant

God of the Old Testament directly, He did so by not only calling Him Father generally as the Old



He taught His disciples to do the same, and the New Testament represents the overwhelming

proliferation of Father language for Yahweh. It is possible to argue theologically and

exegetically based upon the New Testament text and the Christian religion, as the following



understanding the theology of the New Testament authors.

397



from its cultural and religious environment as the Old Testament presentation of Yahweh as

395



 Verbum Vitae 38, no. 2 (December 21, 2020): 499.

396

Marianne Meye Thompson, The Promise of the Father: Jesus and God in the New Testament

(Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), 85.

397

Joachim Jeremias, The Central Message of the New Testament (New York: Scribner, 1965), 63-75.

139

Father compared with the ANE material and the non-canonical Jewish material surveyed.

398

There is a great disparity between what the ANE neighbors of Israel and the Jews before and

during the New Testament period believed concerning Yahweh as Father when compared with

 with and revelation of

God as Father was not only distinct from the ancient religions of His time but also of His own

Jewish people.

399

If this can be proven based upon the exegetical survey that follows, then the



utmost importance for understanding the novelty of the New Covenant and the relationship

Christians have through Christ with Yahweh as their Abba Father.

Therefore, continuing on the historical, literary, and theological foundation of chapters

two and three, a similar pattern will be followed in chapter five, but this time, considering the

New Testament material. To begin, a definition of terms for the Greek and Aramaic words used

in reference to God as Father throughout the New Testament will be provided ( , 



Him throughout the Gospels. While the Gospels will be the primary focus, brief consideration

will be given as well to other texts throughout the New Testament for a more robust

understanding of the usage of these terms throughout.

Fascinatingly, in several places, the New Testament authors veer from writing in Greek

and employ the Aramaic   for God. The significance of this usage will be addressed



398

This point has been treated at length in the previous chapters and therefore is not treated directly here.

399

 Kimel, Speaking the

Christian God: The Holy Trinity and the Challenge of Feminism (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1992),

131.

140



direct reference for God is an unparalleled and unprecedented development for the Jewish people

and represents one of the distinctive elements of His life and ministry that make the New



subsequent usage by the Apostle Paul and the early church merits detailed study not only of this

word but its implications for Christians based upon the example and instruction of Christ.

This will be done in two major parts. First, a linguistic and historical analysis of the

Aramaic term Abba during the first century will be performed to establish the significant

 the frequency of

His usage and its place in His life and ministry. Then, before addressing the New Testament

material itself and primarily the Gospels, a brief section will explore the novelty and significance

of Abba as an address for Yahweh against the Jewish background and within the milieu of first-

century Palestine.

Linguistic and Historical Analysis of Abba Father in the First Century and a Study of

Jesus’ Use of Abba as an Address for God in His Life and Ministry

In all four of the Gospel accounts, Jesus always addressed 

11:25; Mark 14:36; Luke 23:46; John 17:1).

400

In the Synoptic Gospels, when God is called



401

Not only was Father the distinctive and

unique term given to God by Jesus, but there is almost universal scholarly consensus that behind

400

Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand

Rapids; Leicester: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 144.

401

P. Bonnard, L’Evangile selon Saint Matthieu: Commentaire du Nouveau Testament (Neuchâtel:

Delachaux et Niestlé, 1970).

141

the Greek is the Aramaic   (Mark 14:36),

402

a term so intimate that few of his



403

France clarifies this by noting:



-

26) and for the Aramaic term (see Mark 14:36), which his disciples were subsequently

privileged to share (Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6).

404



Jewish religion or was the natural continuation and development of an Old Testament theme, the

he Aramaic   for God.

Second, the question must be asked, is Abba only used in Mark 14:36, or does it stand behind



Linguistic and Historical Analysis of Abba Father in the First-Century

The first task is to define Abba during the first century within Palestine. There is no

debate that Abba ( , 

usage as well as from other Aramaic texts. The question concerns the connotation and nuance of

Abba and how it was employed and understood within the Jewish period and context in which

Jesus lived. As will be demonstrated in the subsequent survey, there are two primary means of

understanding Abba.

405

There is the classic position that Abba represents the intimate language

of children toward their father and though utilized in daily interactions in Jewish families, when

used in reference to Yahweh by Jesus, it was a novel and unprecedented representation of

402

This view will be explored and defended below.

403

Craig S. Keener, Matthew, Vol. 1, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove:

InterVarsity Press, 1997), Mt 6:913.

404

R.T. France, The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007., 267-270.

405

Although coming from a different religious background than that of the author of this study, a helpful



 Religious Educator 6, no. 1 (2005): 4349.

142

intimacy and access from a son to a father in the common language of the day.

406

A different

understanding of Abba still maintains that it is a more familiar or colloquial term used in

reference from a child to their father, but challenges how novel or significant this word is against

its Hebrew and Greek counterparts.

407

Abba () 



408

The evidence suggests and there is a general scholarly consensus that Abba

began as the childish address of a young child to their father.

409

This is confirmed by the





410

The fact

that this rendering is accurate and reflects the historical validity that the term has its roots in the

intimate language of a child is confirmed by the Talmud,

411



406

Joachim Jeremias is the scholar most famous for exploring at length and defending this view in a

number of works. He is still the seminal voice on the topic with modern works referring to and interacting with his

work: Joachim Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus (London: SCM, 1967), 57-65; Idem., Jesus and the Message of the

New Testament (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002), 63-75; Idem., New Testament Theology (New York: Scribner,

1971); Idem., Rediscovering the Parables (New York: Scribner, 1966); Idem., The Lord's Prayer (Philadelphia:

Fortress Press, 1983); Idem., The Sermon on the Mount (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963).

407

Perhaps the most famous adherent of this view and one who interacted directly 

-

The Journal of Theological Studies 39, no. 1 (1988): 28-47. An additional proponent of this view and



 Journal of the Evangelical

Theological Society 31, no. 4 (December 1988): 38598.

408

William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon

of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 1.

409

Jeremias explores and defends this view at length in The Prayers of Jesus, 57-65.

410

New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Abridged

Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017), 1.

411

Due to their later ate, the Talmud/Targums are not addressed in this study. However, this does not mean

that they are unimportant in understanding the language and culture of first-century Palestine and Palestinian

Judaism. As demonstrated here, these ref

theology, culture, and linguistics of the Jews in the subsequent years. For this reason, they were not considered in

the survey of Second Temple Jewish literature. For two helpful introductions to the Talmud/Targums, see: Paul V.

M. Flesher and Bruce D. Chilton, The Targums: A Critical Introduction (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2011);

143

experiences the taste of wheat (i.e. when it is weaned), it learns to say 'abba and ʾimmāʾ (i.e.



412

That abba was a term employed by little children



abba and imma

intimate address of a child to their father utilizing abba.

413

This historical background to the term

is also confirmed by the church fathers John Chrysostom, Theodore of Mopsuestia, and

Theodoret of Cyrrhus who all attest that in ancient Palestine, little children used to call their



414

Another relevant example of this comes from the Jewish Talmud. As was defended in the

previous two sections, there is no instance where Yahweh is directly referenced or referred to

with the Aramaic Abba. There is only one possible reference in late Jewish literature where Abba

is used in a potential yet indirect and vague reference to God. What is significant about it is that

it affirms that Abba during the period was the standard term used by young children for their

fathers. In Tannith 23b, the following text demonstrates that Abba was used by children as a

childlike address to their fathers:

When the world was in need of rain, our teachers used to send the schoolchildren to him,

'Abba',

abba, hab lan mitra

the sake of these who are not yet able to distinguish between an 'abba' who has the power

to give rain, and an 'abba' who has not (b. Ta'an. 23b).

David James Shepherd, Jan Joosten, and Michaël van der Meer, Septuagint, Targum and Beyond: Comparing

Aramaic and Greek Versions from Jewish Antiquity (Boston: BRILL, 2019). For a work that addresses the specific

Targum referenced here, see: Bruce D. Chilton, The Glory of Israel: The Theology and Provenience of the Isaiah

Targum (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 1983).

412

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 59; Idem., Jesus and the Message of the New Testament; 69.

413

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 59.

414

Jeremias, Jesus and the Message of the New Testament; 70.

144



reasons.

415



much more traditional title for Yahweh by Jews during the period. Second, the potential

reference to Yahweh as Abba is Hanin ha-nacular in



416

Thus, while this story does not represent Abba language used about

Yahweh, it does affirm the position that Abba was the intimate, familial term employed by

children for their fathers within ancient Palestinian Aramaic.

417

While more evidence and

scholarly attestation to this cultural, historical, and linguistic background for Abba could be

provided, three final sources will be briefly cited.

Gerhard Kittel supports the view that Abba comes from the speech of children and

connotes an intimacy and filiality that would have been offensive to the Jews of the period when

applied to Yahweh.

418



have sounded familiar and disrespectful to His contemporaries because used in the everyday life

415

Verlyn D. Verbrugge, Horst Robert Balz and Gerhard Schneider, affirm the position that will be



Yahweh: New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Abridged

Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017), 1; Horst Robert Balz and Gerhard Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of

the New Testament (Grand Rapids.: Eerdmans, 1990), 1.

416

Jeremias, Jesus and the Message of the New Testament; 69.

417



preceding point that this text does not represent Abba being employed as a title or address for Yahweh: Jeremias

 as if here we have one instance in which God is called 'Abba. But two things

must be observed. First, the word 'abba' is applied to God in almost a joking manner. Hanin appeals to God's mercy

by adopting the cry "Daddy, Daddy, give us rain," which the children repeat after him in a chorus, calling God an

"'Abba' who has the power to give rain," as children would in their own language. The second point is still more

important. Hanin by no means addresses God as 'Abba'. On the contrary, his address "Master of the world." No

doubt the story is something like a prelude to s assertion that the heavenly Father knows what his children need

(Matt (par.), that he sends rain on the just and the unjust (Matt 5:45), and that he gives good things to his children

who ask him (Matt 7:11 / Luke 11:13). But it does not give us the looked-for attestation of 'abba' as an address to

Jesus and the Message of the New Testament; 69.

418

Another scholar who affirms this view and directly references Kittle and agrees with him is Joseph

 Journal of the American Academy of

Religion 50, no. 3 (1982): 44958.

145



419

Brannan





420



during the New Testament in the Palestinian dialect of Aramaic that it was commonly employed



N

421

A second significant historical, cultural, and linguistic expansion of this term was its

development from the simple usage of children to that of a term employed by adult children to

their fathers.

422

Jeremias addresses the development of the usage of Abba in Palestine thoroughly

and a summation of his treatment of this development is included here:

Already in pre-Christian times this word, which surely originated from the idiom of the



supplanted the older form 'abi as an address to the father that was used in Palestinian

Aramaic at least until the second century BCE, as we have learned from the Dead Sea



even occasionally replword no longer

remained restricted to the idiom of little children. Grown sons and daughters called their

419

Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), TDNT 1:6.

420

Rick Brannan, ed., Lexham Research Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Bellingham: Lexham Press,



421



Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1880), 5.

422



significance to the theology if His life and ministry and the New Testament as a whole has been criticized for not

addressing this development of the term

The Journal of

Theological Studies 39, no. 1 (1988): 28-

Jeremias did directly address this development of the term Abba and added significance depth and nuance to his

assertions Abba in the Gospels in a manner that James Barr does not account for. Jeremias admits that this nuance of

n I started this study, which occupied me for quite a few years, I thought



Jeremias, Jesus and the Message of the New Testament; 70. However, even his seminal work, The Prayers of Jesus,

includes a lengthy exploration and discussion of the development of this term. Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 57-



his subsequent research.

146



(Greek Kyrie; see Matt 21:29). But in spite of this development, the origin of the word in

the language of infants never falls into oblivion.

423



concerning Yahweh are to be understood. First, it is significant that the semantic range of Abba

in Palestine expanded to the point where it was appropriate to express intimacy and honor

between an adult child and their father.

424

At the time of Jesus to address one's father as



425

Rather, -Christian



426

Thus, as Barr, VanGemeren, and

others have noted, Abba was not the unintelligible babble of a child. Rather, it was often used as

the respectful address of an adult child to their father.

427

This certainly must be incorporated into



address to Yahweh. However, the fact that Abba was employed as a respectful address of sons to

fathers during the period does not mean that it lost the intimacy or close filial connotations of a

young child addressing their father. This is significant for, as was already referenced above,

the language



428

Thus, though this term was employed by adult children as a respectful

address to their fathers, it never lost its original background of being an intimate familial term

423

Jeremias, Jesus and the Message of the New Testament; 70.

424

Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, and Henry Stuart Jones, A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford:

Clarendon, 1996), .

425

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 60.

426

Ibid., 59.

427

The Journal of Theological Studies 39, no. 1 (1988): 28-47; Willem

 Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 31, no. 4

(December 1988): 38598.

428

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 59.

147

characteristic of Jewish children and their fathers.

429

Verbrugge affirms this dual nuance to the

term Abba during the New Testament period, writing,





n



430

These two elements concerning the connotation of the Aramaic term abba in first-century



relation to Yahweh. The historic understanding of Abba as an intimate and familial term is

affirmed by all of the relevant cultural, historical, and literary material. There is nothing that

challenges or calls into question the classic understanding of Abba as the intimate language of a

mark of the everyday language of the family.

431

At the same time,



term developed to the point that it carried a connotation of honor and respect and was used by

adult children does not discredit the classic position but only further enriches, enhances, and



address the covenant God of the Old Testament carried both the intimate familial tone of a child

with their father and the respectful undertones of an obedient son with the utmost respect for His



429

Jeremias continues his treatment of the development of abba in first-

extension of the significance of abba which we have just outlined meant that grown up children, too, no longer

addressed their father in everyday conversation as abhi, but used abba instead. Only when being particularly

obsequious did they address their father as 'my lord',* like the son who was later dis-obedient, in the parable of the

two sons (Matt. 21.29: Ἐγώ κύριε). The story of the spoilt son who is thrown out by his father because he greets a

charlatan with, 'Hail, my lord, my master, my father' is about respectful behaviour, and not about everyday

language.46 The old-fashioned abhi further serves to underline the obsequiousness. So we can see that to address a

The Prayers of Jesus, 60.

430



431

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 60.

148

upon the cultural, historical, and linguistic milieu of the period and at the same time, what made

His approach so novel, unprecedented, and controversial. The full implications of this topic will

be explored further in this section. For now, it is sufficient to conclude that Abba in the first

century in Palestine was an intimate and familial term employed by small children in loving

affection for their fathers as well as by adult children expressing honor and respect for their

Abba.

Study of Jesus’ Use of Abba as an Address for God in His Life and Ministry

The historical and cultural background of abba during the New Testament period in



this term in the Gospels. The second important issue that must be addressed is whether Abba was



language for Yahweh in the Gospels. The thesis on which this study is predicated is that behind

d in the written text of the Gospels in Greek, was

the original Aramaic word Abba employed orally by Jesus. Once again, Jeremias is the seminal



Father in praye

432

The fact that Jesus used the Aramaic Abba as a direct address to Yahweh in prayer is



 



(Mark 14:36).

433

While there are other significant factors that favor the view that Abba was

432

Jeremias, Jesus and the Message of the New Testament; 69.

433





149

employed by Christ outside of this text and was His frequent title for God, the most decisive is

the grammar behind the Greek text that favors an Aramaic original. This is not a minority view

but one that is attested by a variety of scholars. For example, Kittle affirms this position by

writing,

As concerns the usage of Jesus, the probability is that He employed the word   not

merely where it is expressly attested (Mk. 14:36) but in all cases, and particularly in

address to God, where the Evangelists record Him as saying     

  

434

If this can be proven, this will become one of the most significant and exegetically conclusive



to Yahweh. Verbrugge also affirms the probability of this view, concluding that,



Gethsemane (Mark 14:36). But in the other prayers of Jesus recorded by the Evangelists

(

indirectly, the various Greek versions of his invocation of the Father.

435

Jeremias presents a detailed exploration investigation of this issue in defense of the fact that

Abba was the common term used by Jesus to address Yahweh directly outside of Mark 14:36. A

brief summary of his major points of argumentation goes as follows. Specifically, in the prayers

F

original Abba. As Kittel also argued, in addition to     

 used as a vocat

436

Jeremias concludes

concerning this that,

This oscillation between vocative and nominative that occurs even in one and the same

logion (Matt 11:25, 26/Luke 10:21) cannot be explained without taking into account that

434

ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological

Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 6.

435

New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Abridged

Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 1.

436

Jeremias, Jesus and the Message of the New Testament; 68.

150

-century Palestinian Aramaic not only as an address,



437

Concerning the use of Abba in Mark as well as in Romans and Galatians, Fitzmyer affirms



438

Joseph

ipsissima vox

Nazareth, as Jeremias claims but that Abba was the term regularly employed by Jesus to address

Yahweh.

439

Based upon the linguistic evidence, it cannot be proven definitively that Abba stands



minimum His prayers. However, as the preceding survey has shown, it is both possible and highly

probable based upon the linguistic evidence that in every prayer where Jesus directly addresses

Yahweh as Father, He employs the Aramaic Abba. Beyond this, as Kitttel, Verbrugge, Jeremias, and

other affirm, it is linguistically 

and particularly in address to God, where the Evangelists record Him as saying    

  

440

It is significant that even Barr,



437

Jeremias, Jesus and the Message of the New Testament; 68.

438

AbbaGal 4:6; Rom

8:15; Mk 14:36each time transliterated in Greek characters as and each time accompanied by the Greek

translation  Abba should be understood as an Aramaic emphatic use (there is no vocative),



es Synoptiques et les Actes offertes au P.

Jacques Dupont, ed. R. Gantoy, LD 123 (Paris: Cerf, 1985), 18.

439

accepted that Abba in the mouth of Jesus is a relic, an ipsissima vox relayed by

tradition (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). As such, it would sum up Jesus' unique relationship to the Father because he

employed an intimate family expression, Abba, used in Aramaic almost exclusively in these contexts and rarely if

ever in regard to God Journal of the

American Academy of Religion 50, no. 3 (1982): 449.

440

Kittel, ββ, 6.

151

disproven.

441

Thus, there is sufficient linguistic background to substantiate the position presented

here that Abba was employed by Jesus as an address for Yahweh especially in prayer not only in

the Markan example but in the majority of Father texts where     

  

442

While the linguistic argument alone is sufficient to affirm a widespread usage of Abba by

Jesus, there are at least two other significant and convincing points of evidence that strengthen

and substantiate this view. The first is that the historical witness is clear that Jesus of Nazareth



443

Based on the culture and

historical context of first-century Israel and the clear witness of the Gospels, (Mark 5:41; 7:34;

Matt 5:22; 6:24; 27:6), Jesus of Nazareth was an Aramaic-speaking Jew from the region of the

Galilee.

444

Outside of Abba, there are numerous Aramaic words employed by Jesus and retained

Another way the Greek text depicts an Aramaic-speaking environment and

441



'abba, it is impossible to prove that this is so, for there are alternative hypotheses which seem to fit the evidence

Abbā Isn’t ‘Daddy, 46-47.

442









d, and the likelihood that the emphatic

use of Abba is the original behind the Greek nominative. For resources that provide an extensive treatment of

Aramaic and address these issues at a linguistic level, see the following works: Takamitsu Muraoka, A Biblical

Aramaic Reader: With an Outline Grammar (Leuven: Peeters Publishers & Booksellers, 2020); Holger

Gzella, Aramaic: A History of the First World Language (Chicago: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2021), 127-

135; Edward M. Cook, Dictionary of Qumran Aramaic (University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press,

2015); Stefan Weninger, ed., The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook (Berlin/Boston: De Gruyter, Inc.,

2011); David Shepherd, Jan Joosten, and Michal N. van der Meer, eds., Septuagint, Targum and Beyond:

Comparing Aramaic and Greek Versions from Jewish Antiquity (Leiden Boston: BRILL, 2020); Holger Gzella, A

Cultural History of Aramaic: From the Beginnings to the Advent of Islam (Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2015)

Idem., Languages from the World of the Bible (Boston: De Gruyter, 2012).

443

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God As Abba, 499.

444

Ibid.

152



445

The various Aramaic names and nicknames for people,

locations, phrases, and instructions in the New Testament confirm this point that Aramaic was



translates a number of Aramaic terms, primarily in the words of Jesus (3:17; 5:41; 7:11, 34;



446

Thus, Abba does not represent a rare

or uncommon instance of Aramaic in the Gospels but is rather one of the glimpses the reader is

given into the actual words employed by Jesus in His native tongue. The plethora of Aramaic

words retained in the Greek is 

substratum in many of Jesus' sayings stands in stark contrast to the relative absence of Hebrew



447

The examples could be multiplied, but the scholarly literature is

quite clear in its support for Jesus' original teaching originating in Aramaic as these various

Aramaic examples demonstrate within the Greek text.

Finally, perhaps the most convincing argument in favor of frequent usage of Abba as a

direct address to Yahweh by Jesus is the fact that even among the Greek-speaking Gentile

445

Aramaic contains 



address for God in prayer (Mark 14:36; Romans 8:15; Galatians 4:6); Kephas 

for Peter (John 1:42; unlike Greek Petros, this Aramaic word is not used for individual stones); and Rabbouni 

 Aramaic-speaking

environment and creates an authentic atmosphere, just like fiction authors can easily characterize French-speaking

characters by occasionally us



an -i- in the second syllable instead of the -u- found in Hebrew. But these are preexisting loanwords, the second of

which was only later literally calqued into Greek as christos Aramaic: A History of the

First World Language (Chicago: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2021), 128.

446

Thompson, The Promise of the Father: Jesus and God in the New Testament, 68.

447

Meier, A Marginal Jew, 266.

153

Christian communities, the Aramaic Abba was retained as an address for God in prayer.

448

Once

again, Meier captures the substantial weight of this point by writing,

If Jesus regularly spoke in Greek, one is hard pressed to explain the tenacious survival of

the Aramaic address to God, abba, even among Paul's Greek speaking Gentile converts in

Asia Minor (Gal. 4:6)to say nothing of Gentile Christians in Rome who had never met

Paul (Rom. 8:15). The most reasonable explanation is that abba represents a striking

usage of the Aramaic speaking Jesus, a usage that so impressed itself on and embedded

itself in the minds of his first disciples that it was handed on as a fixed prayer formula

even to the first Gentile believers.

449

The theological significance and implications of the continuation of Abba as an address to God

by non-Hebrew or Aramaic-speaking communities will be explored in a later section. However,

the Pauline usages of Abba in the context of prayer provide an insightful window into the

religious world of Greek-speaking Christians as they adopted the foreign Aramaic word into



letters actually provide our earliest attestations of the Aramaic term abba in the vocative case,



450

Why would Greek-speaking Gentiles adopt this Aramaic

term as an intimate form of address to God in their prayers? There is no reasonable explanation

that sufficiently accounts for all of the relevant evidence other than the reality that they are

appealing to the very words of Jesus and applying this foreign word to their prayer life in

emulation of the Lord Jesus and following His pattern in prayer.

For, as Jeremias has argued, there is nothing like this approach to Yahweh in the entirety

of the Old Testament and all of the Jewish literature. The manner in which Jesus of Nazareth

approached Yahweh, the covenant God of the Old Testament, was unprecedented and entirely

448

Jeremias, Jesus and the Message of the New Testament, 68.

449

John P. Meier, A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus vol. 1: The Roots of the Problem and

the Person (New York: Doubleday, 1991), 1:266.

450

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 68; Joseph A. Fitzmyer, "Abba and Jesus' Relation to God," in 

Cause de L'vangile (tudes sur les Synoptiques et les Actes: Paris: Cerf, 1985), 2830.

154

unique as expressed most certainly through His employment of Abba as a direct address for God.

This is without analogy in Jewish prayers of the first millennium C.E. Nowhere in the

literature of the prayers of ancient Judaism-an immense treasure all too little exploredis this

invocation of God as 'Abba' to be found, either in the liturgical or in i

451

Thus,

for the Greek-speaking communities to develop this usage on their own is unfathomable. Why

would this term be employed by the Apostle Paul to a people in a foreign tongue unless there

 

 

reasonable and likely answer to this intriguing usage not only in the Gospels where it might be

expected but in the Pauline letters to Gentile Greek-speaking Christians is that the early church

adopted the very words of Jesus in His own tongue due to their importance and influence through

His life, example in prayer, ministry, and teaching.

Once again, this is a significant topic with extremely relevant and important exegetical

implications for this study and the life, ministry, and witness of the church. This will be treated

in depth in subsequent chapters in this study. The aim of this section is only to demonstrate that

it is not only possible but also extremely probable based on the evidence that Abba was the

common and frequent term employed by Jesus as an address to Yahweh. For the Greek-speaking

Gentile communities to adopt this term and for it to be employed by the Apostle Paul who was



impact upon their theology and approach to God through payer. Therefore, as Jeremias so aptly

451

Jeremias, Jesus and the Message of the New Testament, 68.

155

here can be no doubt at all that this early Christian cry is an echo of Jesus' own



452

Summary of Abba Father in the First Century and Jesus’ Use of Abba

In conclusion, the two primary observations of this section can be summarized as

follows. First, Abba in the first century in Palestine was an intimate and familial term employed

by small children in loving affection for their fathers as well as by adult children expressing



up on both of these relevant connotations of the term and represented an unprecedented and

theologically rich approach to Yahweh that is represented nowhere in the Old Testament.

Second, it is not only possible but also extremely probable based on the evidence that Abba was

the common and frequent term employed by Jesus as an address to Yahweh outside of the one

instance where the original Arams Szymic concludes in

Conclusively, it should be



historical Jesus, was a brief and, at the same time, fullest expression of his filial relationship with



453

This position is supported by the linguistic evidence concerning the normal usage of



understood if the original term employed by Jesus was Abba. This position is also confirmed by

452





passages in Paul: Romans 8:15 and 



(Galatians) as well as the non-Pauline (Romans) communities, and there can be no doubt at all that this early

Jesus and the Message of the New Testament, 68.

453

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 498-499.

156

the Aramaic environment surrounding Jesus of Nazareth demonstrated by His own speech and

Aramaic names, places, terms, nicknames, and phrases that appear within the Gospel. Finally,

 -speaking Christian

ipsissima vox of Jesus.

454

The Novelty and Unprecedented Nature of Jesus’ Approach to God as Abba

If Abba was an intimate and familial term employed by small children in loving affection

for their fathers as well as by adult children expressing honor and respect and was the common



() distinct or unique for His time and among His contemporaries? As has already been

demonstrated, the answer is a resounding yes, which drives the reader to consider the

veying the

to the novelty and

pproach to God as Abba will be given here. This topic will be

addressed in greater detail in the next chapter. However, to establish a proper theological

framework for analyzing the Gospels, a few comments and insights will be offered here.

As has already been referenced, Joachim Jeremias addresses this issue at length



New Testament theology. As was done in this study, Jeremias surveyed the entirety of the Old

Testament and the most significant literature of early Palestinian Judaism. Upon surveying the

Scriptures and the most prominent Jewish prayers and materials from the period, Jeremias



454

Abba, 449; Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 57. This point is elaborated further in chapter seven

of this dissertation.

157



455

This is



Judaism in Talmudic literature.

456

While this is accurate when considering the word Father

no analogy at all



457

The significance of



revelation to His disciples that God is not only Father but also Abba. Jeremias writes,

458

We are thus confronted with a fact of the utmost significance. Whereas there is not a

single instance of God being addressed as Abba in the literature of Jewish prayer, Jesus

always addressed him in this way (with the exception of the cry from the cross, Mark

15.34). So we have here a quite unmistakable characteristic of the ipsissima vox Jesu.

459

This approach to God was revolutionary among all ANE religions but especially to the Judaism

in which Jesus was raised and to the Jews whom he addressed.

460

There was absolutely no

parallel in Judaism nor the Old Testament to approach Yahweh as Father the way Jesus did and

instructed His followers to do.

461

Carson writes concerning this,

The tendency in Jewish circles was to multiply titles ascribing sovereignty, lordship,



455

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 57.

456

Ibid.

457

Ibid.

458

For more discussion from Jeremias on this issue, see: Joachim Jeremias, New Testament Theology (New

York: Scribner, 1971), 61-68.

459

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 57.

460

For a detailed discussion concerning this topic, see: D. A Carson, Divine Sovereignty and Human

Responsibility: Some Aspects of Johannine Theology Against a Jewish Background (Atlanta: John Knox Press,

1981), 45ff.

461



Intitulation of God as Abba: Its Sources and Impact on the Idea of the Fatherhood of God in the New

 Verbum Vitae 38, no. 2 (2020): 485502.

158

God as his own Father (Mk 14:36) and teaching his disciples to do the same could appear

only familiar and presumptuous to opponents, personal and gracious to followers.

462

Thus, when Jesus of Nazareth introduced His disciples and subsequently the world to the reality

that the covenant God of Israel can be called and related to as Abba, this was a paradigm-altering

reality for Jews and Gentiles. Addressing God directly, intimately, and personally as Father itself



intimate, familiar, childlike address of Abba in Aramaic pushed the boundaries even further.

Jeremias addresses this very idea, writing,

We can see from all this why God is not addressed as Abba in Jewish prayers: to the

Jewish mind it would have been disrespectful and therefore inconceivable to address God

with this familiar word. For Jesus to venture to take this step was something new and

unheard of. He spoke to God like a child to its father, simply, inwardly, confidently,

Jesus' use of abba in addressing God reveals the heart of his relationship with God.

463

revelation of Him as Father but on

His unique use of Abba which would transcend His life and ministry and would be adopted by

the early church and New Testament authors outside of His original twelve disciples (Rom 8:15;

Gal 4:6).

464

Keener notes that there is a foundation laid in the Old Testament for viewing God as

Father. However, through the use of abba, the revelation of God as Father, and the invitation for

His disciples to approach Him as sons and daughters just as He approached Him as a son, Jesus

summons his disciples to appropriate this intimacy still more deeply (Mk 14:36; Rom 8:15; Gal



465

Therefore, it is difficult to overemphasize the significance and importance of Jesus use

462

D. A. Carson, Matthew (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2017), 243.

463

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 62.

464

France, The Gospel of Matthew, 267-270.

465

Keener, Matthew, Mt 6:913.

159





466

Conclusion



direct address for Yahweh, three major points from this section will be incorporated into the

subsequent exegesis. First, as explored above, the historical, cultural, and linguistic background

info demonstrates that Abba in the first century in Palestine was an intimate and familial term

employed by small children in loving affection for their fathers as well as by adult children

expressing honor and respect for their abba. Second, and extremely insightful and significant for

this survey, it is not only possible but also extremely probable based upon the evidence that

Abba was the common and frequent term employed by Jesus as an address to Yahweh

throughout the Gospels. 



direct address for Yahweh represents an unprecedented and theologically revolutionary

development of the Jewish conception of Yahweh when compared with the relevant Old

Testament and Second Temple Jewish literature. The intimacy and access that Jesus

demonstrated in addressing God as Abba and the scandalous invitation for His disciples to do the

same are truly groundbreaking and merit further attention to fully explore their theological

implications. The heart of the New Testament Gospel and that which distinguishes it from the

466

Suzanne de Diétrich, Saint Matthew (John Knox Press, London, 1962).

160

Old as categorically new can be summarized in Jesus' use of Abba for God and His invitation for

disciples to experience unimaginable intimacy and access with Him by doing the same.

467

Among many others, this concept was inspired and affirmed by: J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers

Grove: InterVarsity, 1973), 18283; John W. Cooper, Our Father in Heaven: Christian Faith and Inclusive

Language for God (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 105.

161

Chapter 6: New Testament Theology of God as Father (Abba)

Introduction: New Testament Theology of God as Father (Abba) in the Gospels



many as 255 convey the meaning:  

468

This is extraordinary when

considering that there were only fifteen texts in the Old Testament that referred to Yahweh in

this manner.

469

What can account for this proliferation of Father language in the New Testament

for God? How did a minor note in the Old Testament become the overwhelming voice in the new

covenant? While a significant portion of these usages appear within the Gospels themselves on

the lips of Jesus, this is not the only place where Father becomes a prominent title for Yahweh in

the New Testament. Rather, all of the New Testament authors join Jesus in their unified witness

that the covenant God of the Old Testament is known as Abba Father, and believers are invited

to experience the same intimacy and access with and to Him as Jesus did as His sons and

daughters through the New Covenant. Even more extraordinary, Christians do not merely come

to God as their Father generally, but they address Him as Abba Father as His sons and daughters

with an intimacy and access that was unprecedented in the Old Covenant. All of this is due to

Je

Gospels.



relationship as expressed through prayer. No one in the history of Israel or Second Temple

Judaism approached Yahweh with such confidence, intimacy, and such a filial closeness of

relationship. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, understood Himself as the very Son of Yahweh, and

468



Verbum Vitae 38/2 (2020) 498.

469

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 39.

162

His role as Messiah and His divinity were inextricably tied to His role as Son. While these alone

are radical and noteworthy claims, this is not where He stopped. As the Gospels testify and as is

examined in this chapter, Jesus taught His disciples that they too were children of Yahweh and

they could share in the infinite and intimate love of the Trinity as sons and daughters of God

their Father.

