(Gal 4:1 NKJV) Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all,
(Gal 4:2 NKJV) but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father.
(Gal 4:3 NKJV) Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
(Gal 4:4 NKJV) But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
(Gal 4:5 NKJV) to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.
(Gal 4:6 NKJV) And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!"
(Gal 4:7 NKJV) Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.
We have learned that Paul is showing through the practice of his day regarding a child who is heir to the family’s fortune that Jews and Gentiles were in their “spiritual childhood” before Christ-- the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all…
Though they who would come to trust in Christ would have a wonderful future in Christ they were still slaves before the appointed time for Christ’s death, burial and resurrection had taken place.
What were they enslaved to?
(Gal 4:3 NKJV) Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
Last time we learned that the "elements of the world" referred to the first principles of non-Christian humanity, that is, humanity outside of Christ.
* In the case of the Jew, they were enslaved to the symbolic and ceremonial character of Judaism and its laws and legalism.
* In the case of the Gentiles, they were enslaved to the ceremonial and ritualistic observances of the pagan religions.
Paul wants us to know that both Jews and Gentiles, when they were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
The Jews were in bondage to keeping the letter of the law to obtain salvation. The Gentiles were in bondage to keeping their pagan rituals to please and appease their gods.
Without a saving relationship with Jesus Christ, people are in bondage to the rudimentary things of the world. In Romans 1 Paul gives us a graphic picture of a world without Christ:
(Rom 1:22 NKJV) Professing to be wise, they became fools,
(Rom 1:23 NKJV) and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man; and birds and four-footed animals and creeping things.
(Rom 1:24 NKJV) Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves,
(Rom 1:25 NKJV) who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
(Rom 1:26 NKJV) For this reason God gave them up to vile passions. For even their women exchanged the natural use for what is against nature.
(Rom 1:27 NKJV) Likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust for one another, men with men committing what is shameful, and receiving in themselves the penalty of their error which was due.
(Rom 1:28 NKJV) And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a debased mind, to do those things which are not fitting;
(Rom 1:29 NKJV) being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness; they are whisperers,
(Rom 1:30 NKJV) backbiters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents,
(Rom 1:31 NKJV) undiscerning, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful;
(Rom 1:32 NKJV) who, knowing the righteous judgment of God, that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same but also approve of those who practice them.
People living without Christ are in bondage to the principals of the world and we see this kind of bondage today being worked out in the lives of the people who show up on Jerry Springer, Judge Joe Brown, Judge Judy and the likes. You can also get a glimpse of it by reading our newspapers or watching some of our cop shows like CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. Many of these shows take pride in themselves as being a reflection of our society.
People today are in bondage of the elements of the world.
* They think they are wise but they are foolish.
* They pride themselves in being open-minded but they are immoral.
* They brag that they are tolerant but they are evil.
* They boast they are free but they are in bondage.
It was the same in Paul’s day. Our text reads, “Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world but when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman…”
Paul is referring to the incarnation. He is writing about the true meaning of Christmas, God becoming flesh and dwelling among us in the person of Jesus Christ.
In Paul’s day, the Jews were in bondage to their symbolism, legalism and ceremony; the Gentiles to their pagan rituals. But our text tells us that this time of symbolism, legalism, ceremony and pagan ritual would run its course, having prepared the way for Christ.
(Gal 4:4 NKJV) But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
"Fullness of time”- Time is the Greek word chronos, khron'-os; a space or lapse of time.
The meaning is that when that moment came which completed the lapse or space of time designated by God—then He would send forth His Son.
Last time we saw that some unique events would occur as God ordained during this space of time:
1. It was the moment that God had ordained for Messiah's coming. Daniel was given the date of His coming, 483 years after the edict of the Medo-Persian government to rebuild Jerusalem.
2. God ordained that the Mosaic Law would do its educational work, showing to the world that the most highly-favored nation on earth, the Jewish nation, was depraved, giving the Gentiles a picture of their own totally depraved hearts.
Paul says in Romans 7:7, “For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet.””
3. Also during this space of time God ordained that the Mosaic law would be done away with as a legal system, to be superseded by the Gospel of grace.
Paul writes in Galatians 2:16, “…knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.”
4. During this lapse of time God ordained that society would be ripe for the coming of the Messiah:
* The Roman Empire (the pax Romana) would maintain world peace.
* The great Roman roads made travel for missionaries easy.
* The regions were linked by the universal use of the Greek language; this made the speedy circulation of the Gospel possible.
* The late pastor and Bible teacher James Montgomery Boice points out that the world at this time was sunk in a moral abyss so low that even the pagans cried out against it and that spiritual hunger was everywhere evident.
