Jesus was sent at just the right time

JESUS WAS SENT AT JUST THE RIGHT TIME
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Galatians 4:4 ParallelVerses
Galatians 4:4, NIV: "But when the settime had fully come, God senthis Son,
born of a woman, born under the law,"
Galatians 4:4, ESV: "But when the fullness of time had come, Godsent forth
his Son, born of woman, born under the law,"
Galatians 4:4, KJV: "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent
forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,"
Galatians 4:4, NASB:"But when the fullness of the time came, God sentforth
His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law,"
Galatians 4:4, NLT: "But when the right time came, God senthis Son, born of
a woman, subject to the law."
Galatians 4:4, CSB:"When the time came to completion, God sent his Son,
born of a woman, born under the law,"
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES

Christ's Advent in the Fulness of Time
H. Melvill, B. D.
Galatians 4:4-5
But when the fullness of the time was come, God sentforth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law,…
The question has often been asked, Why did not Christ come sooner? Why
were patriarchs, kings, and prophets, left to experience the sicknessofheart
arising from hope long deferred? It was necessarythat the world should be
left to itself, in order that its own strivings being proved insufficient to the
finding out God, there might be a standing demonstration of the need of a
revelation. And this experiment demanded long ages for its development. Men
must be tried under varieties of circumstance:whilst the traditions of a
righteous ancestrywere fresh in their keeping — when those traditions had
been lost or corrupted, and natural religion had a clear stage to itself — when
they had sunk into barbarism, and when through strenuous exertions they
had wrought themselves up to a high pitch of civilization. It is, in a measure, a
mistake which has been assumedas a truth in our foregoing reasoning — that
mankind, with the exception of the Jews,.were abandonedby God, during
those dark ages which precededChrist's coming On the contrary, if you rest
not satisfiedwith a superficialglance, you will perceive that God was working
upon the world with a distinct reference to preparing it for the gospel.
Besides, if you examine the period of our Lord's appearance onearth, you will
not think it too much to say, that the seasonwas made on purpose (so to
speak)for the circumstances.The period was a most remarkable one — such
as could only have been brought round by the revolutions and convulsions of
many centuries. The Roman powerhad spread itself over all the nations of the
then known world; and thus all those petty states, whosejostling and opposing
interests might have withstood the propagationof Christianity, were
swallowedup in one greatempire. At the same time, the seatof that empire
lay so distant from Judea, the cradle of our faith, that no opposition could
thence suddenly arise to the infant religion. Christianity was sure to obtain a

goodfooting before jealousycould be entertained, and, therefore, persecution
appointed, by those who occupiedthe remote throne of the Caesars.Add to
this, that in conformity with His characterof the Prince of Peace, no breath of
war ruffled the vast surface of the Roman empire, when the Saviour
condescendedto be born of a woman. The turbid waves of factious or
ambitious policy had for a while settled into quiet, and the temple of Janus
closedits doors that the Church of Jesus might throw open its gates. So that
there was nothing to oppose the progress of the messengersofthe gospel;the
world stood free for their labours; they might pass from land to land; they
might cross seas,and rivers, and mountains. It was, moreover, "the fulness of
time," because many prophecies met in it, and receivedtheir accomplishment.
The greatmarvel of the prophecies which bear upon the work and person of
Jesus is, that they were delivered by a successionofmen, rising up with long
intervals between, and eachbecoming more minute in his predictions, as he
stoodmore nearly on the threshold of the Advent. The day of Christ's birth
lying a long way off from that of man's apostasy, might be made a kind of
focus, into which should be gatheredthe prophetic rays of successive
generations. You must readily perceive, that this collecting into one point the
pencils of light emanating from successive ages, wouldmark out the birth-
time of Messiahwith a vividness and an accuracywhichcould not have been
produced by a lessercombination.
(H. Melvill, B. D.)
Of the Fulness of Time, in Which Christ Appeared
S. Clarke, D. D.
Galatians 4:4-5
But when the fullness of the time was come, God sentforth his Son, made of a
woman, made under the law,…

