Galatians 4:4-5. 4But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.
We ended this Galatians devotional yesterday by saying that we are no longer enslaved to the elementary principles of this world. Our enslavement kept us in despair, always looking for a way out, but never believing that perfect love could rescue us. Until he did.
How did this rescue happen? By the preordained work of God. “When the fullness of time had come.” The “fullness of time” was established by God before time had actually begun—before creation. Our sovereign Father sent his missionary Son to rescue us at just the right time. God sent God to rescue us from our enslavement to the law. Under the Scripture (3:22), the law (3:23), and the elementary principles (4:3), we all stood condemned and imprisoned. But not anymore. Christ has come to make us free indeed.
Paul says that Jesus was “born of woman, born under the law.” Just as Genesis 3:15 prophesied, the offspring of the woman has come to crush the head of the ancient serpent, Satan. How? Jesus is fully God and fully man, and he was fully responsible to keep the law in order to receive the blessing of God. Christ was subjected to every rule of the Old Testament, and he kept them all! He loved God with all his heart, and he loved his neighbors as himself. Jesus Christ placed himself under the slavery of the law in order to forever free humanity from the law.
But that was only step one. Freedom was not the ultimate goal; adoption was. Jesus came in the fullness of time to secure our “adoption as sons.” Don’t picture a young married couple seeking to adopt a three-month-old baby. In Paul’s context, it was an adult son who would be adopted, not a young child. We remember Abraham wanted to make his servant Eliezer his heir, his adopted son. Paul is saying that we have been rescued from our childhood guardian, set free from our status as slaves, and adopted as adult sons of God, co-heirs with his only begotten Son, Jesus.
“To live is Christ” means that we have been adopted as sons. Hallelujah! Is there any more glorious positional truth? We are the children of the King. What is the end goal of the Trinity’s redemptive plan? Sonship, along with all of its blessings. Christianity is not fundamentally about rituals or even rules. It is a life of relating to God as our good Father, eternally receiving the love of our gracious Dad.
You: In what ways do you struggle to relate to God as your Dad?
You in Christ: In what way is our adoption freedom, but also a boundary to our freedom?
Christ in you: How might life be different if you fully embraced your sonship?
Pray: Father, you have made me your adult son, worthy of all rights and privileges of Jesus himself. Keep showing me how to live as your son, as Jesus. Amen.
