Galatians 4:4-5

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Galatians 4:1-7

(1-7) A further description, continued from the last chapter, of the state of wardship, with its restraints and servitude, compared with that Christian freedom—the freedom of sons—to which the Galatians had been admitted through their adoption into the Messianic family by adhesion to Christ.It may be observed that the allusions to the condition of minors are not in strict accordance either with Jewish or Roman law. It has been suggested that they have reference to a special code current in... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Galatians 4:4

(4) The fulness of the time.—That which was predetermined in the counsels of God as the right and proper time when the whole course of previous preparation both for Jew and Gentile was complete. Here we have a very clear expression of the conception of religion as progressive, divided into periods, and finding its culmination in Christianity. The phrase “fulness of the time” corresponds to “the time appointed of the father” in Galatians 4:2.Sent forth—i.e., from Himself; from that station which... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Galatians 4:5

(5) To redeem them that were under the law.—To redeem, or ransom, at the price of His death, both Jew and Gentile at once from the condemnation under which the law, to which they were severally subject, placed them, and also from the bondage and constraint which its severe discipline involved.That we might receive the adoption of sons.—Redemption is followed by adoption. The admission of the believer into the Messianic kingdom, with its immunities from sin and from law, implies an admission... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Galatians 4:1-31

The Incarnation Galatians 4:4 Of all births this Bethlehem birth was the most unique. A superhuman life demands a superhuman birth. Let us gaze reverently into the abyssmal depths of that manger-cradle in the Bethlehem-khan. I. The first question that presents itself to us is this: 'Was it necessary that God should more fully reveal Himself to man?' We reply in the affirmative. Man had quarrelled with God; and to a rebel sinner the dim light of Nature and Providence was wholly insufficient.... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Galatians 4:1-7

Chapter 16THE HEIR’S COMING OF AGE.Galatians 4:1-7THE main thesis of the Epistle is now established. Gentile Christians, Paul has shown, are in the true Abrahamic succession of faith. And this devolution of the Promise discloses the real intent of the Mosaic law, as an intermediate and disciplinary system. Christ was the heir of Abraham’s testament; He was therefore the end of Moses’ law. And those who are Christ’s inherit the blessings of the Promise, while they escape the curse and... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Galatians 4:1-31

CHAPTER 4 1. Under the law in the state of minority. (Galatians 4:1-3 ) 2. The Son revealed to redeem. (Galatians 4:4-5 ) 3. Because ye are Sons; the Spirit of Sonship. (Galatians 4:6-7 ) 4. The backsliding Galatians. (Galatians 4:8-20 ) 5. The sons of the bondwoman and of the free woman. (Galatians 4:21-31 ) Jewish believers were, before Christ had died, the children of God, and as such they did not differ from servants. They were in a state of minority, as children who do not know the... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Galatians 4:4

4:4 {2} But when the {c} fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a {d} woman, made under the law,(2) He utters and declares many things at once, that is, that this tutorship was ended at his time, in order that curious men may stop asking why the schoolmastership lasted so long. And moreover, that we are not sons by nature, but by adoption, and that in the Son of God, who therefore took upon him our flesh, that we might be made his brethren.(c) The time is said to be full... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Galatians 4:5

4:5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the {e} adoption of sons.(e) The adoption of the sons of God is from everlasting, but is revealed and shown in the time appointed for it. read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Galatians 4:1-31

HOW CHILDREN ARE ADOPTED AS SONS (vs.1-7) The first few verses of chapter 4 give us the distinctive Christian position in more detail. This position is the result of promise accomplished, as contrasted to the position under the Law, promise being then an object of indefinite hope, a prospect unfulfilled. Verses 1 Timothy 3:0 show the Jewish position under law, the position even of the believer then, for it is of believers he is speaking. Though the child is heir and lord of all, yet in... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Galatians 4:1-31

JUSTIFICATION BY FAITH Having established his authority as an apostle, and his right to expound the Gospel he had received, Paul now enters upon the elucidation of the latter, or rather proceeds to the defense of its cardinal teaching. This is the doctrine that man is justified only by faith in Jesus Christ without the works of the law. The same doctrine was enlarged upon in Romans, only there he was expressing the Divine side of its truth while here he is showing the human side. There he... read more

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