Weekly Bible Study - Deut 4:32-40 ▪ Rom 8:14-17

31 May 2015
Solemnity of the Most Holy Trinity

It seems, from our reading of the Old Testament, that the first thing God wanted the Israelites to know was that there is  no other God like our God, Yahweh. In today’s first reading Moses reminds the assembly that it was the Lord God who performed wondrous deeds “before their very eyes,” and no other. This speech, one of many in the Book of Deuteronomy, does more than reminisce about God’s saving acts and powerful revelations “speaking from the midst of fire.” It is more than a promise to the children of Israel. It is a clarion call that they should “fix in their hearts that the Lord is God, ... and that there is no other.”

In his Letter to the Romans, Paul wants to fix this same image in the hearts of the Roman Christians of his time. The Spirit bears witness, Paul teaches, that followers of Jesus are children of God. Could there be any greater reassurance than that? God is our Father and there is no other! Nothing else to be relied on or believed in. We have received a spirit of adoption, enabling us to cry “Abba, Father.” It is important to note that the original intent of “Abba” was not exactly the familiar “daddy” as is sometimes suggested today. In its Aramaic and Hebrew origins, “Abba” is an intimate designation of God as Father, but with a focus on reverence, solemnity, an acknowledgement of God’s sovereignty. In the one place in the Gospel in which Jesus addresses God in this way (Mark 14:36) the focus of the passage is complete obedient surrender of the will of Jesus to the will of God. This should give us pause as we ask: Are we truly ready to call God “Abba?” Are we ready to be obedient, even unto death?

The language of Deuteronomy and Romans may be separated by the saving act of Jesus, but the message is one message: We are the children of God, the God who is the sovereign Lord of all creation and no other. As we unite ourselves with Jesus in his life and in his suffering and death, we will also join him in his resurrection from the dead.

The author, Ms. Barbara Gawle, leads Bible studies at her parish, Incarnation Church of Wethersfield, CT. She is a CBS graduate and the 2012 recipient of the Biblical School's highest award, the Lawrence Boadt Memorial Medal.