abba,father?

Question

what does abba mean in the bible

Answer 1

"Abba" is the Aramaic word for "father". It is specifically, the form of the word used when speaking TO someone. In other words, if you want to use older or more formal English, you could translate it "O father"

This form was used in Jewish prayers, and picked up in the prayers of the early church. We find Jesus using it when praying (in the Garden of Gethsemane story as told in Mark's gospel). It reappears and in a couple of references by Paul (Romans 8, Galatians 3) where he speaks of Christians' being able to cry out (that is, to pray) "Abba, Father"

Actually, the Greek reads - Abba pater, following the Aramaic word with its Greek equivalent. This might be to make the meaning clear. But even his Gentile readers probably already knew the meaning of that word --as they knew common Hebrew words like "Amen" and "Hallelujah". I suggest that it is to remind his audience that Jewish and Greek-speaking/Gentile Christians could call God "Father", perhaps even that they both do so TOGETHER - since most of these churches had both groups in them.
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(There is a popular notion you may hear, that this form that little children use and that it means "Daddy". But that is not true. They have misunderstood the ending -a, which simply indicates speaking TO someone. In fact, the same form is used in one of the few Aramaic parts of the Bible to speak to King Nebuchadnezzar -- the speakers say "O king [malka], live forever!" Clearly they were not using a familiar form or 'babytalk'!

I think the reason even pastors sometimes slip into this mistake is that may have studied HEBREW, which doesn't have this ending, but they've not studied Aramaic, since it only makes up a few chapters of the Old Testament, plus a handful of individual words. )

Answer 2

Abba was the Aramaic word for "Father." Aramaic was the spoken language of Jesus' time. When the bible was translated into English, the translators kept the original word and then followed it with its English translation.

Answer 3

Abba is the name that Jesus used when calling His Father while He was in the garden of Gethsemane.