1. We may considerit with respectto God's fore-determination; and then it
was therefore the fulness of time, because determined and foretold by the
prophets. According to that ancientprediction of Jacob(Genesis 49:10), the
Messiahwas to appear before the total dissolution of the JewishGovernment.
Again; the prophecy of Malachi(Malachi3:1), determines the coming of our
Saviour to be before the destructionof the secondtemple. And that no less
remarkable prediction of Haggai(Haggai2:6, 7, and 9). 'Tis evident therefore
that the incarnation of Christ was in the fulness of time; that is, exactly at the
time foretold and fore-determined by the prophets. And indeed these
prophecies were so plain, that about the time of our Lord's appearance, the
Jews, andfrom them the Romans, and all the easternparts of the world, were
in greatexpectationof some extraordinary person to arise, who should be
governorof the world. But —
2. Though it be evident that our Saviour came into the world in the fulness of
time, viz., at the time foretold by the prophets; yet the question may still
return, Why was that time determined rather than any other, and accordingly
foretold by the prophets; for, without doubt, it was in itself absolutelythe
fittest and the properestseason. Now two reasonsthere seemto have been
more especially, ofour Saviour's appearing at that time: the first is, because
the insufficiency of the Jewishdispensation, as wellas of natural religion, was
then, after a long trial, become sufficiently apparent: apparent; not to God,
who knows all things at once, and makes accordinglyprovision for all things
from the beginning; but to men, to whom the counselof God is opened by
degrees. The secondreason, why we may suppose our Savior appearedjust at
the time He did, was because the world was at that time by many
extraordinary circumstances,peculiarly prepared for his reception. Now,
about the time of our Saviour's birth, it is observable that there was a
concurrence ofmany things in the world, to promote and further the
propagationof such a religion. The Romans had then conqueredalmost all the
known parts of the world; they had spreadand settled their language among
all the nations of their conquests, and had made the communication easyfrom

one part to another. They had, moreover, improved moral philosophy to its
greatestheight. Further; the greatimprovement and increase oflearning in
the world about this time (according to that prophecy of Daniel, "Manyshall
run to and fro, and knowledge shallbe increased")gave occasionto the
Jewishbooks to be dispersedthrough the world: and particularly the
translating of the Bible some few ages before the birth of Christ into one of the
then most known and universal languages uponearth, which had before been
confined in a peculiar language to the Jews only, was a singular preparative to
the receptionof that greatProphet and Saviour of mankind, whose coming
was in that book so plainly and so often foretold. Indeed this seems to have
been the first step of God's discovering Himself further than by the light of
nature to other nations as well as to the Jews, andof His giving the heathen
also the knowledge ofHis revealedlaws, and remarkably instrumental it
afterwards appearedto be, in the propagating the Christian religion through
the Gentile world.
(S. Clarke, D. D.)
FAITH
7 ReasonsWhy Jesus Came at Just the Right Time

BY JEFF SANDERSNOV29, 2018 5:23 PM EST
(Getty Images)
In Galatians 4:4-5 the Apostle Paul writes, “When the fullness of time had
come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the the law, to
redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as
sons.” And in Romans 5:6 the Apostle adds that “at just the right time, Christ
died for the ungodly.” The Bible is clearthat Jesus came to earth at the exact
right time.
Why was the time during the reign of CaesarAugustus and Herod the Great
so perfect? Here are sevenreasons from history demonstrating how the
arrival of Jesus the Messiahwas nota cosmic accident, but rather a perfectly
timed answerby God for a world that was ready to hear the greatestnews
ever.
1. A unifying language.
The ancient Mediterraneanworld had a unifying language. Greek wasthe
universal language in the Roman Empire, and it was knownin regions beyond
(such as Persia). Latin was the primary language of the WesternRoman
Empire, and Aramaic was the first language ofJesus and His apostles, but
Greek was knownat leastas a secondlanguage throughout the empire.
Over three hundred years before Christ, Alexander the Greathad spreadthe
language ofthe Greeks from Athens to Egypt to the border of India. By the
time Jesus was born, Greek literature, science, andart were widely known,

and one could speak Greek anywhere in the empire and be understood. The
New Testamentwas first written in this international language of the day, and
then almost immediately translatedinto other languages (suchas Latin and
Syriac/Aramaic).
2. A unifying law and government.
The Greco-Romanworld had a unifying law and government. Roman law had
unified people from modern-day Britain to Egypt under one civil code. For
the most part, Roman law was just and fair for all people groups, and many
people wantedto be Romans in order to benefit from their just laws.
The New Testamentshows the Apostle Paul, who was both a Jew and a
Roman citizen, often appealing to Roman law whenever he believed he was
being treated unjustly (Acts 16:35-40). When Paul appealedto Caesarfora
fair trial, it is Roman law that allowedhim to be sent to Rome to stand trial
before the Emperor. The story of Acts shows that Roman law was the vehicle
providentially used by a sovereignGodto getthe gospelfrom Jerusalemto
Rome.
Nine Old TestamentProphecies Fulfilledin Jesus onThat First Christmas
3. A unifying system of trade.
The Roman Empire had a unifying system of transportation. When I was in
Rome a few years ago, I walkedalong the Appian Way — the same road, the
same stones that Paul walkedon along the way to prison.
Jesus, Mary, and Josephtook the coastalroadfrom Israelto Egypt to escape
Herod. Peterused Roman roads to getto Caesareato speak to Cornelius in

