For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, “Abba, Father.” Rom 8:14-15
I have been doing some study on the word Abba, since watching a movie called Father of Lights. I have heard some ministers say that this word means Daddy.
But is this a right assumption?
There is a language difference between what we would say in English and what someone would say in Aramaic.
For instance, what is the first word/sound a baby makes? If you are English speaking then baby’s first sound is da, which eventually becomes dada and then daddy, much to mom’s disappointment.
But baby also makes other sounds that are meaningless to us in English. One of those sounds is like an ahh, which just sounds like an annoying sound.
Now think about what happens when a Hebrew baby is encouraged to develop the ahh into an ab or the Aramaic equivalent abba.  That baby is now saying father.
Ab is the first two words in Strong’s Concordance of Hebrew words. It means father.
This is a title that only a son/daughter can use. It is the title that is taught at a young age.
The scripture tells us that we have not received the spirit of bondage again and can now call the Father, Abba.
It is a term that no slave could ever use of the master. They were strictly forbidden.
Once again Paul will use this word to convey to us that we are not slaves but children of Abba; Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, “Abba, Father!” Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. Gal 4:1-7
So the word has nothing to do with the intimacy of calling God “daddy”. It has everything to do with not being a slave of the Master but a child of the Father.
I do not know how your dad treated you.
He may have been loving, kind, and very instructive; or he may have been harsh, abusive, and didn’t care.
It is important that a child grows up with a father but certainly many do not, my own grandchildren for instance.
As much as a mom can teach the children about life, so is a man, the father, to teach the children about life.
The relationship between my own father and me became strained and distant but I had already grown up and had children of my own.
My own father was divorced from my mother and left me. I saw him every other weekend during my pre-teen and teen years.
Abba Father has promised “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Heb 13:5
He will be around; you can count on Him.