Gal 4:4 | Burkitt | STEP | That is, "When the fulness of time was come, which God the Father had appointed for the finishing of the legal dispensation, and for the abolishing the ceremonial rites, God sent forth from himself the Son of himself, his only begotten Son, made, that is, born of a woman, made under and obedient to the law, subjecting himself both to its precepts and its curse, to redeem them who were under the law, and discharge them from the curse and malediction of it; that we believers, we the members of the Christian church, might receive the adoption of sons, without any observance of circumcision, or other ceremonial rites." Observe here, 1. That Christ was God's Son, his own Son, the Son of himself, as the original calls him, , his Son, not barely in regard of his miraculous conception, or in regard of his sanctification and mission, or in regard of his resurrection and exaltation, or in regard of that endeared affection which the Father bare unto him, but in regard of his essence and nature, as begotten by him; his Son, by eternal and ineffable generation; being for nature co-essential, for dignity co-equal, and for duration co-eternal with the Father. Observe, 2. That Christ, God's own Son, was sent forth by God the Father: God sent forth his Son. This sending of the Son doth, 1. Pre-suppose his pre-existence before his incarnation; for if he had not had a being, he could not have been sent: It supposes also his personality, and that he was a person; not an operation or manifestation only, for that could not be sent; and that he was a person really distinct from the Father; for how else could one send the other? 2. God's sending of Christ doth imply his ordaining, constituting, and appointing Christ from all eternity to come into the world; also his fitting and qualifying of him from his incarnation, and his authorizing and commissionating of Christ to take our nature upon him, and in that nature to do and suffer for us, as our pattern, and as our surety. Observe, 3. That Christ, God's own Son, sent forth by God the Father, was made of a woman, did really assume and take upon him our flesh, and was made manifest in our nature: It was not an undigested unshapen mass, or lump of flesh, that Christ assumed, but that flesh was organized and formed into a perfect body, having the same parts, members, lineaments and proportions which ours have; St. Paul calls it, the body of his flesh ; a body, to shew the organization of it; and a body of flesh, to shew the reality of it. Observe, 4. That the season in which Christ was sent forth, was not in the beginning of time, nor at the end of time, but in the fulness of time. He came not in the beginning of time, to excite his people's affections and longing desires for his coming, and to teach them to prize him the more when come. He stayed not till the end of time, lest the faith of his church and people should have failed; the patriarchs believed in Christ to come, the apostles believed in Christ then present among them, and we believe in Christ as come, and gone again to heaven. Thus, in all differences of times past, present, and to come, faith had, has, and will have its suitable work, and proper employment. Observe, 5. That the great end of God in sending Christ unto us, and the gracious design of Christ in his undertaking for us, was our redemption from the bondage and curse of the law, and our adoption into the number of God's children: To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

‏ Galatians 4:4

That is, "When the fulness of time was come, which God the Father had appointed for the finishing of the legal dispensation, and for the abolishing the ceremonial rites, God sent forth from himself the Son of himself, his only begotten Son, made, that is, born of a woman, made under and obedient to the law, subjecting himself both to its precepts and its curse, to redeem them who were under the law, and discharge them from the curse and malediction of it; that we believers, we the members of the Christian church, might receive the adoption of sons, without any observance of circumcision, or other ceremonial rites."

Observe here, 1. That Christ was God's Son, his own Son, the Son of himself, as the original calls him, Rom 8:3, his Son, not barely in regard of his miraculous conception, or in regard of his sanctification and mission, or in regard of his resurrection and exaltation, or in regard of that endeared affection which the Father bare unto him, but in regard of his essence and nature, as begotten by him; his Son, by eternal and ineffable generation; being for nature co-essential, for dignity co-equal, and for duration co-eternal with the Father.

Observe, 2. That Christ, God's own Son, was sent forth by God the Father: God sent forth his Son.

This sending of the Son doth,

1. Pre-suppose his pre-existence before his incarnation; for if he had not had a being, he could not have been sent: It supposes also his personality, and that he was a person; not an operation or manifestation only, for that could not be sent; and that he was a person really distinct from the Father; for how else could one send the other?

2. God's sending of Christ doth imply his ordaining, constituting, and appointing Christ from all eternity to come into the world; also his fitting and qualifying of him from his incarnation, and his authorizing and commissionating of Christ to take our nature upon him, and in that nature to do and suffer for us, as our pattern, and as our surety.

Observe, 3. That Christ, God's own Son, sent forth by God the Father, was made of a woman, did really assume and take upon him our flesh, and was made manifest in our nature: It was not an undigested unshapen mass, or lump of flesh, that Christ assumed, but that flesh was organized and formed into a perfect body, having the same parts, members, lineaments and proportions which ours have; St. Paul calls it, the body of his flesh Col 1:22; a body, to shew the organization of it; and a body of flesh, to shew the reality of it.

Observe, 4. That the season in which Christ was sent forth, was not in the beginning of time, nor at the end of time, but in the fulness of time. He came not in the beginning of time, to excite his people's affections and longing desires for his coming, and to teach them to prize him the more when come. He stayed not till the end of time, lest the faith of his church and people should have failed; the patriarchs believed in Christ to come, the apostles believed in Christ then present among them, and we believe in Christ as come, and gone again to heaven. Thus, in all differences of times past, present, and to come, faith had, has, and will have its suitable work, and proper employment.

Observe, 5. That the great end of God in sending Christ unto us, and the gracious design of Christ in his undertaking for us, was our redemption from the bondage and curse of the law, and our adoption into the number of God's children: To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.