Jesus + Nothing = Everything. But what exactly is the everything that Jesus has secured for all those who come to saving faith in Him? This is what Paul shows the Galatians (and us!) in the end of chapter three and the beginning of four. Christians are adopted sons of God through faith (v 26), clothed with Christ (v 27), one in Christ (v 28), and heirs through Christ (v 29). How did all of this come to be ours? Through Jesus, our big brother. In 4:1-3, Paul is essentially saying that before we come to Christ, everyone everywhere is enslaved to “the elementary principles of the world” because we are all basing our worth and status off of our works and successes. We are all, in a sense, “under the law” and need to be set free. In 4:4-7, Paul shows us that Jesus became a man, lived under the law, and paid the price through his life, death, and resurrection to buy us back from slavery. But Jesus doesn’t pay for our freedom and let us go another place to fend for ourselves. Rather, he brings us home and God the Father adopts us into his family as sons. And the Holy Spirit keeps working in us to bring the great truth of adoption home to our hearts, as he cries out within us “Abba! Father!”