Acts 10. Paul and his companions used Roman roads to take the gospelacross
Asia Minor and Greece. Soon, Christians were traveling Roman-built roads
across Gauland Hispania and North Africa. God used the network of roads
that were built by Rome for His glory.
At the time of the birth of Jesus, the Roman military had also banished piracy
on the high seas. Pauland his pals could take ships from Antioch to Cyprus
and Asia Minor and Greece ontheir missionary journeys without fear of
being attackedby pirates. The only major fear was of storms at sea, like the
one Paul facedin Acts 27:13-44.
4. The “Pax Romana.”
The ancient world at that time enjoyed the “PaxRomana.” From the time of
CaesarAugustus to Marcus Aurelius (27 B.C. to A.D. 180), the Mediterranean
world enjoyed peace under Roman rule. Yes, there were a few outbreaks of
localwars, such as the Jewishrevolt in A.D. 66-73 and later the Bar Kokhba
revolt of A.D. 133-135,but for the most part, the Roman Empire was free
from invasions or major civil upheavals.
So the early Christian faith was born in a time of peace, andhad time to
expand across the empire without fear of invading armies. (Of course, the
periodic persecutions, both localand empire-wide, were problems from time
to time.)
Christmas ProphecyControversy: Is ‘A Virgin Shall Conceive’ReallyAbout
Jesus?
5. Philosophicaland religious exhaustion.

The paganworld at the time of Jesus’ birth was philosophically and
religiously exhausted. As I read Greek and Roman stories about their gods
and heroes suchas “The Iliad” and “The Aeneid”, I am struck by the absolute
insensitivity of the gods. They really don’t care about the human race. The
gods do not love you. They have no covenants with mankind. They do not
sacrifice themselves outof love to rescue orredeem sinful, fallen humans.
The gods cannottransform your life and offer no forgiveness orassurance of
everlasting life. There is no promise of heaven for the faithful and certainly no
resurrection. You canread more of my observations about contrasts between
the paganGreco-Romanworldand the Christian revelationhere.
But honestly, there was nothing in the Roman pantheon or in the philosophies
of Plato or Aristotle that could give hope to either slave or centurion. The
faith revealedin Jesus Christ, however, was like rain falling on crackedand
parched earth. Here was a God who enteredthe human race to go on a rescue
mission and actually secure the salvationof all who would repent and believe.
Unlike paganbelievers, followers ofChrist could actually find redemption and
freedom from their old debauched lives and enter into a new transformed life
here and now. Paganismhad nothing to offer in comparison.
6. The Jewishworld longed for a Messiah.
The Jewishworld was eagerlyexpecting a Messiah, but was also deeply
divided and legalistic. The Jewishworldcertainly expected a Messiah, and
although the idea of a suffering Servant-Messiahis clearlyin the Old
Testament(Isaiah52:13- 53:12), it seems that most simply wanted a
conquering king who would drive out the hated Romans.

There were many sects in Israelat the time, such as the Pharisees, Sadducees,
Herodians, and Essenes. All believed they knew what was best for everyone.
While the Pharisees probably had a pure motive in erecting their own
traditions to prevent people from breaking the Law of Moses, theysucceeding
only in reducing living by faith to a man-made legalistic code that missed the
whole point of loving God and loving one’s neighbor.
The Jewishworld had simply exchangedtheir former worship of stone idols
for man-made traditions that became new idols. In their apostasy, they were
ready for a Messiahwho really could set them free.
Three Biblical PassagesMisinterpretedas Referencing Jesus
7. The Roman world neededa census.
Ordering the census may not have been the most important thing Caesar
Augustus did that day, but it setin motion a series of events that brought
Mary and Josephto Bethlehem, the City of David, where the Messiahwould
be born (Micah 5:2). Caesardid not know he was actually the tool of God,
working on just another day of activities — but ultimately He was fulfilling
ancient prophecy from God’s Word.
A Roman census was issuedin 6 BC, and Herod died in 4 BC, so Jesus was
born sometime betweenthose two dates.
It was no accidentthat Jesus was born at that time. It was no accidentthat
there was a universal language, a unifying system of law and transportation,
military peace acrossthe Mediterranean, a very barren religious world, and a
census bringing a young couple unexpectedly to their ancestralhometown. It
was no accidentat all. It was instead… the fullness of time.

THE TIMING OF CHRISTMAS
GLENN PEASE
Sermon • Submitted 6 years ago
Galatians 4:1–
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By PastorGlenn Pease
Timing may not be everything, but it is plenty. At the dedication service of the
Statue of Liberty a boy was to wave a flag indicating that SenatorWilliam
Evarts had finished his speech. This way the signal for men high in the head of
the statue to let go of a giant French flag, which in turn was the signal for the
vessels in harbor to let loose with their whistles. Unfortunately, the Senator
paused too long, and the boy thinking he was finished set all this commotion in
motion. The Senatornever did getto finish his speech. Wrong timing ruined it
for him.
On the other hand, the graduating class ofHarvard in 1949 became the most
successfulgroup of graduates in history. It was because ofthe longest, richest,
and most wide spreadpeace time boom the modern world had everseen. The