These truths are what make the New Covenant distinctively and definitively new. As



Testament new, and better than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to





470

This statement sums up the heart of this dissertation. The necessary

historical, cultural, linguistic, and theological foundations have been laid and now the thesis of

this study is ready to be tested. As will be demonstrated in the subsequent chapters, it is not an

overstatement to affirm that the hermeneutical key to understanding the unprecedented and novel



disciples enjoy with God is His relationship with and revelation of Yahweh as Abba Father,



Yahweh especially in prayer, and began to explore the theological implications of this

development. Here, this theme will be traced in a biblical theological manner through the life and

ministry of Jesus in the Gospels. As was done in the Old Testament, the same methodological

approach will be employed here in the Gospels. While other pertinent texts outside the Gospels

will be considered, the priority of exegetical significa

470

J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1973), 18283. For another scholar who



Yahweh and His instruction for Hid disciples to do the same, see: John W. Cooper, Our Father in Heaven: Christian

Faith and Inclusive Language for God (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1998), 105.

163

instruction and His relationship with God as Father in the Gospels. Thus, a detailed section on



Abba in relationship to God as Father as well as any pertinent texts with exegetical significance

for better understanding the teaching of Jesus concerning not only God as Father but Yahweh as



In addition, a brief survey of God as Father in the remainder of the New Testament with

an emphasis on the explosion of Father language in the New Testament and the supremacy of

God as Abba in the New Covenant will also be provided. While this does not fall within the

primary scope of this dissertation, both of the above points must be taken into consideration as

the exegetical implications are fleshed out from the transformative teaching of Jesus. As will be

demonstrated, the New Testament is categorically distinct from the Old in both the frequency

with which God is addressed as Father as well as the profound transformation of this concept in

the lives of believers. This palpable shift in both intimacy with and access to God as Abba Father

in the New Testament can be attributed directly to one man; Jesus of Nazareth. His

unprecedented employment of Abba Father as a direct address to Yahweh the covenant God of

the Old Testament and His instruction to His disciples to do the same is an immeasurable

development and transformation of what began in the Old Testament and was fulfilled in the

New. The New Testament 

with both the frequency and familial intimacy, confidence, and courage of the Lord Jesus as the

foundation and framework for the New Testament. These ideas and the thesis of this study will

now be tested and explored in the Gospels and briefly in the remainder of the New Testament.

164

God as Father in the Gospel of Mark

This biblical-



prayers where God as Father is the significant theological foundation for the other Gospels and



upon by scholars as being the earliest Gospel written and one of the earliest portions of the New

Testament to be penned.

471

Fascinatingly, while not conclusive or the widespread view, there is

some evidence to suggest that Mark was the earliest piece of New Testament literature composed

and thus provides the earliest witness to the historical Jesus and His life, ministry, and

teaching.

472



the other two explicit usages of Abba in reference to God as Father in the Pauline literature, it

further affirms the thesis of this study that Abba was the typical address employed by Jesus for

Yahweh and stands at the heart of His theology and practice. However, either way, Abba is

attested extremely early with most scholars placing Galatians as one of if not the first New

Testament letters to be penned.

473





471

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation Of God As Abba, 491-492.

472

For a thorough work arguing for the early dating of the New Testament books and providing evidence

that Mark was the first piece of New Testament literature to be written, see: Jonathan Bernier, Rethinking the Dates

of the New Testament: The Evidence for Early Composition (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022). It must be



New Testament writings and especially Galatians. For example, Schelbert dates Mark at a later date, 6870 AD, and

Galatians earlier, 5455 AD. G. Schelbert, Abba Vater. Der literarische Befund vom Altaramischen bis zu den

spten Midrasch- und Haggada-Werken in Auseinandersetzung mit den Thesen von Joachim Jeremias, (Gttingen:

Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2011), 54. For another example of a scholar defending the earlier date for Galatians and

 The Expository

Times, 99(12), 1998, 363366.

473

Schelbert, Abba Vater, 54.

165

address for God and its significance for early New Testament theology. For this reason, Mark is

the first Gospel addressed in this study.

474

Jesus’ Αββα ὁ πατήρ Prayer In the Garden of Gethsemane In Mark’s Gospel

There are four direct references to God as Father in Mark, each made by Jesus Himself

(8:38, 13:32, 11:25, 14:36).

475

Interestingly, while Mark represents the earliest and most

foundational reference to God as Abba Father by Jesus and the only explicit use of the Aramaic

Abba in the Gospels, Father appears significantly less in Mark than in the other Gospels.

476



emulated and instructed by Jesus is His extremely early attestation that this represents original

usage as early as the late 20s or early 30s.

477

This text as referenced previously in this study is



 represents one of the earliest

and most authentic sayings of Jesus of Nazareth and as such, contains significant theological and

474

 Strauss,

Mark: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2014); Ben

Witherington, The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 2001);

Robert H. Stein, Mark (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008); James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Mark

(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020); C. E. B. Cranfield, The Gospel According to St Mark: An Introduction and

Commentary (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,, 2011); William L. Lane, The Gospel According to Mark the

English Text with Introduction, Exposition, and Notes (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974); James A. Brooks, Mark



The Purpose of Mark’s Gospel: An Early Christian Response to

Roman Imperial Propaganda, WUNT 2:245 (Tbingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 2008); Winn, Reading Mark’s Christology

under Caesar: Jesus the Messiah and Roman Imperial Ideology (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2018); Thomas

ResQ 56 (2014): 32.

475

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 89.

476





 Bulletin for Biblical Research 32, no. 4 (2022): 394416.

477

ische abba-Anrede  ohne die griechische Ubersetzung 

auf Jesus selbst, Ende der 20-er, Anfang der 30-er Jahre zurAbba Vater

Aramaic abba salutation - without the Greek translation - goes back to Jesus himself, at the end of the 20s and



166

exegetical implications for approaching the Gospels and the rest of the New Testament.

478

The

meaning and significance of 

previous section. Here, it is sufficient to note that Mark provides the earliest New Testament

reference to God as Father in the Gospels and as will be explored, provides the source material

for the development and expansion of this theme in the other Gospel writers, potentially the

Pauline literature, and the rest of the New Testament.

479

A second essential point to note which has major implications for this study is that it is in



concerning God as Father is significant, as is made clear throughout the subsequent exegesis of



Father through prayer that is most significant and insightful.

480

There is no clearer or more





again, this usage was unprecedented as the Old Testament and Second Temple Jewish sources

478

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 57

479

For a fascinating and in-depth study from German theologians concerning the nature of early

Christianity and the development of the canon, see: Jens Schrter, From Jesus to the New Testament: Early

Christian Theology and the Origin of the New Testament Canon (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2013). Another

helpful resource on this topic is: Charles E. Hill and Michael J. Kruger, The Early Text of the New

Testament (Oxford: Oxford

Academic, 2012).

480

The topic of prayer between the Old and New Testaments and the implications the new covenant has

upon the biblical understanding of prayer is an extensive topic that deserves its own full-length treatment. For this

dissertation, the focus will be on the t

instruction for His disciples to do the same has upon understanding His teaching concerning prayer. While prayer

itself will be addressed in the present and subsequent chapters, it will not be done as thoroughly or exhaustively as

this study would like. Therefore, a variety of insightful and detailed treatments of New and Old Testament prayer

are provided here for further study: Gary Millar, Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer

(Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2016); Richard N. Longenecker, Into God’s Presence: Prayer in the New

Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Pub Co, 2001); David Crump, Knocking on Heavens' Door: A New Testament

Theology of Petitionary Prayer (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006); Patrick D. Miller, They Cried to the Lord: The Form

and Theology of Biblical Prayer (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994); David M. Crump, Jesus the Intercessor:

Prayer and Christology in Luke-Acts (Mohr Siebeck, 2019).

167





ever been recorded as addressing Yahweh in this manner.

481

This is a radical claim that if

demonstrated as true, has groundbreaking implications for subsequent approaches to and

treatment of the Gospels. The implications of this point will be discussed more in this chapter

and the next. For now, the significant d

the

bilingual phrase 



Testament.

482

One question that arises here is why Mark would include what appears to be an

explanatory comment translating the Aramaic 

linguistic discussion of why this phrase is transmitted in this manner will be addressed later on.



attempt at transmitting the most authentic and original presentation of Jesus of Nazareth as

possible to his primarily Greek- significant and





Rather, even to those whose primary language was not Aramaic, the ipsissima vox of Jesus was

481

This study has argued that the original Aramaic Abba stands behind the majority of instances in each of

the Gospels where the Greek 

directly utilized in the Gospels.

482



 Bulletin for Biblical Research 32,

no. 4 (2022): 394416.

168

retained through the employment of the Aramaic 

483

Taylor affirms this, noting the most

like possibility that,  in Mark can hardly be an explanatory comment of

Mark himself, since it is present also in Romans and Galatians, and must be either a primitive



484

A case has been

presented based upon the historical, cultural, linguistic, and theological evidence that the usage

and retention of Abba within the Greek-speaking communities as evidenced by the immediate

translation of 

Nazareth.

485

As an extensive study on the topic and defense of the position affirmed here, Cobb

concluded,

486

Abba



487



invitation for His disciples to follow His example will be treated in the next chapter. To suffice



483

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 57; Grassi, Abba’, Father, 449.

484

Vincent Taylor, The Gospel according to St. Mark (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981), 553

485

Gupta makes a fascinating and insightful addition to the discussion supported by scholarly opinion that:



varying degrees of skill). Aramaic would have been the language that Jesus used with other Jews in conversation.

Greek would have been employed in interactions with gentiles. Hebrew would have been used in worship, at least in

part; see Gerhard Lohfink, Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2012),

 Reading Mark in Context:

Jesus and Second Temple Judaism, edited by Ben C. Blackwell, et al. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018), 224.

486

John Cobb is another serious scholar who affirms that Jesus spoke Aramaic and Abba was not a rare

address employed by Him merely in Mark 14 but was His common approach to God as Father. Cobb devotes an

entire work to this topic and this serves as a helpfu

 Cobb, Jesus' Abba: The God Who Has Not Failed



father is Pater. Although Jesus probably knew some Greek, we can assume that he taught the common people in

Galilee in Aramaic. Almost certainly his own life of prayer with God was in Aramaic. The Aramaic word for father

was abba. Abba

487

John B. Cobb, Jesus' Abba: The God Who has Not Failed (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016), 36.

169



Abba Father especially as revealed most clearly in prayer serves as the hermeneutical key to His

teaching on prayer in the New Testament marked by unprecedented intimacy and access to God



488

Jesus’ and His Disciples’ Father in Mark’s Gospel

Mark provides three other references to God as Father by Jesus. Two of these reference



489

In Mark 8:38, when





of the Son of Man (13:24-28), Jesus notes that no one, including the angels in heaven nor



Gethsemane highlighted the intimacy and access that He enjoyed with His Father, these two

references stress the unique role Jesus bears as the unique Son of God as an affirmation and

support for His divinity.

490





contexts affirms this.

491

Briefly, Mark opens His Gospel by affirming the deity and sonship of

488

Gupta supports these claims as yet another scholarly witness to the reality that Jesus lived, ministered,

and spoke primarily in Aramaic and Abba was such a significant element of His teaching and revelation concerning

God as Father that it left an indeli

Babylonian Talmud and Mark 14:26 Reading Mark in Context: Jesus and Second Temple

Judaism, edited by Ben C. Blackwell, et al. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018).

489

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 89.

490



The Place of Abba in Mark’s Christology, 399.

491



Ben C. Blackwell John K. Goodrich, Jason Maston, and N. T. Wright, Reading Mark in Context: Jesus and Second

Temple Judaism (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2018).

170



is affirmed by God himself and claimed as 



transfiguration, the Father comes once again to affirm and validate Jesus divinity and unique





His ministry, the Roman centurion at the fo



God or Son is thus linked with key moments in the life of Jesusbaptism, transfiguration, death.

From beginnin

492

 





 Gospel of Father language for Yahweh



 



Yahweh both as Father and with an unprecedented intimacy and access made possible through

t 





His Father but also the Father of His disciples and they are welcome to address Him as such. The

492

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 91.

171

context of this text in Mark is significant for as has been asserted time and time again throughout



revelation of God as Abba Father is made explicit. The te

you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And

whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father

also who is in heaven may -25 ESV) What makes this

example so momentous is that Jesus invites disciples to share in His relationship with the Father

 

-time immanence and the facilitator



493

Here, Jesus makes explicit that believers are invited



and now, His direct instruction.





Him as such through prayer links this instructive text here in Mark 11 with Jes

text in Mark 14. Jesus set the example of a perfect Son living in uninhibited familial intimacy

and connection with God as His Father and invited His disciples to do the same. To quote

Caulley once more, 



494

The implications of these

493

Caulley, The Place of Abba in Mark’s Christology, 403. The context for this quote is the following,

schizein Mark 1:10) is mirrored in Mark 15:38, where the veil of the Temple

was torn in two from top to bottom (schizein). This tearing of the curtain symbolizes the new eschatological opening



-time immanence and the facilitator 

494

Caulley, The Place of Abba in Mark’s Christology, 403

172

findings will be explored further in the next section concerning the monumental development in

the approach to prayer made by the New Testament and Jesus Himself. However, the primary

theological point that arises from Mark 11:24-25 is that Jesus invites believers to address His

  and to follow His example in enjoying unprecedented

intimacy and access to God as His child.

God as Father in the Gospel of Matthew (Part 1)

This biblical-



teaching on prayer and the content of His own prayers where God as Father is the significant

theological foundation. While this theme is significant in each of the synoptic Gospels, it is

especially significant in the Gospel of Matthew. Of the one hundred and seventy times the word

Father appears on the lips of Jesus in reference to God, at least forty-two of these appear in



role with one hundred and nine appearances.

495

Compared to the other Synoptic Gospels,

Matthew uses Father language for God more than Mark and Luke combined.

496

Thus, the

Fatherhood of God is a central theological tenet in the personal life and ministry of the Lord

 

general scholarly consensus that while Matthew and Luke both used Mark as a primary source of



497

495



slightly higher numbers for Father language in reference to God. In the Synoptics, he notes that there are between

44-45 usages in Matthew, 15-17 in Luke, Paragraph 15,

no. 3 (1992): 263.

496

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 105.

497

For a defense of this position, see: Jonathan Bernier, Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament: The

Evidence for Early Composition (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022).

173



preference of exegetical analysis will be given to the most pertinent texts for this study. These

are specifically the texts where either God is addressed as Father in relation to prayer which is



Old Testament idea; especially when Yahweh is addressed as Father directly or Christians are

clearly instructed to do so. This evaluatio

Matthew will begin by evaluating His teaching on prayer and the content of His own prayers

where God as Father is a significant theme. Therefore, this survey begins with the foundational

texts in the S

centrality of God as Father (See Matthew 5:16, 45, 48; 6:1, 4, 6, 8, 1415, 18, 26, 32; 7:11) and

then progresses to other significant examples in the life and teaching of J

Gospel.



especially distinctive in His revolutionary use of Abba for God the Father, a few key examples

will now be examined where the Fatherhood of God is significant for underst



Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and are his teaching concerning genuine Christian piety (2

-13), His most significant prayer given as a template for His

spirituality, He addresses the three

chief acts of Jewish piety, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting.

498

The goal here is not a detailed

exegesis of each reference. Rather, the aim is to explore the significance of God as Father

498

D. A. Carson, Matthew (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2017), 236.

174

) in all of Jesus' teachings on Christian piety and especially on prayer which receives

the most attention in this account.

499

Christian Piety, The Lord’s Prayer, And Jesus’ Abba Cry

 perfect, 



other people in order to be seen by them, for then you will have no reward from your Father who



Father.

500

Each of the false approaches to piety is corrected by the revelation of God as Father



501

In addressing three foundational

Jewish acts of piety, almsgiving, prayer, and fasting, in each instance, He charges His disciples

29; 24:51).

502

Two principles emerge here and in each of the following instances in Matthew 6. First,



503



purpose in each of these exhortations on almsgiving, prayer, and fasting is to foster authentic,

genuine, holy, and pure piety in His followers. Second and significant for our discussion here,

the motivation behind this behavior in His disciples flowed a proper understanding of God as

Father and  

499

Craig L. Blomberg, Matthew: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (Nashville:

B&H Publishing Group, 1992), 99.

500

Carson, Matthew, 236.

501

Leon Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew: The Pillar New Testament Commentary (Grand

Rapids; Leicester: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992), 139.

502

Craig S. Keener, Matthew, Vol. 1, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove:

InterVarsity Press, 1997), Mt 6:1.

503

Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, 135.

175



504

Not only God vaguely or generically, but in every instance here, they were to live



505

The theological significance of this development is difficult to fully express. In these

instances, based upon the thorough survey of Old Testament texts and relevant Jewish literature,

the Lord Jesus is practicing and teaching something that no Jew before him had ever dared to.

506

Based upon the evidence presented in this study, it is not an overstatement to claim that Jesus of

Nazareth was the first person to ever understand themselves as not only the general and

corporate son of God based upon covenant or ethnic status but also the personal and intimate Son

of God with the access and intimacy that this relationship includes. Not only this but as was seen



disciples to live not just for their corporate Father but to teach them to relate to and address



relationship with God as Father and His teaching for His disciples to address and relate to Him as

such is one of the most revolutionary elements of His life and teaching. If Jesus had merely

taught His disciples that Yahweh was the corporate Father of Israel based upon their covenant

with Him, He would have been in direct continuity with the Old Testament revelation. However,

by teaching His disciples that Yahweh is their personal and individual Father by using the second

person singular,  

504

Keener, Matthew, Mt 6:1.

505

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 108-110.

506

This concept has been most famously explored and defended by Joachim Jeremias as has been

thoroughly discussed and presented in this study. To test this claim, see his work, Joachim Jeremias, The Prayers of

Jesus (London: SCM, 1967).

176

and religious norms in addressing Yahweh in this manner and teaching His disciples to do so as

well.

507



Matthew 6 and later in Luke 11 is addressed. What is beginning to emerge here, an

understanding of Yahweh as both the corporate and personal and intimate Father of believers,

will be made explicit when Jesus teaches His disciples that they are to address Him as such.

508





509

This truly is one of the distinctive





of Father language and His teaching that His disciples are to address Him individually as their





novelty of the God of Jesus, as compared not only with the God of the Greeks but with the God

of the Jews. Compared with the God of Israel the God of Jesus represents a revolution in so far



510

of

the 



6 and 18 is it singular, because the scene has been set up in terms of the individual

507

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 106.

508

ed. Gerhard Kittel, Geoffrey W. Bromiley, and Gerhard Friedrich, Theological

Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 6.

509

Kittel, ββ, 1:6; Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 497; Verbrugge, ββά, 1.

510

God,” in God as Father? Ed. Johannes Baptist Metz and

Edward Schillebeeckx (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1981), 44.

177



understanding that nothing is hidden from him, expressed so eloquently in Ps 139; cf.

Deut 29:29; Ps 90:8; Qoh 12:14; Jer 23:24; Sir 17:1520; 23:1819.

511

Therefore, the reality that Abba sees in secret and will surely reward His sons and



512

This is true

for all of their righteousness in general (6:1), their almsgiving (6:4), prayer (6:6, 8), and fasting



instruction concerning genuine and authentic Christian piety, especially regarding prayer.

Jesus devotes the most time to the topic of prayer and instructing His disciples in the proper



nd His model prayer for His

disciples are rooted in a proper theology of God as Father.

513

In affirmation of the claims made

by this study previously, Carson makes insightful remarks concerning the significance of this

teaching and revelation of God as Father as truly unique to the teaching and ministry of the Lord

therhood of God is not a central theme in the Old Testament. Where



God as

Father.

514

Any informed reader aware of the pertinent backgrounds from the ANE, the Old

511

R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007), 262-

263.

512

Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew, 138139.

513

Keener, Matthew, Mt 6:5-13.

514

Carson, Matthew

the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha (Tob 13:4; Sir 23:1; 51:10; Wis 2:16; 14:3; Jub. 1:24 25, 28; T. Levi 18:6; T.

Jud. 24:2 though some of these may be Christian interpolations). There is but one instance in the Dead Sea Scrolls



25b; the fifth and sixth petitions of the Eighteen Benedictions). Pagans likewise on occasion addressed their gods as

Jupiter)

178

Testament, the Jewish Second Temple writings, and the first-century context can see clearly how

distinct Jesus' conception of and approach to God as Abba Father was. It is undeniable as the

Gospels demonstrate and the rest of the New Testament testifies that God as Abba Father was

one of the central messages and theological components of the life and ministry of Jesus of

Nazareth. This is illustrated most clearly in the content of His own prayers and His didactic

teaching concerning prayer.

The Lord’s Prayer: Approaching Jesus’ and His Disciple’s Abba

While all of the material surveyed thus far has been relevant, by far the most significant

example provided by Jesus concerning the Fatherhood of God and the most theologically

weighty element of teaching given by Him to his disciples is contained in the L

Matthew 6 and Luke 11. This teaching by Jesus and His personal example in prayer are



which God as Abba provides in the lives of believers.

515

If the only material available is that



impression that Jesus alone has God as His Abba Father and believers relate to God generally

through Him but not as His own children. 

same relationship that Jesus enjoys with God as His Abba is not only available for His disciples

but is meant to be the normative and fixed approach to God for His disciples.



concerning the nature of true religion and how the children of God are to live within the new

covenant (Matthew 6:11-14). This is significant for as has been affirmed throughout all Christian

515





 Journal of Theological Interpretation 15, no. 1 (2021).

179

history, the Lord Jesus gave this prayer to His disciples as the normative and expected practice



h them how to pray as they

observed His example. Thus, when considering both accounts together, believers follow not only

the teaching of Christ concerning prayer but they also follow His personal example and approach

to Yahweh through prayer. What is of s

the direct address of Yahweh as Father. The central element of New Testament prayer is foreign

to the Old Testament and Second Temple Jewish contexts. Jesus invited all of his disciples to do

what no Jew dared to do in the Old Covenant; address Yahweh directly and intimately as Father.



Yahweh as Abba Father.



  



516

 

(Luke 11:2 ESV/NA 28). While there are a plethora of significant theological issues that could



nificance that He invites His disciples to do

the same.

517

One of the major views of this study as presented and defended thoroughly in the

516

There is an interesting textual critical issue in this text. Some manuscripts add an additional phrase



more concise version. Concerning this, th







al Studies Press,

Text Critical Note, Luke 11:2.

517





prayer: Clifton C. Black, The Lord’s Prayer (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2018); Stephen

180



is the intimate and familial Aramaic Abb. Once again, this is not a minority view but as Caulley

notes,

Abba 

Luke 11:2];

cf. 

Abba, in contrast to Mark they both use the vocative form





518

The fact that there is a large consensus of scholars who affirm this position is tremendous for the

claims of this dissertation hang on the fact that Jesus not only employed Abba Father as a direct

address for Yahweh personally but also instructed His disciples to do the same. The NET Bible





original Semitic term here 

519



H. Shoemaker, Finding Jesus in His Prayers (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2004); Justo L. Gonzalez, Teach Us to

Pray: The Lord’s Prayer in the Early Church and Today (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,

2020); David Clark, On Earth as in Heaven: The Lord’s Prayer from Jewish Prayer to Christian Ritual

(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017); Jeffrey B. Gibson, The Disciples’ Prayer: The Prayer Jesus Taught in Its

Historical Setting (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015); John Gavin, The Mysteries of the Lord’s Prayer: Wisdom

from the Early Church (Washington, D.C: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021); Timothy E. 

Evangelical Theological Society,

(2002), 1-20; Paul Murray, Praying With Confidence: Aquinas on the Lord’s Prayer (London: Continuum, 2010);

 Anglican Journal: National Newspaper of the Anglican Church of Canada =

Journal épiscopal.  Review and

expositor. 118, no. 4 (2021): 421441; Jan Milic Lochman, The Lord's Prayer (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Pub. Co.,

1990); J. H. Mazaheri, Calvin's Interpretation of 'the Lord's Prayer'. A Rhetorical Approach (Tbingen: Narr

Francke Attempto, 2017); Charles Nathan Ridlehoover, The Lord's Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount in

Matthew's Gospel (London: T & T Clark, 2020); Philip Graham Ryken, The Prayer of Our Lord (Wheaton:

Crossway, 2007).

518



519

NET Bible, Biblical Studies Press, Study Note, Matthew 6:9 and Luke 11:2. Concerning both usages of



 unusual in a personal prayer to God. Although it is a term of endearment used in





181

Jewish prayers on the one hand do not contain a single example of 'abba' as an address for God.

Jesus, on the other hand, always used it when he prayed (with the exception of the cry from the



520

Thus, there is ample evidence to support this claim and affirm that

behind the vocatives and 



521

This is a foundational conclusion

to this study whose implications will continue to be explored in this chapter and more

comprehensively in the next.

Concerning the grammatical support for this view, which was addressed in the previous

chapter, Syzmik makes a helpful and informative contribution to the discussion that,

status determinatus or

emphaticus, reduplication of the consonant bet: ) we are dealing with a vocative: the

Aramaic Abba  should be translated in a similar

way  

vocative) is attested in Greek koine, and a perfect illustration of this phenomenon is the

priestly prayer of Jesus (John 17).

522



few major conclusions emerge. First, there is sufficient historical and linguistic evidence to

and 

520

Joachim Jeremias, Jesus and the Message of the New Testament (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002), 69.

521

Abba is



works which were utilized in the previous chapter are referenced once again. Each of these authors affirms the basic

ularly employed Abba as His primary direct address of God as Father and especially here

ββ, 1:6; Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 11-57, Idem., Jesus and the Message of the

New Testament, 63-75; Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 494; Verbrugge, ββά, 1; Schelbert, Abba

Vater; Cobb, Jesus' Abba; Horst Robert Balz and Gerhard Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament

(Grand Rapids.: Eerdmans, 1990

claim that there is sufficient scholarly attestation to this view to render it credible.

522

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 492. Syzmik continues by expanding his discussion noting

deminutivum from  dad, daddy,

For further defense of this, see: G.

Schelbert, Abba Vater. Der literarische Befund vom Altaramischen bis zu den spten Midrasch- und Haggada-

Werken in Auseinandersetzung mit den Thesen von Joachim Jeremias, (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2011).

182



523

This

means that all of the relevant historical, cultural, linguistic, and theological implications from the



Gethsemane, and as Kittel affirmed, in each instance where the Evangelists record Him as saying

   

these was the Aramaic Abba.

524



unprecedented when compared to the Old Testament and Jewish literature is not only affirmed

this theme. There is

no evidence that anyone ever demonstrated the intimacy with Yahweh as their Abba Father or

even dared to claim such access to Him as Jesus of Nazareth. Against the cultural and religious

as at the least, unprecedented and at the

most, blasphemous for the period. Finally, the fact that Jesus employed the intimate and familial

term Abba and invited His disciples to do the same is the ultimate affirmation of the claims of

this study. As T. F. Torrance writes:

When we turn to the Scriptures of the New Testament, we find a radical deepening of the

Old Testament doctrine of God, for 'Father' is now revealed to be more than an epithet

it is the personal name of God in which the form and content of his self- revelation as

523

A 

 



by the early Greek-

Testament (Mark 14:36; Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6), and in each case is followed by its Greek equivalent, which is



s a lot has





 conclusion Jeremias soon modified (the term on occasion is used of an adult son addressing his



does express a high degree of closeness with reverence, and in addition to the family circle could be used by



524

Kittel, ββ, 6.

183



Father who art in heaven, hallowed

be your name

525



concerning bold, confident, persistent prayer in Matthew 7:7-11. This text is especially

significant for the thesis of this dissertation for it places prayer within the intimate and familial



intimacy and access with God as their Abba Father as Christ enjoyed. Christ opens with the bold,

open-ended invitation for His disciples to pray to the Father with the same intimacy, access, and



will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who

seeks finds, and to -8 ESV).

The entire exhortation to prayer is placed within the context of God as Father and Jesus'

disciples approaching Him as His children. This text will be addressed directly in its Lukan

how to give good gifts to





First, in an unprecedented and unparalleled manner when compared with the Old Testament and

Jewish background, Jesus places prayer within the context of familial intimacy. Just as in the



of this radical development of believers' access to God as their Abba Father, New Covenant

prayer is profoundly and categorically transformed by Jesus' relationship with and revelation of

525

Christian God: The Holy Trinity and the Challenge of Feminism (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1992),

131.

184

God as His and His disciples' Abba Father. There is no didactic teaching or such widespread

invitation to approach God with one's requests with the assurance and confidence that He will

answer in the Old Covenant. However, because of the life and ministry of Jesus the Son, He has

opened access for all of His disciples to know and enjoy God as Abba just as He did. As

Thompson notes,

Jesus' boldness lay not in speaking to God as Father, but in promising others, on God's

behalf, that God would be their Father. The promise that God was and would be a

merciful and faithful Father is one way in which Jesus articulates his conviction of God's

saving purposes for Israel and the world, which are to be embodied in his (filial) mission

and subsequently also through those who follow him.

526



Matthew 7 affirms the major tenets of this study that 

God as Abba Father especially as revealed most clearly in prayer serves as the hermeneutical key

to His teaching on prayer in the New Testament marked by unprecedented intimacy and access

 

Summary: Jesus and Prayer in Matthew’s Gospel







familial relationship which Christ the Son of God shared with His Abba is also the relationship

His disciples are to enjoy with Him.

527

The reality that the Lord Jesus invited His disciples to call

-century



528

As sons and daughters of the Father, disciples have the same access to Him that

526

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 86.

527

France, The Gospel of Matthew, 269.

528

Blomberg, Matthew, 101.

185

intimate relationship

with Him where He knows and cares for all of their needs as well as an intimate communion

where they share deep fellowship and communion with the Father.

529

The Father knows every

need the disciple has before they even ask Him (6:8). He has promised to graciously and

generously provide for every disciple as His own sons and daughters.

530

Not only does the Father

offer His gracious provision and protection for His disciples, but even greater than this, He offers



531

Sons and daughters of Abba have

access not only to his hand for provision but also to His face for intimate communion,





Implies intimate communion. Effective prayer is not a complex ritual but a simple cry of

faith predicated on an assured relationship (7:711). The earnest brevity and simplicity of

this prayer fits not the cry of the complacent and the self-satisfied, but that of the humble,

the lowly, the broken, the desperate. This is the prayer of those who have nowhere to turn

but to God

532

 in Matthew 26:39 and 42 reveals the depth

of relationship and intimacy Christ enjoyed with His Father and that which His disciples are

invited to join in.

533





534



529

Keener, Matthew, Mt 6:913.

530

Ibid.

531

R. Gutzwiller, Day by Day with Saint Matthew’s Gospel (London, 1964), 91.

532

Keener, Matthew, Mt 6:913.

533

France, The Gospel of Matthew, 945-949.

534

Carson, Matthew, 673.

186

would ultimately lead him to a cross, the Lord Jesus calls upon His Abba in His greatest time of

need for comfort, strength, and deliverance. The parallel to this text was treated at length in the

previous survey of Mark. What is significant to note here is that just as was the case with the



evidence supporting the claim that the original word employed by Jesus was the Aramaic

Abba.

535



Abba Father for Himself and all believers, and this is illustrated most clearly in the content of

His own prayers and His didactic teaching concerning prayer.

Of the utmost significance is that this approach to God not only as Father but specifically

Rom 8:15; Gal 4:6).

The development of this theme and usage in the New Testament will be treated further later in



means that the same intimacy and access that Jesus enjoyed with the Father is now to be

experienced by His disciples. Part of the scandalously Good News of the Gospel is that in Christ,

all disciples are children of God and have access to him as their Abba Father.

What Christ taught in the Sermon on the Mount He lived in the Garden of Gethsemane as

an example for all of H



the wonderful privilege and overwhelming beauty of what Christ revealed in His teaching and



Disciples have the same access to Abba that the Lord Jesus had and can approach Him, enjoy

535

Schelbert, Abba Vater; Cobb, Jesus' Abba-397;

Kittel, ββ, 1:6; Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 497; Verbrugge, ββά, 1; Horst Robert Balz and

Gerhard Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids.: Eerdmans, 1990), 2.

187

Him, and depend upon Him confidently as His sons and daughters. The Lord Jesus set the

supreme example to follow in approaching God as Abba. May His disciples hear His voice speak

Father, to my God



536

Section 2: God as Father in Jesus’ Teaching in Matthew’s Gospel (Part 2)



prayers and His teaching on prayer, we now briefly address the twenty-plus times Jesus referred

to God as Father in His teaching in the Gospel of Matthew. Once again, the goal is not a detailed





biblical theology of God as Abba in the life and ministry of Jesus from a Matthean perspective.

God as Father in Jesus’ Teaching in the Sermon on the Mount



teaching concerning Christian piety, now this will be examined in other teaching sections in the

Sermon on the Mount where Father plays a prominent role.

