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In Galatians 4:4-7 Paul presents Christ as the Son of God.
In Galatians 4:4 Paul says, “When the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under law.” Here the fullness of the time refers to the completion of the Old Testament time, which occurred at the time appointed by the Father (v. 2). In verse 4 Paul describes the Son of God as “born of a woman, born under law.” The woman is the virgin Mary (Luke 1:27-35). The Son of God was born of her to be the seed of woman, as promised in Genesis 3:15. Furthermore, Christ was born under law, as revealed in Luke 2:21-24 and 27, and He kept the law, as revealed in the four Gospels.
For the accomplishment of redemption, it was necessary for the Son of God to become a human being born of a woman and born under the law. In order to put on humanity, a human nature, He had to come of a woman. By being born of a woman, Jesus, the Son of God, was a man with blood and flesh (Heb. 2:14). If He had not possessed blood and flesh, there would have been no way for the Son of God to accomplish redemption, which required the shedding of blood.
In Galatians 4:5 Paul continues, “That He might redeem those under law that we might receive the sonship.” God’s chosen people were shut up by the law under its custody (3:23). Christ was born under law in order to redeem God’s chosen people from the custody of the law that they might receive the sonship and become the sons of God. Through Christ’s redemption, they were delivered from the law in order that they might receive the sonship. Hence, they should not return to the custody of the law to be under its slavery, as the Galatians were seduced to do; instead, they should remain in the sonship of God to enjoy the life supply of the Spirit in Christ.
Christ’s redemption brings us into the sonship of God that we may enjoy the divine life. God’s economy is not to make us keepers of the law, obeying the commandments and ordinances of the law, which was given only for a temporary purpose. God’s economy is to make us sons of God, who inherit the blessing of God’s promise, which was given for His eternal purpose. God’s eternal purpose is to have many sons for His corporate expression (Heb. 2:10; Rom. 8:29). Hence, He predestinated us unto sonship (Eph. 1:5) and regenerated us to be His sons (John 1:12-13). We should remain in His sonship that we may become His heirs to inherit all that He has planned for His eternal expression, and should not appreciate the law and thereby be distracted to Judaism.
Sonship involves life, maturity, position, and privilege. To be a son of God, we need to have the Father’s life. However, we must go on to mature in this life (Heb. 6:1). Life and maturity give us the right, the privilege, and the position to inherit the things of the Father. According to the New Testament, sonship includes life, maturity, position, and right.
In Galatians 4:6 Paul goes on to say, “And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!”
God’s Son is the embodiment of the divine life (1 John 5:12). Hence, the Spirit of God’s Son is the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2). God gives us His Spirit of life not because we are law keepers but because we are His sons. As law keepers, we have no right to enjoy God’s Spirit of life; as the sons of God, we have the position with the full right to participate in the Spirit of God, who has the bountiful supply of life. Such a Spirit, the Spirit of the Son of God, is the focus of the blessing of God’s promise to Abraham (Gal. 3:14).
Galatians 4:4-6 speaks of the Triune God’s producing of many sons for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose. God the Father sent forth God the Son to redeem us from the law that we might receive the sonship. He also sent forth God the Spirit, the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), to impart His life into us that we might become His sons in reality.
Galatians 4:4 and 6 speak of two kinds of sending. Verse 4 says that God sent forth His Son and verse 6, that God sent forth the Spirit of His Son. According to the promise in Genesis 3:15, Christ came under law as the seed of the woman in order to redeem those who were under law that they might receive the sonship. The goal of Christ’s redemption, therefore, is sonship. Through His redemption Christ has opened the way for us to possess the sonship. However, if the Spirit had not come, our sonship would have been a sonship in position or form, not a sonship with reality. The reality of sonship, which depends on life and maturity, comes only by the Spirit. Therefore, Galatians 4:6 declares that God sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts.
We should not think that the Spirit of the Son is a person separate from the Son. The Spirit of the Son is another form of the Son. The One who was crucified was Christ, but the One who enters into the believers is the Spirit (3:1-2). In crucifixion for our redemption, this One was Christ, but in the indwelling to be our life, He is the Spirit. When the Son died on the cross, He was Christ, but when He enters into us, He is the Spirit. First He came as the Son under the law to qualify us for sonship. But after He had finished this work, He became, in resurrection, the life-giving Spirit and comes to us as the Spirit of the Son. Thus, first God the Father sent the Son to accomplish judicial redemption and to qualify us for sonship. Then He sent the Spirit to vitalize the sonship and to make it real in our experience, that is, to bring us into its reality. Today sonship actually depends upon the Spirit of God’s Son.