49'ers, becauseofthe timing of their entering into the economy, became rich.
One out of 5 became millionaires by 1974. Theybecame the leaders of the
upper branches of American enterprise. They became the chairmen and
presidents of the largestcompanies and colleges.
The same thing happened to the class of 1915 atWestPoint, but for the
opposite reason. Because ofthe timing of the two World Wars, this class was
calledthe class the stars fell on. Many of them became generals, andone by
the name of Eisenhowerevenbecame president of the United States. Timing
really does matter. It is by precise timing that God works in history and in our
lives to do wonders without miracles.
A pastor's wife back in the 70's was selectedto be on the $128,000Question. It
was a popular TV show in Canada. She and her husband neededmoney
badly, and so they prayed for guidance. She gotto the $16,000level, but they
needed double that, so she agreedto come back the next day. Before the show
the next day she relaxed by walking through one of Toronto's malls. She
picked up a book and leafedthrough it. She found a page that listed all the
plays of Agatha Christie and their opening dates. This was the area her
questions were in, and so she read the list through. That night her $32,000
question was to list titles and opening dates of the plays of Agatha Christie.
She did not know these answers before that day, but she had picked them up
in the mall and was able to win $32,000.She felt that God had given her what
she needed, and she refused to continue out of greed to getmore. She calledit
a miracle, but it really wasn't. It was a matter of perfect timing, and that is
what we callprovidential.
The point of all this is, it is time for us to focus again on the birth of our Lord.
It is time to focus on that incredible and incomprehensible miracle of the
incarnation. The incarnation was a miracle, but so many of the events
surrounding it were providential. That is, they were all a matter of precise

timing. Paul makes timing an issue in Gal. 4:4 where he states, "Butwhen the
time has fully come, Godsent His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.
What we want to see is that though timing may not be everything to
Christmas it is plenty, and a focus on the timing of Christmas events can be
quite revealing.
The whole of history had to be coordinated to bring about this event with
precise timing. Caesarhadto give his order for a census atjust the right time
so as to getMary and Josephto Bethlehem at the time of her delivery. The
angelGabriel had to come to Mary at the right time. It was just 6 months
after Elizabeth became pregnant with John the Baptist so she could have the
consolationofanother woman in her trying time. Her ownconceptionhad to
be timed to fit the scheduleddelivery when she was in Bethlehem.
It was the right time in history for Jesus to come. The whole world was
prepared by Alexander the Greatto carry the message ofChrist to all the
world. He made Greek the common language ofthe world so that the Gospel
could be carriedto every land in that common language. Timing plays a role
in the shepherds being in the field, and the wise men seeking for a star.
Timing is the name of the game in the biblical events, and in the celebrationof
these events. Consider for example,
I. THE TIME OF THE YEAR FOR CHRISTMAS.
Dec. 25thwas a time of celebrationlong before Jesus came. This was the time
of the year when the sun began to return to the northern hemisphere, and the
days beganto getlonger. Up to that point the darkness seemedto be winning
over the light, and it was pushing the light back further and further. The sun
was in retreat, and seemingly headedfor defeat, but now there is a reverse
process, andthe sun if coming back. On the basis of this observation, the

ancient Persians and the Romans selectedDec. 25thas a day of celebrationfor
the victory of the sun. From a Christian point of view, not even looking at the
birth of Christ, this fact of nature is a very positive one. If you enjoy sunlight
and longerdays, and all the life that spring will bring, and all the beauty of
summer, then it makes sense thatDec. 25th is a valid cause for celebration.
The early Christians were not anti-sun. This was their holiday too, but they
saw in it a chance to exalt the greaterSon-the Son of God, who was the
Creatorof the sun of nature. They adopted this holiday as their day of
celebrationof the coming of the Son into history to bring light to a world in
darkness. Theymade this pagan holiday a Christian holiday. There are many
who lament that Christians have been following a pagan custom by
celebrating Christmas. This criticism is true if Christians celebrate by abuse
of their bodies in drunkenness. But just the fact that celebrate the birth of
Christ at the same time as pagans have always celebratedthe ascendancyof
the sun is no basis for criticism.
This type of argument is folly. One just as well argue that all Christians
should give the eating of breakfastbecausestudies show that it was a pagan
meal. The Mafia and prostitutes, and drug addicts all eat breakfast
somewhere between6 and 9 in the morning. Therefore, we are exhorted not to
conform to the world, and so we ought to give up eating breakfastuntil closer
to noon. This is obviously foolishreasoning, it is also folly to reject the
celebrationof the coming of Christ on Dec. 25thbecause the pagans
celebratedthat day also. It has always been a pagan holiday, and it always will
be until Christ comes again. The Christian has the choice ofadding Christian
content to the day and the season, orof just ignoring it all together.
Making Christmas mandatory would be a legalistic effort rejectedby the New
Testament. No Christian is obligated to keepChristmas in any specialway. It
is no where even hinted at, let alone required in the Bible. Paul writes in Col.