The earth-stage was all set for the greatest event in the history of the human race, the incarnation, sacrificial death, and bodily resurrection of God the Son--"In the fullness of time God sent forth His Son."
Last time we examined the words "sent forth…" - The word translated sent forth is exapostello - ex-ap-os-tel'-lo; to send away forth, i.e. (on a mission) to dispatch, or dismiss.
Its root, apostello refers to the act of one who sends another with a commission to do something; the person sent being given credentials. Our English word apostle comes from it.
The prefixed preposition apo means "from," "off." This means that the person sent is to represent the sender. He is God the Father’s ambassador. Our Lord is called the Apostle and High priest of our confession in Hebrews 3:1. Jesus was sent from or off by the Father as His Ambassador to humanity.
* When Jesus spoke He did not speak on His own authority, He represented the Father. Jesus said, “My doctrine is not Mine, but His who sent Me.”
* When you saw Jesus, you saw the Father.
* If you received Him, you received Him (the Father) who sent Him.
* If you rejected Him, you rejected the Father who sent Him.
* He didn’t come to do His own will but to do the will of the Father.
Jesus was sent from or off by the Father as His Ambassador to humanity.
Not only was our Lord sent off from the presence of the Father, but as the Greek word in our Galatians 4:4 text, exapostello, signifies the ex prefixed preposition signifies He was sent out from the presence of God.
Jesus, God the Son, Creator of the heavens and earth was sent out by God the Father from His home in glory to come to earth as a weak, vulnerable babe wrapped in swaddling cloths---He was sent forth, out from the presence of the Father to earth to become our Savior! We see this truth so vividly in the Gospel of Luke:
The angelic announcement:
(Luke 2:8 NKJV) Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.
(Luke 2:9 NKJV) And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid.
(Luke 2:10 NKJV) Then the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people.
(Luke 2:11 NKJV) "For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord.
Simeon’s prophecy:
(Luke 2:25 NKJV) And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon, and this man was just and devout, waiting for the Consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.
(Luke 2:26 NKJV) And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ.
(Luke 2:27 NKJV) So he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought in the Child Jesus, to do for Him according to the custom of the law,
(Luke 2:28 NKJV) he took Him up in his arms and blessed God and said:
(Luke 2:29 NKJV) "Lord, now You are letting Your servant depart in peace, According to Your word;
(Luke 2:30 NKJV) For my eyes have seen Your salvation
(Luke 2:31 NKJV) Which You have prepared before the face of all peoples,
(Luke 2:32 NKJV) A light to bring revelation to the Gentiles, And the glory of Your people Israel."
Anna’s testimony:
(Luke 2:36 NKJV) Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was of a great age, and had lived with a husband seven years from her virginity;
(Luke 2:37 NKJV) and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
(Luke 2:38 NKJV) And coming in that instant she gave thanks to the Lord, and spoke of Him to all those who looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
When Jesus was even a boy of 12 years old Luke tells us that He and His parents traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. As they returned, Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. When they found Him three days later He was having discourse with the teachers of the Law in the temple.
Luke records the words of Mary His mother:
(Luke 2:48-49 NKJV) “…Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously." And He said to them, "Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father's business?"
Jesus came to earth on a mission—being sent forth by God the Father.
Mark 8:31 tells us that Jesus taught His disciples that He was on a mission. He taught that He, the Son of Man, must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.
Two more times Jesus would predict His suffering, death and resurrection in the hearing of His disciples.
(Mark 9:30 NKJV) Then they departed from there and passed through Galilee, and He did not want anyone to know it.
(Mark 9:31 NKJV) For He taught His disciples and said to them, "The Son of Man is being betrayed into the hands of men, and they will kill Him. And after He is killed, He will rise the third day."
Mark 9:32 But they did not understand this saying, and were afraid to ask Him.
(Mark 10:33 NKJV) "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death and deliver Him to the Gentiles;
(Mark 10:34 NKJV) "and they will mock Him, and scourge Him, and spit on Him, and kill Him. And the third day He will rise again."
Jesus came to earth on a mission—being sent forth by God the Father to die for our sins.
(Gal 4:4 NKJV) But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law,
“God sent forth His Son” – Just repeat this truth a few times and you might get excited. This statement not only speaks of Jesus' mission but His essence. He is God’s Son—He is deity.
(Rom 5:10 NKJV) For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.
(Rom 8:29 NKJV) For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
(1 Cor 1:9 NKJV) God is faithful, by whom you were called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
(Heb 1:1 NKJV) God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets,
(Heb 1:2 NKJV) has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds;
(1 John 1:3 NKJV) that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.
(1 John 1:7 NKJV) But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.
(1 John 3:23 NKJV) And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.
(1 John 4:10 NKJV) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
(1 John 5:9 NKJV) If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater; for this is the witness of God which He has testified of His Son.