537

In addition to the material already

discussed, three times in chapter five (5:16, 45, 48), four times in chapter six (6:14-15, 26, 32),

and two times in chapter seven (7:11, 21), Jesus refers to God as Father as the theological key to

understanding His unique teaching and the hermeneutical foundation for these texts. In each of

536





Father" HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, Volume 75 Number 3 (7 November 2019).

537

For two introductory articles that introduce these topics in an approachable manner for all levels of

The Gospel Coalition,

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/god-as-

-call-him-father.

188





538





perfect, each of these teachings from Christ is anchored in a theology of God as not only His

Father but the Abba Father of all of His disciples. The same is true in chapters six and seven in









539

It is here that a significant principle emerges that is

true for all of the subsequent examples to be surveyed. The theological and hermeneutical key to

understanding the life, ministry, and teaching of the Lord Jesus is His relationship with and

revelation of God as Abba Father. If this is true, as this study posits that it is, the implications for



significant.

Further Teaching Concerning God as Father in Matthew’s Gospel (Chs. 10-28)





for His disciples and their persecution is rooted in the revelation 

will provide the necessary words to speak (10:20). Disciples are freed from fear in the

knowledge that their Father is sovereign over all things. In judgment, the Lord Jesus will either

538

Robert Letham, Systematic Theology (Wheaton: Crossway, 2019), 59.

539

Morris, The Gospel according to Matthew, 144.

189

accept or reject believers before His Father based upon their acceptance or rejection of Him.

540







541

This text states explicitly what this study has inferred



only Son of God, the Lord Jesus does what only He can, reveals the Father to His disciples and

all generations of Christians.

542

That is,

The Father is, he says, sovereign in revealing himself. However, Jesus immediately

claims that he, the Son, has this sovereignty too. To know the Father is a gift given by the

Son to

whomever he pleases, so the Son reveals the Father 

committed to him Jesus as Son claims a relation of great

540





outside the scope of this research study.



ʾabînû, not ʾabba ). In

other words, this is an example of a prayer to be prayed in fellowship with other disciples (cf. 18:19), not in isolation



 15) and excludes himself. When he speaks of his unique sonship and authority, he speaks of



does not include Jesus, since it iMatthew,

243-244;

For another example from France, 

13:43; 23:9) and instead from 7:21 onward Jesus will speak frequently of God as his own Father in a way which

seems to exclude others from that special relationship (notably in 11:2527, see comments there), and which







the raw materials for a theological system which posits a unique filial relationship for Jesus and a derivative

relationship for G

with them on the same level. While such a doctrine may be more fully developed from other parts of the NT,

Matthew is content to allow it to emerge by implication from his usage. But it is primarily here, in the discourse on

discipleship, that this privileged status of the disciples emerges, and in the family prayer which is at the heart of the

discourse it is most appropriately expressed as their corporate addThe Gospel of Matthew, 267-

270.

541

H.R. Mackintosh, The Doctrine of the Person of Jesus Christ (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1912), 27.

542

For a fuller discussion of this theological topic and its significance, see Letham, Systematic Theology,

60-62.

190

personal intimacy with the Father, exclusive and unique, and marked by his full and

willing obedience to the Father.

543



revelation of God as Abba Father. In in the

 

will be rooted up. In Matthew 16:27, a central passage concerning the divinity and identity of



reveals this truth to Peter.

In Matthew 18, there are three more examples (14, 19, 35) of Father language for God. First,

it is not the will of the Father that any little ones should perish (18:14). Second, 18:19-20 is a

significant text which ties three central themes of this dissertation together. That is, here Jesus

places prayer in the familial context of the Fatherhood of God, prayer is offered by the disciples,

not Jesus, directly to the Father, and this kind of prayer is marked by the boldness and

confidence of sons and daughters who have the promise and assurance that their Abba will surely



they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in

-20). Believers are invited to address the

Father just as Jesus did and they have the promise that their Father in heaven will accomplish

whatever two or three gathered in prayer ask of Him. These themes will be discussed much more

fully regarding other texts especially in John's Gospel concerning the prayers of Jesus and His

instruction concerning this kind of prayer in the Farewell Discourse. For now, it is sufficient to

ew affirms the major thesis of this study concerning the

unprecedented nature of New Testament prayer based on the example and teaching of Jesus. The

543

Letham, Systematic Theology, 60.

191

third text in Matthew 18 which includes God as Father appears, after a parable that concludes



on any who do not forgive a brother from the heart (18:35).



instruction that it is His Father who will prepare a place for each disciple. In an interesting and

often perplexing passage, the Lord Jesus forbids His disciples from calling others or being called



544

Significantly, the Lord Jesus restricted this title for Christian leaders

for it belonged to God alone, the Abba Father they all uniquely shared. As Jeremias so

s

to use the address abba in everyday speech as a courtesy title (Matt. 23.9). They are to reserve it



545

In another theologically significant and loaded text, Jesus notes that neither He nor the

angels of heaven 

546

Once



Matthew 25:34, as the Lord Jesus reveals the weight and wonder of the coming judgment, again

it is the Father who has prepared a kingdom from the foundation of the world. for those blessed

because of their obedience. Finally, in Matthew 28:19 with the establishment of the central rite

544

Jeremias provides a lengthy and detailed treatment of this text in The Prayers of Jesus. While this text is

outside the scope of this research project, it is significant for not only did Jesus demonstrate an unprecedented

approach to God by calling Him His own abb and inviting His disciples to do the same, He protected the intimacy of

this address by prohibiting them from using it for nay human father, teacher, or leader on earth. Concerning this,

'Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.' The prohibition

against the disciples' using the everyday, unexceptionable courtesy title 'Abba' loses its strangeness when we

consider the unique way in which Jesus addressed God as "Abba', a fact which is still to be discussed. This factor

alone makes it possible to understand why Jesus protects the address 'Abba' from profanation. And that in turn

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 41-43.

545

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 63.

546

For a brief discussion of this against other texts that present Christ with more divine knowledge, see:

Letham, Systematic Theology, 60.

192

-making, and teaching, it is the

Trinitarian revelation of Father, Son, and Spirit appealed to there.

Fascinatingly, the only time recorded that Jesus did not directly address God as Father is





547

This

is astounding for out of one hundred and seventy references to God as Father on the lips of Jesus

in the Gospels, God is addressed by Him as Father unanimously. Jesus never addresses God as

anything other than His Abba Father. The only exception to this is this quotation of Psalm 22

from the cross.

548

In every other instance, the Lord Jesus addresses God as Father in His prayers.

Two points are noteworthy here. First, the fact that Jesus uses Aramaic, and not Hebrew for this

quotation, affirms one of the primary theses 

recorded in the Gospels is the original Aramaic. This quotation from Psalm 22 affirms among the

other Aramaisms in the Gospels that Aramaic was the common language spoken by Jesus and

thus Abba is the most likely word He used to address God as Father.

549

Second, the only time

Jesus addressed God as something other than Father is when He quoted a prayer that was not His

own. Jesus identifies with the suffering character of Psalm 22 and fulfills its Messianic

as both an expression of His anguish and a

conscious fulfillment of the Messianic nature of Psalm 22 which began in anguish yet ends in

547

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 63.

548

New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Abridged

Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 1.

549

For a discussion for whether this quotation was made in Aramaic or Hebrew, see: Murray J. Harris, The

Seven Sayings of Jesus on the Cross: Their Circumstances and Meaning (Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers,

2016), 60.

193



understood in the context of directly quoting Scripture to make clear His fulfillment of it.

550

Conclusion to God as Father in the Gospel of Matthew



Gospel of Matthew for God, there is a strong exegetical case to be made that relationship

with and revelation of God as Abba Father 





those who follow Jesus. When held together, these twin convictions disclose Matthew's vision of



551

Matthew gives an invaluable gift to the overall presentation and

understanding of the historical Jesus of Nazareth and the centrality of His teaching and

relationship with and revelation of God as His and His disciples Abba Father. Mark laid a helpful

foundation for this in His Gospel, but Mathew provides the most exhaustive development of this

theme in the Synoptics. Matthew makes explicit what this dissertation has been investigating at

length. Against the ANE, Old Testament, and Jewish background, Jesus

revelation of God as His and His disciples as Abba Father is novel, unprecedented, and is most

clearly demonstrated in His revolutionary teaching and approach to prayer.

550

For further treatment of this significant saying of Jesus from the cross, see Harris, The Seven Sayings of

Jesus on the Cross. Other works which can be consulted as well in addition to the commentaries and works already

quoted here are the following, Arthur W. Pink, The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross (Grand Rapids: Baker

Books, 2005); Fleming Rutledge, The Seven Last Words from the Cross (Chicago: Eerdmans, 2004).

551

Thompson, The Promise of the Father

personal references to "your Father" or "your heavenly Father" highlight his emphasis on God as a Father who



194

God As Father in the Gospel of Luke





tics while also adding

significant nuance and further insight as to what it means to have God as Father according to



seventeen, there are six which are unique to Luke.

552

Because the other eleven references to God



presentation of God as Father will be concentrated on these six instances which are unique to his

Gospel. Specifically for the topic of this dissertation, Luke contributes much material which is



in the New Covenant.

553











554



when He was just a boy of twelve years in the temple. As the boy Jesus was in the temple both

552

Thompson, The Promise of the Father



 

553

Journal of the Evangelical Theological

Society 43, no. 4 (December 2000): 67593.

554

Robert H. Stein, Luke: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (Nashville: B&H

Publishing Group, 1993), 339.

195

asking and answering questions,

555

upon being found by His troubled parents who had misplaced

Him, He made the revealing and insightful statement concerning His identity, purpose, and

unique relationship to God as His Father,

556



me? Did you not know that I must be in my 

phrase for this study is that Jesus understood Himself as the son of God and Yahweh as His



Greek text for th 





557

Nolland and others provide detailed treatments of this issue and affirm

the translation of  

558

555



twelve years of age Jesus would in Jewish terms be beginning to make the transition into adult responsibility under

the law (some rabbis considered this









John Nolland, Luke 1:1-9:20: Volume 35A (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2016), 198.

556

Leon L. Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary (Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2008), 110-

111.

557

David E. Garland, Luke (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2011), 142.

558

Nolland provides a thorough and detailed discussion of all of the various interpretive possibilities of this

phrase based upon the pertinent historical, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds, parallels, and possibilities. A brief

snippet from his discussion 



the temple and his parents did not know where he was) and well supported by linguistic parallels (Job 18:20; Esth

7:9; Josephus, A n t. 8.145; 16.302] offers many examples and detailed argumentation for this view) is the

 Nolland, Luke 1:1-9:20, 200.









fact that Jesus was found in the temple (Luke 2:46) also supports this interpretation. Compare 10:22; 22:29; 24:49,

Luke: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of

Holy Scripture (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 1993), 116.

196

The significance of this usage against the Old Testament and Second Temple Jewish

literature is astounding. As has been repeatedly argued by this study, there is nothing even

remotely close to this in any of the Jewish literature. Before Jesus of Nazareth, no one

understood themselves individually as a son of God or had the audacity to address Yahweh so

directly and intimately as Jesus. As Morris insightfully The expression my Father is

noteworthy and no parallel appears to be cited (the Jews adde

or the like). The first recorded words of the Messiah are then a recognition of his unique



559



point is accentuated all the more when it is taken into account that Jesus not only employed an

unprecedented approach to God as His personal Father but did so in the intimate and familial

manner of a child most certainly addressing His parents here in the Aramaic and thus calling





560

This only further accentuates

and legitimizes the claims of this study and highlights the theological significance and

-

Son and His subsequent instruction that all of His disciples are to follow His example and

address God in the same manner.

Finally, I. Howard Marshall also provides a detailed treatment of this topic and affirms this traditional



is also required by the cont



phasised by the juxtaposition of vs. 48 and 49. The same point emerges later

35; Lk. 11:27f.; Jn. 2:4; cf. 7:310) and of the attitude he

required from his disciples (9:5962; 14:26; Mk. 10:29). I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary

on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.,

1978), 129.

559

Morris, Luke, 110-111.

560

I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek

Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978), 128.

197

A truly astonishing point emerges here which has profound theological implications for



of the historical and literary evidence presented thus far in this study, the first person ever

recorded as undeniably understanding themselves as a son of Yahweh, claiming this identity,

addressing God as such, and doing so most certainly not in religious formalism but in the

intimacy and familial dialect of the Aramaic Abba was not only Jesus of Nazareth but the boy

Jesus at twelve years old. The significance of this claim cannot be overstated. The boy Jesus of

Nazareth claims to have the most intimate and direct relationship with Yahweh in a manner that

not even the kings of Israel dared to claim even though they could have done so based upon



561

No Jew

had ever dared nor presumed to do what Jesus of Nazareth did at twelve years old. The very first



radical and unprecedented relationship with and revelation of Yahweh as Abba. The boy Jesus

makes the most exceptional and unparalleled claims to His relationship with Yahweh which

would be one of the distinctive marks not only of His life and ministry but of the New Covenant

which He claimed to inaugurate. This text is central to understanding the theological center of



God



562



Jewish background? This text represents the first and foundational attestation that Jesus

561

These key texts were explored in the chapter dealing with Old Testament references to God as Father.

562

James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Luke (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing

Company, 2015), 3.

198

undeniably understood Himself to be the very Son of God and to enjoy the intimacy and access

to God as His Abba that this study has affirmed. There is a plethora of verification among the

scholarly literature that affirm the centrality of God as Father in 





563



in a manner unprecedented and unparalleled in the Old Testament and Jewish literature is not

only affirmed here but is highlighted when it is taken to account that the boy Jesus of twelve

years old is the first recorded to ever address Yahweh with such confidence and intimacy. Luke



expounded upon further within the Gospel.

564





as His personal

Father, here, this relationship is opened up to include His disciples as having access to God as

their Abba and to share an unprecedented familial intimacy with Him just as Jesus does. The text

after these things, and your Father knows that you



-32 ESV) The

first reference to God knowing the needs of His disciples before they even ask Him as a loving

563

Joel B. Green, The Gospel of Luke (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 196.

564

Bock explores the theme of Jesus as the Son of God and other titles in Luke-Acts in the following work:

Darrell L. Bock, A Theology of Luke and Acts: God's Promised Program, Realized for All Nations (Grand Rapids:

HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2012), 188-189.

199

Father was addressed in the previous section. Here, disciples are encouraged to pursue the

kingdom knowing that God, their Father, delights to give them the kingdom.

 



565

There are several significant





of the flock in its littleness (cf. 





566

Thus, Jesus' employment of flock language recalls the Old Testament imagery of



 



are His very children. Once again, there is no historical, religious, or linguistic parallel to J

teaching to His disciples that Yahweh is their Abba Father and they are to trust in His tender care





Finally, it is of the utmost importance here that Jesus expands His relationship with God

as His Abba as one His disciples are to share in as well.

567

Once again, if Jesus only claimed a

565

Morris, Luke, 254.

566

John Nolland, Luke 9:21-18:34, Volume 35B (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2016),



text announces the coming of salvation, rather than the judgment of God, or (its expression in [ongoing]) oppression

by the Gentiles. It is, however, regularly (and probably correctly) assumed that this language is spoken not to a

general audience but to those who have responded to the ministry of Jesus and in connection with whom the



567

For a study that explores the relationship between Jesus and God as Father and the invitation for His



 Journal of Theological Interpretation 15, no. 1 (2021): 6378.

200

personal and intimate relationship with Yahweh as His son, there would be nothing in the

biblical text to suggest that disciples had the same privilege. Rather, it would be seen as

n His identity as



did. However, this text is only one among many that make explicitly clear that Jesus invited His

disciples to share in the intimacy with and access to God as Abba Father that He enjoyed and

modeled for them.

568

The Lord’s Prayer, A Friend at Midnight, A Persistent Widow, And Didactic Instruction on Bold,

Persistent Prayer

This point is stressed further when the larger context of these words is taken into account.



inextricably tied to His example and teaching concerning prayer in the New Covenant. The most

significant developments and contributions to understanding God as Abba Father and disciples'

relationship to Him as such come primarily from the context of prayer in the life and teaching of

Jesus. This has been demonstrated in 



God as Father and the implications of this new relationship most prominently shown through

prayer.

569





tion to the claim of this

568

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 86.

569

Once again, see Han, Theology of Prayer in the Gospel of Luke, for a further discussion of this topic and

more in-depth defense of these claims.

201

study that Jesus not only taught His disciples to address God as Father generally (Luke 11:2) but

to address Him as their Abba Father.

570

Of significance for this study is that Luke immediately





God as Abba Father and clear instruction on how to pray (content), and another didactic section

instructing disciples how they are to pray (form) on the other.

571

Thus this section is insightful in





illustrated through prayer.





character.

572

The immediate context is clearly meant to be instructive for prayer. The chapter

570

This point was addressed at length in the previous chapter and in this chapter when discussing the





Aramaic word, Abba: Kittel, ββ, 1:6; Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 11-57, Idem., Jesus and the Message of the

New Testament, 63-75; Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 494; Verbrugge, ββά, 1; Schelbert, Abba

Vater; Cobb, Jesus' Abba; Balz and Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, 2; Caulley, The Place

of Abba in Mark’s Christology, 379.

571

Affirming the authenticity of the foundational claim of this study that Jesus employed the Aramaic term



the simple form used by Jesus in his own prayers and there is fairly general

agreement that it represents Aramaic ʾabbâ. If so, we have here the basis for the form of address used in prayer in

the early church (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6). Jewish prayers referred to God as Father, but the simple form is not attested

The Gospel of Luke: A

Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: B. Eerdmans



since it focuses on the relationship God has with his children. The expression goes back to the Aramaic abba, which

Luke, Lk 11:113.

572

The fact that this parable carries this dual interpretation is clear from the context where it is placed.



unwillingness to assist his neighbor and God's great desire to assist his children. Others have interpreted the parable

as teaching that persistence in prayer will be rewarded. Both emphases are found elsewhere in the Gospel. The

former is clearly taught in 11:13 and the latter in the parable of the unjust judge (18:1-8). There is no need, however,

to choose between these interpretations. Both meanings are contained in the parable and in the concluding sayings in

11:9-13, which are connected to 11:5-Luke, 339.

202



(11:1).

573

What follows first is instruction as to the content of their prayers. Christ instructs them



to guide the content of their prayers. Then, after detailing the content of what His disciples are to

pray for, He provides them with a parable that instructs them in the manner they are to pray.

Thus, the Lord Jesus provides both the content and manner for the prayer lives of His

disciples.

574

The parable is set within the honor and shame context of the Eastern world of the New

Testament.

575

When the friend is in desperate need of bread for hospitality at an inopportune

hour, he goes to his neighbor's house at midnight. The man who is in need knows that his

neighbor will be likely to respond to His bold request based on the cultural norms of the time.

The cultural elements of the text that may be easily missed by modern readers are undeniable for



576



573

The arrangement of the text is undeniably insightful for the interpretation for all three distinct elements



and an exhortation to create a unit on prayer. This teaching on prayer is set up by a disciple observing Jesus at prayer

and asking him to teach them to pray as John had taught his disciples. It is not directly related to what precedes or

girded by prayer throughout the narrative, and his devotion to prayer

Luke, 470.

574

Marshall, The Gospel of Luke, 462.

575

Garland highlights the cultural discontinuity between this parable and modern Western cultures.

Whereas Western culture would feel embarrassed to disturb a neighbor with such a request at a late hour, this was

not so in the Eastern culture in which Jesus 



himself but to honor a friend; (2) he is asking a friend, not just any neighbor; (3) he is asking for the bare minimum

required for a simple meal; and (4) his guest is not simply his private guest but, from the perspective of the Oriental,

a guest of the entire community. One greeted a 



Luke, 479-480. For more information on the background of this parable, see, Morris, Luke, 230.

576

Bock provides an introductory discussion as to the cultural historical background of the parable. He



daily; preservatives were largely unknown. In addition, ancient culture put a high premium on hospitality. Guests

had the right to a good host who would provide for their needs. So the man who receives a late-night guest faces a

dilemma: he has a guest but no food. He must make a choice: either to be rude by not welcoming this guest with

203













577



to what is proper, carelessness about the good opinion of others, shamelessness, impertinence,

impudence, ignoring of convention.”

578

There is a general consensus to this meaning of





toward bold and persistent prayer (Lk. 11:9-13). This parable is meant to illustrate these truths in

a manner His audience would be able to understand and implement in their prayer lives.

579



580

If this friend responds because



food or to seek food from a neighbor, who may be able to help but may be in bed. One final cultural note is key.



Bock, Luke, Lk 11:113.

577

Johannes P. Louw, and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on

Semantic Domains (New York: United Bible Societies, 1996), 627.

578

William Arndt, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon

of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 63.

579

Garland helpfully addressed the first-century shame and honor culture which serves as the background

of this parable, writing, The anticipated response occurs in v. 7 and awkwardly includes the unthinkable response of

a selfish neighbor. It should be note



 



anyone from this culture would sense deeply the responsibility to a guest and would also possess a highly developed

Luke, 479.

580

Charles Talbert, Reading Luke: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Third Gospel (New

York Crossroad, 1992) 131-

204



section on prayer illustrate directly, the context is prayer addressed to God as Father.

581

It is

impossible to wrench this parable from its literary context and the undeniable correlation it has to





unless the depth of relationship goes beyond a mere friend. Rather, the meaning is dependent on

the prior and following contexts that prayer is not like trying to convince a reluctant friend to



generous, kind, eager, and willing to answer their petitions. Thus, believers can approach Him

with a shamelessly bold confidence as sons and daughters approaching their Abba Father.



-

records the very same exhortation (Matt 7:7-11). The meaning is exceedingly clear in both

contexts;

582

Christians are invited to make their requests of God in shameless and impudent faith

knowing that He will respond because He is their Abba Father who loves them and cares for

their needs.

583

Green provides helpful insight into the meaning of this parable in its literary

context, noting that Jesus is not merely interested in the mechanics of prayer but,

model prayer is supplemented by two hyperbolic illustrations (11:5 8, 11 13) that argue from the lesser to the

greater and surround an exhortation to pray (11:9 Luke, 472.

581

Marshall notes concerning the various interpretive positions that the Fatherhood of God is central to interpreting



God answers prayer. The point of the parable is clearly not: Go on praying because God will eventually respond to

importunity; rather it is: Go on praying because God responds graciously to the needs of his children. This point is

confirmed by 11:913 where the point stressed is th

The Gospel of Luke, 462.

582

Crump, Knocking on Heavens Door, 72-74.

583

The view being presented here is that the Fatherhood of God is essential for interpreting this entire



205

Much more pivotal is the way in which Jesus continues in vv 5-13 what he had begun in

vv 2-4 - namely, the identification of God as the Father whose graciousness is realized in

his provision of what is needed, and indeed far beyond what might be expected, to those

who join him in relationship. Because the disciples have to do with such a God, they are

liberated to ask, to search, and to knock (vv 9 10), knowing that God will not answer

their prayers with harmful gifts but with good (vv 11 13).

584

Christ sees prayer as actively engaging with God and obtaining the petition one has made of Him

not based on mere formalism or ritualistic performance of religious acts. Rather, New Testament

prayer is marked by an unprecedented and unparalleled access and intimacy to God as Father.

585

How can this be explained? What is the transformation that has taken place to account for the



relationship with and revelation of God as Abba Father. The teaching here and the invitation for





586



transformative and unprecedented teaching concerning God as Father is the principal foundation

for the centrality of God as Father in the New Testament. For, as Green notes,



immediately, in revelation, for Jesus had recently asserted that knowledge of the Father

 chooses to





uthentic hearing in the presence of the inbreaking kingdom. (2) Earlier, in a scene

characterized as this one is by the relative seclusion of Jesus with his disciples, Jesus referred to God as his Father

five times, both in prayer and instruction (10:21 22). In that co-text, he spoke of himself as the Son who was

uniquely able to reveal the Father to those whom he chose. This is precisely what he does in the current scene. Note

how the beginning and end of this section refer to God as the Father of the disciples (vv 2, 13 in contrast to human



and faithfulness. 

by Martha (10:38 42) is possible; in the face of the goodness of the Father, disciples may respond with trust and

The Gospel of Luke, 386.

584

Green, The Gospel of Luke, 391.

585



Luke, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove:

InterVarsity Press, 1994), Lk 11:113.

586

Marshall, The Gospel of Luke, 468.

206

unveil who the Father is to these disciples signals their having been chosen to receive this

insight. In this way, Jesus invites these disciples, who have already begun to look to God

children.

587

As will be fleshed out in the next chapter, New Testament prayer is categorically different from



relationship to God not merely as corporate or covenant Father but in their ability to approach

Him as individual sons and daughters just as Jesus modeled and taught them to do,



petitionary prayer in the New Testament based upon the goodness, grace, and generosity of God

as Father. Bration of petitionary

prayer in the Christian life, Requests do not only have an expressive but also a prescriptive force:

in requesting I ask someone to do something. In this sense request(s) are aimed at persuading the

addressee and not merely at expressing the attitude of the petitioner. This also applies to

petitionary prayer, if taken at its face value as a request addressed to God.

588



tangible influence and impact on God. The key to understanding the impact of New Testament

han lifeless religious

formalism. Rather, it is the living and dynamic relationship of an Abba Father with His beloved

sons and daughters.

589

If even sinful humans will respond to bold, audacious, and impudent

requests, how much more will a gracious and kind Heavenly Father respond to the needs and

587

Green, The Gospel of Luke, 389.

588

Vincent Brmmer, What Are We Doing When We Pray? On Prayer and the Nature of Faith (London:

SCM, 1984), 29.

589

Garland affirms this claim and highlights its significance against the pagan background in which Jesus

lived, writing,: Jesus addresses God as Father in his prayer in 10:21 and has said that no one knows who the Father

is except the Son and whomever he has chosen to reveal him. He teaches his disciples to pray to the Father as a

Luke, 475.

207

requests of His children? Implicit in Luke 11 is what Christ makes explicit in Luke 18. The



for whatever is needed knowing that as a good Father, He will surely answer and provide is to

encourage and charge Christians to pray with bold, audacious, and impudent faith based not upon

their own merit or good deeds but their relationship with God as Abba and their identity as His

sons and daughters. This parable functions as a catalyst to faith knowing that the Lord will surely

hear and respond to the prayers of His saints because He loves and cares for them as their Abba

Father.

590





as Abba Father resulted in categorical and seismic development and transformation of New

Testament prayer. Prayer in the two Testaments is markedly different and the explanation can be

traced to one man; Jesus of Nazareth. As has been surveyed at length and will continue to be

demonstrated, there is no evidence that anyone ever approached Yahweh in the Old Testament or

any period of Jewish history with the intimacy or audacity of Jesus. What Christ taught His

disciples to do here in Luke 11 He repeatedly demonstrated throughout His life and ministry.

Fascinatingly, it 

attention.

591

They never asked Him to instruct them to preach as He did, or do miracles, or any

other element of His life or ministry. It was His prayer life and the intimacy and access that He

590

Green contains an insightful section addressing this concept in the context of Luke 11 from the first-

century Graco-Roman culture were natural fathers were harsh, cruel, and authoritarian. Thus, it was not enough for

tity as Father. Rather, he had to also instruct as to what kind of Father God is



less pressing, In what sense is God thus to be understood? Hence, God is presented by Luke as the Father who cares

The Gospel of Luke, 387.

591

Morris, Luke, 228.

208



592

This point is notable. It was the prayer life of Jesus of Nazareth that captivated His disciples

more than any other element of His life or ministry.

593

Not only did Jesus demonstrate a

markedly distinct approach to prayer when compared to the Old Testament, He clarified His own

approach through the didactic instruction of His disciples.

594



teaching coupled together illustrate undeniably that something in the New Covenant has radically

transformed the relationship between believers and their God and their approach to Him through

prayer. The thesis this study has sought to prove is that the unprecedented and unparalleled

approach to Yahweh modeled in the life and teaching of Jesus which would indelibly impact all

of His disciples and the New Testament was His personal relationship with and revelation of

God as 

instruction on prayer all in the context of God as Abba ties these themes together and affirm the

major premises of this dissertation.

A Brief Excursus: The Parable of the Persistent Widow and Christ’s Novel Approach to Prayer



Father is the hermeneutical key to His unprecedented and unparalleled approach to God as Father

most clearly illustrated through the example of His own prayer life and His instruction to His



592





catalyzes their request for inst The Gospel of Luke, 388.

593

Garland, Luke, 473-474.

594



as they followed Jesus. The more they followed Jesus the more they realized that he was forming a new community,

a distinct expression of Jewish hope. So they wanted to know how to pray to mark their distinctiveness. This is the

Luke, Lk 11:113.

209

approach to Yahweh as Abba Father has implications far beyond prayer in the New Testament.

The heart of the Gospel proclaimed by Jesus and one of the distinctive marks which makes the

tation to experience

historic intimacy and scandalous access to God as their Abba Father. Thus, it is not only prayer



ole as His sons and daughters.

Christian prayer is decisively distinct from its ancient Jewish counterpart.

595

This has



distinguishing aspect of Christian prayer which makes it novel and represents a significant

development from the Old Testament is that it is addressed to God as Abba Father.

596

Prayer has

been transformed in the New Covenant by the example and teaching of Jesus to be marked with

an unprecedented intimacy and access to Yahweh as Abba Father. Just as there is no parallel to

ent, there is no equivalent to the

intimate and accessible nature of New Testament prayer. Jesus of Nazareth completely

revolutionized the practice of prayer by placing it within the context of familial intimacy and

opening up astounding access to His Father. The three examples addressed in Luke 11 and

-theological foundation for these claims.

Although not in the direct context of God as Father, Luke 18 is another Lukan parable that

illustrates the decisively new nature of Christian prayer.

597

595

This statement will be defended in the next chapter.

596

This point has been defended at length throughout this study. For support of this claim from the Lukan

text, see. Stein, Luke, 340.

597

Concerning the significance of prayer in the Lukan material when compared to the other Gospels, Stein



they are found twenty-one times in Luke and twenty-five times in Acts. More significant, however, than the

frequency of this concept in Luke-Acts is that it occurs at key times and places. The Gospel begins with prayer in

210

Luke 18 is noted by some scholars as the 

theology of prayer.

598

So much of what has already been established applies to this text as well.

It is one of the only parables that is introduced with its explanation,

599





parable of the friend at midnight showed prayer is persistent and shameless, here Jesus teaches

that prayer must be patient in its persistence.

600

What transpires is an account of a widow who



of her persistence, he will ultimately give her justice.

601

The woman kept coming and asking the





yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me

-5).

602

the temple (1:9-10). After its brief summary of the Gospel's contents, Acts begins with the disciples' praying (1:14)

and maintains this emphasis. Luke alone recorded that Jesus was praying at his baptism when he was anointed by

the Spirit (see comments on 3:21) and that Jesus chose the Twelve after he had prayed all night (Luke 6:12). Only



Luke mentioned that at his transfiguration Jesus went up on the mountain to pray and that while he was praying he

was transfigured (9:28-29). In the context of his own praying, Jesus taught the Lord's Prayer (11:1-4). Through

prayer believers are able to persist and not lose heart (18:1) and to keep from falling into temptation (22:40,46). And

because of Jesus' prayer, Peter's denial did not turn into apostasy (22:32). Clearly for Luke prayer was seen as a vital

Luke, 43-44.

598

W. Ott, Gehet und Heil Die Bedeutung der Gebetsparanese in der lukanischen Theologie (München

Kosel, 1965), 128.

599

Craig Blomberg, Interpreting the Parables (Downers Grove; InterVarsity, 1990) 271.

600

Crump, Knocking on Heavens Door, 77-89.

601

Garland, Luke, 730.

602





the eye. Paul uses it when he refers to pummeling his body that he might subdue it (1 Cor 9:27). If this is meant

literally, the judge decides to vindicate her lest finally she comes and gives him a pounding that will result in a black

eye. 10 He may be afraid of a slap in the face, which 



211

Again, what is contained in this text are more allusions to the same audacious and bold

kind of prayer from Luke 11.

603

However, here in Luke 18, there is a major development. Not

only does the Lord Jesus instruct that prayer ought to appear shameless and even impudent at

times, but perhaps more controversially, prayer is meant to be offered persistently yet also

patiently over time.

604

This is a patient confident, and hopeful kind of persistent patience that is

meant to mark Christian prayer.

605

From the start, Jesus seeks to reveal the nature of prayer to

His disciples so that they might not become discouraged in it.

606

It must be noted that it is not



against this idea as a gentile view of prayer in Matthew 6:7-8. Disciples are encouraged that the



disciples to devote themselves to persistent and patient prayer in hope and to not lose heart.

While this parable does not directly place prayer in the context of God as Father, there is such a

strong Lukan foundation for prayer addressed to God as such that it is certainly not inappropriate

to include it in this discussion. This distinctively new and unparalleled approach to God in

Christian prayer is confirmed by Jesus' previous transformational teaching that prayer is to be

addressed to God as Abba Father.



the lesser to the greater.