2:16, "Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eator drink, or
with regard to a religious festival, a new moon celebrationor a Sabbath day."
In Rom. 14:5 he writes again, "One man considers one day more sacredthan
another; another man considers everyday alike. Eachone should be fully
convinced in his own mind."
If Christians want to ignore Dec. 25th, and make no big deal out of it, they are
not in leastout of God's will. But if they want to fill the day with Christian
content, and put Christ in Christmas, that too is the Christian privilege. It is a
matter of freedom and not a matter of law. If you want to celebrate the birth
of Jesus on Dec. 25th, it is a matter of goodtiming, for it is nature's time to
give light the growing power over darkness. There is no better time of the year
to illustrate the coming of light into the world in Christ. In other words, the
Word of God and the world of God are saying the same thing in harmony at
this time, and so the timing of Christmas is providential.
It is a very weak argument to rejectthe Christmas celebrationon Dec. 25th
because ofthe paganorigin of that day being a holiday. Christians use the
common names for the days of the week eventhough they have a pagan
origin. Sunday is the day of the Sun. Monday is the day of the moon. Tuesday
is the day of Triva, a child of Woden the supreme god. Wednesdayis named
after Woden. Thursday is for Thor another of his children. Friday is Woden's
wife Frigg. Saturday is from Saturn. None of the days are named after
anything Christian. All are pagan gods and goddesses.Our culture is a mixed
bag of paganand Christian influence.
The challenge ofthe Christian is not to try and weedout all the pagan
influence, but to Christianize all that is pagan, and no where do we have a
greateropportunity than at Christmas. This is a time of year for us to redeem
the time, and pack it full with Christ honoring, and Christ exalting events.
Proper timing of acts of love can have an impact in this seasonthat they may

never have any other time of the year. This is true around the world where
there are radicaldifferences from our culture. In Bangladesh, one ofthe
poorestcountries, they callChristmas Borodin, which means big day. This is
the biggestholiday of their year. The timing is the best seasonof the year for
people to celebrate. In the rainy seasonthey can't travel much for all is mud,
but Christmas comes in winter when the roads are dry and hard, and so there
is more getting out and communication than any other time. It is also crucial
for the poor because this is when their new crops come in, and without these
they would have no money for celebrating.
The timing of Christmas enables this vast populace of the poor to have the
most enjoyable celebrationof their toilsome year. The timing of nature makes
a world of difference all over the world. In our culture we tend to love a white
Christmas because the snow covers up the bare and black soil, and it
beautifies the dead earth which is devoid of vegetation. The whiteness and
brightness of the snow is symbolic of the light of the world who came to save
and cleanse,and to make sinners white as snow. The point is, if you are ever
going to celebrate the coming of Christ into this world, this is the seasonin
which to do it, for nature and revelationare in harmony saying that the time
is just right. The secondaspectof timing we want to consideris-
II. THE TIMING OF HISTORY FOR CHRISTMAS.
God did not say, as we used to in playing hide and seek, "Here I come ready
or not." He made sure the world was ready. The timing had to be just right or
the whole plan of God could not have succeededas it did, and the celebration
of Christ's birth become a world wide event. We are not always ready for
Christmas today, for there never seems to be enough time to do all we would
like to do. Some just put off their shopping until the last minute. Someone
defined a man as a creature who buys football tickets three months in
advance, but does his Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. We have all

sorts of poor timing when it comes to Christmas, but the first Christmas was
timed just right.
There were centuries of preparation for this event. Jesus did not come into
history until He did, because it was not yet the fullness of time, and it was not
yet right. God is a God of timing, and all had to be just right for the moment
of the incarnation. At the 250th anniversary of Harvard the freshman class
marched in a parade with a large banner that read, "The university has been
waiting 250 years for us." The world had been waiting many more centuries
for a Savior, and when He came He was like a sunrise after a long dark night.
Dr. Henry Van Dyke pictured all the prophets focusedon this event like the
heads of flowers turned toward the dawn to catchthe light of the rising sun.
The sun rises with perfect timing, and so also the Son of God came into this
dark world at just the right time. This Christmas gift was chosen, wrapped,
and ready for delivery before the foundation of the world. It was no last
minute thought. It was God's plan before He even createdman, for He knew
he would need a Savior, but he had to wait till the timing was right. Dr. Luke
starts his secondchapterwith this historicalfact. "And it came to pass in
those days, that there went out a decree from CaesarAugustus that all the
world should be taxed." All the details of the Christmas story revolve around
the timing of this seculardecree from the Roman Emperor. Had he not made
that decree just when he did, Mary and Josephwould not have been in
Bethlehem when Christ was born, and none of the prophecy concerning the
Messiah's birth would have been fulfilled. The timing of secularhistory plays
a major role in the sacredhistory of God's plan of salvation. Do not ever
assume that the secularworld is all under the controlof Satan. God is ever at
work in the secularwhelm achieving His purpose.
It is fascinating to study the parallels of the life of Christ and that of this
Caesarwhosedecree gothis life started when God wanted it started in

