3 and 4, they must be viewed in the light of the law of adoption -- and more

particularly, the Greek law of adoption.  At the same time it must be remembered

that Paul also uses the term in Romans, so that we must also bear in mind the

Roman law on the subject:

`The adopted son became a member of the family, just as if he had been

born of the blood of the adopter; and he was invested with all the

privileges of a filius familias.  As a matter of fact it was by this means

that the succession amongst the Caesars was continued.  It never descended

from father to son.  What with poison, divorce, luxury and profligacy, the

surviving members of a family were few, the descent suffered constant

interruption, and whole families disappeared ... In no case amongst the

Caesars did the throne pass from father to son ... Augustus was the great

nephew of Julius Caesar, and was adopted from the Octavian into the Julian

gens.  Tiberius was no relation at all to his predecessor: he was merely

the son of Augustus's wife, Livia, by Tiberius Claudius Nero.  Here we

have the introduction of another family -- the Claudii ... Nero was the

great nephew of his predecessor Claudius, who had adopted him in the year

a.d. 50' (Septimus Buss).

Adoption was of two kinds: adoption proper, and adrogation.

Adoption proper.-- It must be remembered that the father in Roman law had

absolute control over his family, possessing the same rights over his children

as over his slaves.  By this patria potestas the son was deprived of the right

to own property, and the father could inflict any punishment he thought fit,

even to the extent of the death penalty.  He could also sell his son into

bondage.  According to the law of the XII Tables, however, a father forfeited

his potestas if he sold his son three times.  For this reason, in the case of

adoption, a legal ceremony took place in which the father went through the

process of selling his son three times, and the son passed over completely to

the potestas of the adopter.  In later times

the cumbersome ceremony was substituted by a simple declaration before the

Praetor or Governor.

Adrogation.-- When the person to be adopted was his own master, he was

adopted by the form called adrogation (from the word for `ask', since in this

case the adopter, the adopted, and the people were `asked' rogatur).  The law

demanded that the adopter should be at least eighteen years older than the

adopted, for, says Justinian:

`Adoption imitates nature, and it seems unnatural that a son should be

older than his father' (Justinian).

`Adoption was called in law a capitas diminutio, which so far annihilated

the pre-existing personality who underwent it, that during many centuries

it operated as an extinction of debts' (W. E. Ball).

Adoption involved:

a change of family.-- The adopted person was transferred from one

gens to another.

a change of name.-- The adopted person acquired a new name: for he

assumed the name of his adopter, and modified his own by the