God is For Us by Simon Ponsonby

Author:Simon Ponsonby
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lion Hudson plc
Published: 2013-04-07T16:00:00+00:00

The Jewish Christian scholar Joachim Jeremias said that the designation of God as Abba was one of the most authentic utterances of Jesus, being almost unique in religious usage. He says, “We are confronted [here] with something new and astounding. Herein lies the great novelty of the gospel.”200 It has no parallel in the Old Testament, nor in the Judaism of Christ’s time. Only one late first-century source is found in rabbinical Judaism, and that is placed as a prayer on the lips of children, then echoed by a rabbi. We must not soften the scandal of its intimacy by bringing a more mature, hands-off interpretation as father. This was the affectionate, intimate word a child uses of their dad at home – “dear papa”. Jesus called God Abba and he invites us into the same relation with God that he had. We are welcomed into the home life of the Trinity.

In conclusion

As I was writing this chapter I heard of an epic tragedy in Majorca. A father and son were on rocky outcrop by the sea when a wave dragged the son into the water. The father instantly jumped into the sea to save his son, but both were washed away and drowned. We were told that the father couldn’t swim – he had never learned – but he jumped into the waves anyway, knowing there was a high chance that he would die, in order to be near his son, to try and save him. That’s what a father does. And that is what happened when God in Christ jumped into the stormy seas of sin and death and judgment, and did so knowing he would forfeit his own life. But in our case, he held us aloft that we might be saved.

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