(1 John 5:10 NKJV) He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son.
(1 John 5:11 NKJV) And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son.
(1 John 5:12 NKJV) He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
(1 John 5:13 NKJV) These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
(1 John 5:20 NKJV) And we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding, that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life.
In our text of Galatians 4:4, The Greek emphatically declares that God sent “His own Son,” making a distinction between Christ, who is his own Son, and believers, who are sons by adoption (4:5).
God sent forth His Son—Jesus is the Son of God! I like the way Colossians chapter one conveys this truth:
(Col 1:13 NKJV) He (God the Father) has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,
(Col 1:14 NKJV) in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.
(Col 1:15 NKJV) He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
(Col 1:16 NKJV) For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him.
(Col 1:17 NKJV) And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.
(Col 1:18 NKJV) And He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.
(Col 1:19 NKJV) For it pleased the Father that in Him all the fullness should dwell...
Let's look at verse 19 for a moment.
fullness - pleroma, play'-ro-mah, is the same word used in Galatians 4:4 meaning the "sum-total" of something. It is "that with which a thing is filled" (Vincent).
With what is Christ filled?
(Col 2:9 NASB) For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form…
In Jesus Christ dwells the sum-total of God's divine powers and attributes.
(Col 2:9 NASB) For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form…
dwell - katoikeo, kat-oy-keh'-o means "to be at home permanently."
Kenneth Wuest remarks that "all the divine fullness is at home permanently in the Lord Jesus, at home in the sense that this divine fullness was not something added to His Being that was not natural to Him, but that it was part of His very constitution, and that permanently."
Let me illustrate this truth from the Bible:
The Bible tells us the good news that we "have been given exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these we may be partakers of the divine nature…" But Jesus always possessed this divine nature.
The Bible tells us the good news that we who have trusted Christ “have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him.” But it also tells us that it is the divine power of Christ that gives us all things.
The Bible tells us the good news that believers have life and a better quality of life. But it also says that "In Him was life, and the life was the light of men."
When we have trials and tribulations we quote the verse from 2 Corinthians 12 that says, “God's grace is sufficient for me--His strength is made perfect in my weakness." Most Christians misquote this verse. It says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness."
Who spoke these words? The apostle Paul writes that he was given a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him, lest he be exalted above measure. The Scripture says concerning this thing he pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from him. He sought help from "the Lord."
The Lord Jesus responded with the words, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness…" Jesus couldn’t and wouldn’t make this statement unless He was God!
Paul then makes this observation and declaration: "Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
Paul couldn't and wouldn't make this statement unless Jesus was God!
Galatians 4:4 tells us, "But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law…"
The expression "God sent forth His Son" points to the deity of Christ—meaning that Jesus is fully God.
The next expression Paul uses in our text, “born of a woman” point his readers to the humanity of Jesus Christ--meaning Jesus was also fully man.
Jesus was “born of a woman.” Paul is alluding to the truth that Jesus was born by way of the virgin birth.
The virgin birth is a reference to the belief that Jesus was conceived in the womb of Mary by the miraculous action of God without a human father.
The word for virgin occurs fourteen times in the New Testament. It is used to refer to unmarried women (Matt. 25:1; Acts 21:9; 1 Cor. 7:34, 36, 37) or to the unmarried (man or woman) in general (1 Cor. 7:25). In many of the New Testament passages, the virginity or chastity of the unmarried is assumed.
The word is used of Mary, the mother of Jesus (Matt. 1:23; Luke 1:27). Mary was a young woman betrothed (engaged) to Joseph. From these passages comes the doctrine of the virgin birth.
Matthew gave the account from the viewpoint of Joseph. He was betrothed to Mary. Before they were married, she was discovered to be pregnant. Joseph planned to divorce her without public scandal. Only then did God reveal to Joseph that the child was conceived through the Holy Spirit.
Luke gave the events from the viewpoint of Mary. An angel appeared to her while she was still a virgin betrothed to Joseph. It was revealed to her that she would bear a son who would be called “the Son of the Highest” (Luke 1:32).
It is significant that in both the Matthew and Luke accounts the Holy Spirit leaves no room or doubt as to whether or not there is a human involved in the conception or "fathering" of Jesus.
In the Matthew account Joseph says, "I'm not the man!" In the Luke account Mary says to the angel, "How can this be, since I'm still a virgin?"
It is interesting that God predicts thousands of years earlier that this kind of thing would happen.
(Gen 3:15 NKJV) And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel."
The "woman" is emphasized because she was beguiled by the Serpent; it is she who is "the mother of all living" (3:20), and it is by the woman that the Savior would come (Gal. 4:4).
