Yesterday was Father’s Day. I was thinking about fathers, and my next books which are set in ancient Rome. So then I thought about dads in Rome. Then I thought about how different God our Heavenly Father is from father in ancient Rome.
Yeah, weird, I know. But that’s how my mind works when I’m in the middle of a book.
In Rome: The head of the Roman family was the oldest living male, called the “paterfamilias,” or “father of the family.” He controlled their religious life, owned all the money and land, and had absolute power over his household and children. Though it rarely happened, he had the legal right to disown his children, sell them into slavery or even kill them. (They could only be sold three times each, though. After that the father was considered unfit and the child was emancipated.) It was up to each man to use his power to benefit all his family or just himself.
The Living God: God, too, has absolute power. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together” (Colossians 1:17). But God is not only all-powerful, he is GOOD. It is never his will to harm us. “The LORD is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made” (Psalm 145.9).
In Rome: Only the paterfamilias could own property. Sons, even if married and certainly not daughters, only received an allowance to manage their own households until the paterfamilias died.
The Living God: God owns everything in heaven and earth. “The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all it contains, you have founded them” (Psalm 89:11). “…for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. I know every bird in the mountains, and the insects in the fields are mine (Psalm 50:10-11). But he freely gives gifts to all. “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17).
And God never dies! He is eternal, without beginning or end, the Ancient of Days.
Mother breastfeeding a baby in the presence of the father. Detail from the sarcophagus of Marcus Cornelius Statius, who died as a young child. Circa 150 AD. Photo by Jastrow
In Rome: Romans put tremendous value on continuing the family name. This meant sons were more important than women. If a father had no sons then he could adopt one—often a nephew—to whom he would give his name and eventually his property. Fathers chose their daughters’ husbands, often marrying young girls to much, much older men, and a daughter was under her father’s authority even more than her husband’s.
The Living God: God values women as highly as he does men. Jesus spoke to women directly in public, unusual for his time. He spoke thoughtfully, compassionately, addressing them as “daughter.” The first person who saw the risen Lord was a woman, who was told to go and share this news when women weren’t allowed to give testimony in court. “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).
In Rome: The paterfamilias decided whether a newborn baby would live or die. After a child—or grandchild—was born in his family the paterfamilias had to formally accept it and give it a name. If for any reason—birth defects, wrong gender, unclear paternity, too many mouths to feed—the baby would be left somewhere he could be found. Often these children were claimed, sometimes as slaves by richer families but sometimes they were adopted by a family that wanted more children.
The Living God: God never abandons anyone. He accepts all of us because he created all of us. He adopts us into his family, declares us sons and daughters of the King, and showers us with love and gifts. “This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring” (Romans 9:8). “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are” (1 John3:1)