[B-Greek] why is hUIOQESIA translated "adoption"?
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Sun Oct 28 17:24:07 EDT 2007
On Oct 28, 2007, at 3:32 PM, Mark Frost wrote:
> I was wondering why most NT translations translate hUIOQESIA (Rom.
> 8:15 for example) as "adoption", which seems to me to be more of an
> interpretation than a literal translation of "placing as an adult
> son". Is there some extra-biblical Greek writing that uses
> uihothesia to mean what we know to be adoption, rather than what
> the Romans of the fist century might have known to be the
> Liberalia, where the son would receive the toga virilis and
> ceremonially become an adult son, with all the privileges and
> responsibilities of adulthood. I guess what I'm asking is this:
> Does anyone know if there is any extra-biblical Greek documentation
> that supports translating the word as "adoption", where someone
> takes a child as their own who was born to other parents?
It's a Greek word found in extra-Biblical literature and
inscriptions. Here's the LSJ entry:
υἱο-θεσία, ἡ [hUIOQESIA, hH], adoption as a son, Nic. Dam.
130.18 J.; in a religious sense, πνεῦμα υἱοθεσίας
[PNEUMA hUIOQESIAS] Ep.Rom.8.15, cf. 23, Ep.Gal.4.5; freq. in
Inscrr., in the phrase καθ' υἱοθεσίαν [KAQ' hUIOQESIAN],
GDI2581.218 (Delph., ii B. C.), SIG581.102 (Crete, ii B. C., ὑο-):
pl., νεανίσκων υἱοθεσίας ποιεῖσθαι
[NEANISKWN hUIOQESIAS POIEISQAI] D.L.4.53.
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Ret)
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