The "seed" of the Serpent must include all the followers of the Evil One (cf. John 8:44).
There is a unique allusion in "her Seed," the first announcement of the virgin birth, for biologically in conception the seed or sperm is delivered by the man; but in the miraculous conception of the Messiah, the seed was the woman's, the result of her being overshadowed by the Holy Spirit (Gal. 4:4).
Mary became pregnant in the manner explained by the angel:
(Luke 1:35 NKJV) …"The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.
This event was the fulfillment of the prophecy in Isaiah 7:14:
(Isa 7:14 NKJV) "Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a Son, and shall call His name Immanuel.
Why the virgin birth?
The virgin conception of Christ guarantees the perfect union of two natures in one Person. He is Jesus, the God-Man (cf. Isa. 7:14; 9:6, 7).
Dr. Walvoord, president of Dallas Theological Seminary, says, "The incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ is the central fact of Christianity. Upon it the whole superstructure of Christian theology depends."
Dr. John MacArthur says,
"The virgin birth is an essential doctrine, for if Jesus had a human father, then the Bible is untrustworthy, because the Bible claims He did not have one. If Jesus was born simply of human parents, there is no way to describe the reason for His supernatural life.
His virgin birth, His substitutionary death, His bodily resurrection, and His Second Coming are a package of deity. You cannot isolate those truths, accepting only one and leaving the rest, or accepting them all but one. You must either believe all of those realities that are the manifestation of His deity or you are guilty of being inconsistent, because those truths are inseparably interrelated."
There is no birth ever in the history of humanity that is as singularly spectacular as the birth of Jesus Christ. And any rejection of Christ's supernatural origin leaves His supernatural life, death, and resurrection inexplicable. You must have it all, or none of it makes sense. And if Jesus wasn't virgin born, then the claim that He can save is highly questionable.
Another reason for the virgin birth?
The Bible teaches that Christ before coming to earth was in the form of God (Philippians 2:6). The word form is the Greek word morphe which means “shape” or “nature.”
The Bible in John 4:24 also says that God is Spirit. This means that one of the members of the Trinity had to become embodied because God had decreed in the councils of eternity that the blood . . . makes an atonement for the soul (Leviticus 17:11). Animal blood was only an inadequate temporary covering looking toward the planned, prepared, permanent sacrifice.
(Heb 9:12 NKJV) Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with His own blood He entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption.
(Heb 9:13 NKJV) For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh,
(Heb 9:14 NKJV) how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God, cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?
(1 Pet 1:18 NKJV) knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers,
(1 Pet 1:19 NKJV) but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
(1 Pet 1:20 NKJV) He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you
This eternal offering had to be a sacrifice of blood. Could it have been a mere man? No, man's blood was already poisoned through Adam's transgression (Romans 5:12).
(Rom 5:12 NKJV) Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned;
Therefore, since animal blood was inadequate and man's blood was tainted, the only solution was that a member of the Godhead should take a body containing blood.
However, if this One were to come into the world through natural generation, the seed of a man deposited into the womb of a woman, the tainted blood would then be passed on to the newborn Christ. Thus God planned and prepared a body for His Son:
(Heb 10:5 NKJV) Therefore, when He came into the world, He said: "Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, But a body You have prepared for Me.
The Holy Spirit miraculously conceived this “body” in the womb of the virgin, and the result was the incarnation -God in the flesh, with sinless blood. That is why I Peter 1:19 declares that we are redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.
Can you now see why the entire program of redemption and salvation stands or falls upon the foundation of the virgin birth?
Belief in the virgin birth is a central doctrine of Christian thought. There was no human father. He was the Child of God. The new creative act of God is seen in His bringing His Son into the world.
Let me add this—one must not look upon this in a crude materialistic way. There is no thought of sexual relations between God and Mary, an idea which can be found in some pagan religions where the deities were thought of as engaging in such practices. Rather, God worked in a hidden, secret way which is beyond our ability to understand or explain.
Some like the Catholic Church believe the New Testament teaches that Mary remained a virgin, but it appears that she and Joseph had several children after the birth of Jesus: James, Joses, Judas, Simon, and sisters (Mark 6:3).
The virgin birth is not an explanation of the incarnation, that God became man in Jesus. The Gospels teach that it is the way that God chose to bring about the incarnation.
Back to our text
(Gal 4:3 NKJV) Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world.
(Gal 4:4 NKJV) But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman…
God sent forth His Son, born of a virgin. The essence of this truth is magnified in the words to the following Christmas carol:
Christ, by highest heaven adored; Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come, Offspring of the virgin's womb.
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail the incarnate Deity,
Pleased as man with men to dwell, Jesus, our Emmanuel,
Hark, the herald angels sing, Glory to the newborn King.
