Galatians 4:4-5 Christ has Redeemed Believers, So Make Him Your Lord

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, so that He might redeem those who were under the Law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.

When the time that God had appointed to redeem His sons (and daughters, “heirs” more properly), God sent Christ, His “only begotten Son” (John 3:16; cf. 1:18). The “But… God” is Paul’s way of telling us the glorious news that the time of being treated as a slave under the management of the Law has passed. This all took place according to God’s predetermined plan (Acts 2:22-24) to fulfill the promises/prophecies in Scripture that had been revealed beforehand (or more properly, the prophecies were given to indicate what would take place, and so Jesus fulfilled what had been revealed.) All that took place occurred according to God’s plan and in accordance with God’s timing.

For Jesus to redeem us “who were under the Law,” He Himself had to be “born under the Law.” This required Jesus being born of a woman. If Jesus had not been born into the world by natural means (though His conception was absolutely supernatural, in which not even Mary had a part), He would not have been born under the curse of Adam (and to be the promised offspring to Abraham and Eve (Genesis 3:15; 22:18; 24:7)) and born under the management of the Law. Since Christ was under the Law He could fulfill the obligations of the Law, that it might be reckoned to the other (lesser) heirs. In Christ we are now seen as having fulfilled the requirement of the Law, and so we no longer have to have it as our manager. The time under the Law has come to pass because it has been fulfilled completely in Christ.

Christ was sent for the purpose of redeeming us; “those who were under the Law.” Since we were indebted to the Law and its curse, the price had to be paid: death. Through Christ’s life and death the Law was completely “paid-off,” in a sense. Christ needed to come that we could be adopted by God as sons. This is not something we earn, but something “we… receive.” The “might” here is not indicating that it is something we are able to receive, but it indicates the purpose of God in a definite sense: that it would be possible (for while we were under the Law we could not be adopted as sons since we belonged to the Law) for God to make us His “sons,” or heirs. Thus through Christ, those who are in Christ have been ransomed from the Law and have been granted the inheritance of God with and in Christ Jesus; our brother and Lord. Thus, if you seek to be under the Law, you are forfeiting the inheritance in Christ, as you are claiming it to be an insufficient payment. So make Christ your Lord, not the Law.