607

Jesus has already interpreted the parable from the beginning, it is an

 Luke, 735. Stein also presents a

discussion of the proper rendering of this term, Stein, Luke, 462.

603

Edwards, The Gospel According to Luke, 88.

604

Stein, Luke, 460.

605

John Nolland, Luke 9:21-18:34, Volume 35B, 474.

606

Bock, Luke, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series, Lk 18:18.

607

Talbert, Reading Luke, 131-132.

212

exhortation to pray and not lose heart.

608

He clarifies this further in verses 7-

God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell

you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he

find fait

patient and prolonged prayer while waiting upon God for an answer.

609

His disciples are to





the delay in answers.

610

However, this is the nature of prayer in the kingdom and so this teaching

functions to bolster hope in the Christian to remain expectant and confident that even when it

seems that the Lord is slow in answering the petitions of His people, He will not delay long over

His people. Surely He will answer them.

611





612

As will be shown in the next chapter, what was the rare practice of a few individuals

in the Old Testament becomes the normative practice of all New Testament believers. The

encouraging

disciples that even when prayers appear to be unanswered, continue in steadfast and faithful

608

-Studia Biblica Slovaca 9, no. 1 (2017): 88

103.

609

Asian

Journal of Pentecostal Studies 7, no. 2 (July 2004): 215.

610

John Nolland, Luke 9:21-18:34, Volume 35B, 474.

611



prayer, although there were exceptions (SB II, 237f.; I. 1036). But the thought here is of continual prayer, rather than

The Gospel of Luke, 671.

612

Studia Liturgica 3,

no. 1 (Sum 1964): 2029; Dutch Sheets, Intercessory Prayer: How God Can Use Your Prayers to Move Heaven and

Earth (Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2016); Gordon P. Wiles, Paul's Intercessory Prayers: The Significance of the

Intercessory Prayer Passages in the Letters of St Paul (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974).

213

persistence in prayer knowing that God who is not just Abba Father but who is a just judge will

certainly provide justice for His elect.

613



the parable recognizes that there must be a time interval, it affirms, nevertheless, that God will

respond quickly to requests, and faithfulness in prayer is required for disciples who are looking

for 

614

What is undeniable is that Christ expected His disciples to engage in

audaciously shameless prayer (Lk. 11) which is also marked by patience and persistence (Lk.

18).

615

This study contends that this approach to prayer is novel and markedly new when



God as Abba Father.

In both parables, the petitions or requests had real consequences on their recipients and

are marked by the radical intimacy of friendship (Luke 11) and unprecedented access and

persistence (Luke 18).

616

In both accounts, the recipient of the petition did something they did

not originally intend to do because of the relationship.

617

The inference was that if audacious and

shameless impudence and persistent patience have a serious effect on getting petitions answered



generous, and kind Abba Father? If this is true in the natural world, how much more when

613

Garland, Luke, 737.

614

Han, Theology of Prayer in the Gospel of Luke, 689-690.

615

Holleran, Christ’s Prayer and Christian Prayer, 180.

616



reasoning that culminates in 18:7-8a. Although the conclusion of the argument is in the form of a question that

expects a positive answer, it can be reworde

widow, who was a stranger, and granted her the vindication she sought (the picture part of the parable), how much

more will God, who is just and their loving Father (12:30; 11:2), hear the cries of his chosen ones who cry out to

Luke, 461.

617

Garland, Luke, 737.

214

petitioning the loving Father who delights to answer His children and provide for them?

618

There

are no parameters or conditions given in these accounts. Only the invitation to ask, seek, and



and understanding of the significance of these parables then is that human prayer has real effects

upon the Lord because He loves and cares for them. God is moved by the prayers of His sons and

daughters and He will genuinely respond to them. Prayer is powerful and it truly changes things

on earth. The Lord Jesus instructs that there are things that can happen if prayed for that will not

happen if not prayed for.

619



incredible intimacy and access that believers can have with God as their Father most clearly

demonstrated through the practice of prayer in the New Covenant.

620

In summation, these parables reveal not just the content of Christian prayer (what to pray)

but also the means by which believers are to approach God (how to pray). The formative context

of Christian prayer according to Jesus is approaching God as Abba Father with the intimacy and

access of His sons and daughters. What is a foundational concept in the New Testament based



literature. Therefore, the thesis of this study is supported by the biblical text 

relationship with and revelation of God as Abba Father as revealed most clearly in prayer serve

as the hermeneutical key to His teaching on prayer in the New Testament marked by

 

621

618

Stein, Luke, 461.

619

Karl Barth, Prayer (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002), 13.

620

Stein, Luke, 461.

621

The subsequent verses are also insightful in regard to Christian prayer. In another Lukan parable unique

-14).

Just as Jesus stressed repeatedly in Matthew 5-7, the appropriate manner in which to approach God is humbly as a

215

Remaining Lukan Texts Related to God as Father According to Jesus



been discussed. Due to the thesis of this study, priority of exegetical treatment has been given to

those texts which are directly related to the practice of Christian prayer according to Jesus. While





spel. The first of these is found in Luke 22, 

are those who have stayed with me in my trials, and I assign to you, as my Father assigned to me,

a kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones judging the

-30 ESV). This text emphasizes not the disciples' relationship



622

Thompson notes that of the

passages unique to Luke which contain references to God as Father, the emphasis is often on



relationship to God as Father is distinctive. Jesu

knowledge of the Father (10:2122), to his function as the one who mediates the kingdom (11:2;

12:32; 22:29), and to his promise to bestow the Spirit from the Father (11:13; 24:49; Acts



623

child dependent upon their father. Jesus condemns the pride and self-reliance of the pharisee and praises the

humility of the tax collector. Jesus bookends the parable with the intended purpose and meaning. Luke writes,

e who were confident that they were righteous and looked down on everyone



14).

622

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 93.

623

Ibid.

216

This reality is not merely true concerning this text in Luke 22. The final three distinct



Son of God. Two exceptional texts come from Calvary, where the crucified Son of God cries out

to His Abba. In Luke 23:34, Jesus addresses His prayer for His enemies directly to his Abba



V). Based upon the Lukan material surveyed

previously, this text is all the more striking when it is taken into account that during His



invitation to address God as Abba Father in Luke 11 and His call for His disciples to pray for the

forgiveness of their enemies is exemplified stunningly in the suffering cries of the son of God.

Once again, even in His suffering, the Lord Jesus demonstrates an unprecedented intimacy with

and access to God as His personal Abba Father. It was this intimacy and access that He invited

His disciples to experience during His life. Now, even in his dying breaths, Jesus continues to

illustrate the wonder and beauty of having God as His Abba.



significant for they form an unmistakable bookend with His first words. As Edwards was quoted

spel of Luke refer to





624

This truth has been emphasized countless times in this study. Here,



,



624

Edwards, The Gospel According to Luke, 3.

217

23:46 ESV) From the boy Jesus in the temple to the crucified Son of God on the cross, Abba was



625

Twice



This point has been demonstrated time and time again throughout this study and now is

demonstrated in the first and last words of Jesus as recorded in Luk





emphasize the intimate familial relationship and access Jesus enjoyed with God as His Father but

also illustrated to His disciples what he had already instructed them. God was their Abba too and

they were able to approach Him as such with the same intimacy and access as Jesus.





modeled for them by His personal relationship with God as Father and explicitly instructed them,

His disciples were invited to join Him in unprecedented familial intimacy and access like no Jew



Jesus' disciples are included in his relationship to God as Father because Jesus' mission is

to mediate the kingdom of his Father and to bestow the Spirit of his Father. Through

Jesus' mission, then, the disciples may also call God Father. As Father, God cares for,

watches over, and shows mercy and forgiveness to those whom Jesus characterizes as



626

Finally, it is not only the boy Jesus or the crucified Son of God who addressed God as Father but

the resurrected Christ who continued to witness to the undeniable reality that He understood

625

As was stated earlier, the only time recorded that Jesus did not directly address God as Father is found in



God, my God, why have you fors

during His life and ministry, He always did so in the context of Father.

626

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 94.

218

Himself as the very Son of God and addressed his Father as such. This example comes from



promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on

-49 ESV). While there are significant theological points that could be

addressed in this text, what is pertinent for this study is that once again, it affirms the unified of

all the Gospel writers that Jesus was aware of His identity as the Son of God, addressed Yahweh

directly and intimately as His Abba father, and invited His disciples to do the same.

627

Conclusion: God as Father In Luke’s Gospel

A few brief comments will be made in summation of the survey of the Fatherhood of God



concerning the relationship between the Fatherhood of God and Christian prayer.

628

The

implications of this will be treated further in the subsequent. For now, there is a case to be made



to His disciples concerning the profound development of prayer in the New Testament and its

connection to the Fatherhood of God. This transformation of unparalleled intimacy with God and

uninhibited access to Him is predicated by the revelation that He is both Jesus and His disciples

ationship with and revelation of God as Abba that significantly impacts

prayer in the Christian life.

Second, Luke contributes a robust presentation of the nature and significance of what it

means for God to be Father and how disciples are to relate to Him as such. This is represented by

627

For detailed exegetical treatment of this latter section of Luke, in addition to all of the commentaries and

resources cited thus far, see the following from the Word Biblical Commentary Series, John Nolland, Luke 18:35 -

24:53 (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018).

628

Han, Theology of Prayer in the Gospel of Luke, 67593; Stein, Luke, 339.

219





629

Based on

this data and the treatment of these references, three major points emerge. First, as argued above,



God in its utmost sense and this establishes a nece

will be for others. Second, the wonderful news of the Gospel is that in Christ and through the



God as their Abba Father as well. Luke also makes this point exceptionally clear in his Gospel.



such, Luke takes extra effort to emphasize this point in his Gospel. When compared with the

other Gospels, Luke favors more inclusive references to the Fatherhood of God to include His



pronouns (my, our) precisely to include the disciples in Jesus' own prayers and address to



630



unprecedented intimacy and access with God as their Abba that He has made available for them.

Finally, Luke emphasizes the moral obligation of the children of God to emulate their



631





lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most

629

Thompson, The Promise of the Father

to show a slight preference for forms without personal pronouns (the vocative "Father'' or the absolute "the Father"),

especially when compared with Matthew, but the sample is probably too sma

630

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 93.

631



 Interpretation. 70, no. 4 (2016): 431444.

220



(Luke 6:35-36 ESV). This is a particularly Lukan implication which He adds to the Gospels

od as Father and the significant

implications this has for His disciples. As Thompson summarizes,

Jesus teaches that this same mercy ought to shape the lives of that little flock. Jesus'

actions and teaching, embodied in his table fellowship with sinners and justified in the

parable of the prodigal son, drive home the point of filial and familial obligation in light

of God's mercy. In his own life, Jesus exemplifies the forgiving grace that he calls for

from his followers.

632

Therefore, Luke displays the unique relationship Jesus has with God as His Abba and His



access with God as their Father through His invitation and instruction, and finally, the moral

implications of what it truly means for disciples to live as children of their Father.

633

God as Father in the Gospel of John





rent.

634

This number

632

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 94. The fact that this is a significant Lukan theme is

Subsequently, Luke

depicts the community, particularly in Acts, gathered in the name of the Father and Son as empowered by the Spirit



633



Green, Methods for Luke (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010).

634

Andreas J. Köstenberger and Scott R. Swain, Father, Son and Spirit: The Trinity and John's Gospel



Morris puts the number at 12; L. Morris, Jesus is the Christ: Studies in the Theology of John (Grand Rapids:

Eerdmans, 1989), 130. Culpepper, Tenney, and Meyer put the number at 118; R.A. Culpepper, The Anatomy of the

Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design 

BibSac 132:37-

 Exploring the Gospel of John, ed. R. A. Culpepper and C. C. Black (Louisville: Westminster

John Knox, 1996), 255 Patēr -

958, 974-1022. All of these demonstrate the significant reality that between 155-122 times in the Gospel of John,

God is referred to as Father.

221

is staggering when it is recalled that there are a mere fifteen references to Yahweh as Father in

the Old Testament and none of these were direct addresses to Him or have even the slightest

resemblance to the unprecedented intimacy and access with which Jesus addresses the Father.

635

Not only this, but John contains more references to God as Father than the rest of the Gospels

combined.

636

A final astounding statistic is that the entire New Testament contains roughly two

hundred and fifty-five instances of Father applied directly to God.

637

Thus, nearly half of the



638





ther.

639

No other Gospel or



relationship with Him as His Son, and the implications of these historic developments in the

Christian life. What was significant in the Synoptics becomes conclusive in John's Gospel that

every time Jesus opened His mouth and addressed God directly or spoke of Him in, it was

always with the intimate address of Father. 

635

Köstenberger and Swain, Father, Son and Spirit, Ixiii.

636

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 133.

637

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 498.

638





God Language in the Fourth Gospel,In PROQUESTMS ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, Dallas

Theological Seminary, 2003; 2.

639



fuller treatment than is possible here. While this study will focus only on the Johannine texts where Father language

is employed for God in relation to prayer, there are a variety of works and recent ones being published which

addressed the central topic of God as Father in John. In addition to Köstenberger and Swain, Father, Son and Spirit,

a few works which treat this subject are; M.M. Thompson, The God of the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids:

Eerdmans, 2001); Meyer, The Father, 255 273; D. F. Tolmie, Jesus’ Farewell to the Disciples: John 13:1– 17:26

in Narratological Perspective 

JSNT 44: (1991), 19-38.

222



640

This

validates the supposition that the Gospel of John has no rival in its indisputably clear emphasis

on God as Father and Jesus and His disciples as the children of the Father.

641

The deity and



to grasping a Johannine theology.





here in this study. The previous analysis of the Synoptic Gospels has laid a rudimentary



disciples' intimacy and access with Him through the new covenant. For the sake of space, this

study will focus only on the Johannine texts where Father language is employed for God in

relation to prayer. This does not mean that the considerable number of instances where Father

language is employed by John or the theological issues that could be addressed are not

significant. Rather, due to the nature of this dissertation and the particular thesis that is being



between God as Father and prayer in the life and ministry of Jesus.



first will be an examination of God as Father in the prayers of Jesus. Surprisingly, while John

640



 Semeia, no. 85 (1999): 69.

641

There is only one possible exception to this in john 17:3. However, this usage Is not a direct address to

the Father but rather an indirect reference to his deity by using D'Angelo comments concerning In John





does Mark 15:34) 

-

all, the Johannine presentation of the deit

Intimating Deity in the Gospel of John, 69.

223

contains more references to God as Father than the rest of the Gospels combined, he only records

three prayers of Jesus. These will be treated individually and the implications of this material

r upper room discourse contains the



God (John 13-17). These texts will also be treated individually. Finally, while nowhere near

exhaustive, section three will 

and Patrology. Eerden, in his detailed treatment of the issue, makes the insightful comment that



Gospel, Theology Proper or Patrology has been almost entirely ignored in the majority of studies

concerning the Johannine literature.

642

Therefore, while outside the primary scope of this

dissertation, brief consideration will be given to the overarching presentation of God as Father



God As Father in the Prayers of Jesus

addressed directly to God as

Father (John 11:41; 12:27-28; 17:1, 5, 11, 21, 24, 25).

643

While the first two are significant,



Testament and provides profound insight into His relationship with and revelation of God as His

and His disciples' Father. Each of these prayers will be specifically examined to discern the



s



642

Eerden, John's Depiction of God the Father, 3.

643

D'Angelo, Intimating Deity in the Gospel of John, 69.

224

and revelation of God as Abba Father is unprecedented and is most clearly demonstrated through

the content of His prayers and His teaching concerning prayer. This point is illustrated most

ruction to His disciples



Jesus and His disciples through prayer to God as Abba Father.

644

The hermeneutical key to



unparalleled approach taught to His disciples is found in the intimacy and access to God as Abba

offered through prayer in the New Covenant. These claims will be tested in the subsequent

exegesis.

Jesus and the Resurrection of Lazarus (John 11:41)





645





646



 the glory of God, so that the Son of



tomb, He commanded that a stone be taken away and the tomb opened. Standing before the

empty tomb with the stench of a decomposing corpse, John records the first prayer of Jesus in the

644



 HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies, Volume 79 Number 2 (2023). In it, Barus seeks to



contribution to this study in affirming further the correlation between God as father and the intimate nature of New

Testament prayer as taught by Jesus.

645

D'Angelo, Intimating Deity in the Gospel of John, 70.

646



reflect their distinct understanding and perspective of Him, Later, when Jesus does petition God he addresses Him as





John's Depiction of God the Father, 232.

225

Gospel,

647



knew that you always hear me, but I said this on account of the people standing around, that they

-42 ESV).

648

In addition to the miraculous nature of

this story and its incredible attestation to the power and authority of Jesus of Nazareth, there are



649



and linguistic usage as the examples in the Synoptic Gospels.

650

All of the previous consideration



four Gospels, Jesus of Nazareth is attributed as employing a historic, linguistic, and theologically

unprecedented and unparalleled form of address to God.

651

This extraordinary approach to

Yahweh by Jesus alone in all of Jewish history is most clearly illustrated in the content of His

own prayer as is demonstrated here and in His teaching to His disciples concerning prayer. These



Gospel. It is of the utmost importance to note that every recorded prayer recorded in the Gospels

647

Edward W. Klink III, John (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2016), 510.

648

Murray affirms that this was not a Johannine interpolation but was the authentic prayer of Jesus uttered

on behalf of His disciples. George R. Beasley-Murray, John, Volume 36 (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian

Publishing, 2013), 339-340. Carson also affirms the authenticity of this prayer coming from Jesus as recorded here

in John. D. A. Carson, The Gospel According to John (Chicago: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990), 377.

649



resurrection which were fast approaching with the details here in His prayer and interaction with Lazarus. Keener



between the two are more than fortuitous, such as the stone (11:38; 20:1), the essential role of a woman close to the

deceased (11:39; 20:1 18), and the wrappings (11:44; 20:6 7). Nevertheless, the primary purpose of the parallels



of existence (cf. 1

Cor 15:42 44; Phil 3:21); his resurrection may leave the grave clothes untouched (20:5, 7) and allows him to enter

The Gospel of John: 2 Volumes (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic,

2010), 837-838.

650

Carson, The Gospel According to John, 377.

651

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God As Abba, 497.

226

coming from the lips of Jesus employs this unprecedented approach to Yahweh not merely as

Father but as has been defended, as Abba. The usage here in John 11:41 is just as likely as the

other instances in the Synoptics to be yet another example of Jesus praying directly to God not

merely as Father but with the intimate and familial Abba. This same point can be made



prayer to His disciples.

652

A second interesting point to note is that the text suggests that Jesus has already prayed to



653

There are two

significant elements to this revelation made by Jesus. First, the text highlights the intimate

relationship and unity Christ the Son shared with His Father.

654

Verse 11 makes clear that the





655



as the Son of God, Jesus enjoyed an intimate familial unity with the Father and this relationship

would prepare His disciples for their invitation to know and commune with the Father just as

Jesus does. A second not

another central Johannine theme, the dependence of the Son upon the Father. As Köstenberger

s

652

R.H. Fuller makes an insightful contribution here, writing that, "Jesus lives in constant prayer and

communication with his Father. When he engages in vocal prayer, he is not entering, as we do, from a state of non-

praying into prayer. He is only giving overt expression to what is the ground and base o f his life all along. He

emerges from non-vocal to vocal prayer here in order to show that the power he needs for his ministry and here

specifically for the raising of Lazarus depends on the gift of God. It is through that prayer and communion and



thanksgiving rather than petition." R.H. Fuller, Interpreting the Miracles (London: SCM, 1963), 1058.

653

Klink, John, 510-511.

654

Marianne Meye Thompson, John: A Commentary (Louisville: Presbyterian Publishing Corporation,

2015), 222.

655

Carson, The Gospel according to John, 377.

227



total dependence on God in carrying out his mission. As the ensuing events make clear, the



656

Thus, Jesus demonstrates an unprecedented intimacy

and access to the Father as well as complete dependence upon His Abba as they work in unity

together.

657



658



prayer itself Magnifies the intimate union between the Father and the Son, who is in every way



659

Jesus is not performing mere theatrics. Rather, the public nature of His

prayer which precedes His greatest miracle in the Gospel makes it undeniably clear that this

Jesus of Nazareth who claims a unique relationship with God, is vindicated by His father, and

His deity affirmed by the immediate and public answer to His prayer.

660





prayer in 12:27-28.

661

The deity of the Son is inextricably tied to His revelation of the Father.



t is,



656

Köstenberger and Swain, Father, Son and Spirit, Ixxi.

657

Klink, John, 511.

658

Carson, The Gospel according to John, 377.

659

Klink, John, 511.

660

Keener, The Gospel of John, 838.

661

Köstenberger and Swain, Father, Son and Spirit, Ixxi.

228





662

The 





663





where Jesus blessed the bread before breaking and multiplying it.

664



ministry approaches its end, His public prayers are beginning to invite His disciples to join Him

in addressing God as Abba and to enjoy intimacy with their Father and take advantage of the

access to Him that is available to them. Jesus revealed the inner workings of the Trinity when He





the confidence and assurance He was always heard by His Abba and His Father always answered





665

This invitation for the crowd to join in on the inner workings of the Trinity and the nature



upcoming instruction concerning prayer to the Father. Here, it is Jesus the Son who has

uninhibited access to God as His Father and therefore, the confidence that His requests will be



662

Eerden, John's Depiction of God the Father, 232-233.

663

Carson, The Gospel according to John, 377.

664

Keener, The Gospel of John, 838.

665

Eerden, John's Depiction of God the Father, 233.

229



loves them (14:13-

666

The entire thesis of this dissertation could rest on this



intimacy and access with God as His Abba Father but that His disciples join him in approaching

the Father in this manner. This illustrates the unprecedented development that has occurred with

the arrival of Jesus of Nazareth. The Son of God has revealed to the world the wonderful and

borderline scandalous reality that in and through Him, all believers have intimate familial access



culminate in His farewell discourse to His disciples where this transformation of Christian prayer

wers be will be made manifest.

The Cross and Jesus’ Prayer for the Father’s Glory (John 12:27-28)





address of God as Father, His intimacy and access to God illustrated most clearly through prayer,



invitation for His disciples to experience God as Father just as He did will not be treated again

here or in the next prayer of Jesus in John 17. What will be commented on are the unique





come to this hou

-28 ESV).

666

D'Angelo, Intimating Deity in the Gospel of John, 71.

230



667



sets Himself resolutely toward Calvary.

668

As Jesus grapples with the will of God and the





669



greatest suffering is yet another example of a direct address to God as Father in the vocative



sole instance of Christ the perfect and obedient Son of God grappling with the will of His Father.

While Jesus considers the coming suffering and agony that He is to face, just as in Gethsemane,



670

What is the content of His prayer? The glorification of His Father. Just as His troubled



ant material from

the life and ministry of Jesus.

671



instruction from Christ for His disciples to pray for the honor and glory of their Father. Now,

though in a unique Johannine fashion, the same theme is present here in this prayer and will be

667

D'Angelo, Intimating Deity in the Gospel of John, 72.

668

Keener, The Gospel of John, 864-865.

669

Carson, The Gospel according to John, 396.

670



what shall I say? it seems better to take the next words as a positive prayer: Father, save me from this hour! Now



14:36). In both instances the strong adversative follows: alla

alla), it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Jesus can no sooner pray to be



The Gospel according to John, 396.

671

Thompson, John, 235-236.

231



672

Thus, the dual concept of prayer for







validate His Son. This is only one of three instances in the life and ministry of Jesus where God

the Father speaks in an audible voice so that others can hear.

673

This public affirmation of Jesus

the Son serves as an undeniable defense of His unique relationship with God as His father and



tly answered by a voice from heaven, the only direct

utterance by God in this Gospel (12:27 28). Hence the intimacy between Jesus and the Father



674

In both public

prayers of Jesus, the Father immediately answers Him in undeniable ways to emphasize their



ection, affirmation, and power on His

behalf.







675

In both accounts, Jesus is concerned

672





context has already reminded the reader 



ext and final Johannine prayer in ch. 17, which

 The Gospel of John, 864.

673

Carson, The Gospel according to John, 397.

674

Köstenberger and Swain, Father, Son and Spirit, Ixxi.

675

Eerden, John's Depiction of God the Father, 235.

232



Christ as Son. Here two of the primary Johannine themes converge. Jesus alone reveals the

Father to the world and most clearly to His disciples. At the same time, His disciples are in

desperate need of understanding His unique identity as the Son of God and to receive Him as





676

Abba Father in Jesus’ High Priestly Prayer (John 17:1, 5, 11, 21, 24, 25)

The final prayer of Jesus to be examined is His extended prayer in John 17 as part of his

Farewell Discourse. There is no other text in the New Testament that so clearly and beautifully

illustrates the relationship, unity, intimacy, and inner workings of the Trinitarian love of the



677

There are a myriad of theological implications latent within these texts and the majority of them

fall outside the scope of this study.

678



relationship with and approach to God as His personal Abba Father in the context of prayer and

the subsequent implications this has for His disciples. Once again, many significant elements of

676

Keener, The Gospel of John, 867.

677

Two studies by lee which affirm this statement and explore these topics at length are the following:

 Religions 13, no. 7 (2022): IdemIn the

 Vigiliae Christianae 58, no. 3

(2004): 293. These works will be utilized in the following treatment of John 17 below and many of the themes and



678



small sampling of recent work being done on these chapters and the variety of theological issues they represent, see

Pharos Journal of Theology Volume 104

Issue 5 (2023); Kirk R. MacGregor, A Historical and Theological Investigation of John's Gospel (Cham: Springer



Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2 (2014), 154-

 Zeitschrift fr die

neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde des Urchristentums. 108, no. 1 (2017): 90118; 

Prayer: Narrative Analysis and Correlation of the Prologue with The Son–Father Relationship and

Christological Symbolism in the Gospel of John (London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2014), 170192.

233

these texts have been addressed in the preceding two prayers of Jesus.

679

The focus now will be

given to those unique elements of this prayer with the other elements already addressed serving

as helpful background.



 5), He

prays for His disciples (6 19), and He prays for the church (20 26).

680

This prayer is the



prayer in Gethsemane before heading to the cross.

681

Many of the same themes from His

previous two prayers are illustrated here and the content of His Farewell Discourse serves as the

foundational background for the themes of this prayer.

682

For this present study, the most



Abba, the revelation of these truths in the context of prayer addressed to God directly as Father,

isciples to follow His example and approach the Father in the same

manner.



 he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said,  the hour

has come; glorify your Son that the Son may V). Six times and in



679



address of God as Father, His intimacy and access to God illustrated most clearly through prayer, the Father and the



experience God as Father just as He did will not be treated again. Rather, the focus will be given to those unique

elements of this prayer with the other elements serving as helpful background.

680

Carson, The Gospel according to John, 496-497.

681

Thompson, John, 305-306.

682

Keener, The Gospel of John, 867.

234

vocative, an unprecedented approach to God and one that has been shown repeatedly to most

likely reflect an original Aramaic Abba by Jesus.

683

The centrality of God as Father in this prayer

and the Farewell Discourse proper (14-16) is astounding when it is considered that there are

forty-four references to God as Father in chapters 14-16 plus six more direct prayers to God as

Father in chapter 17.

684

There is no other section of Scripture that contains anything close to this

kind of density of Father language for God. The densest concentration of direct references to

God as Father is found in chapter 14:6-13 where twelve occurrences appear in a span of eight

verses.

685



His example in prayer, and His instruction for His disciples to follow His example are the

foundation for the transformation of New Testament prayer and the profound intimacy and

access to God available to believers in the New Covenant.



which believers enter into the intimate friendship and sonship Christ offered them throughout

His teaching in the Farewell Discourse. As Wróbel so eloquently notes,

The prayer of glorification of Jesus opens the earth for Heaven as everyone who raises

their eyes to Heaven, and co-operates with the Son in the work of the glorification of the

Father during their earthly journey, has an open door to the real life of Heaven and to



686

683

Klink, John, 511.

684

Köstenberger and Swain, Father, Son and Spirit, Ixxii.

685

Ibid., 1.

686



(Jn 17:1-The Person and the Challenges. The Journal of Theology, Education, Canon Law and Social Studies

Inspired by Pope John Paul II, 7(1), (2017), 240. Wróbel continuesglorification of Jesus opens the way of life

to all of His followers. Jesus as a New Adam has the power of granting eternal life to all those who accept His

message with a living faith and together with Him participate in the glorious worship of the Father

235





n presence with the glory that I



divinity, and His unique, intimate, and eternal sonship and relationship with the Father.

687







688



I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they



prayer that His disciples experience the unity of Trinitarian love and that this love from the

Father would keep them safe from the world in His name is foundational for understanding how

believers gain such intimacy and access to God in the New Covenant. This theme has appeared





and through Him, they may experience the same intimacy, access, and unity that flows from the

heart of trinitarian love. As C.H Dodd so masterfully summarized,

The relation of Father and Son is an eternal relation, not attained in time, nor ceasing with

this life, or with the history of this world. The human career of Jesus is, as it were, a

projection of this eternal relation (which is the divine 

such, not as a mere reflection, or representation, of the reality, but in the sense that the



perpetually returns, is actively at work in the whole historical life of Jesus... The love of

687



alone is capable of such face-to-face stance or relation, because he is the eternal Son and shares in the being of

In the Spirit of Truth: 293.

688

Klink, John, 718.

236

God, thus released in history, brings men into the same unity of which the relation of

Father and Son is the eternal archetype.

689



never appears anywhere else in this Gospel or the New Testament.

690

If this dissertation had to



unprecedented direct address of God in prayer as Father demonstrating both intimacy and access

yet also recognizing His holiness and offering Him honor and reverence. As the previous

chapters have demonstrated at length, there is simply nothing like this in the Old Testament or





view of God that combines 

691



compromised by the revelation of Yahweh as Father. Two inextricably intertwined elements of





and imminence of God together in an awe-inspiring manner that is as beautiful as it is revelatory.

eated a distance between God





692

It is only in and through the finished work of Jesus the Son that believers can dare to



689

C.H. Dodd, The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press; 1953),

262.

690

Carson, The Gospel according to John, 504.

691

Ibid.

692

Klink, John, 718.

237

The Synoptics have already prepared readers for this correlation of seemingly



God in

prayer.

693

The same could be true for the other petitions for the coming and establishment of



protection from enemies. However, it was Jesus' direct address of God as Abba that was

unprecedented and each of the above petitions are offered to Him as such. While the content of

His prayer was acceptable, His novel approach to God as Abba Father marked by unparalleled

familial intimacy and audacious and borderline blasphemous access to God is what is







approach to God was unprecedented for the Jews and drew their persecution. The first is in John

 not only was he

breaking the Sabbath, but he was even calling God his own Father, making himself equal with



treated previously, the Jews did understand themselves corporately as the children of God based



694

The Jews in John 5:39 evidence this,

appealing to God as their corporate Father. What was unprecedented was that Jesus did not only

appeal to God as the corporate Father of Israel but understood Yahweh as His personal Father as

demonstrated by His approach and relationship with Him. This point was not misunderstood by

693

Keener, The Gospel of John, 1034.

694

D'Angelo. Intimating Deity in the Gospel of John, 77.

238



 according to that law he ought to die because he has made



God as personal Father was serious and controversial enough to warrant 



relationship with God as His Abba also proves how unprecedented and controversial this was for



revelation of God as Abba Father is unprecedented and is most clearly demonstrated through the

content of His prayers and His teaching concerning prayer.

695

The Jews opposition of Jesus for

these claims demonstrates how novel His approach to God as Abba Father was.



John 17:20-21 and 17:24-

for His current disciples.

696

Jesus makes clear in 17:20 that His prayer for His disciples now

includes all of those who will believe in Him through the testimony of His disciples. His prayer,

also may



for this study is that the intimate familial relationship that the Son shared with His Abba is the

template and paradigm that all of His followers are to emulate and experience.

697



His disciples to experience His intimate presence and glory,

695

 HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological

Studies, Volume 79 Number 2 (2023), 1.

696

Keener, The Gospel of John, 1038.

697

Lee, In the Spirit of Truth, 294-297.

239

Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to

see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the

I

know you, and these know that you have sent me. (John 17:24-25 ESV)

Once again, this is a unique approach to God in prayer combining His intimacy and holiness, His





698





699

Jesus has just revealed in John 17:23 the profound reality that the



700

The longing and desire expressed



experience the intimate and familial love that He enjoys with the Father and approach God as His

very own children as Jesus ha

kept by God as outsiders but as those who belong to him, as children with the Father, not as

- 14; 8:32  

701



experience the love of their Abba Father and enjoy the same intimacy and access with Him that

Jesus was about to make available to them through His death and resurrection.

Jesus’ Teaching On Prayer in Relation to God as Abba Father





-16 makes explicitly clear is

698

Carson, The Gospel according to John, 504.

699

Klink, John, 724.

700

Keener, The Gospel of John, 1040.

701

Klink, John, 718.

240



is made available to all of His disciples through His finished work at Calvary.

