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illegal, whereas today a codicil can always be added to a will provided it is properly
witnessed.
We are greatly indebted in many respects to the researches of Sir William Ramsay in
Asia Minor and in his Historical Commentary on St. Paul's epistle to the Galatians he
deals with the process of adoption and will-making. He writes:
"The idea that they who follow the principle of faith are sons of Abraham, whatever
family they belong to by nature, would certainly be understood by the Galatians as
referring to the legal process called adoption, huiothesia.
Adoption was a kind of embryo will; the adopted son became the owner of the
property, and the property could pass to a person that was naturally outside the family
only through his being adopted. The adoption was a sort of will-making; and this
ancient form of will was irrevocable and public. The terms `son' and `heir' are
interchangeable.
An illustration from the ordinary fact of society, as it existed in the Galatian cities, is
here stated: `I speak after the manner of men'. The will (diatheke) of a human being is
irrevocable when once duly executed. But, if Paul is speaking about a will, how can he
say, after it is once made, it is irrevocable?
Such irrevocability was a characteristic feature of Greek law, according to which
an heir outside the family must be adopted into the family; and the adoption was the
will-making. The testator, after adopting his heir, could not subsequently take away from
him his share of the inheritance or impose new conditions on his succession. The
Roman-Syrian Law Book will illustrate this passage of the Epistle. It actually lays down
the principle that a man can never put away an adopted son, and that he cannot put away
a real son without good ground. It is remarkable that the adopted son should have a
stronger position than the son by birth; yet it is so. The expression in Gal. 3: 15, `when
it hath been confirmed' must also be observed. Every will had to be passed through the
Record Office of the city. It was not regarded in the Greek law as a purely private
document. It must be deposited in the Record Office."
From this extract it will be seen that a man's will made at this period of history gave
the Apostle Paul a splendid illustration to show that the law of Moses given 430 years
later could not abrogate God's unconditional promise to Abraham. Just as a human
testament once made and completed could never be altered in early N.T. days, so the
Lord's promises of grace to Abraham could not be changed or rendered null and void by
Moses' law or by anything else:
"And this I say, that the covenant that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law
which was four hundred and thirty years after, cannot disannul, that it should make the
promise of none effect. For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise, but
God gave it to Abraham by promise" (3: 17, 18).
Some may have a difficulty with verse 16:
"Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, and to seeds,
as of many, but as of one and to thy seed which is Christ."
This verse is beloved of amillennialists who want to spiritualize everything connected
with the kingdom of God even if it relates to the earth. They reject the idea that
Abraham's seed can refer to the literal people of Israel and this is the verse they