e receive (such is the
implication {292} of St. Paul's language)[2] a spirit proper not to
slaves but to sons of God, qualifying us to call on God as our father,
and to co-operate in the purposes of His kingdom. It remains for us to
claim these powers and privileges of our sonship, and to claim them to
the full. Yet how many anxious-minded Christians of our day would
appear to have received nothing more nor less than the spirit of
slaves! They realize their religion as a restraint, a responsibility,
a cause of fear. And such a servile religion is no doubt better than a
hypocritical sense of sonship unaccompanied by the fear of sin. The
wise man remarks that 'a servant that dealeth wisely shall have rule
over a son that causeth shame, and shall have part in the inheritance
among the brethren[3].' But the spirit of the slave is not what we are
called to. If we had more religion, if we would give it freer course,
if we would consent to think less of our circumstances and more of God
and His gifts, there would be less fear and more joy both in our work
and our prayer.

3. _Abba, Father_. Our Lord, speaking in {293} Aramaic, the
vernacular of Palestine, is recorded by St. Mark in His hour of agony
to have said _Abba_. And even in the Greek-speaking churches of St.
Paul's day, that sacred word was still used side by side with its Greek
equivalent, according to the witness of this and the parallel passage,
Gal. iv. 6. St. Paul appears to be referring to some occasion on which
the Church was in the habit of calling on God with the Aramaic and
Greek words side by side, and it is more than likely[4] that he is
making a definite reference to the Lord's Prayer, as recited by the
Roman and Galatian Christians in the form prescribed for us in St.
Luke's version[5], beginning 'Father.' The retention by Greek
Christians of an Aramaic word in a familiar religious formula, is like
the later retention by the Latins of the Greek prayer, _Kyrie eleison_,
or the retention by us of the names _Te Deum, Magnificat_, &c. St.
Paul's meaning would come home to us better if we were to
read--'whereby we cry _Our Father_.'

4. '_The Spirit himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are
children of God_.' This is a very {294} important passage for showing
that St. Paul did not in any way confuse the divine Spirit and the
human, and that in his belief the divine indwelling did not in any way
annihilate the human personality. Eve