Adoption Papers

Today’s reading from the Letter to the Romans is an indication of St. Paul’s education in Greek philosophy and culture as he refers to our relationship with God and Jesus being formed through a spirit of adoption.  Adoption was not known in Jewish culture because of the family structure of that times.  As I have written before, the male children of would bring their wives to the home of their father and live there with their children and their brothers’ children and wives.  When the father died, the eldest brother took the place as the patriarch of the family.  The female children would, consequently, go to live in the homes of their husbands’ father.  Fathers and mothers, their children, with their aunts and uncles and cousins, would all live under the same roof.  Consequently if a parent or parents died or were killed accidentally, the children would simply go on living with their uncles and aunts and cousins and grandparents.  This was all dictated to provide for widows and orphans in the family structure of Israel.

However, adoption was known in the Roman and Hellenistic cultures of which St. Paul was familiar.  Roman citizens oftentimes adopted a devoted slave or servant to replace a lost child or to give them an heir if they were childless.  St. Paul draws upon this experience to explain how we have come to regard ourselves as children and heirs of the inheritance God gave to Jesus, his Son.

“For those who are led by the Spirit of God are children of God.  For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, “Abba, Father!”  The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if only we suffer with him so that we may also be glorified with him.”  (Romans 8:14-17)

In this way, St. Paul explains how we can claim kinship with Jesus, our Brother, and through his suffering and death, kinship with the Father.  Notice, however, that there is a condition stated in the adoption; namely, we must suffer with him in order to inherit the glory of the Resurrection.  Once again, it becomes more than evident that there is no Resurrection without the Cross.  No wonder, then, that in the Acts of the Apostles we hear of the apostles rejoicing when they were called upon to suffer for the sake of the Gospel.

“After recalling the apostles, they had them flogged, ordered them to stop speaking in the name of Jesus, and dismissed them.  So they left the presence of the Sanhedrin, rejoicing that they had been found worthy to suffer dishonor for the sake of the name.”  (Acts 5:41)

St. Paul also finds himself rejoicing in his sufferings (cf. Colossians 1:24).  Tomorrow’s passage from the Letter to the Romans will explain even further the cause of his joy.

This philosophy and theology are the basis for CUSA’s motto that “We suffer for a purpose.”  Suffering is the stamp of validity upon the adoption papers and the promise of glory to come.

Fr. Lawrence Jagdfeld, O.F.M., Administrator