The Letter to the Romans (The New Daily Study Bible) by Barclay William

Author:Barclay, William [Barclay, William]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press
Published: 2010-11-04T16:00:00+00:00

ENTRY INTO THE FAMILY OF GOD

Romans 8:12–17

So then, brothers, a duty is laid upon us – and that duty is not to our own sinful human nature, to live according to the principles of that same nature; for, if you live according to the principles of sinful human nature, you are on the way to death; but if by the spirit you kill the deeds of the body, you will live. For all who are guided by the Spirit of God, these, and only these, are the children of God. For you did not receive a state whose dominating condition is slavery so that you might relapse into fear; but you received a state whose dominating characteristic is adoption, in which we cry: ‘Abba! Father!’ The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God. If we are children, then we are also heirs; and if we are the heirs of God, then we are joint heirs with Christ. If we suffer with him, we shall also be glorified with him.

PAUL is introducing us to another of the great metaphors in which he describes the new relationship of Christians to God. He speaks of Christians being adopted into the family of God. It is only when we understand how serious and complicated a step Roman adoption was that we really understand the depth of meaning in this passage.

Roman adoption was always rendered more serious and more difficult by the Roman patria potestas . This was the father’s power over his family; it was the power of absolute disposal and control, and in the early days it was actually the power of life and death. In relation to his father, a Roman son never came of age. No matter how old he was, he was still under the patria potestas , in the absolute possession and under the absolute control of his father. Obviously, this made adoption into another family a very difficult and serious step. In adoption, a person had to pass from one patria potestas to another.

There were two steps. The first was known as mancipatio , and was carried out by a symbolic sale, in which copper and scales were symbolically used. Three times the symbolism of sale was carried out. Twice the father symbolically sold his son, and twice he bought him back; but the third time he did not buy him back, and thus the patria potestas was held to be broken. There followed a ceremony called vindicatio . The adopting father went to the praetor , one of the Roman magistrates, and presented a legal case for the transference of the person to be adopted into his patria potestas . When all this had been done, the adoption was complete. Clearly, this was a serious and an impressive step.

But it is the consequences of adoption which are most significant for the picture that is in Paul’s mind. There were four main ones. (1) The adopted person lost all rights in his old family and gained all the rights of a legitimate son in his new family.

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