Galatians 4:4,5

‘But when the fullness of the time came God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.'

But the God Who made the covenant, when the time allotted had fully run its course, sent forth His Own Son. He became truly human (born of a woman), and restricted Himself under the Law, satisfying its requirements to the full. And His purpose in coming was to deliver men and women from under the Law which imprisoned them and kept them under restraint, so that they might be adopted as full grown sons, free from all restraints.

Only those who have felt the burden and oppression of a Law they strive to fulfil and cannot, who have felt themselves overwhelmed by forces that they felt were dragging them down and restricting them, who have seen themselves under the inexorable control of fate, or have felt themselves controlled by heavenly influences such as the zodiac, can fully appreciate the freedom that was now on offer. All restrictions would be removed and they would be responsible only to God and influenced only by God. They could throw off all restraints except the direct restraint of the Father. The burden of the ages could fall from their shoulders.

‘The fullness of the time came.' This was no accident of chance but chosen by God from the beginning. The promise that was made to Abraham was fulfilled in the time appointed. Thus is expressed the total sovereignty of God over all things. It was neither before nor after God's allotted time.

‘God sent forth His Son.' Notice the implication that He was there to be sent. He was pre-existent with the Father ‘in the beginning' (John 1:1). And God sent Him forth to be, and to live as, a human being in this world under restraint. What a price was this. He laid aside His Godhead and became a servant, He humbled Himself by becoming man, and it was for us (Philippians 2:6). For God ‘spared not His own Son but delivered Him up for us all' that He might ‘freely give us all things' (Romans 8:32).

‘Born of a woman.' His humanity was genuine. He endured genuine human birth. There may even be a hint here of the virgin birth (he could have said ‘begotten by man' or ‘born of human parents').

‘Born under the Law.' From birth He was subject to all the stipulations of the Law, both ceremonial and moral, and to all the other restrictions that affect mankind. Even the stricter Pharisees could find nothing to point the finger at in His life and behaviour except in points where He soon revealed them to be wrong. And He perfectly fulfilled all that the Law required, for only so could He be the Redeemer. He ‘knew no sin' (2 Corinthians 5:21). He ‘did no sin, neither was guile found in His mouth' (1 Peter 2:22). He was ‘tempted in all points like we are and yet without sin' (Hebrews 4:15).

‘That He might redeem those who were under the Law.' And His purpose in coming was in order to ‘redeem'. His deliverance is regularly seen in terms of redemption, of ransom (Mark 10:45), of the payment of a price (1 Peter 1:18), but includes also the thought of redemption by power (Titus 2:14). Here the thought is of being released from the bondage of the Law and Galatians 3:13 demonstrates that substitution is involved, the taking by One of what should be borne by another. However it must not be seen just in terms of a straight swap. The substitute also summed up in Himself the ones substituted. The Creator was dying for His creation.

Redemption is an Old Testament concept. God redeemingly delivers by the expenditure of His power, depicted in terms of being at great expense to Himself or with great power (Genesis 48:16 with Genesis 32:24; Exodus 6:6; Deuteronomy 7:8; Deuteronomy 9:26; Deu 15:15; 2 Samuel 7:23; Nehemiah 1:10; etc.) Something can also be redeemed by being replaced by a substitute (Exodus 13:13; Exodus 34:20) or by the payment of a price (Exodus 21:8; Leviticus 25:25; Leviticus 25:29; Leviticus 25:48; Leviticus 27:13; Numbers 3:46; Numbers 18:15; Ruth 4:4; Nehemiah 5:8), and some sacrifices also contain this idea.

Often when God ‘redeems', a regular Old Testament concept, no price is mentioned, but there is always some kind of price to be paid because God must exert Himself on their behalf. In one case the idea of price is specifically excluded (Isaiah 52:3), although the idea then is rather of being without price to the recipients. It does, however, confirm the general principle that it usually involves a price. So here the main thought is of His active intervention in power, seen against the above background of a price for redemption. It is God active in getting back what is ‘lost' to Him by the exercise of power. But the term itself assumes a cost.

So the overall idea of redemption is of the deliverance of something or someone who is lost to the redeemer, or is enslaved, or is doomed to die, either by the exercise of power, by God giving of Himself, or by the payment of a price, or by providing a substitute.

In the New Testament era the redemption of slaves by the payment of a price was common and this idea is regularly used in the New Testament while also having the above background in mind. We are redeemed, not with silver and gold, with something more valuable, by the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18; Ephesians 1:7; Colossians 1:14; Hebrews 9:12; Hebrews 9:15). We have been bought with a price (1 Corinthians 6:20; 1 Corinthians 7:23; 2 Peter 2:1). As here in Galatians the death of Christ was necessary for our redemption (compare Mark 10:45 - the ‘ransom for many'). But that that redemption includes the exercise of the power of God is clear from Titus 2:14, and the close connection of the reception of the Holy Spirit with redemption is patent (Galatians 3:13), while 1 Peter 1:18 is also found in the midst of such ideas. There is no thought of redemption without genuine deliverance.

‘That we might receive the adoption as sons.' The heirs are now to become fully grown sons. The purpose in His coming was to deliver us from the restrictions of religion and the world as we become adopted by God as His full grown sons, and thus are no longer under the Law or any other restraint, other than that of the Father Himself in Christ. But we become responsible sons. And that is why we will do what we should. We do it now because of what we are. We would disdain doing anything else.

It is elsewhere made clear that this is not an invitation to licence. It does not free us from our obligations to the world and to society. For as His grown up sons we are responsible to the Father of all things. But as Paul says, it is so that Christ might live out His life in us. So what it does mean is that from now on our response to these things is made as a response to the Father. We fulfil them gladly because we do it for Him. And we treasure the Law as something which shows us how we can please Him. In the words of the Psalmist, ‘O how I love your Law (Instruction)' (Psalms 119:97).

‘Adoption as sons.' This indicates the action whereby a child is established as a grown up son able to handle his own affairs. He comes of age.