Bethlehem. Augustus was born Sept. 23, 63 B.C. just before sunrise, and his
birthday became a popular holiday, just like the birthday of Jesus.
1. His father died when he was a boy, just as Josephdid when Jesus was a boy.
2. At 12 he was mature and wise enough to have delivered a funeral oration
for his grandmother Julia, the sisterof Julius Caesar. Jesus was12 when He
was found in the temple interacting with the scholars ofthe day.
3. Both had a greatgenealogygoing back to the noble of the past.
4. Both built empires that were world wide.
5. Both had compassionon the poor. One of the reasons Augustus needed the
taxes that brought Josephand Mary to Bethlehem was because ofhis massive
feeding program for the poor.
6. Like Jesus, he also had compassionfor the sick. He took in many of the
children of mentally ill patients, and he raised them with his own and gave
them the same education.
7. He pardoned many who sinned againsthim, and let his political enemies
hold high office again.
8. He fought for decencyon the stage.

9. He was so loved by the masses that some Italian cities voted to make their
official year begin with the anniversary of his first visit to them. He received
the title "Fatherof his country," and was to Rome what Washingtonwas to
us.
10. Many celebratedhis birthday over 2 days with festivities and gifts.
11. He died on Aug. 19th, 14 A. D. when Jesus was about 10 years old. It is of
interest that he died at 3 P. M., which was the same time of day that Jesus
died.
I am not trying to make anything of these parallels, as if there is some deep
revelation here. I am just pointing out that the providence of Godis far
greaterthan what we see in sacredhistory alone. The Christmas story brings
the secularworld togetherwith the sacred, and we geta glimpse of how God is
at work in that secularwhelm determining the timing of events so as to
accomplishhis purpose. Timing is a tool of God in all of history in both the
secularand the sacredrealm. The practical application of this truth is in
becoming aware that God is not just interested in our spiritual life, but He is
also interestedin our secularlife, and He can work in it to be a blessing to
many.
We need to take timing seriously, and look for the ways we cando what is to
be the greatestblessing. Nadine Kolmodin is the wife of one of our retired
pastors. She left her purse in a shopping cart at a grocerystore, and when she
walkedback to get it she had the pleasantsurprise of finding another lady
who had found it and turned it in. She was so grateful that she askedGodto
let her be that kind of blessing to someone else.

The very next week she wentshopping and found a cart where a woman's
billfold had been left. She openedit, and found it full of cash. She knew this
was her chance to be a greatblessing. She knew how upset the ownerwould
be when she discoveredher loss. She satin her car near the cart and waited.
Many cars came by, but then a young mother with her toddler stopped and
beganlooking from side to side. This was the one she knew was the right one.
She gotout and held up the billfold for the mother to see. When the mother
saw it she sank into the seatwith the relief of greattension. "Oh," she said,
"It's all my Christmas money. I was desperate."Nadine told her that she had
done the same thing last week and had prayed to be able to help another as
she had been helped. "My prayer has been answered, and now you can thank
Him too." Blinking back her tears she could hardly express her gratitude.
With a Merry Christmas they parted, both of them grateful that they had
been part of this story of love.
This is what Christmas is all about. Love, that like the love of God, is looking
for the leading of God to be where they need to be at the right time to do what
they need to do to be what they need to be. In these days before Christmas let
our prayer be, "Lord, give me guidance and let me be a part of your
providential leading in the many varied ways you direct in the timing of
Christmas.
The preparation of the world for the gospel
E. J. Hamilton, D. D.
Two principles should be borne in mind by those who would discoverthe
Divine purposes in history,

1. The first is that God has the supreme controlof events — that He "worketh
all things after the counselof His own will."
2. The other principle is that the operations of Providence should be studied in
connectionwith any other disclosures whichwe may have of the laws and
plans of the Divine workings. This rule is necessaryif we would distinguish
betweenthose evils in our world which have been permitted and overruled for
beneficent and holy ends, and those events which have been brought about
either because in themselves excellentor for the accomplishmentof good
results. Let us spread before us the map of the world's affairs as they stood in
the days of our Lord's appearance among men, and let us see the mighty hand
of God in the disposition of them all, First, if we regard that age in its secular
aspect, we find two greatpreparations for the successfuldiffusion of the
gospel. The one of these was a generalunion and tranquility of the world,
under Roman law; and the other a wide-spreadcivilization, accompaniedby a
well-nigh universal language, resulting chiefly from Grecianinfluence That of
the one, if we may so speak, was negative,and was chiefly occupiedin
removing obstructions, so that a free course might be given to the Word of
God. That of the other was positive, and furnished greatfacilities for the
presentationand dissemination of the truth. It factit would have mattered but
little that the nations were kept in quietness under the compelling powerof
Roman law, had not the spirit of Greciancivilization, pervading the
organizationof Rome, exertedeverywhere a beneficial influence. Let us now
turn from the secularto the spiritual aspectof the ancient world if we would
discoveryet more convincing evidence of the workings of Divine wisdom.
Here, again, the attentive reader of history can perceive two great
preparations for the introduction of the gospel. The one of these was a deep
consciousnessofmoral debasementand of religious darkness pervading the
Gentile nations; and the other was a very generaldiffusion of the knowledge
of the Jewishfaith throughout the Roman Empire, accompaniedby a
recognitionof its truth and excellence. The condition of the heathen world at
the time of our Saviour's advent was truly deplorable. That dreadful
description which Paul gives in the first part of his Epistle to the Romans is
fully verified by the accounts ofcontemporary historians. The heathen were