702

New Testament

prayer is fundamentally transformed from its Old Testament and Jewish counterpart through the

reality that in the New Covenant, believers have the same intimacy and access to God as their

Abba Father as Jesus did. This study has sought to de

didactic instruction concerning New Covenant prayer in the context of God as Abba Father in the



subsequently, that of his disciples. What was sufficiently clear becomes even more prominent in



example and enjoy the same intimacy and access with God as their Abba Father as He did. In



of Jesus' instruction concerning prayer in the context of Father which affirm the thesis of this

ented and the foundation

for New Testament prayer. These will each be examined below.

Prayer and The Father in John 14:13-14, 15:7, 16:23-24

The first text to be addressed is John 14:13-



ranteed assurance that it would

be done is unparalleled when compared with the ANE, Jewish, and even pagan Graco-Roman

backgrounds.

703

The same confidence that Jesus Himself modeled when praying to the Father

702

Once again, an insightful study which examines and affirms these points is, Barus, Prayer and koinonia

in the Fourth Gospel

distinctive mark of New Testament prayer as instructed by Christ.

703

Keener, The Gospel of John, 932.

241



assurance that     

parables in Luke concerning the friend at midnight and the persistent widow He now reiterates

and reinforces with these direct promises that His disciples ought to have the same confidence

and boldness that He had in prayer.

The context for this unprecedented development of Christian prayer is once again the

intimate relationship and uninhibited access disciples have with both Jesus the Son and God their

Abba Father. There is simply nothing like the confidence and boldness Christ expected His

disciples to have based upon their intimacy and access with Him and God their Abba Father

anywhere in the disciples' Jewish heritage. The context of familial unity has radically

able to relate to God the Father.

704

Therefore, this text and the two following it affirm yet again the foundational claims of this

study.

A second significant theological element of this text is that this is the first time the



705

They were not only to trust

in His name, honor, and reverence it, and obey Him. Now they were to approach the Father 

 



704



unprecedented manner. As D'Angelo summarizes so A variety of similar promises appears in contexts that

assure believers of their own spiritual and prophetic power. In Mark the withering of the fig tree warrants the faith

will come to you. When you are

-25/Matt 21:22; 6:14). Matt 18:19

o



Intimating Deity in the Gospel of John, 71.

705

Klink, John, 718.

242

 in my Father's



at least three primary implications that seem to best fit the context of John.





706





try and His discipleministry have the

same goal; the glorification of the Father.

707



their own authority but doing so in Jesus' name means they go with His authority. Just as the

Father gave His authority to Son and the Son humbly honored and submitted to His Father, so

too do disciples minister in humble submission to the authority of Christ.

708

This is the only

explanation for the disciples' ability to perform even greater works than the Lord Jesus. Third,



comes in and through their communion with Jesus His Son. As Jesus will clarify in John 16,



Jesus provides his disciples with the intimacy and access that was impossible for them before.

Thus, As His representatives and in His authority, they have been granted intimate access to God

706

Keener, The Gospel of John, 933.

707

Klink, John, 623.

708

Ibid.

243

the Father through the name of Jesus the Son with the promise that whatever they ask, it will

certainly be done for them.

709





e bold confidence of

sons and daughters knowing their requests will be granted are present in John 15 as well. The

same open-ended invitation and promise to His disciples is present as in 14:13-14 and 16:23-24.

However, Jesus adds a condition about abiding in His person, and allowing His words to abide in



name.

710





711

Interestingly, whereas in 14:13-14

Jesus instructed that prayer is made directly to Him, here, the recipient of prayer is left

unaddressed as prayer progresses from being addressed to the Son and instead, believers

approach the Father directly.

There appear to be two distinct thoughts here. First, abiding in Jesus based on the context



as the Messiah. True abiding in Jesus necessarily demands an authentic love and embrace of the

709

Keener adds helpful insight concerning the intimacy of this prayer compared with its cultural context.



world on a popular level. As major cults became more formal during the first three centuries of the common era,

many people turned toward noncultic religious expressions, such as oracles, for emotional attachment, with a

corresponding shift from primarily communal to primarily individual spirituality. 189 The Fourth Gospel, more than



The Gospel of John, 933.

710

Keener, The Gospel of John, 977.

711

Klink, John, 654.

244

fullness of who He is and all He has taught.

712

Second, allowing His word to abide inside the

 stresses obedience to His teaching and subsequently participation in His mission.

713

Just as in John 14, the very next verse connects prayer to the Father being glorified by the



-check prayer





714

This connection between fruit bearing and prayer appears once again in verse 16,

“

You

did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that

your fruit should abide, so that 

k whatever they wish is inextricably tied

to abiding in His person, obedience to His Word, and cooperation in His mission. The ultimate

is the glorification through the fruitfulness and answered



disciples to follow His example and do the same.





Father not as servants but as friends is transformational. The entire context of Christian prayer is

intimate, familial, and here, expressed through friendship. The kind of relationship that was

712

Keener, The Gospel of John, 977.

713





phrase relates to the genuineness of their relationship with Jesus. The second phrase relates to their obedience. When



ohn 15:7.

714

Klink, John, 654.

245

reserved for a few select individuals in the Old Testament is now made available to every one of



Christian prayer and the unprecedented intimacy and access to God as Abba which marks it is

explained by the reality that for Jesus, prayer is an expression of intimacy, family, and friendship

with God as Abba Father.

715

Thus, as Lee summarized so well,

Believers enter into the filiation of Jesus himself as the living heart of their spirituality.



friendship with him as holy Wisdom. Though obedience is called for in this affiliation,

and the gulf between God and creation though bridged is never dissolved, the kinship

-



716

In the next example in John 16, prayer is not addressed directly to Jesus but to the Father

through Jesus and in His name. Thus, there is a natural progression of disciples having more and

more access to God as their Abba Father in prayer. This will become most clear in chapter 16

where believers are instructed to address God the Father directly. Once again, there is no

example of anyone in the Old Testament or intertestamental Jewish literature approaching God

in this manner or instructing others to do so. 

is an unprecedented approach to God as Abba which transformed His disciples and subsequently,

the New Testament and the entirety of the Christian religion.





whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked

-24 ESV).

715

Prayer and koinonia in the Fourth Gospel.

716

 Religions 13, no. 7 (2022):

246



personal and intimate relationship with God as Abba Father was never meant to be reserved for

Him solely. Rather, it is the invitation for all disciples to follow His example and enjoy the same

intimacy and access to Abba that Jesus the Son of God did. In this text, Jesus grants His disciples



717

No one had ever demonstrated such intimacy with God as Father much less claimed that their



returning with the Spirit, Jesus would bring the disciples directly to God: the Father would give





718

This is the revolutionary and astounding development of the transformation of the

disciples' relationship with God as Abba Father and prayer in the New Testament. The new

hat takes

place here is that through the life and ministry of Jesus and the coming work of the cross, His

resurrection, ascension, and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, the intimacy and access that was

impossible in the Old Covenant is now the inheritance 

one had ever approached Yahweh with such familial intimacy and boldness is that until the

coming of Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, this kind of access was not only untenable but

impossible. However, in and through Jesus, all believers can enter into His sonship and receive

the same intimate and familial relationship with and access to God as their Abba Father. As

Klink notes,

717

Keener, The Gospel of John, 1022.

718

Ibid.

247

The pericope concludes with Jesus reminding his disciples that this kind of prayer, prayer



 of the



the Son and in the Spirit.

719



God as Abba Father and New Testament prayer are categorically distinct from their Old

Testament counterparts because, until the coming of Jesus, this kind of intimacy and access to

God as Father was impossible. The implications and theological ramifications for this point are

significant. Jesus did not merely add a depth of nuance to an already significant Old Testament

or Jewish theme. Rather, the New Covenant is markedly and profoundly distinct from the Old,

and now, in the New Covenant, what was both unthinkable and impossible is made possible

through the life and ministry of Jesus. Carson affirms this perspective, noting that,

The disciples had certainly asked for things, and asked questions; but up to this point they



that belonged to the new order. Now, in anticipation of that new order, the disciples are



recognition that this is the route to the joy Jesus had earlier promised them.

720

These points are central to the thesis of this dissertation. What has been presented countless

times is that the heart of the New Covenant and the theological and hermeneutical key for

 Abba Father and

everything that makes the New Covenant distinctly new is most clearly demonstrated through



Jesus desired His disciples to follow His example and experience the same intimacy He did with



719

Klink, John, 693.

720

Carson, The Gospel according to John, 490.

248



(16:27; cf. 15:9 

721

Jesus reveals that all along in chapters 14-16 when He has spoken of prayer 

 

addressed the Father directly in prayer with the intimacy, access, and confidence of His Son, in

and through Christ, believers approach God as their Abba Father and follow the example of their



now officially mediated by Christ -  -and that the Father



722

It is the revelation of God as Abba Father and

the New Covenant made possible through the finished work of Christ that transforms,



, this point was not missed that in and through Jesus, all

believers were granted the same intimacy and access that He modeled and they could approach

God as their Abba.

723



approach to God as Abba Father. Jesus did not merely emulate what it meant to be the unique

Son of God. Rather, He set an example for all believers to follow and a template for

understanding and approaching God as Abba Father. The death and resurrection of Jesus tore the



with the boldness and confidence of His children. As John mak

721

Keener, The Gospel of John

Father (16:28), and so can bring 

722

Klink, John, 693.

723

Paula Fredriksen, When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation (New Haven & London: Yale

University Press, 2018), 134.

249

bestow the Spirit in 20:19 23, the disciples will pray directly to the Father for themselves

(16:23 26) because he will have given them a new relationship with the Father (16:27) based on



724



Christian prayer is tied to disciples experiencing fullness of joy.

725

The intimate fellowship and

communion with God as Abba in Christian prayer and the boldness and confidence produced by

the promise of answered prayer has a clear purpose;    



disciples and produces an abounding joy for only in and through Christ is this relationship

possible. New Covenant prayer is one of the primary gifts and inheritances given to the church



beings are called into the same relation, the same filiation, the perpetual return of love to the





726

Conclusion: God As Father in John’s Gospel





Gospel concerning the deity and divinity of Jesus, the Son of God (1:49, 3:18, 5:25, 10:36, 11:4,

27, 19:7, 20:31), the hundred plus references to God as Father that this study did not treat, and

724

Keener, The Gospel of John, 1026.

725

Klink adds concerning this Jesus ends his sixth and final statement by exhorting his disciples to

ask from God. The disciples, by their personal and functional relationship with the Father, will not only receive what

they need but be filled with joy. This kind of prayer is fellowship with God (cf. 1 John 1:6  

726



 Vigiliae Christianae 58, no. 3 (2004): 294.

250

the myriad of other significant theological issues that fall outside the scope of this study, made it

impossible to treat them all here.

727

However, the goal has been to examine each text where



to His disciples. This has been accomplished sufficiently to draw a few final conclusions before

discussing the implications of this study. Three major theological points emerge from this survey



First, as was demonstrated in the survey of the personal prayers of Jesus, John



Son of God. Before believers are invited to share in the Trinitarian love of the Father, Son, and

Spirit, they must first behold the very Son of God who has made their access to the Father

possible. A significant point that was not treated in this study is that though believers share the

same Abba with Jesus, John is careful to distinguis

Father and that believers are privileged to experience in and through Jesus the Son. Lee provides

an insightful discussion here that,









the Son that makes possible the restored identity, and thus the spirituality, of believers as

children of God.

728

727

In addition to all of the works cited throughout this section, a few other essential works for treating

 The Gospel According to John: A Theological

Commentary (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 1997); Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John (Grand

Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1995); Andreas J. Köstenberger, A Theology of John's Gospel and Letters: The

Word, the Christ, the Son of God (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2009); Idem., Signs of the

Messiah: An Introduction to John’s Gospel (Ashland: Lexham Press, 2021). William Hendriksen, Exposition of the

Gospel According to John (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1953); Richard D. Phillips, John (Phillipsburg: P & R

Publishing, 2014).

728

Lee, Jesus’ Spirituality of [Af]Filiation in the Fourth Gospel, 9.

251

The text specifically referred to is John 20:7, where after His resurrection but before his



Yahweh is the Father of

His disciples. At the same time, Christ still distinguishes between His relationship with the

Father and that of His disciples. Thus, it is only in and through the exclusive relationship of the

s have intimacy and access to Yahweh as their Abba



very Son of God.



enter into the Trinitarian love of Father, Son, and Spirit and to join Him in addressing God as

emphasized His exclusivity of access to God as His

Abba, His instruction in prayer made undeniably clear that all of His disciples were invited to

experience this kind of intimacy and access and address God directly as their Abba Father. As

ue worship is possible only in the power of the Spirit who gives birth to believers,



729



Gospel is the most explicitly clear demonstration of one of the foundational claims of this study;

believers are meant to experience the same intimacy and access with God as their Abba Father as

Jesus did following His example and heeding His teaching. The implications of this reality will

be discussed in the next chapter.



New Testament prayer brought about an unprecedented and unparalleled shift in the New

Covenant and the New Testament for Christian prayer. The implications for this will also be

729

Lee, In the Spirit of Truth, 297.

252

discussed in the next chapter. For now, it will suffice to comment that the New Testament

exhibits a radically new approach to prayer addressed directly to God as Abba Father. The

intimacy, access, boldness, confidence, and familial nature which mark New Testament

Christianity are the direct result of the life and teaching of Jesus of Nazareth.



contribution not only to Christology but also to often overlooked Patrology and what it means for

believers to have God as their Abba Father and the practical outworking of this in their lives. To



affiliation, enticing human beings and ultimately all creation into the filiation of Jesus himself,



730

Thus, the thesis

of this study remains. 

revealed most clearly in prayer serves as the hermeneutical key to His teaching on prayer in the

 

730

Lee, Jesus’ Spirituality of [Af]Filiation in the Fourth Gospel, 9.

253

Chapter 7: A Theology of God as Abba (Father) as the Hermeneutical Key to the Teaching

of Christ on Prayer in the Gospels (Theological Implications)

Introduction: Theological Implications of Dissertation

The previous six chapters have sought to establish a historical, literary, theological, and

exegetical foundation for the thesis of this study that the theological and hermeneutical key to

understanding the teaching of the Lord Jesus concerning prayer is His relationship with and

revelation of God as Abba Father. That is, Christian prayer is categorically distinct from Old

Testament or Jewish Prayer because disciples of the Christ are invited to approach God in an

unprecedented manner as their Abba Father just as the Lord Jesus did transforming the entirety

of the Christian religion.

Three significant points emerge from these claims based upon the exegetical survey

presented in this dissertation of the pertinent ANE backgrounds, the Old Testament text, the

Second Temple Jewish period, and the Gospels concerning God as Father. The theological

implications of each of the following three major points will be discussed in this chapter before

moving to the applications of these in the next. First, this dissertation has affirmed and defended

dress for God in prayer was unprecedented and

unparalleled against the religious background of His time and is transformational and

foundational for the entire Christian religion. Second, New Testament prayer is categorically

distinct when compared with its Old Testament and Jewish counterparts and the explanation is

teaching concerning God as Abba is an invitation to His disciples into the heart of Trinitarian

love to enjoy the same intimacy and access with Abba that He did.

All Christians have unprecedented and unparalleled access to God as His sons and

daughters most clearly displayed in the extraordinary privilege and gift of Christian prayer in

254

Jesus' name, empowered by the Holy Spirit, addressed to Abba Father. A final affirmation of

these three points based upon the findings of this study will be given here with special emphasis

on the theological implications of these conclusions.

A Theology of God as Abba (Father) as the Hermeneutical Key to the Teaching of Christ

on Prayer in the Gospels

The Fatherhood of God is the heart of the Christian religion. The first words of the

historic Apostles Creed, an encapsulation of the unified witness of the Christian church from its

lieve in God, the



731

The Nicene Creed joins this affirmation of the





732

The Athanasian

Creed rounds out the three foundational historic Christian creeds with not only an affirmation of

God as Father but a repeated attestation to the centrality of this foundational belief from the

 of the Father is a distinct person, the person of the

Son is another, and that of the Holy Spirit still another. But the divinity of the Father, Son, and



733

731

For more on the Apostles Creed, see: Piotr Ashwin-Siejkowski, The Apostles' Creed: And Its Early

Christian Context (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2009). For more information on the creeds in general and

specifically the lasting theological significance of the Apostles Creed, see: Michael F. Bird, What Christians Ought

to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine Through the Apostles' Creed (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins

Christian Publishing, 2016); Stanley D. Gale, The Christian's Creed (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books,

2018).

732

For a work which treats the Nicene Creed, see: J.N.D. Kelly, Early Christian Creeds (London:

Routledge, 2014). Another older work is the following: A. E Burn, The Nicene Creed (England: Rivingtons, 1913).

733

The centrality of God as Father in the Athanasian Creed is undeniable when each of the references to

God as Father are considered. God as Father in the Athanasian Creed can be seen on the following quotations: 









neither made nor created; he was begotten from the Father alone. The Holy Spirit was neither made nor created nor



255

The ancient creeds are not alone in affirming the centrality of God as Father as the very

heart of Christianity.

734

Each of the thirteen historic creeds of the church affirms the supremacy

of God as Father

735



736

The centrality of God as

Father in Christianity is astounding when considered against the historical and religious

background examined in this study. Whereas there were only fifteen references to God as Father

in the Old Testament and none of them were made directly by any individual understanding God

as their Father or they as His child, there are over two hundred and fifty references to God as

Father in the New Testament.

737

While over one hundred and fifty of them come from the

Gospels, there are at least seventy-five more direct references to God as Father in the remainder

of the New Testament.

738

Thus, as will be demonstrated further in this section, the unified

witness to the supremacy of God as Father as the confession of the historic church was not a late

development but rather represents both the ipsissima vox of Jesus as well as the central

confession of the earliest Christians from the New Testament times.

739



Athanasian Creed.

734

For further discussion of Christian creeds and their significance, see the following works: Robert W.

Jenson, Canon and Creed (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010); Luke Timothy Johnson, The Creed: What

Christians Believe and Why It Matters (New York: Doubleday, 2003); Alister McGrath, Faith and the Creeds

(London: SPCK, 2013); Carl B. Trueman, The Creedal Imperative (Wheaton: Crossway, 2012); Philip Schaff, The

Creeds of Christendom (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983).

735

In addition to the three quoted above, the remaining ten historic Christian creeds which each affirm the

centrality of God as Father are the following: Chalcedonian Definition, Ausburg Confession, Belgic Confession,

Articles of Religion, Canons of Dort, Westminster Confession, London Baptist Confession, Heidelberg Catechism,

Westminster Larger Catechism, Westminster Shorter Catechism.

736

J. I. Packer, Knowing God (Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2021), 200; 

The Suffering of God: An

Old Testament Perspective (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984), 11.

737

Verbum Vitae 38/2 (2020) 498.

738

Jonathan F. Bayes, The Apostles’ Creed: Truth with Passion (Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2010), 25.

739

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 57; Grassi, Abba’, Father, 449.

256

What is the explanation for this? How did such a minor concept in the Old Testament



religion? Not just a minor concept, but how did an unprecedented approach to God as Abba

Father marked by unparalleled intimacy and access become the normative approach to him in the

New Testament and all of Christian history?

740

The answer is simple yet profound; Jesus of

Nazareth. As Jeremias so famously argued and so eloquently captured, His relationship with and

revelation of God as Abba Father was 



741

The doctrine of God as Abba Father and believers' exceptional invitation to intimacy

with and access to Him as taught in the New Testament and affirmed by the unified witness of

the Christian church of all generations owes this distinct Christian understanding of God to the

life and ministry of Jesus. As Szymik notes, 





742

The weight and wonder of these words must be grasped and the significance of them

incorporated into understanding the New Testament, the Christian religion, and the nature and

istry of what the

intimacy and access of the Son of God with His Abba Father looked like, this revelation of God

would have never been grasped (Hebrews 1:1-3). The heart of the Christian faith and the central

and foundational doctrine of God as Father are tied directly to Jesus. Not only His own



740

Jeremias, Prayers of Jesus, 29.

741

Jeremias, New Testament Theology, 36.

742

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God As Abba, 497.

257

concerning God as Father, believers as His children, and the intimacy and access they can

experience with the Father as their Abba through Jesus the Son was most clearly demonstrated

through the distinct revelation and development of Christian prayer. Once again, the theology of

-witnesses preserved in

the New Testament and all rational premises point to Jesus of Nazareth as the source and starting

point of the New Testament theology 

743

Thus, the major topic of this dissertation has been thoroughly defended that Jesus of



against the religious background of His time and is transformational and foundational for the

entire Christian religion. Two final pieces of evidence will be presented in favor of this first

claim with a focus on their theological implications.

Paul’s Use of Αββα ὁ Πατήρ to Greek-Speaking Christians in Corinth and Rome and its

Theological Significance for the Early Church

One significant affirmation of these views which has been briefly referenced is that

the Aramaic Abba to Greek-speaking Christians in Corinth and Rome is evidence



had on the early church. In Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6, Paul uses the biling

 

744





-speaking



743

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God As Abba, 498-499.

744

 Bulletin for Biblical Research 32,

no. 4 (2022): 394416.

258

abba in these Pauline letters is the use of an Aramaic word in Greek epistles written to



745

This begs the crucial question, why does Paul employ the

 

the Aramaic, and for this reason, he includes the translation?

There is overwhelming support across a wide spectrum of scholars that the continued use

 -speaking Gentile Christians represents both that



-Aramaic speaking

Christians due to the theological significance and implications which it bore.

746

As Stein affirms,



Christians, indicates that Jesus' use of this title and the early repetition of the Lord's Prayer were

so meaningful that the Gentile church continu



747



addressing God as Father in prayer; they even retained His original language to heed His

instruction and enjoy the very intimacy and access with God as Abba Father that He enjoyed.

748



745

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 68.

746





746

Vincent Taylor, The Gospel according to St. Mark (Grand Rapids: Baker

Book House, 1981), 553.

747

Robert A. Stein, Luke: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (Nashville: B&H



-



748





this prayer (Lk 11:24), the invocation r



Verbrugge, ββά, 1.

259

 



749

There is no other explanation for the employment of this unprecedented approach to God

 

750

As was presented

earlier, one explanation for the continued usage of this term outside of Palestine and Aramaic-



s original language as well as liturgical



751

Thayer adheres to

 

the nature of a most sacred proper name, to which the Greek-speaking Jews added the appellative



752

These two points explain the presence of this Aramaism far outside of

 

(Abba Father) apparently traveled as a unit, coming to Paul from the Aramaic-speaking church

as retained in bilingual Hellenistic-

753

749

I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek

Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978), 456.

750





 the evidence asserts that this is an extremely early witness to the very words

and theology of Jesus of Nazareth retained in His own language for the theological weight which this term bears.

751





ββ, 6.

752

Joseph Henry Thayer, Carl Ludwig Wilibald Grimm, and Christian Gottlob Wilke, Thayer's Greek-

English Lexicon of the New Testament: Coded with the Numbering System from Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of

the Bible



 





753

Caulley, The Place of Abba in Mark’s Christology, 396.

260

 confirms

in His prayers and His teaching to His disciples is overwhelming.

754

addition, the retention of this phrase not only illustrates the historical fact that Jesus of Nazareth



usage had such significant effects upon His earliest disciples that even among His followers who







755



for God in prayer and teaching but also the fact that the early church followed His lead in

adopting this approach to God and addressed Him with both the intimacy and access of Christ is

astounding.

756

It is for this reason that this study has affirmed that the heart of Christianity and

the element that makes it categorically and definitively new and distinct from the Old Covenant

l affirms this view,



disciples, initiating them into the same close relationship with the Father that he enjoyed, and it

is improbable that the early Christian usage can be explained apart from a definite command by



757



754

To quote Verbrugge once -indirectly confirmed in Rom.

8:15 and Gal. 4:6 - 

familiar term ʾabbāʾ, used in the everyday life of the family.

754

Verbrugge, ββά, 1. Marshall too affirms that this is



general agreement that it represents Aramaic ʾabbâThe Gospel of Luke, 456.

755

Verbrugge, ββά, 1.

756

For more on this, see: Svetlana Khobnya, The Father Who Redeems and the Son Who Obeys:

Consideration of Paul's Teaching in Romans (Havertown: James Clarke Company, 2014), 58-60.

757

Marshall, The Gospel of Luke, 456457.

261

follow His example illustrates assertions of this dissertation that the hermeneutical key to





Again, “ 

758

As Jeremias

argued and has been affirmed throughout this study, 

 used as a way of addressing God. The

pious Jew knew too much of the great gap between God and humanity (Eccl. 5:1) to be free to



759

The entirety of the Old

Testament and the pertinent material from Second Temple Jewish literature has been surveyed

and there are no examples of anyone addressing God directly as their Father or Abba with the

intimacy, access, confidence, or assurance of Jesus of Nazareth or as His disciples would do later

in the New Testament. As will be demonstrated, this would transform the entirety of the

Christian religion and especially Christian prayer.

760



represents the unprecedented approach of Jesus of Nazareth which was transformational for His

disciples demonstrated by their continued use of this Aramaic term and illustrates the heart of

t which marks the new covenant as definitively and categorically new. As

Kittle stated so well,



term for God and thus denotes an appropriation of the relationship proclaimed and lived

out by Him. Jewish usage shows how this Father-child relationship to God far surpasses

758

Horst Robert Balz and Gerhard Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids.:

Eerdmans, 1990), 1.

759

New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Abridged

Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 1.

760

These two points will be addressed in the following sections.

262

any possibilities of intimacy assumed in Judaism, introducing indeed something which is

wholly new.

761

The Explosion of Father Language in the New Testament and the Supremacy of God as Abba in

the New Covenant



hermeneutical key to the teaching of Christ on prayer in the Gospels is the explosion of Father

language in the New Testament and the supremacy of God as Abba in the New Covenant. This

fact was mentioned above and will be mentioned here only briefly.

762

Once again, whereas there

were only fifteen references to God as Father in the Old Testament and none of them made

directly by any individual understanding God as their Father or they as His child, there are over

two hundred and fifty references to God as Father in the New Testament.

763

While over one

hundred and fifty of them come from the Gospels, there are at least seventy-five more direct

references to God as Father in the remainder of the New Testament.

764

What is undeniable is that the centrality of God as Father in the New Testament is traced

directly to the life and ministry of Jesus of Nazareth.

765

The explosion of Father language for

God in the New Testament and the transformation of the New Covenant distinguished by the



761

ββ, 6.

762

A theology of God as Father in the New Testament with its emphasis on the epistles and material

outside the Gospels is a significant topic which deserves a study of its own. While this has significant theological

implications for this study, the major foc

Further work must be done in developing an extensive and holistic Biblical and or systematic theological study of

God as Father in the New Testament outside of the Gospels. One work which comes close but focuses primarily on

the Gospels is by Thompson: Marianne Meye Thompson, The Promise of the Father: Jesus and God in the New

Testament (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000).

763

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation Of God As Abba, 498.

764

Bayes, The Apostles’ Creed, 25.

765

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation Of God As Abba, 497.

263

Father in New Testament prayer will be addressed in the next subsection. Here, a brief survey of

the centrality of God in the New Testament will be provided to demonstrate the profound impact

the life and teaching of Jesus concerning His Abba had upon His disciples and the entirety of the

Christian religion.

God as Father in Paul

To begin, there are just over forty references to God as Father in the Pauline writings.

766



than in the entirety of the Old Testament.

767

This itself is a witness to the transformative nature





the he

approach to God as Father should reflect the Old Testament. However, apart from Jesus, no other

New Testament author or character reflects the boldness with which Paul follows the example

and instruction of Jesus in addressing and relating to God as Abba Father. In fact, as will be

treated even further concerning New Testament prayer, Paul is the only New Testament author to

hrase  In addition to this, apart from

Jesus, Paul contributes more than any New Testament author to the New Testament theology of

Christian prayer addressed to God not only as Father but  

768

Therefore, Paul is a

766

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 118.

767

The Fatherhood of God in the life, ministry, writing, and theology of Paul is an extensive topic which

deserves far treatment than can be given here. Lamentably, all that can be provided in this study is a mere surface

level overview. For one work which treats this work in-depth, see the following by Mengestu: Abera M. Mengestu,

God as Father in Paul: Kinship Language and Identity Formation in Early Christianity (Eugene: Pickwick

Publications, 2013)

768

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 116.

264



God and the implications this had for the early church, Christianity, and subsequently all

generations of those who have the honor and privilege of joining Paul and Jesus in calling God

 

One of the primary places Father language is found in Paul is in His greetings and

benedictions. It is astounding to note that every letter in the Pauline corpus contains some form

of greeting, prayer, or blessing once or several times appealing to God as 

769





770



771



772

This means that for Paul, every one of

his letters is placed within the context of God as Father.

773



hundred times in Paul, there is not a letter where it is not explicitly clarified that the which

Paul refers to is  

774

It is not an overstatement then to assert that Pauline theology is



didactic teaching and just as in the life and ministry of Christ, it is most clearly illustrated in His

own prayers and the revelation that Christian prayer is the unprecedented Spirit-empowered cry

of  with the Lord Jesus.

775

769

Rom. 1:7; 1 Cor. 1:3; 2 Cor. 1:2; Gal. 1:34; Eph. 1:2, Phil. 1:2; Col. 1:2, 1 Thess. 1:3; 2 Thess. 1:12;

Phlm. 3.

770

Gal. 1:1; 1 Thess. 1:1; 1 Tim. 1:2; 2 Tim. 1:2; Titus 1:4.

771

2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 1:3; Col. 1:3.

772

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 118.

773



(Rom. 3:2930; cf. 1:16). Already at the outset, the epistle's inclusive emphasis is distilled in its address to all those

our 

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 121.

774

Ibid., 116-118.

775

For an extensive treatment of the theology of the Apostle Paul and much more detailed than this

dissertation can offer, see: James D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans

Pub., 1998).

265

The two most significant texts to understanding the centrality of God as Father in the

New Testament outside of the Gospels and specifically for Paul are Romans 8:15 and Galatians

4:6.

776

locus classicus for understanding the Fatherhood of



777



the Aramaic term in the bilingual phrase  to primarily Greek-speaking Gentile



778

These texts are two of



possible because of believers' adoption by God as  in and through the life and

finished work of Jesus Christ.

779

Thus, three central themes of this dissertation converge in this

text; the centrality of God as  the transformation of Christian prayer and the new

covenant, and the significance that these truths are revealed in the context of prayer.

The rest of the Pauline literature and the New Testament texts affirm the centrality of

God as Father in the life and theology of the early church due to the transformational revelation

of Jesus of Nazareth.

780

In Romans 6:4, believers walk in newness of life just as Christ was

776

These two texts will be treated in detail later in this chapter.

777

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 126.

778

Khobnya, The Father Who Redeems and the Son Who Obeys, 58.

779

It is significant that Paul includes both Jews and Gentiles in the need for adoption in and through Christ.



hen he states that those who live according to the Spirit of Christ belong to God

the Father. It is a radical claim that Jews need to be adopted into the family of God through Christ just as Gentiles.

Although theirs is the adoption as sons, as well as the covenants, the law, the temple worship (9:5), still not all of

them are true Israelites or children of Abraham or of God for that matter (9:6 

 14; 9). For Paul, God has fulfilled his promises in Christ;

and he has called not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles (1:1 5; 9:24 29; 15:8 12). Jesus Christ is the

firstborn among many brothers and sisters who are to be conformed to him (8:28 , The Father Who

Redeems and the Son Who Obeys, 63.

780

As referenced above, every Pauline letter opens with a greeting appealing to God as Father and many

contain a similar ending. For this reason, these texts will not be addressed here. However, this does not mean that

they are not significant for our study here. The fact that Paul opens every one of his letters appealing to God as

Father and includes this in many of his closings affirms the point that this study and this section are trying to make;

266





 the Christian faith is to be





benediction to the church in 2 Corinthians 1:2-3, God is referenced as not only the Father of



Galatians 1:3-4, after clarifying that God is the Father of Jesus who raised Him from the dead

(1:1), Pau

 (  

treated further in the subsequent section, this is significant for it continues to reveal further the

discussion that Jesus began that believers are welcomed into the Trinitarian community of love

to experience God as  just as He did. For Paul, God is the Father of both the Lord

Jesus and of all Christians who have the privilege of addressing Him as 

781

In Ephesians, there are more references to God as Father than any other book in the

Pauline corpus.

782

Outside of the opening and closing benedictions bookending the letter with the

identity, centrality, and significance of God as Father, there are six references to God as Father.

Ephesians contributes to constructing a Pauline theology of prayer from his own prayers in the

book, but the central theme of Ephesians in appealing so frequently to God as Father is the unity

God as Father is central to the heart of the New Testament message based upon the transformational teaching of

Jesus of Nazareth. For more on this, see Thompson: Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 116.

781



the following, David Hill, Greek Words and Hebrew Meanings: Studies in the Semantics of Soteriological Terms

(United Kingdom: University Press, 1967), 268, 273, 277.

782

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 121-122.

