What motivates people today to adopt is often quite different from Roman times. Paul tells us that we have been adopted as children of God. What does that involve, and why was that metaphor used?
Adoption was not specified in the Law, nor was it widely practised in the Old Testament. To fully grasp the wondrous gift of becoming a child of God, let’s look at the process through a first-century lens.
When a baby was born in 1st-century Roman society, its relationship with its father, in particular, was often not permanent for various reasons. Roman fathers legally had nearly limitless power over their families, especially their children, until they died. These powers included the right to arrange marriages or force divorce, disown, sell, or even expose or kill his child. Yet adoption was a permanent state.
We will explore the common practice of abandoning newborns, the position of slave and free, and the importance of an heir. Were adoptees usually babies or adults? What were the legalities of adoption, judges and witnesses? And what were the consequences for the adopted person regarding his old and new lives?
We will then look at the privileges of becoming, along with Jesus, a child of God. A final question is Why? Why does God want to make us heirs?
