Although Paul does not explicitly say so, it is clear that Romans
8:14-17 and Galatians 4:1-7 refer to the transformation that takes place during
baptism. Other baptism passages speak specifically of receiving the spirit:
"For also by one spirit (εν πνευματι), we were
baptized into one body, whether Ioudaioi or Greeks or slaves or free,
and we were all made to drink of one spirit (εν πνευμα)" (I Cor 12:13). Furthermore, in the
Galatians passage, the shift from slaves to sons parallels the story of the
gentiles in Galatians 3:22-29 (coming just before Gal 4:I-7), in which they are
first imprisoned, but then released through baptism. As a result they are
"sons of God," "Abraham's seed," and "heirs according
to the promise" (3:26, 29). In the Romans passage, the language of
"suffering together" and "being glorified together" with
Christ (8:17: "If indeed we suffer with him so that we may also be
glorified with him") recalls Romans 6, where Paul uses a similar string of
syn prefixes to articulate the imitative nature of baptism: "Therefore we
were buried with him through baptism into death, so that just as Christ was
raised from the dead through the glory of the father, so also we in newness of
life may walk" (6:4). Paul goes on to explain that as our former self was
crucified with him (συνεσταυρωθη) (6:6), so we will live together in him (συζήσομεν αύτω) (6:8).
It is significant that adoption of the gentiles occurs during the
ritual of baptism. Recall that in patrilineal societies, children are accepted
into the family through rituals of initiation. Baptism serves a similar purpose
in Paul's presentation of the new status of gentiles-in-Christ. Through this
ritual in which gentiles receive the spirit, Paul suggests that they are
transformed from slaves to sons; they are granted a new ancestry and are now
descendants of Abraham. As we have seen, adoption creates new kinship relations
through a socially accepted ritual which is sanctioned by the gods. For Paul,
the spirit provides divine legitimation; it is the divine (and also
"physical") agent which links the gentiles to Christ.
Romans 8:14-17 and Galatians 4:1-7 describe the same basic theory of
kinship creation: Paul establishes a kinship for gentiles which is based not on
shared blood, but on shared spirit. Yet, as we have seen, spirit, like blood,
is understood as a material entity. By taking in this spirit in baptism,
gentiles are ritually created heirs in the family. In this strategy, Paul does
not abandon traditional conceptions of descent in favor of a purely spiritual
connection in which matter is irrelevant. Instead, he incorporates his own
innovation (adoption by the spirit) into traditional models (household,
inheritance, coming of age). In the following chapters, we will see this sort
of creative reworking of kinship with respect to "faithfulness" and
the "promise" as well: in each case, Paul weaves his own definitions
of kinship into traditional patrilineal notions. These new kinships rely upon
the logic of "shared blood," even as they serve as alternatives to
"blood" relationships.
The adoption of the gentiles incorporates a new people into an already
existing kin group. The gentiles become like sons in the household, not to
replace those who are there, but to share the inheritance with them. Paul
builds upon a tradition that expects gentiles to be reconciled to the God of
Israel in the transition to the new age (described in Romans 11 with the image
of grafting a wild olive shoot onto a cultivated tree). In Romans 8:14-17 and
Galatians 4:1-7, we encounter Paul working out the mechanics of this reconciliation.
These passages describe mythic, originary moments for gentiles- in-Christ, a
rebirth as sons and heirs of God. (Caroline Johnson Hodge, If Sons, Then
Heirs: A Study of Kinship and Ethnicity in the Letters of Paul [Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 2007], 76-77)