267

of Jews and Gentiles together in the family of God. In Ephesians, believers are blessed in Christ



n both the transcendence and



 

Amazingly, emphasizing another Pauline theme, it is only in and through Jesus that both Jews







 



(5:20). Thus, while all of the Pauline letters emphasize the centrality of God as Father and the

theological significance of this for the Christian life, Ephesians stresses more than any other that:

Those who are in Christ are the family of God, according to Paul. Through belonging to



In Christ through the Spirit, a new family of God has been formed that has renewed

relationship with God the Father. In a formula of adoption Jews and Gentiles alike



-heirs with his own Son.

783





Christian life is meant to be lived for the glory of the Father in and through Jesus (3:17). In 1

   



 

783

Khobnya, The Father Who Redeems and the Son Who Obeys, 63.

268

hearts blameless in holiness before our God and Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus with all





Two final points must be made concerning the centrality of God the Father in the New

Testament and specifically here in the Pauline literature. First, the explosion of Father language

 relationship with and



evidenced in the central role of God as  in each of his letters. Second, it is

ng to God as Father includes the plural



784

For Paul, God is not only the Father

of the Lord Jesus, but rather, he is both  and Believers have been

adopted into the family of God in and through Jesus and now have the privilege of approaching

God just as He did as  and 

God as Father in the Rest of the New Testament



teaching concerning God as Father and the subsequent effects it had upon the Christian religion

based upon the life, ministry, teaching, and example of Jesus. The explosion of Father language

for God and the supremacy of God as Abba Father in the New Testament is not limited to the

Pauline literature but is also attested by all of the New Testament authors. Perhaps what is of

most significance is not that there are extended sections of teaching or didactic explanations of

the doctrine of God as Father in the New Testament, but rather that for all of the New Testament

784

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 118.

269



785

As was elaborated upon at length concerning the



Pauline literature is also relevant here. The entirety of the Christian religion was transformed

from its Jewish 

and only address for God which subsequently became the primary means of understanding God

in the New Testament.

786



and particularly, His relationship with and revelation of God as Abba Father. This has been

demonstrated time and time again in various ways, but the foundational belief and presence of

Father language for God in the New Testament further affirms just how significant an element of



God as Father and the centrality of this concept in Christianity, Wilhelm Bousset, Rudolf





(Judaism of Jesus' time) had neither in name nor in fact the faith of the Father-God; it could not



787

Bultmann reiterated Bousset's views that Jesus had declared the



intimate, and accessible Abba Father against a view of God as a distant and remote sovereign as

reflected in their typical addresses to Him in prayer:

785



Bayes, The Apostles’ Creed, 30.

786

For a discussion of God as Father in the early Greek Christian literature, see: Peter Widdicombe,

 Anglican Theological Review 82, no. 3

(2000): 519-36.

787

Wilhelm Bousset, Jesu Predigt in ihrem Gegensatz zum Judentum: Ein religionsgeschichtlicher

Vergleich (Gttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1892), 41, 43.

270

(In Judaism) God had retreated far off into the distance as the transcendent heavenly

King, and His sway over the present could barely still be made out. For Jesus, God again

became a God at hand. This contrast finds expression in the respective forms of address

used in prayer. Compare the ornate, emotional, often liturgically beautiful, but often over-



the prophets' preaching his preaching is directed not primarily to the people as a whole,

but to individuals.

788

Again, the only plausible explanation for the unprecedented and unexpected development of a

minor theme in the Old Testament becoming the primary means of understanding and addressing

s Abba Father.

As distinctive



789





790

It was the significance

and centrality of this teaching in the life and ministry that led to its retention by the early church

and serves as the foundation for the theology of God as Father in the New Testament and all of

Church history.

791

In the book of Hebrews, believers are 

treats them as His sons and disciplines them as needed (Hebrews 12:7,9). In James, God is the

 





788

Rudolf Bultmann, Theology of the New Testament (New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1955) 1:23, 25.

789



teaching about God appears in his use of the term of endearment Abba for his heavenly Father (Mark 14:36)not

quite, but leaning in the direction o



A New Testament Theology, 22.

790

Blomberg, A New Testament Theology, 313.

791

I. H Marshall, The Origins of New Testament Christology (Leicester: IVP, 1976), 59.

271

caring for orphans and widows and embracing a life of holiness (1:27). In 3:9, James references

 

and the other New Testament authors, God is not just the Father generally but is the Abba Father

of all believers that Jesus of Nazareth revealed.

The God and Father of our





as Father who judges impartially acc







imminence, His holiness and His tender paternal love just as the Lord Jesus did. For Peter, God

is both incomprehensibly holy, demanding awe, reverence, holy fear, and respect, and at the

same time, He is Father and is to be loved, trusted, and approached with the confidence that He

will surely show mercy. This is the same theological approach to God as Holy and righteous

Father that Jesus Himself demonstrated and taught. Finally, in 2 Peter, Peter recounts the story of



792

The book of Acts contains three references to God as Father, two on the lips of Jesus and

The



concerning the establishment of the kingdom, Jesus addresses God in His quintessential way as



792



Bayes, The Apostles’ Creed, 30-31.

272





language and in connection with the Holy Spirit. Interestingly, Paul saw a direct connection

between the gift of the Holy Spirit and the believer's cry of  drawing on a

significant theme from the ministry of Jesus (Rom. 8:15; Gal. 4:6).

The letters with more references to God as Father and where this theme plays a more

central role than any of the other New Testament literature are the Epistles of John. The

essed in the

previous chapter. Outside of His Gospel, there are still more references to God as Father in



God as Father was summarized in three major points which are also descriptive of what is

expressed in his epistles. First, J

as His Abba Father as the unique Son of God. Second, John emphasizes more than any other





disciples are personally invited by Christ to experience the same kind of intimacy and access that

He did and address God directly as their Abba Father. Believers are personally and passionately

loved by God as their Abba Father and they are invited to respond to his love in and through

spel and His epistles both



Testament prayer brought about an unprecedented and unparalleled shift in the New Covenant

and the New Testament for Christian prayer. Th

Epistle.

273





-3). Chapter two contains eight separate appeals to God as Father.

Jesus serves as the advocate between believers 



 





th







793

celebrating both the identity of the Father as well as His lavish love in adopting believers as his

children,

794

) kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be



dissertation. God is revealed as Abba Father, believers are adopted into His family as sons and

daughters, and the New Testament authors evidences unprecedented intimacy and access to God

based upon the teaching of Jesus. One step even further and a point that has not been emphasized

in this dissertation is the lavish and extravagant love of God for Hi

usage of in the wonderful phrase,  

 

793

John R. W. Stott, The Epistles of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 118.

794

Bayes, The Apostles’ Creed, 31.

274

concerning the significance of this term,

795



whereby sinful human beings attain such a state or such a privilege save by the exercise of a



796

Thus,

while affirming the major points of this study, John contributes an added depth to the reality of







as children obeying the commands of



His Son. In Revelation, also authored by the Apostle John, God as Father appears five times.

Interestingly, in every instance, God is referenced not as the Father of believers but rather as the



and the







with his only Son, but also the warmth of paternal affection which God feels for him, and,



797

Thus, believers are adopted into the family of God as His children and are granted

unprecedented intimacy and access with Him as their Abba Father for He loves them and desires

795

Bayes, The Apostles’ Creed, 31.

796

Edward Musgrave Blaiklock, Letters to Children of Light (Glendale: Regal, 1975), 58 59.

797

Bayes, The Apostles’ Creed, 31.

275

a relationship with them.

798

The centrality of God as Father in the New Testament affirmed by

the unified witness of the historic church demonstrates how central and transformational this was

in the life and ministry of Jesus.

799

The Transformation of Christian Prayer Addressed to God as Abba Father

The first primary conclusion of this dissertation that this chapter addressed and affirmed



and unparalleled against the religious background of His time and is transformational and

foundational for the entire Christian religion. This has been discussed and confirmed and serves

as the foundational concept for this second main conclusion. The second major finding of this

dissertation which will be defended here is that New Testament prayer is categorically distinct





800

The heart of Christian

prayer is the revelation of God as  and believers' unprecedented intimacy and

access with Him in and through Jesus Christ in the New Covenant.

801

The key feature that makes

New Testament prayer distinct from the Old is believers' new and unparalleled ability to

798





that they can ask him for gifts with the 

Marshall, The Gospel of Luke, 456457.

799

Jude 1 contains a reference to God as Father in his introduction to his letter contributing to the

overwhelming reality that every New Testament author appealed to the identity of God as Father in the New

Testament,

800

In one of the best and most detailed biblical theological treatments of prayer in the Bible, Millar

confirms the thesis of this study that while developing an Old Testament theme and in continuity with the Hebrew

Scriptures, Jesustransforms

ways, Gary Millar, Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer (Downers Grove: InterVarsity

Press, 2016),

801





Longenecker & T. Clark. (ed.), Into God’s Presence: Prayer in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans,

2001), 132154.

276

approach God as  just as Jesus did following both His example and His

instruction.

802

Though the Fatherhood of God is a minor theme in the Old Testament, it is the

primary means of addressing God in prayer in the New Testament and is the crux of the New

r in the

New Testament and the heart of the Christian religion and everything that makes Christianity

new.

The Intimacy and Access of αββα ὁ πατήρ Made Available Through Adoption (υἱοθεσίας)



instruction to His disciples were profoundly distinct and unprecedented and unexpected

developments from Jewish prayer. The uninhibited access to God as  , the

shameless, passionate, bold, persistent, and patient prayer illustrated by Christ in the Lukan

parables, and the confidant assurance that anything believers ask will be granted as presented by

John represent seismic shifts between prayer in the Old and New Testaments.

803

With copious

background information and exegetical treatment of the text having been presented, the

conclusion of this study concerning this point is that New Testament prayer has been radically

elationship with and revelation of

God as  There is nothing in the Old Testament that represents the intimacy, access,

boldness, and confidence of New Testament prayer. Beyond prayer, Christians have an

802

For a study which explores and affirms this position that believers relate to God as Abba just like Jesus

 Journal of

Theological Interpretation 15, no. 1 (2021): 6378.

803

This topic will be addressed in the next section of this chapter and these statements will be defended and

demonstrated from the biblical text.

277

unprecedented relationship with God as  in and through the finished work of Jesus

Christ the Son.

804

As Packer wrote so well,

You sum up the whole of New Testament teaching in a single phrase, if you speak of it as

a revelation of the Fatherhood of the holy Creator. In the same way, you sum up the



holy Father. If you want to judge how well a person understands Christianity, find out



this is not the thought that prompts and controls his worship and prayers and his whole

outlook on life, it means that he does not understand Christianity very well at all. For

everything that Christ taught, everything that makes the New Testament new, and better

than the Old, everything that is distinctively Christian as opposed to merely Jewish, is



for God.

805

As this study has illustrated, there is ample biblical, historical, literary, and theological support

for these claims. However, the question remains, what resulted in such a profound transformation

of prayer in the New Covenant and how is it that believers have gained such an unprecedented

and unparalleled privilege of intimacy and access to God as their  Outside of the



God as His children and He as their  are and 8:15 and Galatians 4:6. And serve the

key to understanding this transformation of Christian prayer and the new covenant.

Jesus' teaching and unprecedented direct invitation in John 14-17 that believers could ask

anything directly to the Father with the intimacy, access, boldness, and confidence of Christ as

tion of the doctrine of adoption

804

Hill affirms this position and the perspective that Abba language employed by Jesus and given to His

Greek Words and Hebrew Meanings, 268, 273,

277.

805

Packer, Knowing God, 201

278

in Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6.

806

In both texts, Paul expounds upon and reveals what the

Lord Jesus began to reveal in John 14-17; the adoption of believers as the children of God.

In both Pauline texts which employ  they also use the theologically loaded

word υἱοθεσία. Concerning a proper translation and rendering of this key term, Burke writes that

υἱοθεσία comprises two Greek words: huiosthesis



807

 you did not receive the spirit of slavery to

fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, 



So that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has

-6 ESV). In each

of these texts, adoption is directly linked with believers' unprecedented intimacy and access to

God most clearly and notably illustrated by the Spirit-empowered cy ( 



806





nship with and revelation of God as Father. An entire chapter could be

devoted to the theme of adoption in the New Testament alone. The treatment here will be insufficiently brief and

merely surface level.

For a variety of excellent works that treat this topic with extensive depth, see the following and especially

he works by Burke and Garner: Trevor J. Burke, Adopted into God's Family: Exploring a Pauline Metaphor

(Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2006); David B. Garner, Sons in the Son : The Riches and Reach of Adoption in

Christ (Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 2016); Matthew Thiessen, Paul and the Gentile Problem (Oxford: Oxford

University Press, 2016); Brenda B. Colijn, Images of Salvation in the New Testament (Downers Grove: IVP

Academic, 2010); Erin M. Heim, Adoption in Galatians and Romans: Contemporary Metaphor Theories and the

Pauline Huiothesia Metaphors (Leiden: Brill, 2017); Caroline E. Johnson Hodge, If Sons, Then Heirs: A Study of

Kinship and Ethnicity in the Letters of Paul (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2007)

807

Trevor J. Burke, Adopted into God's Family: Exploring a Pauline Metaphor (Westmont: InterVarsity

υἱοθεσία 

WUNT 52.48, (1992),

Tübingen: Mohr.

279

at Calvary with its effect for all those who would receive the redemption that not only results in

their justification but even more intimately, in their adoption as children of  

808





and revelation of God as Father illustrated most clearly by  Adoption in and

through Christ is the explanation for the explosion of Father language in the New Testament and

the unprecedented and unparalleled intimacy and access Christians have to God as their Father.

In these Pauline texts, it is in the context of prayer, just as in the life and ministry of Jesus, that

believers' unprecedented intimacy and access to God as  is most evidently



concerning prayer addressed to God as  and the centrality of God as Father in His

own prayers. It could be said of Paul as it was said of Jesus that his relationship with and

revelation of God as  serves not only as the hermeneutical to interpreting his

teaching here concerning prayer but everything he teaches that makes the New Covenant

distinctively new. For both Paul and Jesus, it is in the context of prayer that God is most clearly

revealed as  As Thompson notes,



prayer. This pattern suggests that already by the time of the writing of the earliest Pauline

community,

particularly in various sorts of prayer. This may suggest a direct link to the pattern of

prayer that was apparently characteristic of both Jesus' practice and instruction. Both for

Jesus and for Paul, the designation of God as Father was particularly appropriate in

prayer.

809

808

Girardeau highlights the superiority of adoption to justification in the New Testament noting that



adoption]. They treat adoption as something over and beyond justific



Girardeau, Discussions of theological Questions (Harrisonburg: Sprinkle, 1986), 479.

809

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 120.

280

Thus, the New Testament revelation of believers' unparalleled intimacy and access to God as

 is inseparably tied with the radical development of New Testament prayer made

possibly only through the work of Jesus made available to believers through adoption.

The centrality of God as Father and adoption language in the New Testament is a

historically critical theme. For example, In his last will and testament, John Calvin highlighted

vation than His



810



security for my salvation than this, and this only, viz. that as God is the Father of mercy, He will



811





into the family of God and the intimacy, access, and confidence that arises with the privilege of

addressing God directly as  

In the Westminster Larger Catechism

following answer is given:

Adoption is an act of the free grace of God, in and for his only Son Jesus Christ, whereby

all those that are justified are received into the number of his children, have his name put

upon them, the Spirit of his Son given to them, are under his fatherly care and

dispensations, admitted to all the liberties and privileges of the sons of God, made heirs

of all the promises, and fellow-heirs with Christ in glory.

812



presentation of God as  in these texts. First, in Christ, believers are invited to

address and relate to God directly as their Abba Father through ad

810

Recorded in Philip Schaff, Modern Christianity: The Swiss Reformation, History of the Christian

Church 8 (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1910), 829.

811

Ibid.

812

Westminster Larger Catechism, Q. 74. What is adoption?

281

presentation of adoption is the reality that it is only in and through Jesus Christ that believers can

address God directly as their  as no Jew had ever done before them.

813

It is no

accident that the Spirit-empowered cry of  is directly linked with adoption in both

texts. The reason no Jew had ever dared approach in the manner of Jesus and subsequently his

disciples is that this manner of intimacy and access to God was impossible apart from adoption.

It is only in and through the finished work of Jesus that believers are adopted into the family of



expounded,

Christ declares that we have this in common with himself, that he who is his God and

Father is also our God and Father. . . . In other passages we learn that we are made

partakers of all the blessings of Christ; but this is the foundation of the privilege, that he

imparts to us the very fountain of blessings. It is, unquestionably, an invaluable blessing,

that believers can safely and firmly believe, that he who is the God of Christ is their God,



814

Thus, the explanation for the unprecedented approach to God in the early church is that in Christ,

believers are invited to address and relate to God directly as their Abba Father through adoption.

 and His instruction concerning adoption, prayer,

sonship, and God as Father goes beyond a liturgical address employed by believers. Instead, it

revolutionizes the Christian faith for in Christ, and through adoption, all believers are welcomed

to experience the same intimacy and access with the Father that Jesus did. This is one of the

813

The Westminster Confession of Faith reflects the views presented above in Westminster Larger

Catechism 

and for His only Son Jesus Christ, to make partakers of the grace of adoption: by which they are taken into the

number, and enjoy the liberties and privileges of the children of God; have His name put upon them; receive the

Spirit of adoption; have access to the throne of grace with boldness; are enabled to cry, Abba, Father; are pitied,

protected, provided for, and chastened by Him as by a father; yet never cast off, but sealed to the day of redemption,

The Westminster Confession of Faith, Chapter 12,

Adoption.

814

John Calvin, Commentary on the Gospel According to John, Vol. 2. 1553., Translated by William

Pringle (CTS 18., 1847), 262.

282



Testament church that they are not adopted as inferior or secondary sons of God, but rather, the

scandal of the Gospel is that in Christ, believers are granted the unconceivable privilege of



815

Once again, Paul is

-

17 concerning believers' new relationship with God as their Abba Father. As Bayes writes,

Into this mutual love of Father and Son, believers are caught up. The possibility of

coming to God as Father lies in Jesus (John 14:6). Those who do come are loved by the

Father (John 14:21, 23; 





faith in him we have been embraced by that very same Fatherhood which has been his

portion eternally.

816

The critical point that cannot be missed here is that believers do not only have access to God as

Father, they are adopted and invited into the infinite and eternal triune love of the Father, Spirit,

and Son, and are granted the very same access to God as 



Father was meant to look like. Jesus established a pattern for the Christian life which His

disciples were to follow. Cranfield highlights just how wonderfully good this news is that the

Gospel welcomes all believers into the family of God and grants them unparalleled intimacy and

access to God as their Father, 

necessary. It is, rather, a matter of sheer grace, the stupendous grace of the eternal God, who

adopts human beings as his sons and daughters for the sake of his own dear Son and gives them

815

Both Burke and Garner affirm this point in their book length treatments of adoption referenced above:

Burke, Adopted into God's Family; Garner, Sons in the Son.

816

Bayes, The Apostles’ Creed, 30.

283



817

Every time believers uttered  they were reminded

that they had been adopted into the family of God and could experience what no one in the Old

Covenant ever could.

Adoption and the revelation of God as Father is not a periphery or marginal theme in the



818

In Paul, the continuation of the  in the life and prayers of the early church



promises.

819





and sonship in



interpretation and application of this text. In the letter to the Hebrews, the author interpreted this

text as fulfilled in Christ expressing the unique divinity, deity, and distinctive relationship Jesus

bore as the very Son of God. Paul, however, interprets this text that in and through Christ, all

believers are the recipients of this covenant promise. In 2 Corinthians 6:18, concerning all

believers as the temple of the living God, Paul quotes the Davidic promise applying it to all



orinthians 6:18

ESV).

817

Charles E. B. Cranfield, The Apostles’ Creed (London: Continuum, 2004), 113.

818

Packer, Knowing God, 203.

819

Verbrugge, ββά, 1.

284

It is difficult to emphasize sufficiently the weight of this reality that what was once the

pinnacle of the Old Covenant has now become the inheritance of every son and daughter of the

Father in and through Christ.

820





--

821

 is the reminder and declaration that in Christ, both Jew and Gentile can together

boldly approach the covenant God of the Old Testament in an unprecedented and unparalleled

manner in which no one in the old covenant ever dared to, not even the original Davidic

recipients of this covenant promise.

822

Thus, the  cry in Romans 8:15 and Galatians

820

There are various views concerning the nature of  relation to the Father in and through Christ.



benefits of the

Gospel is the astonishingly good news that believers have the same intimacy and access to God as Father that Jesus

did; Garner, Sons in the Son.

A second approach is one which emphasizes more heavily the discontinuity and distinctiveness between



Union

with Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2011), 24. Another example of



which believers are adopted by God into his family and Paul is well aware of the distinctio

Adopted into God's Family, 96. Finally, Garner references the

German Reformer Philipp Melanchthon who insisted that adoption differentiates the redeemed from the Redeemer:

st be held

fast in order that we may know that Christ is the Son of God by nature, both equal with the Father and of the same

-

saints are sons by adoption, because they have been received of Christ, and have been given the gifts of Christ,

Sons in the Son, 20.

This is a significant theological and interpretive issue which deserves much more detailed treatment than

this project can address. However, this study affirms the first interpretation that emphasizes the continuity in

 relationship with the Father in Christ receiving the same intimacy and access while also incorporating the

perspectives of the other view as well that the biblical authors were careful to separate the distinct identity and

at of those adopted in and through His work.

821

Blomberg, A New Testament Theology, 222.

822

Concerning these texts in their original Jewish context of the first-century Christians, Fredriksen notes,

--pagan pagans of the Roman assembly, Paul pointed ahead to their

fast- has adopted them as his sons. They now intimately could call God by

 and soon would

285



caught up into the same intimate closeness with the Father enjoyed by the Son of God



823

Third and finally, Christian prayer and the Christian religion itself are transformed by the

revelation of God as  

824

In the next section, the distinctive nature of New

Testament prayer will be addressed when compared to its Old Testament counterpart. However,



ramifications far beyond the topic of prayer. Rather, it represents a profound and distinctive

transformation of the Christian religion and every aspect of Christian theology. The entire New

Testament is written in the context of God as Father in a manner congruent yet unprecedented

and unexpected from the Old Testament. The historic unified witness of the church also attests to



example, as was previously stated, the thirteen historic councils of the church all testify to the

centrality of God as Father. Not only do they affirm what has been presented in this study, but

they demonstrate that the unprecedented and unparalleled approach to God as  has

become the primary means of addressing God by all Christians from the New Testament era and

beyond.



Paula Fredriksen, When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation (New Haven & London:

Yale University Press, 2018), 134.

823

Bayes, The Apostles’ Creed, 31.

824

This was certainly true when Christianity is compared with its religious neighbors as Guthrie points out,



unparalleled element of intimacy into m

Donald Guthrie, New Testament Theology

(Leicester: IVP, 1981), 80-

categorically distinct when compared to the Jewish one.

286

For example, the Heidelberg Catechism illustrates that historic Christianity affirms God

as Father, the individual sonship of believers, and their unprecedented intimacy and access with

Him represented most clearly through prayer,

That the eternal Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who out of nothing created heaven and

earth and everything in them, who still upholds and rules them by his eternal counsel and

providence, is my God and Father because of Christ the Son. I trust God so much that I

do not doubt he will provide whatever I need for body and soul, and will turn to my good

whatever adversity he sends upon me in this sad world. God is able to do this because he

is almighty God and desires to do this because he is a faithful Father.

825

This is only one example among countless that could be provided. While outside the primary

scope of this dissertation, the point has been made sufficiently that Christian prayer and the

Christian religion itself are transformed by the revelation of God as  

826

The Transformational Nature of Prayer in the Old and New Testaments in Relation to God as

Father (αββα ὁ πατήρ)

The final point to be illustrated in this study is the transformational nature of prayer in the

Old and New Testaments in relation to God as  The subject of prayer in the Old

and New Testaments and specifically the continuity and discontinuity between them is an

extensive topic that deserves its own treatment far beyond what this study can offer.

827

The

primary point this dissertation seeks to prove based upon the research presented is that the key

feature that makes New Testament prayer distinct from the Old is believers' new and

825

Heidelberg Catechism, A 26.

826

As this section has shown, adoption is a central New Testament theme which ties the finished work of



this dissertation and thus this brief treatment will have to suffice. A list of works was cited above pointing the reader

to a number of insightful, detailed, and thorough treatments of the topic in a manner outside the scope of this project.

827

For excellent and detailed works which provide extensive treatments of both Old and New Testament

prayer together and the continuity between them as well as their distinctives, see the following: Gary Millar, Calling

on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2016); Patrick D.

Miller, They Cried to the Lord: The Form and Theology of Biblical Prayer (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994);

Wayne R. Spear, Talking to God: The Theology of Prayer (Pittsburgh: Crown & Covenant, 2002); Herbert Lockyer,

All the Prayers of the Bible (Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1959).

287

unparalleled ability to approach God as  just as Jesus did following both His

example and His instruction.

That is, the heart of Christian prayer and what makes it radically

new is the revelation of God as  

with Him in and through Jesus Christ in the new covenant.

Prayer in the Old Testament in Relation to God as Father

Prayer is certainly a significant topic in the Old Testament.

828

The Old Testament

establishes the primary background for prayer in the New Testament and it is within the Jewish

context and framework that Jesus and His disciples lived. While this study has focused primarily

on those elements that mark New Testament prayer as distinctively new, this is not to say that

there is not a great deal of continuity between the two Testaments. Rather, in many ways, New

Testament prayer is only the development and continuation of this Old Testament theme.

For example, while very limited, the Old Testament is the foundational source for the



t is because God is first the Father of his people Israel that we speak of God

as Father and as the Father of Israel's Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. Through and in Jesus,

Christians confess God as Father and so confess their place within the people created by God's



829

Second, the Old Testament bears witness to the fact that Yahweh hears the

828

For a list of works which treat the topic of prayer specifically in the Old Testament, see: Walter

C. Kaiser, I Will Lift My Eyes Unto the Hills: Learning from the Great Prayers of the Old Testament (Ashland:

Lexham Press, 2018); Brueggemann, Walter. Great Prayers of the Old Testament. Louisville: Westminster John

Knox Press, 2008; Idem., Worship in Ancient Israel: An Essential Guide. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005);

Michael E. W. Thompson, I Have Heard Your Prayer: The Old Testament and Prayer (Eugene: Wipf & Stock

Publishers, 2012); Michael Widmer, Standing in the Breach: An Old Testament Theology and Spirituality of

Intercessory Prayer (Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2015); Clarence Edward Noble Macartney, Wrestlers with God;

Prayers of the Old Testament (New York: R.R. Smith, inc., 1930).

829

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 40.

288

cries of his people and delights to answer them.

830

Thus, the Old Testament prepared the Jewish





with both an intimacy and access and confidence, boldness, and assurance that no one in the Old

Testament had ever experienced.

831

Therefore, while there is a great deal of continuity between the two Testaments, Jesus of

Nazareth brought about unprecedented transformation of prayer through His relationship with

and revelation of God as Father.

832

As Delitzsch notes: No saint of the Old Testament, in





833

It is only in and through the finished

work of Jesus that believers are adopted into the family of God and given the privilege of

Christian prayer as sons and daughters as evidenced by the intimacy, access, confidence,

boldness, and assurance of Jesus Christ the Son of God.

830

Both Millar and Miller explore this topic in detail and affirm this: Millar, Calling on the Name of the

Lord; Miller, They Cried to the Lord.

831





term Father not in spite of or because of its absence from the Old Testament but because of its presence in the texts

Jesus and the Transformation of Judaism (New York: Seabury,

1982), 14950. This is a significant point that must be remembered even though the primary argument of this study

has been the unprecedented development of this theme in the life and ministry of Jesus.

832

For an example of a perspective of someone who sees much more continuity rather than discontinuity



concept of God, but he demonstrated in action the full extent of God's redemptive will for the world which was from

the beginning." - Brevard S. Childs, Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments (Minneapolis: Fortress,

1992), 358.

833

Franz Delitzsch, Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Pub.

Co., 1952).

289

Prayer in the New Testament in Relation to God as Father

While prayer is an important element of Old Testament theology and there are the



is

disciples to experience the same.

834



relationship with and revelation of God as  

and access with Him in and through Jesus Christ in the New Covenant. This is the heart of

Christian prayer and what makes it radically new and distinct from the Old. Christ has given His

followers the unparalleled ability to approach God as  just as He did, following

both His example and His instruction concerning prayer.

835

As 



836

While many elements of New Testament prayer could be highlighted which represent

profound and distinctive development and transformation between prayer in the Old and New

Testaments, three specifically will be highlighted. The first of these is believers' uninhibited

access to God as  representing unprecedented 

834

Again, a biblical theological presentation of prayer in the New Testament is a significant topic which

deserves far more attention of its own. For excellent works which do just that in great detail in addition to the whole

biblical theologies listed above, see the following: Richard N. Longenecker, Into God’s Presence: Prayer in the New

Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Pub Co, 2001); David Crump, Knocking on Heavens' Door: A New Testament

Theology of Petitionary Prayer (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006); David M. Crump, Jesus the Intercessor: Prayer and

Christology in Luke-Acts (Mohr: Siebeck, 2019); Mark Jones, The Prayers of Jesus: Listening to and Learning from

Our Savior (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway, 2019); Stephen H., Shoemaker, Finding Jesus in His Prayers (Nashville:

Abingdon Press, 2004).

835

Spear makes the insightful comment that there is very little didactic teaching in the Old Testament



of explicit teaching about prayer i Talking to God: The Theology of Prayer

(Pittsburgh: Crown & Covenant, 2002), 13.

836

Early

Christian prayer and identity formation, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 336, 112, R.

Hvalvik and K.O. Sandnes, eds. (Tbingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014), 126.

290

personal example and His teaching to His disciples to address God in this manner represents the

most significant development in New Testament prayer. Thompson affirms this claim showing



fulfillment of a central Old Testament promise:





as sons

through Christ and of the eschatological possession of the Spirit (Rom 8:1417; Gal 4:4



2 Cor. 6:18; cf. 2

Sam. 7:14; also Jub. 1:2425).

837

 is one of the most

transformational and central elements of His life and ministry. When He lifted His eyes to

Heaven and taught His disciples to pray, one word radically altered the course of human history



a proper name for God. It embraces every feature in the understanding of God which comes to



838

 



 

839

Marshall



knew it was able to address God in this way because Jesus had invited his disciples to pray

837

New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Abridged

Edition (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000), 1.

838

Wolfhart Pannenberg, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991), 262.

839

Caulley, The Place of Abba in Mark’s Christology, 394416.

291



840

One of the primary areas this is illustrated is in the prayers of the New Testament and

especially of the Apostle Paul which place God as Father at the heart of their theology of

prayer.

841





approach to prayer addressed to God as Father.

842

Just as the theology of the New Testament is

steeped with Father, so too are the prayers. In the apostolic prayers of the New Testament, the

most prominent and primary means of addressing, understanding, and approaching God is that of

Father. As Pink writ

variety in this matter, yet the most frequent manner in which the Deity is addressed therein is as



843

Perhaps the clearest demonstration of the apostolic approach to prayer following both the





prayers represents the unprecedented transformation and development of prayer between the two



840

I. H Marshall, The Origins of New Testament Christology (Leicester: IVP, 1976), 59.

841

The topic of the Pauline prayers is a significant one which deserves much fuller treatment than this study

can give. For a few works which do this well, see the following: D. A. Carson, Praying with Paul: A Call to

Spiritual Reformation (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015); Arthur W. Pink, The Ability of God: Prayers of the

Apostle Paul (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2000); Gordon P. Wiles, Paul's Intercessory Prayers: The Significance

of the Intercessory Prayer Passages in the Letters of St Paul (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974); W. H.

Griffith Thomas, The Prayers of St. Paul 

842

For a few works which discuss early Christianity and their core beliefs, see: N. T. Wright and Michael

F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the History, Literature, and Theology of the First

Christians (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2019); Michael F. Bird, What Christians Ought to

Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine Through the Apostles' Creed (Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian

Publishing, 2016); Stanley D. Gale, The Christian's Creed (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2018).

843

Arthur W. Pink, The Ability of God: Prayers of the Apostle Paul (Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2000),

13.

292











apostles had heeded the injunc





844

Finally, it is not merely that prayer in the rest of the New Testament is offered to God as

Father evidences serious transformation and unprecedented development, but that each of the

distinctive marks of New Testament prayer discussed here is evidenced by the New Testament

authors. Again, Paul is the primary example of this demonstrating great intimacy and access to

God in His prayers. Paul prays with boldness, confidence, passion, and perseverance throughout

all of his letters in a manner characteristic of Christ Himself.

845

Not only this, but Paul continues





into the family of God as his beloved children.

846



call to shameless, passionate, bold, persistent, and patient prayer illustrated by His in the Lukan

parables. Christian prayer is remarkably bold and confident in a manner that again has significant

844

Pink, The Ability of God, 13.

845

For further treatment of this, see: D. A. Carson, Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation

(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015).

846

Verbrugge, ββά, 1; Kittel, ββ.