not without a knowledge ofGod, a sense ofmoral obligationand a perception
of the distinction betweenright and wrong. In the discussions of their
philosophers we find not only some of the most eloquent praises of virtue that
ever were written, but also the clearestdirections regarding the various duties
of life. The taw of God was plainly written on their hearts. In proof of this we
may cite the remarkable fact that the treatise of Cicero, "Concerning
Morals," was long usedas a text-book in seminaries of the Christian Church.
Indeed, this treatise must ever give delight to those who canappreciate the
wisdom and purity of its instructions. But it was the wretchednessand the
condemnation of the heathen world that they knew their duty and they did it
not. Their philosophy was utterly powerless to resistthe influences which
destroyedthem; and their religion was worse than powerless. None save the
lowestclass ofthe people retained any faith in the polytheistic creeds;a
generalfeeling a want regarding both the knowledge andthe efficacyof
religion pervaded the nations of the world. But there was yet anothermethod
in which a Divine Providence was preparing the nations for our Saviour's
advent. This was, the diffusion of the principles of the Jewishfaith throughout
every part of the Roman Empire. All classes in societyhad some followers of
Moses;even kings and queens did not blush to own themselves believers in the
God of Israel. Then also multitudes of thinking men who made no profession
of Judaism were familiarized with the conceptions ofthe ever-living Jehovah
and of His promised Christ. In this way the ancientform of religion went
before Christianity, heralding its approach and predisposing men for its
clearerand more powerful revelations. There was then an external fitness for
the successfulimpartation of the truth. Under the security and tranquility of
Rome's imperial swaythe gospelwas committed to the language of educated
and thoughtful humanity, and was borne on the life-currents of Grecian
civilization to the various populations of the earth. There was, also, a deeper
and spiritual preparation. Bitter experience had proved the worthlessness of
the ancientsuperstitions, and had shownthat extremity of wickednessand
misery to which our race is tending, and from which there can be no
deliverance save through the power of a Heaven. sentfaith. And, finally, the
Jewishreligion, containing in its bosom the essentialtruths of salvation, by its
gradual diffusion, gave men a prophetic foretaste of Christianity, and a
readiness to receive further; Divine instructions. From this whole subject we

may derive two important lessons.First, let us learn to adore and love and
trust that Almighty Being who rules, with purposes of mercy, over the
children of men. That is an exalted conceptionof God which is presentedto us
in the Christian doctrine of providence. No evil genius presides over human
destinies;nor a blind, unconscious fate;nor a stern God of justice who has
forgottento be gracious. It is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, from
the beginning of the world till the present day, has been controlling the affairs
of our globe to advance His compassionatedesigns. Whata confidence have
Christians here! In the midst of the revolutions, and disasters, and evils of
earth, the Lord GodOmnipotent reigneth. Let us, also, be taught by this
subject, the inestimable importance of the religion of Jesus Christ. When the
Roman procurator of Judea carelesslyquestionedthe Galileanwho stood
before him, accusedby the malicious Jews, he little thought that the very
empire, in which he himself was but an insignificant officer, was brought into
existence and built up into power to advance the missionof that despised and
persecutedNazarene. And when the light-minded Athenians mockedthe
unpretending preacherof the Cross, they were far from conjecturing that the
chief objectfor which the language and the civilization of Greece hadbeen
developing for centuries, was to diffuse the gospelwhich Paul proclaimed
throughout all the habitable globe. Yet, in the mind of the Supreme Being, this
was a worthy end of a providential controlof human affairs during a period
of thousands of years. See how differently God and man view the same things!
But if Christianity has receivedsuch care from Almighty God, how important
should this religion be in the eyes of those for whose welfare it is intended!
(E. J. Hamilton, D. D.)
Preparationfor the Advent
Canon Liddon.

