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Paul alludes to the patria potestas, the absolute power of the father in the family, in
Gal. 4:, where he speaks of "the child differing nothing from a slave" and goes on to say
"Thou art no longer a slave, but a son" (Gal. 4: 7). Paul also alludes to tutelage in 3: 23
and 4: 3, where we have such phrases as "kept in ward", "tutor to bring us to Christ",
"under guardians and stewards", and "children held in bondage".
So far as the ceremony was concerned, the difference between the transferring of a son
into slavery, and his becoming a member of the family was very slight. In the one case
the adopter said "I claim this man as my slave"; in the other, "I claim this man as my
son". The form was almost the same; it was the spirit that differed.
If the adopter died and the adopted son claimed the inheritance, the latter had to testify
to the fact that he was the adopted heir. Furthermore:
"the law requires corroborative evidence. One of the seven witnesses is called. `I was
present', he says, `at the ceremony. It was I who held the scales and struck them with the
ingot of brass. It was an adoption. I heard the words of the vindication, and I say this
person was claimed by the deceased, not as a slave, but as a son'." (W. E. Ball).
Bearing all these facts in mind, can we not feel something of the thrill with which the
Roman Christian would read the words of Rom. 8:?
"Ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the
spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit Itself beareth witness with
our spirit, that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs" (8: 15-17).
It is not so much the Holy Spirit addressing Himself here to the human spirit in
confirmation, but rather the joint witness of the Holy Spirit and the spirit of the believer
to the same blessed fact.
Closely associated with the law of adoption was that of the Roman will. The
Praetorian will was put into writing, and fastened with the seals of seven witnesses (cf.
Rev. 5: and 6:). There is probably a reference to this type of will in Ephesians.
"In Whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise,
which is the earnest of our inheritance, until the redemption of the purchased possession,
unto the praise of His glory" (1: 13, 14).
W. E. Ball translates the latter part of the passage, "Until the ransoming accomplished
by the act of taking possession (of the inheritance)":
"When a slave was appointed heir, although expressly emancipated by the will which
gave him the inheritance, his freedom commenced not upon the making of the will, nor
even immediately upon the death of the testator, but from the moment when he took
certain legal steps, which were described as `entering upon the inheritance'. This is `the
ransoming accomplished by act of taking possession'. In the last words of the passage,
`to the praise of His glory', there is an allusion to a well-known Roman custom. The
emancipated slaves who attended the funeral of their emancipator were the praise of his
glory. Testamentary emancipation was so fashionable a form of posthumous ostentation,
the desire to be followed to the grave by a crowd of freedmen wearing the `cap of liberty'