RBWords

     St. Paul was born and raised in a part of the Roman empire.  In his Letter to the Romans, he is writing to the community in Rome.  He and they would have been aware of the Roman laws of inheritance.  These laws (and Roman law in general) became part of the legal patrimony of the world and shape much of the civil law of the world (except in those English-speaking areas where the British common law holds sway).  My home state of Louisiana has a system of law based on Roman law and I had to study that in law school and especially had to know it to pass the bar exam in Louisiana.  The laws of inheritance in Roman law required parents to divide their property among their heirs.  If parents left no will, there would be a formula to determine this (unlike common law which allowed for everything to go to the oldest child if parents made no other disposition - "primogeniture.")  Parents could "disinherit" children only for certain very specific reasons.  In legal circles, this is called "forced inheritance." St. Paul uses the image of Roman law of inheritance to describe how we become children of God through baptism.  Baptism, for St. Paul, has the effect of adoption and an adopted child would inherit just as a natural-born child would.  That means we are "co-heirs" with Christ.  If we live according to Christ, we will participate in his glory.

     It may be difficult to imagine ourselves as adopted siblings to Jesus, but that is precisely what St. Paul is saying!  This idea got lost in other interpretations of baptism which emphasized the effects of removing original sin and making one a member of the Church.  The power of baptism continues to live in us as long as we remain faithful to our calling.   We are co-heirs with Christ.  AMEN