293

Old Testament background, and is transformed by the context of prayer from sons and daughters

addressed to God as  This kind of prayer is impossible apart from the finished

work of Jesus and the subsequent adoption of believers into the family of God. Jesus did not

teach the universal Fatherhood of God for believers and non-

Father of those who are adopted into the family in and through Jesus Christ His Son. That is,

 use for God, the Gospels teach that only the believer

has the right and privilege to address God in this manner.

847

Thus, Jesus invites His followers to

pray with the confidence and boldness of sons and daughters in an unparalleled nature based



Finally, as sons and daughters adopted into the family of God, New Testament prayer is

marked by the confidant assurance that anything believers ask will be granted by the Father

when they approach Him in and through Jesus the Son. Thus, believers experience the assurance

of Jesus Christ the Son of God in prayer with the promise that their Abba Father in Heaven



Through faith in Christ all true Christians pass into the relation of sons; are permitted to

address God with filial confidence in prayer; and to regard themselves as heirs of the

heavenly inheritance. This adoption into the family of God inseparably follows our

justification; and the power to call God our Father, in this special and appropriative sense,

results from the inward testimony of our forgiveness given by the Holy Spirit.

848

847

Stein, Luke

Gospels, Jesus is always engaged in teaching the disciples, except in Matt 23:9, where Jesus is teaching both the

disciples and the multitudes. The use of this title as an address for God was thus reserved by Jesus exclusively for



848



Literature (New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1880), 5.

294

The identity of believers as Sons and daughters of God the Father and the privilege of calling

upon Him as  comes with great benefits.

849

Christ has opened up unprecedented

access and intimacy to God the Father and in Him through adoption, believers enjoy the same

fellowship and communion with the Father as well as the same confident assurance of answered

e and by doing so, possess the same authority in prayer that



Father, and then mediated our salvation by the strength of his own prayer-

850

Christians not

only heed the teachings of Jesus in praying directly to God as Father but they follow His

example and experience unbelievable joy that whatever they ask for, seek, or knock on the

ther Himself loves and cares for them



849

Athanasius beautifully emphasizes the fact that it is Jesus the Son of God who most accurately and



Father, than to name Him from His works Against the Arians, 1.34)

850

David M. Crump, Jesus the Intercessor: Prayer and Christology in Luke-Acts (Mohr Siebeck, 2019), 9.

295

Chapter 8: The Impact and Applications of a New Testament Theology of God as Father

(Abba) in Relation to Prayer for Individual Believers, Theology, and the Contemporary

Church (Theological Applications)

Introduction and Summary

P. T. Forsyth once famously said concerning the daunting task of writing on the topic of

prayer,

It is a difficult and formidable thing to write on prayer, and one fears to touch the Ark.

Perhaps no one ought to undertake it unless he has spent more toil in the practice of prayer

than on its principle. But perhaps also the effort to look into its principle may be graciously

regarded by him who ever liveth to make intercession as itself a prayer to know better how to

pray.

851

If this is true of prayer, it has certainly been the case in this dissertation attempting to

address the intimate, eternal, and divine relationship between God the Father and His Son and

ciples. The thesis that this

dissertation has sought to explore is that the hermeneutical key to the teaching of the Lord Jesus

concerning prayer is His relationship with and revelation of God as Abba Father. That is, that

Christian prayer is categorically distinct from Old Testament or Jewish Prayer because disciples

of Christ are invited to approach God in an unprecedented manner as their Abba Father just as

the Lord Jesus did transforming the entirety of the Christian religion.



address of God as His Abba Father in prayer was unprecedented and unparalleled when

compared with the ANE, Old Testament, and Second Temple Jewish literature. In addition to



the same intimacy and access that He did represents not merely a new approach to prayer, but an

intrinsic shift and essential transformation of Christian pr

851

Peter Taylor Forsyth, The Soul of Prayer (United Kingdom: Regent College Publishing, 1951), 9.

296

approach their Abba Father as His sons and daughters. This point was further affirmed by the

explosion of Father language for God in the New Testament and the supremacy of God as Abba

Father in the writings, prayer, and theology of the New Testament authors. Finally, the early

 

through all generations that God is Father and is to be understood and related to as such affirms



God as 

Thus, it has been argued that the theological and hermeneutical key to understanding



definitively new is His relationship with and revelation of God as Abba Father illustrated most

clearly in His personal prayers and His teaching on prayer to His disciples. In the previous

chapter, the theological implications of these claims were explored. Three major conclusions

were presented based on the research and findings of this study.



address for God in prayer was unprecedented and unparalleled against the religious background

of His time and is transformational and foundational for the entire Christian religion. Second,

New Testament prayer is categorically distinct when compared with its Old Testament and

Jewish counterparts and the explanation is Jesus' use of Abba for God and His instruction for His

concerning God as Abba is an invitation to His

disciples into the heart of Trinitarian love to enjoy the same intimacy and access with Abba that

He did. This means that all Christians have unprecedented and unparalleled access to God as His

sons and daughters most clearly displayed in the extraordinary privilege and gift of Christian

prayer in Jesus' name, empowered by the Holy Spirit, addressed to Abba Father.

297

The previous chapter provides a detailed and lengthy discussion of the theological

implications of these findings. The goal of this chapter is to offer a final synopsis of the research,

findings, and major claims of this study and then to present practical applications. If this project

only makes theoretical conclusions that have no practical application for individual believers and

the local church, it has fallen short of its intended aim. Rather, though much of the research has

been academic in nature, the applications are also pastoral, personal, and transformational.

Synopsis

A brief synopsis of the research in the previous seven chapters will be provided to present

a succinct summary of what has been treated in this research project. To begin, chapter one

opened with a presentation of this dissertation's topic, thesis statement, and presented the need

and rationale for the research. Next, the research methodology of this study was presented as a

combination of historical-grammatical exegesis and biblical theology. Or, as Biblical

Theological Historical-Grammatical Exegesis. The combined approach of these two theological

disciplines was the approach employed by this project. Finally, a literature review of the most

important authors and works on the topic was performed. The most significant scholar surveyed

whose views were tested throughout this study was Joachim Jeremias. Two quotes represent the



In the literature of Palestinian Judaism, no evidence has yet been found 

being used by an individual as an address to God. . . . It is quite unusual that Jesus should



Aramaic form Abba. . . . We do not have a single example of God being addressed as

Abba in Judaism, but Jesus always addressed God in this way in his prayers.

852

The complete novelty and uniqueness of Abba as an address to God in the prayers of

Jesus shows that it expresses the heart of Jesus' relationship to God. He spoke to God as a

852

Jeremias, The Prayers of Jesus, 57; Also, Idem., New Testament Theology, 6566.

298

child to its father: confidently and securely, and yet at the same time reverently and

obediently.

853

After surveying the other pertinent literature and all of the subsequent material throughout the





the historical Jesus, was a brief and, at the same time, fullest expression of his filial relationship



854

Chapters two, three, and four each attempted to establish a significant historical, literary,



aim of chapter two was to examine the relevant Ancient Near Eastern and Israelite historical and

cultural material to form a cultural and theological background to God as Father in this context.



approach to God as Father. Even the few Old Testament references to God as Father were unique

when compared with their religious neighbors. Concerning the Israelite conception of Father, the

biblical presentation of what fatherhood ought to be is helpful in formulating the imagery to

which Yahweh appealed in revealing Himself as Father. However, as chapter three

demonstrated, nothing compares to the revelation of God as Abba Father in the ministry of Jesus.

Chapter three surveyed each of the fifteen references to God as Father in the Old

Testament. Each text was treated uniquely within its own historical, literary, and theological

environment. The findings were that though the Fatherhood of God is present within the Old



855

Second, the

853

Jeremias, Prayers of Jesus, 6263; Also, Idem., New Testament Theology, 67, 68.

854

Szymik, Jesus’ Intitulation of God as Abba, 498-499.

855

of Scripture in the Formulation of Fatherhood in the Old Testament:

Pharos Journal of Theology, Volume 101 - (2020), 3.

299

conception of God as Father in the Old Testament was reserved for Israel as the corporate people



survey of every Old Testament text referencing God as Father, no one ever addressed Yahweh

directly as Father, understood themselves individually as His child, or expressed the kind of



was confirmed by the exegetical analysis of 





856

In chapter four, the same approach was employed as in the previous two chapters in

relation to all of the relevant Second Temple Jewish literature. While there are a few relevant

texts and prayers that contain Father language for God, none of the texts addressed from the Old

Testament or Second Temple period ever address Yahweh using Abba or in the same manner as

Jesus in the Gospels.

857

Based upon the background material surveyed in the ANE, the Old

856

Jeremias, Prayers of Jesus, 29.

857







in

The Evidence for Jesus (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1985), 48.



discover the intense conviction of Jesus that God is his Father and he is His son. This is supported by the word abba,

an address used at times by children to their father, indicating an intimacy and directness not contained in the more

formal abinu 

affirmation. . .. The synoptic passages speak of an intimacy of filial relationship . . . For Jesus the fatherhood of God

has become a profoundly personal religious experience, long before it became a doctrine to be communicated to

ogy (Oxford: Clarendon, 1994), 400-401.

-Christian or first-



Fitzmyer. Abba and Jesus' Relation to God (Paris: éditions du Cerf, 1985), 28.



of abba was original with Jesus and historically genuine: I have no

The Journal of Theological Studies 39, no. 1 (1988): 39.

300

Testament, and Second Temple Judaism, it was concluded that the Jews did not ever understand

themselves individually as sons and daughters of Yahweh, rarely if ever addressed Him as

Father, and never as Abba. Thus, they 

confidence or assurance in prayer that would become customary in the New Testament.

Therefore, as Jeremias concluded, against this extensive background material it can be

concluded,

We can see from all this why God is not addressed as Abba in Jewish prayers: to the

Jewish mind it would have been disrespectful and therefore inconceivable to address God

with this familiar word. For Jesus to venture to take this step was something new and

unheard of. He spoke to God like a child to its father, simply, inwardly, confidently,

Jesus' use of abba in addressing God reveals the heart of his relationship with God.

858



and unparalleled employment of the intimate and familial Aramaic Abba as a direct reference for

Yahweh was investigated. Here, based upon an extensive linguistic, cultural, and historical

examination of the Aramaic term Abba, it was concluded that when Jesus of Nazareth addressed

Yahweh intimately, personally, and directly as Abba Father and instructed His followers to do

the same, the Jewish understanding of Yahweh as covenant Father of Israel experienced an

unprecedented and unexpected development.

859

Jesus is the first person ever recorded as

understanding themselves individually as a child of God, employing the intimate and familial

Aramaic Abba as a direct address for God, and by teaching His disciples to do the same, He

858

Jeremias, Prayers of Jesus, 6263

859



widespread agreement that Jesus probably did indeed see himself as God's son, or understood himself in relation to

God as son. In terms of historical critical analysis the point is most securely based on the tradition of Jesus' prayer to

The Partings of the Ways between Christianity

and Judaism and their Significance for the Character of Christianity (Philadelphia: Trinity Press International,

1991), 170; idem, Jesus and the Spirit: A Study of the Religious and Charismatic Experience of Jesus and the First

Christians as Reflected in the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997), 21

301

transformed the Jewish approach to Yahweh and radically altered the future of Christianity with

one word; Abba.

In chapter six, these claims were tested against the four Gospel accounts of the life and

ministry of Jesus of Nazareth. Around one hundred and seventy times the word Father appears

on the lips of Jesus in reference to God.

860

In this chapter, each of the most significant texts was



example in His personal prayers as well as His transformational teaching to His disciples

concerning the nature of prayer in the New Covenant.

861

What was proven undeniably is that



themes of His ministry. Based on this material, it is confirmed that the hermeneutical key to the

teaching of Jesus concerning prayer is His relationship with and revelation of God as Abba

Father most clearly displayed in His unprecedented approach to prayer.

Finally, in chapter seven, the remainder of the New Testament material was addressed

with special attention given to the apostle Paul and the central texts where Paul uses the bilingual

 

862

The explosion of

Father language for God and the centrality of God as Father in the theology of the New



prayers and teaching. This approach was unprecedented and unparalleled against the religious

background of His time and is transformational and foundational for the entire Christian religion.

860

Walter Kasper, The God of Jesus Christ (London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2012), 140.

861





word abba in the records. The pr



862

Caulley, The Place of Abba in Mark’s Christology, 394416.

302

This resulted in profound and categorical developments in New Testament prayer and the

 

Practical Application



-25). There are three specific spheres this dissertation

will focus on for applications. These are the academy or theological study in general, the local

church and especially ministers, and individual believers. The three primary findings of this

study and the unique contribution this dissertation seeks to make are the following:

I. 

religion.

II. New Testament prayer is categorically distinct when compared with its Old Testament



III. Jesus' teaching is an invitation into the heart of Trinitarian love to enjoy the same



empowered by the Holy Spirit



Fatherhood of God, prayer, adoption, Abba, and the wide array of linguistic, historical, and

theological issues addressed can be applied in a multiplicity of ways. Here, while each finding

could be uniquely applied to the three spheres mentioned above, for the sake of clarity and

brevity, one of these points of application will be offered for each individual sphere.

The Academy or Theological Study in General

In the famous article among New Testament scholars The Neglected Factor in New

Testament Theology, Nils Dahl made the shocking assertion that within theological studies, there

is a significant n

863

This is a surprising

assertion for as this study has explored, while many aspects of the New Testament have been

863

 Reflections 75 (1975): 5-8.

303

challenged in the recent decades by modern and critical scholars, the authenticity of Jesus of



864

Hamerton-

Jesus is the starting point of Christology, and the key to Jesus' eschatology, commands

widespread support. Catholic and Protestant exegetes are united in this conviction. It has become



865

This is astounding for the central message of



of the Son of God as Abba Father truly is neglected within the academy and theology in general.

One of the primary 

unprecedented and transformational of the entire Christian religion. Since this is the case, the

first primary point of application is that theological treatments of the New Testament must return



Eerden points out, while Christology dominates the theological landscape of New Testament

studies and systematic theologies, it is rare if not impossible to find a systematic presentation of

God himself as Father or Patrology proper anywhere.

866

In many respects, modern approaches to

864

Cobb affirms 

understood through his employment of The basic argument of this book is that, although many ideas

associated with God and Christian faith have been disproved, Jesus' teaching about Abba has not. On the contrary, it

is coherent with our experience and responds well to the needs of the world in our day. It can be tested against

 Cobb, Jesus' Abba: The God Who Has Not Failed

(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016), 223-224.

865

Robert Hamerton--Bap Metz and

Edward Schillebeeck (New York: Seabury Press, 1981), 101. For a deeper examination and presentation of these

claims, see his fuller work, Robert Hamerton-Kelly, God the Father: Theology and Patriarchy in the Teaching of

Jesus (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979).

866



In PROQUESTMS ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global, Dallas Theological Seminary, (2003),

304



of the text.



867

What does

she mean by this? Biblical Christology has its foundation first in Patrology; the Fatherhood of



first and foremost concerned with the Father and subsequently the Son. In a book-length

treatment of this topic, Thompson affirms this point and argues that Patrology is the first concern



of Jesus can be understood.

868



neglected factor in New Testament theology is further substantiated.

869

As Reeves further

reveals,



That is who God has revealed himself to be: not first and foremost Creator or Ruler, but

Father. . . . He is Father. All the way down. Thus all that he does he does as Father. That

is who he is. He creates as a Father and he rules as a Father.

870

Thus, the first point of application for the academy and theological study, in general, is to restore

the Fatherhood of God and His identity as Jesus and His disciples Abba to the heart of academic

study. This was the central message of Jesus and the heart 

867

Thompson, The Promise of the Father, 82

868

Marianne Meye Thompson, The God of the Gospel of John (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 2001).

869



and potentially

offensive 

HBT12 (1990): 44.

870

Michael Reeves, Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith (Downers Grove: IVP

Academic, 2012) 21-23.

305



theology (or patrology).

871

The Contemporary Church and Especially Ministers

Demonstrated throughout this research project is the reality that in the New Testament,

prayer is a central practice in the lives of believers and the local church. The Lord Jesus

instructed that it would be the consistent practice for all of His disciples (Matthew 6). He

personally devoted Himself often to time alone with the Father in prayer (Luke 5:16). He



56:7; Matthew 21:13), and He taught His disciples practically how to pray (Luke 11:2).

Following His example, the early church devoted themselves to prayer immediately after His



ecost (Acts 2:42). They continued this practice of

fervent and unceasing prayer and intercession in the face of challenges and difficulties (Acts



their unique ministries (Acts 6:4). The New Testament abounds with Apostolic prayers and as

 

intimacy, access, confidence, boldness, and assurance as the Lord Jesus Himself. This is only a

small illustration from the New Testament of the centrality of prayer in the life of the

contemporary church.

As this study has established, New Testament prayer is categorically distinct when



Because of this prioritization of prayer in the church and its development and transformation by

871

The New

Testament as Canon: A Reader in Canonical Criticism (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1992).

306



 

contemporary church.

Ministers within the church bear a dual weight of both modeling prayer as Jesus did for

 

following the example of Jesus, ministers within the local must devote themselves in such a way

following the example of Christ and modeling for their disciples and congregations the same

intimacy, access, confidence, boldness, and assurance  

Jesus.

872

The prayer lives of pastors and leaders within the church ought to be so captivating in

the intimacy and access that they demonstrate with God as Father that those whom they follow

he fact that the



ministries (Acts 6:4) illustrates the centrality of prayer in the church corporately and the life of

votion to prayer following the example of Christ as

evidenced in his own prayers further confirms this position.

Second, ministers also must teach the revolutionary approach to prayer as given to them

by Christ in the Scriptures.

873



872



 then, ministering from this place is the heart of this point of For my part, I strive to be a

faithful disciple of Jesus. There are those who follow Jesus without sharing his belief in Abba. I admire them, but I

am convinced that the effort to follow Jesus while ignoring his Abba has a tragic character. It usually results from

being socialized into a culture and a way of thinking that is not deserving of commitment. I am convinced that a

much deeper and more joyful faithfulness is possible if we seek to relate to Abba as Jesus did. I commend a

faithfulness to Jesus that 

872

Cobb, Jesus'

Abba, 223-224.

873



has significant ramifications for the discussion here. For more on the role of the pastor as theologian within the

congregation, see: Gerald Hiestand and Todd A. Wilson, The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision

(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2015); Kevin J. Vanhoozer and Owen. Strachan, The Pastor as Public

Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost Vision (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2015); Todd A. Wilson and

307



concerning the nature and centrality of New Testament prayer. The wonderful news as illustrated

rned. Thus, the central role of prayer

in the church and the responsibility of ministers to both model and teach the unprecedented

 

and assurance as the Lord Jesus Himself is the second point of application.

Individual Believers

invitation into the heart

 



Gospel and the central message of Jesus is that God is Father and can be approached as Abba. As

Hamerton-ssibility of Almighty God is the essence

of Jesus' ‘good news

874

This point could not be more celebrated nor affirmed more by the

research of this study. The arrival of Jesus of Nazareth represented the explosion of Father

language for God in the Gospels and the New Testament and the proclamation of the wonderful

reality that in and through Jesus Christ, all believers could follow His example and experience

 

and daughters of God, believers can pray with the same boldness, confidence, and assurance of

Jesus knowing that the Father will surely answer them. Krentz confirms this, writing,

Abba expressed closeness to God because it is an intimate familial term. Jesus lived in the

conviction that the Father knew him, that he knew the Father, and that through him God

Gerald Hiestand, eds., Becoming a Pastor Theologian: New Possibilities for Church Leadership (Downers Grove:

IVP Academic / InterVarsity Press, 2016)

874

Kelly, God the Father in the Bible, 100.

308





875

Therefore, for individual believers, this study commends a Trinitarian approach to prayer

in the New Testament structured around the centrality of  

the unprecedented and transformational teaching of Jesus concerning prayer, a Trinitarian

approach to prayer centers around three major realities seen in this study. First, New Testament

Prayer is addressed to God as Abba Father. The entire New Testament bears witness to this

reality and it is the overwhelming presentation of God and New Testament prayer. Second,

 

adoption that believers are granted this unprecedented gift of intimacy and access to God as their

  



876

Finally, a topic this dissertation scarcely addressed is that the Spirit is the one who cries



877

The Abba cry of believers is a miracle wrought by the Holy



the Father, was accomplished by the work of the Son and is applied through the Spirit (Romans

5:1-11). Thus, as the TDNT so eloquently summarizes,





new kind of prayer. In calling is expressed the certainty and joy with which the one who

is moved by the Spirit turns to God. The address of servants, on the other hand, is the

875

Edgar Krentz, "God in the New Testament," in Our Naming of God, ed. Carl E. Braaten (Minneapolis:

Fortress, 1989), 8889.

876

Khobnya, The Father Who Redeems and the Son Who Obeys, 59.

877





 The Expository Times, 99(12),

1998, 363366.

309

 



878

Therefore, based upon the example and teaching of Christ, believers can adopt a Trinitarian

approach to prayer structured around the centrality of  

adoption in and through Christ the Son, and applied by the Holy Spirit.

Summary and Conclusion

Based upon the preceding research, perhaps the most extraordinary word ever uttered

which would transform the shape of human history forever was on the lips of Jesus of Nazareth

ed and

unparalleled approach to God was central to the ministry of Jesus and the heart of His Gospel

message and everything that would make His new covenant categorically and distinctly new and

wonderful. The thesis which this study has sought to address is that the theological and

hermeneutical key to understanding the teaching of the Lord Jesus concerning prayer is His

relationship with and revelation of God as Abba Father. That is, that Christian prayer is

categorically distinct from Old Testament or Jewish Prayer because disciples of the Christ are

invited to approach God in an unprecedented manner as their Abba Father just as the Lord Jesus

did transforming the entirety of the Christian religion.





daughters in His name empowered by the Holy Spirit. New Testament prayer is marked by

unparalleled intimacy, access, boldness, confidence, and assurance in prayer modeled by Jesus

Himself and gifted to His church. As sons and daughters adopted into the family of God, New

878



Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans, 1985), 903.

310

Testament prayer is distinguished by the confidant assurance that anything believers ask will be

granted by the Father when they approach Him in and through Jesus the Son by the power of the

Spirit. Thus, believers experience the confidence and assurance of Jesus Christ the Son of God in

prayer with the promise that their Abba Father in Heaven surely will hear and answer them.

More than this, the treasure of Christian prayer is that intimacy and access are available with

God as Father in a manner never thou

 

Just as Greek-speaking Gentile Christians outside of Palestine retained, treasured, and

  in a language not their own, so too modern Christians can

join the age- 

ipsissima vox of Jesus of Nazareth and experiencing the same intimacy and access with God as



disciples and empower them to join the Lord Jesus in approaching His and their Father and

 

311

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Ahearne-Kroll, Patricia D. Aseneth of Egypt: The Composition of a Jewish Narrative. Atlanta:

Society of Biblical Literature, 2020.



The Son–Father Relationship and Christological Symbolism in the Gospel of John, 170

192. London: Bloomsbury T & T Clark, 2014.

Albrecht, Felix., and Reinhard Feldmeier, The Divine Father: Religious and Philosophical

Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity. Boston: BRILL, 2014.

Alexander, T. Desmond. Exodus. Apollos Old Testament Commentary. Downers Grove: IVP

Academic,

_____. From Eden to the New Jerusalem: An Introduction to Biblical Theology.

Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic & Professional, 2009.

Alexander, Desmond T., and Brian S. Rosner. New Dictionary of Biblical Theology. La Vergne:

IVP, 2020.

Allen, Leslie C. Psalms 101-150, Volume 21: Revised Edition. Grand Rapids: Zondervan

Academic, 2018.

Anderson, A. A. 2 Samuel, Volume 11. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2015.

Andersen, Francis I., and David Noel Freedman. Hosea: A New Translation With Introduction

and Commentary. New Haven & London: The Anchor Yale Bible, 1980.

Arndt, William, Frederick W. Danker, Walter Bauer, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. A

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature.

Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Arnold, Bill T., Nancy L. Erickson and John H. Walton. Windows to the Ancient World of the

Hebrew Bible: Essays in Honor of Samuel Greengus. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2014.

Arnold, Bill T. 1 and 2 Samuel. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2014.

Baldwin, Joyce G. 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary. Leicester: Inter-Varsity

Press, 1988.

Balz, Horst Robert., and Gerhard Schneider. Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand

Rapids: Eerdmans, 1990.

The Journal of Theological Studies 39, no. 1 (1988): 28-47.

312

91(741), 1988, 173179.

Barth, Karl. Prayer. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2002.

 HTS Teologiese Studies/

Theological Studies, Volume 79 Number 2 (2023).

BauckhamSJT 31 (1978).

Bayes, Jonathan F. The Apostles’ Creed: Truth with Passion. Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2010.

Beale, G. K. A New Testament Biblical Theology: The Unfolding of the Old Testament in the

New. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011.

Beasley-Murray, George R. John, Volume 36. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian

Publishing, 2013.

Bergen, Robert D. 1, 2 Samuel. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1996.

Bernier, Jonathan. Rethinking the Dates of the New Testament: The Evidence for Early

Composition. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2022.

Billings, J. Todd. Union with Christ: Reframing Theology and Ministry for the Church. Grand

Rapids: Baker, 2011.

Bird, Michael F. What Christians Ought to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine

Through the Apostles' Creed. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2016.

Black, Clifton C. The Lord’s Prayer. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2018.

 Review and expositor. 118, no. 4 (2021):

421441.

Blackwell, Ben C., John K. Goodrich, Jason Maston, and N. T. Wright. Reading Mark in

Context: Jesus and Second Temple Judaism. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian

Publishing, 2018.

Blaiklock, Edward Musgrave, Letters to Children of Light. Glendale: Regal, 1975.

Block, Daniel Isaac. Deuteronomy. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012.

Blomberg, Craig L. A New Testament Theology. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2018.

_____. The Historical Reliability of the Gospels. Downers Grove.: InterVarsity Press, 198.

313

______. Matthew: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture. Nashville: B&H

Publishing Group, 1992.

______. Interpreting the Parables. Downers Grove, IL InterVarsity, 1990.

Bock, Darrell L. A Theology of Luke and Acts: God's Promised Program, Realized for All

Nations. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2012.

_____. Luke, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press,

1994), Lk 11:113.



Early Christian prayer and identity formation, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum

Neuen Testament 336, 112, edited by R. Hvalvik and K.O. Sandnes. Tbingen: Mohr

Siebeck, 2014).

Boda, Mark J., Daniel K. Falk, and Rodney Alan Werline. The Development of Penitential

Prayer in Second Temple Judaism. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2007.

Bonnard, P. L’Evangile selon Saint Matthieu: Commentaire du Nouveau Testament. Neuchâtel:

Delachaux et Niestlé, 1970.

Bousset, Wilhelm. Jesu Predigt in ihrem Gegensatz zum Judentum: Ein religionsgeschichtlicher

Vergleich. Gttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1892.

Brannan, Rick., ed., Lexham Research Lexicon of the Greek New Testament. Bellingham:

Lexham Press, 2020.

Brooks, James A. Mark. Nashville: Broadman Press, 1991.

Brueggemann, Walter. Great Prayers of the Old Testament. Louisville: Westminster John Knox

Press, 2008.

______. Worship in Ancient Israel: An Essential Guide. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2005.

Brmmer, Vincent. What Are We Doing When We Pray? On Prayer and the Nature of Faith.

London: SCM, 1984.

Bruno, Chris, Jared Compton, and Kevin McFadden. Biblical Theology According to the

Apostles: How the Earliest Christians Told the Story of Israel. Westmont: InterVarsity

Press, 2020.

Bultmann, Rudolf. Theology of the New Testament. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1955.

Burke, Trevor J. Adopted into God's Family: Exploring a Pauline Metaphor. Westmont:

InterVarsity Press, 2006.

314

Burn, A. E The Nicene Creed. England: Rivingtons, 1913.

Caird, G. B. New Testament Theology (completed and edited by L. D. Hurst). Oxford:

Clarendon, 1994.

Calvin, John. Commentary on the Gospel According to John, Vol. 2. 1553., Translated by

William Pringle. CTS 18., 1847.

Carson, D. A. Divine Sovereignty and Human Responsibility: Some Aspects of Johannine

Theology Against a Jewish Background. Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1981.

_____. Matthew. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2017.

_____. Praying with Paul: A Call to Spiritual Reformation. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic,

2015.

_____. The Gospel According to John. Chicago: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1990.



ResQ 56 (2014).

 Bulletin for Biblical Research 32, no. 4

(2022): 394416.

Charles E. B. Cranfield, The Apostles’ Creed (London: Continuum, 2004.



JJS 33 (1982) 265-85.

_____. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. Garden City: Doubleday, 1983.

Charlesworth, James H., P. Dykers, and M. J. H. Charlesworth. The Pseudepigrapha and

Modern Research, with a Supplement. Chico: Scholars Press for the Society of Biblical

Literature, 1981.

Childs, Brevard S. Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments. Minneapolis: Fortress,

1992.

Chilton, Bruce D. The Glory of Israel: The Theology and Provenience of the Isaiah Targum.

London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 1983.

Clark, David. On Earth as in Heaven: The Lord’s Prayer from Jewish Prayer to Christian

Ritual. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2017.

Cobb, John B. Jesus' Abba: The God Who Has Not Failed. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016.

315

Colijn, Brenda B. Images of Salvation in the New Testament. Downers Grove: IVP Academic,

2010.

Collins, John Joseph., and Daniel C. Harlow, Early Judaism: A Comprehensive Overview. Grand

Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2012.

_____. The Eerdmans Dictionary of Early Judaism. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans, 2010.

Cook, Edward M. Dictionary of Qumran Aramaic. University Park: Pennsylvania State

University Press, 2015.

Cooper, John W. Our Father in Heaven: Christian Faith and Inclusive Language for God. Grand

Rapids: Baker, 1998.

Craigie, Peter C., and Ronald Kenneth Harrison. The Book of Deuteronomy. Grand Rapids:

William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1976.

Craigie, Peter C. Marvin Tate, Psalms 1-50, Volume 19: Second Edition. Grand

Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2018.

Tyndale Bulliten22 (Jan 1971).

Cranfield, C. E. B. The Gospel According to St Mark: An Introduction and Commentary.

Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.

-Studia Biblica Slovaca 9, no. 1

(2017): 88103.

Crouch, C. L., Jonathan Stökl, and Anna Elise Zernecke. Mediating Between Heaven and Earth:

Communication with the Divine in the Ancient Near East. New York: Bloomsbury

Academic & Professional, 2014.

Crump, David. Knocking on Heavens' Door: A New Testament Theology of Petitionary Prayer.

Grand Rapids: Baker, 2006.

______. Jesus the Intercessor: Prayer and Christology in Luke-Acts, Mohr Siebeck, 2019.

Culpepper, R.A. The Anatomy of the Fourth Gospel: A Study in Literary Design. Philadelphia:

Fortress, 1983.

Currid, John D. Against the Gods: The Polemical Theology of the Old Testament. Wheaton:

Crossway, 2013.

_____. A Study Commentary on Deuteronomy. Webster, Evangelical Press, 2006.

316



Journal of Biblical Literature 111, no. 4 (1992): 61130.



 Semeia, no. 85 (1999).

 Harvard Theological

Review 85, no. 2 (1992): 149-74.

 Reflections 75 (1975): 5-8.

Dailey, Stephanie. Myths from Mesopotamia: Creation, the Flood. Gilgamesh and Others.

Oxford: Oxford University Press. 1989.

Davis, Dale Ralph. 2 Samuel: Out of Every Adversity. Fearn: Christian Focus, 2001.

Dearman, Andrew J. Jeremiah, Lamentations. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian

Publishing, 2002.

_____. The Book of Hosea. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2010.

Delitzsch, Franz. Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans,

Pub. Co., 1952.

Delitzsch, Friedrich. Babel and Bible: Two Lectures Delivered Before the Members of the

Deutsche Orient-Gesellschaft in the Presence of the German Emperor. United Kingdom:

Cambridge University Press, 2018.

DeSilva, David A. Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance. Grand

Rapids: Baker Academic, 2018.

Docherty, Susan. The Jewish Pseudepigrapha: An Introduction to the Literature of the Second

Temple Period. Minneapolis: 1517 Media, 2015.

Dodd, C.H. The Interpretation of the Fourth Gospel. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press;

1953.

The Divine Father. Religious and

Philosophical Concepts of Divine Parenthood in Antiquity. In Themes in Biblical

Narrative 18, edited by F. Albrecht and R. Feldmeier. Leiden: Brill, 2014.

Duguid, Iain M. A Study Commentary on Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi. England: EP Books,

2010.

Dunn, James D. G. The Evidence for Jesus. Philadelphia: Westminster, 1985.

317

______. The Partings of the Ways: Between Christianity and Judaism and Their Significance for

the Character of Christianity. London: SCM, 2006.

______. Jesus and the Spirit: A Study of the Religious and Charismatic Experience of Jesus and

the First Christians as Reflected in the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997.

