For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father.
For ye have not received - rather, 'For ye received not;' that is, when ye believed through grace.
The spirit of bondage. The meaning is, The spirit ye then received was not a spirit of bondage,
Again [gendering] to fear, х palin (G3825) eis (G1519) fobon (G5401)] - as when ye were under the law which "worketh wrath" - q.d., 'That was your condition before ye believed-living in legal bondage, haunted with incessant forebodings under a sense of unpardoned sin-it was not to perpetuate that wretched state that ye received the Spirit.'
But ye have received ('ye received') the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, х en (G1722) hoo (G3739) krazomen] - rather, 'wherein we cry.' The word "cry" is emphatic, expressing the spontaneousness, the strength, and the exuberance of the filial emotions. In Galatians 4:6 this cry is said to proceed from the Spirit in us, drawing forth the filial exclamation in our hearts-here it is said to proceed from our own hearts under the vitalizing energy of the Spirit, as the very element of the new life in believers (see the note at Romans 8:4; and cf. Matthew 10:19-20). But why does the apostle write both these synonymous words, Abba and Father! "Abba" is the Aramaic or Syro-Chaldaic word for "Father;" and the Greek word for this is added, not surely to tell his readers that both mean the same thing, but for the same reason which drew both words from the lips of Christ Himself during His Agony in the Garden (Mark 14:36 - see Commentary on this, p. 332, second column). He doubtless loved to utter His Father's name in both the accustomed forms, beginning with His cherished mother-tongue, and adding that of the learned. So the Highlanders of Scotland, accustomed equally to Gaelic and English, might in their devotions pass naturally from the language of their childhood to that in which all their education had been received. In this view the use of both words here has a charming simplicity and warmth.