Is Bar Mitzvah the same as Roman adoption?
No, Bar Mitzvah is not the same as Roman adoption. The rite is only akin to it in Hebrew culture, occurring when a boy reaches age fourteen. Roman and Greek adoption involved tutoring and training to prepare a child to become a co-worker in the family business, whereas Paul teaches believers are immediately placed as heirs.
Les explains that Paul uses adoption as practiced in Roman and Greek culture: a child born to the husband and wife was put under tutors, educated and trained, and prepared to come in at an equal level with the father, perhaps for business. When the child reached that point, he went through the rites of adoption. The Hebrew culture has something akin in Bar Mitzvah, when a boy reaches age 14. But Les notes it was not in the same category as the Romans and Greeks did, because they were in the secular world and were preparing the child to come in and be a co-worker in the business. By contrast, Paul teaches that the moment we become a believer, we do not go through years of tutoring and training; we are immediately placed as an heir with the Father and the Son. We were predestinated as a believer to that position with Christ from day one, as a joint heir in the process of the adoption. Les also connects this to Ephesians 1:11, where we have obtained an inheritance and are joint heirs with Christ.
Having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself, according to the good pleasure of his will,
More Questions
What did adoption mean in the Roman and Greek culture that Paul refers to?
As Paul uses the word, adoption refers to the Roman/Greek custom in which a child born into a family was placed under tutors, educated, trained, and prepared until he could come in at an equal level with his father, and then he went through the rites of adoption.