Duvall, J. Scott., and J. Daniel. Hays. God’s Relational Presence: The Cohesive Center of

Biblical Theology. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2019.

Edwards, James R. The Gospel According to Luke. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans

Publishing Company, 2015.

_____. The Gospel According to Mark. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020.



In PROQUESTMS ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global,

Dallas Theological Seminary, 2003.

Egger-Wenzel, Renate., Stefan C. Reif. Ancient Jewish Prayers and Emotions: Emotions

Associated with Jewish Prayer in and Around the Second Temple Period. Berlin: De

Gruyter, 2015.

Elliott, Mark Adam. The Survivors of Israel: A Reconsideration of the Theology of Pre-Christian

Judaism. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000.

Embry, Brad., Ronald Herms, and Archie T. Wright., eds. Early Jewish Literature: An

Anthology. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2018.



 Revue De Qumrân 20, No. 2 (78) (2001): 287310;

Faulkner, R. O. The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, vol. 1. Warminster: Aris and Phillips. 1973.

_____. The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts. Oxford: Clarendon, 1969.

Feldman, Louis H., James L. Kugel, and Lawrence H. Schiffman. Outside the Bible: Ancient

Jewish Writings Related to Scripture. Philadelphia: The Jewish Publication Society,

2013.



 Zeitschrift fr die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde des

Urchristentums. 108, no. 1 (2017): 90118.



the Denkmal. Numen 23. no. 2 (1976).

318

A cause de l'Evangile:

Etudes sur les Synoptiques et les Actes offertes au. Edited by P. Jacques Dupont. Paris:

Cerf, 1985.

Flesher, Paul V. M., and Bruce D. Chilton. The Targums: A Critical Introduction. Waco: Baylor

University Press, 2011.

Flusser, David. Judaism of the Second Temple Period. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Pub.

Co., 2007.

Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period, Edited

by M. E. Stone (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984).

Forsyth, Peter Taylor. The Soul of Prayer. United Kingdom: Regent College Publishing, 1951.

______. The Gospel of Matthew. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2007.

Fredriksen, Paula. When Christians Were Jews: The First Generation. New Haven: Yale

University Press, 2018.



Pharos Journal of Theology,

Volume 101 (2020).

Fretheim, Terence E. The Suffering of God: An Old Testament Perspective. Philadelphia:

Fortress, 1984.

Freund, Richard A. Digging Through the Bible: Understanding Biblical People, Places, and

Controversies through Archaeology. Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2008.

Fuhr, Richard Alan., and Andreas J. Köstenberger. Inductive Bible Study: Observation,

Interpretation, and Application through the Lenses of History, Literature, and Theology.

Nashville: B & H Academic, 2016.

Fuller, R.H. Interpreting the Miracles. London: SCM, 1963.

Gabriel, Richard A. Gods of Our Fathers: The Memory of Egypt in Judaism and Christianity.

New York: Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2001.

Gale, Stanley D. The Christian's Creed. Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2018.

Garland, David E. Luke. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2011.

Garner, David B. Sons in the Son: The Riches and Reach of Adoption in Christ. Phillipsburg: P &

R Publishing, 2016.

319

Garrett, Duane A., and Paul Ferris, Hosea, Joel: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of

Holy Scripture. Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 1997.

Gavin, John. The Mysteries of the Lord’s Prayer: Wisdom from the Early Church. Washington,

D.C: The Catholic University of America Press, 2021.

God,” in God as Father? Edited by Johannes

Baptist Metz and Edward Schillebeeckx. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1981.

Paragraph 15, no. 3 (1992): 263.

Gibson, Jeffrey B. The Disciples’ Prayer: The Prayer Jesus Taught in Its Historical Setting.

Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2015.

Gibson, John C. Canaanite Myths and Legends. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2004.

Girardeau, J.L. Discussions of theological Questions (Harrisonburg: Sprinkle, 1986), 479.

Goldingay, John. Biblical Theology: The God of the Christian Scriptures. Westmont:

InterVarsity Press, 2016.

____. Psalms. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.

Goldsworthy, Graeme. Christ-Centered Biblical Theology: Hermeneutical Foundations and

Principles. Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2013.

_____. Gospel and Kingdom: A Christian Interpretation of the Old Testament. Exeter:

Paternoster Press, 1981.

Gonzalez, Justo L. Teach Us to Pray: The Lord’s Prayer in the Early Church and Today. Grand

Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2020.

Goshen-

 Journal of Ecumenical Studies 38, no. 4 (Fall 2001).

Gowan, Donald E. Bridge Between the Testaments: A Reappraisal of Judaism from the Exile to

the Birth of Christianity. Allison Park: Pickwick Publications, 1986.

Grabbe, Lester L. Judaic Religion in the Second Temple Period: Belief and Practice from the

Exile to Yavneh (London; Routledge, 2000)

 Journal of the American

Academy of Religion 50, no. 3 (1982): 44958.

Green, Joel B. Methods for Luke. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2010.

320

_____. The Gospel of Luke. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997.

Greer, Jonathan S., John W. Hilber, and John H. Walton. Behind the Scenes of the Old

Testament: Cultural, Social, and Historical Contexts. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2018.

Grogan, Geoffrey W., Tremper Longman III, and David E Garland. Proverbs – Isaiah. Grand

Rapids: Zondervan, 2017.

 Reading

Mark in Context: Jesus and Second Temple Judaism, edited by Ben C. Blackwell, et al.

Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018.

Gurtner, Daniel M. Introducing the Pseudepigrapha of Second Temple Judaism: Message,

Context, and Significance. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2020.

Gzella, Holger. A Cultural History of Aramaic: From the Beginnings to the Advent of Islam.

Leiden: Koninklijke Brill, 2015.

_____. Aramaic: A History of the First World Language. Chicago: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing

Co., 2021.

_____. Languages from the World of the Bible (Boston: De Gruyter, 2012).

Hamerton-Kelly, Robert. God the Father: Theology and Patriarchy in the Teaching of Jesus.

Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1979.

Hamilton, James M. Jr. Psalms, Vol. 1: Psalms 1-72: Evangelical Biblical Theological

Commentary. Bellingham: Lexham, 2021.

_____. Psalms, Vol. 2: Psalms 73-150: Evangelical Biblical Theological Commentary.

Bellingham: Lexham, 2021.

Journal of the Evangelical

Theological Society 43, no. 4 (December 2000): 67593.

Haralambakis, Maria. The Testament of Job: Text, Narrative and Reception History. London:

Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2014.

Harrison, R. K. Jeremiah and Lamentations: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove:

InterVarsity Press, 1973.

Harris, Murray J. The Seven Sayings of Jesus on the Cross: Their Circumstances and Meaning.

Eugene: Wipf and Stock Publishers, 2016.

Harrison, R. K. Jeremiah and Lamentations: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove:

InterVarsity Press, 1973.

321

Hart, George. The Routledge Dictionary of Egyptian Gods and Goddesses. Florence: Taylor &

Francis Group, 2005.

Hayman, A. Peter. Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible: Wisdom of Solomon. Chicago:

Eerdmans, 2021.

Hays, Christopher B. Hidden Riches: A Sourcebook for the Comparative Study of the Hebrew

Bible and Ancient Near East. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2014.

Heim, Erin M. Adoption in Galatians and Romans: Contemporary Metaphor Theories and the

Pauline Huiothesia Metaphors. Leiden: Brill, 2017.

Hendriksen, William. Exposition of the Gospel According to John. Grand Rapids: Baker Book

House, 1953.

Henze, Matthias., and Liv Ingeborg Lied, eds. The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Fifty Years

of the Pseudepigrapha Section at the SBL. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2019.

Hiestand, Gerald., and Todd A. Wilson. The Pastor Theologian: Resurrecting an Ancient Vision.

Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 2015.

Hill, Andrew E. Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Introduction and Commentary. Westmont:

InterVarsity Press, 2012.

Hill, Charles E., and Michael J. Kruger. The Early Text of the New Testament (Oxford: Oxford

Academic, 2012.

Hill, David. Greek Words and Hebrew Meanings: Studies in the Semantics of Soteriological

Terms. United Kingdom: University Press, 1967.

Hirsch, E. D. Jr. Validity in Interpretation. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1967.

Hodge, Caroline E. Johnson. If Sons, Then Heirs: A Study of Kinship and Ethnicity in the Letters

of Paul. Oxford; Oxford University Press, 2007.

 Religious Educator 6, no. 1 (2005):

4349.

Holland, Glenn S. Gods in the Desert: Religions of the Ancient Near East. Lanham: Rowman &

Littlefield Publishers, Incorporated, 2010.

Horst, Pieter Willem van der. Studies in Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity. Boston: Brill,

2014.

322

Hubbard, David Allan. Hosea: An Introduction and Commentary. Westmont: InterVarsity Press,

2009.

Huey, F. B. Jeremiah, Lamentations. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1993.

Humphrey, Edith M. Joseph and Aseneth. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2000.

Hundley, Michael B. Gods in Dwellings: Temples and Divine Presence in the Ancient Near East.

Williston: Society of Biblical Literature, 2013.

Jacob, Edmond. Theology of the Old Testament. New York: Harper, 1958.

Jenson, Robert W. Canon and Creed. Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2010.

Jeremias, Joachim. The Prayers of Jesus. London: SCM, 1967

______. Jesus and the Message of the New Testament, Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2002.

______. New Testament Theology. New York: Scribner, 1971.

______. Rediscovering the Parables. New York: Scribner, 1966.

______. The Central Message of the New Testament. New York: Scribner, 1965.

______. The Lord's Prayer. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1983.

______. The Sermon on the Mount. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1963.

Johnson, Luke Timothy. The Creed: What Christians Believe and Why It Matters. New York:

Doubleday, 2003.

Jones, Mark. The Prayers of Jesus: Listening to and Learning from Our Savior. Wheaton,

Illinois: Crossway, 2019.

HBT12 (1990).

Kaiser, Walter C. Jr., and Tiberius Rata. Walking the Ancient Paths: A Commentary on

Jeremiah. Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2019.

Kaiser, Walter C. I Will Lift My Eyes Unto the Hills: Learning from the Great Prayers of the Old

Testament. Ashland: Lexham Press, 2018.

_____. Malachi: God's Unchanging Love. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1984.

_____. Toward an Old Testament Theology. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Publishing House.

323

Kasper, Walter. The God of Jesus Christ. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2012.

Keener, Craig S. Matthew, Vol. 1, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series. Downers

Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1997.

______. The Gospel of John: 2 Volumes. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2010.

Kelly, J.N.D. Early Christian Creeds. London: Routledge, 2014.

Khobnya, Svetlana. The Father Who Redeems and the Son Who Obeys: Consideration of Paul's

Teaching in Romans. Havertown: James Clarke Company, 2014.

Kidner, Derek. Jeremiah. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2014).

_____. Psalms 1-72. Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2014.

_____. Psalms 73-150. Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2014.

_____. The Message of Hosea. Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 1984.

Journal of Religion 76 (October 1996):

61516.



Asian Journal of Pentecostal Studies 7, no. 2 (July 2004): 205217.

King, Philip J. A Study of Psalm 45. Rome: Pontifical Lateran University, 1959.

Kittel, Gerhard, G. W. Bromiley, Gerhard Friedrich, and G. W. Bromiley. Theological

Dictionary of the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964.

Klawans, Jonathan., and Lawrence M. Wills eds. The Jewish Annotated Apocrypha. Oxford:

Oxford University Press, Incorporated, 2020.

Klink, Edward W. III., and Darian R. Lockett. Understanding Biblical Theology: A Comparison

of Theory and Practice. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2012.

Klink, Edward W. III. John. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2016.

Knibb, Michael A., and Pieter W. Van Der Horst, eds. Studies on the Testament of Job: Society

for New Testament Studies Monograph Series. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,

1990.

The

Expository Times, 113(10), 2002, 333-337.

324

-

Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, 23(4), 2014, 307-320.

The Expository Times, 107(5), 1996, 137-140.

Köstenberger, Andreas J., and Scott R. Swain. Father, Son, and Spirit: The Trinity and John’s

Gospel. Nottingham, England: Apollos, 2008.

Köstenberger, Andreas J., and Patterson, Richard D. Invitation to Biblical Interpretation:

Exploring the Hermeneutical Triad of History, Literature, and Theology. Grand Rapids:

Kregel Academic, 2021.

Kostenberger, Andreas J. A Theology of John's Gospel and Letters: The Word, the Christ, the

Son of God. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2009.

_____. Signs of the Messiah: An Introduction to John’s Gospel. Ashland: Lexham Press, 2021.

Kramer, Samuel Noah. From the Poetry' of Sumer: Creation. Glorification. Adoration. Berkeley:

University of California Press. 1979.

_____. History Begins at Sumer: Thirty-nine Firsts in Man s Recorded History. Philadelphia:

University of Philadelphia Press, 1981.

_____. Sumerian Mythology: A Study of Spiritual and Literary Achievement in the Third

Millennium B.C. Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press. 1972.

The Harvard Theological Review 49, no. 1 (1956).

_____. The Sacred Marriage Rite: Aspects of Faith. Myth, and Ritual in Ancient Sumer.

Bloomington. Indiana University Press. 1969.

_____. The Sumerians. Their History, Culture, and Character. Chicago: University of Chicago

Press, 1963.

Our Naming of God, ed. Carl E. Braaten.

Minneapolis: Fortress, 1989.

Lane, William L. The Gospel According to Mark the English Text with Introduction, Exposition,

and Notes. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1974.

Langdon, Stephen. Sumerian Liturgies and Psalms. Publications of the Babylonian Section, vol.

10. no. 4. Philadelphia: University Museum. University of Pennsylvania. 1919.

umran Cave 4: Cryptic

Texts and Miscellanea vol. 1 (DJD 36), Oxford 2000; 369 386.

325



 Vigiliae Christianae 58, no. 3 (2004).

 Religions 13, no. 7 (2022).

The

New Testament as Canon: A Reader in Canonical Criticism. Sheffield: JSOT Press,

1992.

Letham, Robert. Systematic Theology. Wheaton: Crossway, 2019.

Liddell, Henry George., Robert Scott, and Henry Stuart Jones. A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford:

Clarendon, 1996.

Journal for

the Study of the Pseudepigrapha, 33(1), 51-74.

Lochman, Jan Milic. The Lord's Prayer. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1990.

______. All the Prayers of the Bible. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Pub. House, 1959.

Leprohon, Ronald J. The Great Name: Ancient Egyptian Royal Titulary. Williston: Society of

Biblical Literature, 2013.

Littman, R. J. Septuagint Commentary Series, Volume Tobit: The Book of Tobit in Codex

Sinaiticus. Leiden: Brill, 2008.

Lohfink, Gerhard. Jesus of Nazareth: What He Wanted, Who He Was. Collegeville: Liturgical

Press, 2012.

Longenecker, Richard N. Into God’s Presence: Prayer in the New Testament. Grand Rapids:

Eerdmans Pub Co, 2001.

Longman, Tremper., and David E. Garland. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. Grand Rapids:

Zondervan, 2011.

Longman, Tremper III. Jeremiah, Lamentations. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2008.

_____. Psalms. Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2014.

Lundbom, J. R. Jeremiah 1–20: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. New

York & London: The Anchor Yale Bible, 1999.

_____. Jeremiah 21-36: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. New York &

London: The Anchor Yale Bible, 1999.

326

_____. Jeremiah Among the Prophets. Cambridge: James Clarke & Co., 2013.

_____. Jeremiah: Prophet Like Moses. Eugene: Cascade Books, 2015.

_____. The Book of Jeremiah: Composition, Reception, and Interpretation. Leiden: Brill, 2018.

Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene Albert Nida. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament:

Based on Semantic Domains. New York: United Bible Societies, 1996.

Macartney, Clarence Edward Noble. Wrestlers with God; Prayers of the Old Testament. New

York: R.R. Smith, inc., 1930.

MacGregor, Kirk R. A Historical and Theological Investigation of John's Gospel. Cham:

Springer International Publishing AG, 2020.

Mackay, John L. A Study Commentary on Isaiah. Faverdale: Evangelical Press, 2008.

_____. Jeremiah: A Mentor Commentary. United Kingdom: Mentor, 2015.

Mackintosh, H. R. The Doctrine of the Person of Jesus Christ. Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1912.

_____. The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text, New International Greek

Testament Commentary. Grand Rapids: B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1978.

_____. The Origins of New Testament Christology. Leicester: IVP, 1976.

Martin, Francis. The Feminist Question: Feminist Theology in the Light of Christian Tradition.

Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994.

Mason, Rex. Old Testament Pictures of God. Oxford: Smyth and Helwys, 1993.

Masparo, Gaston. Everyday Life in Ancient Egypt. Milton: Taylor & Francis Group, 2005.

Matthews, Victor H. Old Testament Parallels: Laws and Stories from the Ancient Near East.

New York: Paulist Press, 2016.

Mazaheri, J. H. Calvin's Interpretation of 'the Lord's Prayer'. A Rhetorical Approach. Tbingen:

Narr Francke Attempto, 2017.

McCarter, P. Kyle. II Samuel: A New Translation with Introduction, Notes, and Commentary.

Garden City: Doubleday, 1984.

McComiskey, Thomas Edward. The Minor Prophets: An Exegetical and Expository

Commentary. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2009.

McConville, J. G. Deuteronomy. Leicester: Downers Grove: 2002.

327



Ecclesiastical Literature. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1880.

McDonald, Lee Martin., and James H. Charlesworth, eds., Non-Canonical Religious Texts in

Early Judaism and Early Christianity. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2014.

McGrath, Alister. Faith and the Creeds. London: SPCK, 2013. Trueman, Carl B. The Creedal

Imperative. Wheaton: Crossway, 2012.

Cyclopædia of Biblical, Theological, and

Ecclesiastical Literature. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1880.

 The American Journal of Theology 1, no. 3 (1897):

577600.

 Kairos: Evangelical Journal of

Theology 10, no. 2 (July 2016).

Meier, John P. A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus vol. 1: The Roots of the Problem

and the Person. New York: Doubleday, 1991.

 The Biblical Archaeologist 11, no. 2

(1948): 2440.

Mengestu, Abera M. God as Father in Paul: Kinship Language and Identity Formation in Early

Christianity. Eugene: Pickwick Publications, 2013.

Mercer, Samuel A. B. The Pyramid Texts: In Translation and Commentary. New York:

Longmans Green. 1952.

 Exploring the

Gospel of John, edited by R. A. Culpepper and C. C. Black, 255-273. Louisville:

Westminster John Knox, 1996.

Journal of Biblical Literature 133,

no. 1 (2014): 827.

Mieroop, Marc Van De. A History of the Ancient Near East, Ca. 3000-323 BC. Newark: John

Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2015.

Millar, Gary. Calling on the Name of the Lord: A Biblical Theology of Prayer. Downers Grove:

InterVarsity Press, 2016.

328



Studia Liturgica 3, no. 1 (Sum 1964): 2029.

several Contemporary

Ancient Near Eastern Myths: A Comparison." Studies in Religion 14, no. 3 (1985): 347-

354.

Miller, Patrick D. They Cried to the Lord: The Form and Theology of Biblical Prayer.

Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1994.



Evangelical Theological Society, (2002), 1-20.

Moore, Carey A. Tobit: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. New York: The

Anchor Yale Bible, 1996.

Morris, Leon L. Luke: An Introduction and Commentary. Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 2008.

_____. Jesus is the Christ: Studies in the Theology of John. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989.

_____. The Gospel According to John. Grand Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1995.

_____. The Gospel According to Matthew: The Pillar New Testament Commentary. Grand

Rapids; Leicester: W.B. Eerdmans; Inter-Varsity Press, 1992.



78.

Motyer, J. Alec. The Prophecy of Isaiah: An Introduction Commentary. Westmont: InterVarsity

Press, 1998.

Muraoka, Takamitsu. A Biblical Aramaic Reader: With an Outline Grammar. Leuven: Peeters

Publishers & Booksellers, 2020.

Murray, Paul. Praying With Confidence: Aquinas on the Lord’s Prayer. London: Continuum,

2010.

Neusner, Jacob. Judaism When Christianity Began: A Survey of Belief and Practice. Louisville:

Westminster John Knox Press, 2002.

 Journal for the

Study of the Pseudepigrapha 13, no. 2 (October 2002): 185207.

Nolland, John. Luke 1:1-9:20: Word Biblical Commentary Series Volume 35A. Grand Rapids:

HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2016.

329

_____. Luke 18:35-24:53: Word Biblical Commentary Series. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2018.

Nowell, Irene. Jonah, Tobit, Judith: Volume 25. Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2015.

Obeng, E. A. (1988). Abba, Father: The Prayer of the Sons of God. The Expository

Times, 99(12), 363366.

Osborne, Grant R. The Hermeneutical Spiral: A Comprehensive Introduction to Biblical

Interpretation. Westmont: InterVarsity Press, 1997.

Oswalt, John N. The Bible Among the Myths. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2009.

_____. The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 40-66. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing

Company, 1998.

Ott, W. Gehet und Heil Die Bedeutung der Gebetsparanese in der lukanischen Theologie. \

München Kosel, 1965.

Packer, J. I. Knowing God. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1973.

Pannenberg, Wolfhart. Systematic Theology. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1991.

Passaro, Angelo., and Giuseppe Bellia, eds. The Wisdom of Ben Sira: Studies on Tradition,

Redaction, and Theology. Berlin: De Gruyter Inc., 2008.

Patrick, Skehan W. The Wisdom of Ben Sira: A New Translation with Notes. New Haven &

London: The Anchor Yale Bible, 1987.

Petterson, Anthony R. Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi. Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press,

2015.

.” Journal of Biblical

Literature 43, no. 34 (1924): 22940.

Phillips, Richard D. John. Phillipsburg: P & R Publishing, 2014.

Pink, Arthur W. The Ability of God: Prayers of the Apostle Paul. Chicago: Moody Publishers,

2000.

_____. The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross. Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2005.

Porter, Anne., and Glenn M. Schwarz. Sacred Killing: The Archaeology of Sacrifice in the

Ancient near East. University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012.

Pritchard, James B., and Daniel E. Fleming, The Ancient Near East: An Anthology of Texts and

Pictures. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2011.

330



 Revue De Qumrân 20, No. 2 (78) (2001): 287310.

Reeves, Michael. Delighting in the Trinity: An Introduction to the Christian Faith. Downers

Grove: IVP Academic, 2012.

Riches, John. Jesus and the Transformation of Judaism. New York: Seabury, 1982.

Ridderbos, Herman N. The Gospel According to John: A Theological Commentary. Grand

Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Pub., 1997.

Ridlehoover, Charles Nathan The Lord's Prayer and the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew's

Gospel. London: T & T Clark, 2020.

Robertson, A.T. The Teaching of Jesus Concerning God the Father. London: Forgotten Books,

2012.

Ross, Allen P. A Commentary on the Psalms. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic & Professional,

2011.

Rutledge, Fleming. The Seven Last Words from the Cross. Chicago: Eerdmans, 2004.

Ryken, Philip Graham. The Prayer of Our Lord. Wheaton: Crossway, 2007.

Journal of Biblical Literature18, no. 1 (Mar 1962).

Schaff, Philip. The Creeds of Christendom. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1983.

_____. Modern Christianity: The Swiss Reformation, History of the Christian Church 8. Grand

Rapids: Eerdmans, 1910.

Schelbert, G. Abba Vater. Der literarische Befund vom Altaramischen bis zu den spten

Midrasch- und Haggada-Werken in Auseinandersetzung mit den Thesen von Joachim

Jeremias. Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2011.

Schreiner, Thomas R. New Testament Theology: Magnifying God in Christ. Grand Rapids: Baker

Academic, 2008.

_____. The King in His Beauty: A Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments. Grand

Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013.

PatērTheological Dictionary of the New Testament, edited by Gerhard, G. W.

Bromiley and Gerhard Friedrich, 945-958, 974-1022. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964.

331

Schrter, Jens. From Jesus to the New Testament: Early Christian Theology and the Origin of

the New Testament Canon. Waco: Baylor University Press, 2013.

Schuller, Eileen M., Jeremy. Penner, Ken M. Penner, and Cecilia Wassen. Prayer and Poetry in

the Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Literature Essays on Prayer and Poetry in the Dead

Sea Scrolls and Related Literature in Honor of Eileen Schuller on the Occasion of Her

65th Birthday. Leiden: Brill, 2012.

 The

Catholic Biblical Quarterly 54, no. 1 (1992).



WUNT 52.48, (1992), Tübingen: Mohr.

Sheets, Dutch. Intercessory Prayer: How God Can Use Your Prayers to Move Heaven and

Earth. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 2016.

Shepherd, David James., Jan Joosten, and Michaël van der Meer. Septuagint, Targum and

Beyond: Comparing Aramaic and Greek Versions from Jewish Antiquity. Boston:

BRILL, 2019.

Shoemaker, H. Stephen. Finding Jesus in His Prayers. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2004.

Siejkowski, Ashwin. The Apostles' Creed: And Its Early Christian Context. London: Bloomsbury

Publishing Plc, 2009.

Smail, Thomas A. The Forgotten Father. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing

Company, 1980.

Snaith, John. Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible: Sirach. Chicago: Eerdmans, 2021.

Spear, Wayne R. Talking to God: The Theology of Prayer. Pittsburgh: Crown & Covenant, 2002.

 Outside the Old

Testament, 231248. Cambridge Commentaries on Writings of the Jewish and Christian

World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986.

 68.

Strauss, Mark L. Mark: Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand

Rapids: Zondervan, 2014.

Stein, Robert H. Luke: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture (Nashville:

B&H Publishing Group, 1993), 339.

332

_____. Mark. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2008.

JSNT 44: (1991),

19-38.

Stott, John R. W. The Epistles of John. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964.

 Revue de Qumrân 13, no. 1/4

(49/52) (1988): 4558.

Stuart, Douglas K. Exodus: An Exegetical and Theological Exposition of Holy Scripture.

Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2006.

_____. Hosea-Jonah. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2020.



 Verbum Vitae 38, no. 2 (2020): 485502.

Talbert, Charles. Reading Luke: A Literary and Theological Commentary on the Third

Gospel. New York Crossroad, 1992.

The ‘Comparative Method’ in Biblical Interpretation—Principles and

Problems.” In Essential Papers on Israel and the Ancient Near East, edited by Frederick

E. Greenspahnx. New York: New York University Press, 1991.



Scriptures." Andrews University, Dissertations & Theses Global, 2002.

Tate, Marvin. Psalms 51-100, Volume 20. Grand Rapids: Zondervan Academic, 2018.

Taylor, Vincent. The Gospel according to St. Mark. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House, 1981.

BibSac 132:

37-46

Thayer, Joseph Henry, Carl Ludwig Wilibald Grimm, and Christian Gottlob Wilke. Thayer's

Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Coded with the Numbering System from

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1996.

Thiessen, Matthew Paul and the Gentile Problem. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016.

Thomas, W. H. Griffith. The Prayers of St. Paul

Thompson, J. A. The Book of Jeremiah. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980.

Thompson, Marianne Meye. The God of the Gospel of John. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2001.

333



Journal of Early Christian History, 4:2 (2014), 154-166.

_____. The Promise of the Father: Jesus and God in the New Testament. Louisville:

Westminster John Knox Press, 2000.

Thompson, Michael E. W. I Have Heard Your Prayer: The Old Testament and Prayer. Eugene:

Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2012.

Thorpe, Susan. Daily Life in Ancient Egyptian Personal Correspondence. Oxford: Archaeopress,

2021.

Tigay, Jeffrey H. Deuteronomy: [Devarim]: The Traditional Hebrew Text with the New JPS

Translation. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1996.

Tolmie, D. F. Jesus’ Farewell to the Disciples: John 13:1– 17:26 in Narratological Perspective.

Leiden: Brill, 1995.

 Kimel,

Speaking the Christian God: The Holy Trinity and the Challenge of Feminism. Grand

Rapids: W.B. Eerdmans Pub. Co., 1992.

Trinka, Eric M. Cultures of Mobility, Migration, and Religion in Ancient Israel and Its World.

London: Routledge, 2022.

Trotter, Jonathan. The Jerusalem Temple in Diaspora: Jewish Practice and Thought During the

Second Temple Period. Boston: BRILL, 2019.

Tsumura, David Toshio. The Second Book of Samuel. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans

Publishing Company, 2019.

VanderKam, James. Book of Jubilees. London: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2001.

 Journal of the Evangelical Theological

Society 31, no. 4 (December 1988): 38598.

_____. Psalms. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins Christian Publishing, 2017.

Vanhoozer, Kevin J., and Owen. Strachan. The Pastor as Public Theologian: Reclaiming a Lost

Vision. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Academic, 2015.

Verbrugge, Verlyn. New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology. Grand Rapids:

Zondervan, 2017.

334

Verhoef, Pieter A. The Books of Haggai and Malachi. Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans

Publishing Company, 1987.

Vermes, Geza. Jesus in the Jewish World. London: Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd, 2013.

Vernus, Pascal. The Gods of Ancient Egypt. New York: John Braziller, 1998.

Pharos Journal of Theology Volume

104 Issue 5 (2023).

 HTS Teologiese

Studies / Theological Studies, Volume 75 Number 3 (7 November 2019).

Vos, Geerhardus. Biblical Theology: Old and New Testaments. Eugene: Wipf & Stock, 2003.

Walton, John H., Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas. The IVP Bible Background

Commentary: Old Testament. Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2000.

Walton, John H. Ancient Near Eastern Thought and the Old Testament: Introducing the

Conceptual World of the Hebrew Bible. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2006.

Walton, John H., and J. Harvey Walton. The Lost World of Torah. Downers Grove: InterVarsity,

2019.



Bulletin for Biblical Research 29, no. 1 (2019).

Webb, Barry G. The Message of Isaiah: On Eagles’ Wings. Leicester: Inter-Varsity Press, 1996.

Weninger, Stefan., ed. The Semitic Languages: An International Handbook. Berlin/Boston: De

Gruyter, Inc., 2011.

West, Gerald., John Jarick and Lester L. Grabbe. Eerdmans Commentary on the Bible: Judith,

Greek Esther, Tobit. Chicago: Eerdmans, 2021.



 Anglican Theological Review 82, no. 3 (Summer, 2000).

Widmer, Michael. Standing in the Breach: An Old Testament Theology and Spirituality of

Intercessory Prayer. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2015.

Wiles, Gordon P. Paul's Intercessory Prayers: The Significance of the Intercessory Prayer

Passages in the Letters of St Paul. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1974.

Wilson, Gerald Henry., W. Dennis Tucker, and Jamie A. Grant. Psalms: From Biblical Text-To

Contemporary Life. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2002.

335

Wilson, Todd A., and Gerald Hiestand, eds. Becoming a Pastor Theologian: New Possibilities

for Church Leadership. Downers Grove: IVP Academic / InterVarsity Press, 2016.

Winn, Adam. Reading Mark’s Christology under Caesar: Jesus the Messiah and Roman

Imperial Ideology. Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2018.

_____. The Purpose of Mark’s Gospel: An Early Christian Response to Roman Imperial

Propaganda, WUNT 2:245. Tbingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 2008.

Witherington, Ben. Biblical Theology: The Convergence of the Canon. Cambridge: Cambridge

University Press, 2019.

_____. The Gospel of Mark: A Socio-Rhetorical Commentary. Grand Rapids: W.B.

Eerdmans Pub., 2001.

Woods, Edward J., and J. A. Thompson. Deuteronomy: An Introduction and Commentary.

Nottingham: Inter-Varsity Press, 2011.

Wright, Benjamin. Praise Israel for Wisdom and Instruction: Essays on Ben Sira and Wisdom,

the Letter of Aristeas and the Septuagint. Boston: BRILL, 2008.

Wright, Christopher J. H. Deuteronomy. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012.

_____. Knowing God through the Old Testament Three Volumes in One. Downers Grove:

InterVarsity Press, 2019.

_____. The Mission of God’s People: A Biblical Theology of the Church’s Mission. Grand

Rapids: Zondervan, 2010.

Wright, N. T., and Michael F. Bird. The New Testament in Its World: An Introduction to the

History, Literature, and Theology of the First Christians. Grand Rapids: HarperCollins

Christian Publishing, 2019.

 Anglican Journal: National Newspaper of the Anglican

Church of Canada = Journal épiscopal. 124, no. 3 (1998).



Prayer (Jn 17:1-The Person and the Challenges. The Journal of Theology, Education,

Canon Law and Social Studies Inspired by Pope John Paul II, 7(1), (2017).

Yee, Gale A., Hugh R. Page Jr., and Matthew J. M. Coomber. The Apocrypha: Fortress

Commentary on the Bible. Lanham: 1517 Media, 2016.

Youngblood, Ronald F. 1 and 2 Samuel. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2017.

336

Young, Edward J. The Book of Isaiah: The English Text, with Introduction, Exposition, and

Notes. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1965.

Zavarský, Svorad ed., et al. Themes of Polemical Theology Across Early Modern Literary

Genres. Cambridge: Scholars Publisher, 2016.