Basically, sonship is a matter of life. The position and right of sons depend on the life. Therefore, to receive God’s sonship is to receive the dispensing of the divine life. This indicates that in order for us to enjoy God’s sonship, we need the Spirit. Apart from the Spirit, we cannot be born of God to have the divine life. Once we have been born of the Spirit, we need the Spirit in order for us to grow in life. Without the Spirit, we cannot have the position, right, or privilege of sonship. All the crucial points regarding sonship depend on the Spirit. The Spirit of God’s Son is the reality of sonship. By the Spirit, we have the divine birth and the divine life. Through the Spirit we grow unto maturity. Because of the Spirit we have the position, right, and privilege of sonship. Thus, without the Spirit sonship is a vain, empty term. But when the Spirit comes, the sonship is made real. By the Spirit of sonship we can fully realize God’s sonship in life, maturity, position, and right.
For us to be sons of God in a way that is real and practical, we urgently need the Spirit. God sends the Spirit into our inner being through the hearing of the word. Whenever we prayerfully read and assimilate a portion of the Word, we receive the supply of the Spirit.
In 4:6 Paul says that God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts. Actually, the Spirit of God came into our spirit at the time of our regeneration (John 3:6; Rom. 8:16). Because our spirit is hidden in our heart (1 Pet. 3:4), and because the word here refers to a matter that is related to our feeling and understanding, both of which belong to our heart, Galatians 4:6 says that the Spirit of God’s Son was sent into our hearts.
The parallel verse, Romans 8:15, says that we who have received a spirit of sonship cry in this spirit, “Abba, Father!” whereas Galatians 4:6 says that the Spirit of God’s Son is crying in our hearts, “Abba, Father!” This indicates that our regenerated spirit and the Spirit of God are mingled as one, and that our spirit is in our heart. This indicates also that the sonship of God is realized by us through our subjective experience in the depth of our being. In this verse, Paul appealed to such an experience of the Galatian believers for the supporting of his revelation. This appeal was quite convincing and subduing because it contained not only objective doctrines but also subjective, experiential facts.
Abba is an Aramaic word, and Father is the translation of the Greek word Pater. Such a term was used first by the Lord Jesus in Gethsemane while He was praying to the Father (Mark 14:36). The combining of the Aramaic title with the Greek title expresses a stronger affection in crying to the Father. Such an affectionate cry implies an intimate relationship in life between a genuine son and a begetting father. What a marvelous fact it is that we are sons of God! We have the assurance that we are truly God’s sons because in our spirit we can sweetly cry, “Abba, Father.”
As human beings, we have not only a spirit but also our person, our being. The center of our person is our heart. For us to become sons of God involves not only our spirit but also our heart as the center of our personality. Since the spirit is in the heart (1 Pet. 3:4), it is not possible for the Spirit to be sent into our spirit without also being sent into our heart. It is important for us to realize that our spirit is the kernel, the central part, of our heart. When God’s Spirit was sent into our spirit, the Spirit was sent into the kernel of our heart. When the Spirit cries within us, He cries from our spirit and through our heart. Hence, concerning sonship, our heart must be involved.
The inner sense we have as we call on the Lord from our spirit through our heart is mainly in the heart, not in the spirit. This implies that to be genuinely spiritual we need to be emotional in a proper way. We are not senseless statues; we are human beings with feelings. Therefore, the more we cry “Abba, Father” in the spirit, the deeper the sweet and intimate sense will be in our heart.
The sense we have when calling in this way is sweet and intimate. Although the Spirit of sonship has come into our spirit, the Spirit cries in our hearts, “Abba, Father!” This indicates that our relationship with our Father in the sonship is sweet and very intimate. How tender and sweet it is to call God, “Abba, Father”! Such an intimate calling involves our emotion as well as our spirit. The Spirit of sonship in our spirit cries “Abba, Father” from our heart. This proves that we have a genuine, bona fide relationship in life with our Father. We are His real sons.
In Galatians 4:7 Paul continues, “So then you are no longer a slave but a son; and if a son, an heir also through God.” The New Testament believer is no longer a slave to works under law but is a son in life under grace. Instead of the law that keeps us in custody, we have the all-inclusive Spirit, who is everything to us. Whereas the law could not give life, the Spirit gives life and brings us into maturity that we may have the full position and right of sons. The custody of the law has been replaced by the Spirit of sonship.
As sons, we also are heirs through God. An heir is one who is of full age according to the law (the Roman law is used for illustration) and who is qualified to inherit the father’s estate. The New Testament believers become heirs of God not through the law or through their fleshly father but through God, even the Triune God — the Father, who sent forth the Son and the Spirit (vv. 4, 6); the Son, who accomplished redemption for sonship (v. 5); and the Spirit, who carries out the sonship within us (v. 6).