Our Lord's appearance on the scene of human history corresponds with the
generallaw so far as this — that He comes whena course of preparation,
conducted through previous ages, wasatlast complete. But then He was not
the creation, as we say, of His own or of any preceding age. Whatis true of all
other greatmen, who are no more than greatmen, is not true of Him. They
receive from their age as much as they give it; they embody and reflectits
spirit. They catchthe ideas which are in circulation — which are, as we speak,
"in the air" — and they express them more vividly than do others, whether by
speechor by action. The age contributes much to make them, and the age is
pleasedwith them because it sees itselfreflectedin them, and their powerwith
it is often in an inverse ratio to that of their real originality. With our Lord it
is utterly otherwise. He really owednothing to the time or the country which
welcomedHis Advent. He had no contactwith the greatworld of Greek
thought, or of Roman politics and administration. He borrowedjust so much
rabbinical language and sayings as to make Himself intelligible to His own
generation;but no rabbi, of whateverschool, could have said, or could have
omitted to say, what He did. The preceding ages onlyprepared His way before
Him in the circumstances,in the convictions, in the moral experiences ofmen;
and thus a preceding period marked in the counsels of God had to be run out.
At last its final hour had struck. That hour was the fulness of time: it was the
moment of the Advent. There was a threefold work of preparation for the Son
of God, carried forward in what was then calledthe civilized world; and each
portion of this preparation demanded the lapse of a certainperiod.
I. The world had to be prepared, in a certain sense, POLITICALLY for
Christ's work.
1. A common language. This was partly provided by the conquests of
Alexander. He spreadthe Greek language throughout WesternAsia,
throughout Egypt; and when Greece itselfwas conquered, the educated
Romans learnt the language oftheir vanquished provincials. And thus, when
our Lord came, the Greek language, in which the New Testamentis written,
was the common tongue of the civilized world, ready to St. Paul's hand for the
missionary work of Christianity.

2. A common socialsystem, laws, and government. During the half-century
which preceded the birth of Christ, the Roman Empire was finally
consolidatedinto a greatpolitical whole, so that Palestine and Spain — so that
North Africa and Southern Germany — were administered by a single
government. Christianity, indeed, did not need this, for it passedbeyond the
frontiers of the empire in the lifetime of the apostles;and the earliest
translation of the New Testament — that into Syrian, in the first half of the
secondcentury — showedthat it could dispense with Greek. Butthis
preparation was, nevertheless, animportant clement in the process by which
preceding ages ledup to the fulness of time.
II. Then there was a preparation in the CONVICTIONS OF MANKIND. The
heathen nations were not without some religion — a religion which contained
within various degrees certainelements of truth, howevermingled with, or
overlaid by, extraordinary error. Had it not been for the element of truth
which is to be found in all forms of heathenism, heathenism could not have
lastedas it did. Had there not been much true religious feeling in the ancient
world, although it was lavished often upon unworthy and miserable objects,
the greatcharacters withwhom we meet in history could not have existed. But
the ancientreligions tended from the first to bury God, of whose existence the
visible world assuredthem, in that visible world which witnessedto Him.
Those powers ofnature which are, as we know, but His modes of working —
which are but the robe with which he covers Himself — become more and
more, when man is without a revelation, objects of devout veneration. The
principle is the same in the fetishism which finds a godin some single natural
object, and in the pantheism which, like that of India, looks forwardto the
absorption of the individual soul into the universal life of nature. The Greeks
never knew, at their best time, of a literally Almighty God; still less did they
know anything of a God of love; but it was necessarythat their incapacityto
retain in their knowledge the little they did know about Him should be proved
to them by experience. Certainly, their greatmen, such as Plato, tried to
spiritualize, in a certainsense, the popular ideas about God, but the old

religion would not bear his criticism. It went to pieces whenit was discussed;
and philosophy, which he wished to take its place, having no facts, that is, no
religious facts, to appeal to, but consisting only of views, could never become a
real religion, and so take its place. The consequence was the simultaneous
growth of gross superstitionand of blank unbelief — a growthwhich
continued down to the very time of the Incarnation. Never before was the
existence ofany Supreme Being so widely denied in civilized human society, as
in the age of the first Caesars. Neverwere there so many magicians,
incantations, charms, rites of the most debasedand most debasing kind, as in
that age. The most gifted of races haddone its best with heathenism, anal the
result was that all the highest and purest minds loathed the present, and
lookedforward to the future. It was the fulness of the time. The epochof
religious experiments had been closedin an epoch of despair which was only
not altogetherhopeless.
III. There was also a preparation in the MORAL EXPERIENCE OF
MANKIND. There was, at times, much of what we callmoral earnestnessin
the ancientworld; but men were content, as a rule, with being goodcitizens,
which is by no means necessarilythe same thing as being goodmen. In the
eyes of , for instance, all obligations were dischargedif a man obeyedthe laws
of Athens. , St. said, approachedChristianity more nearly than any other; and
yet Plato toleratedpopular vices of the gravestdescription, and he drew a
picture of a model State in which there was to be a community of wives. And
the moral teachers whomSt. Paul afterwards found at Athens were and .
They divided the ancientworld betweenthem, practically. The Stoic morality
has often been comparedwith Christianity; it differed from it vitally. Every
single virtue was dictatedby pride, just as every Epicurean virtue was
inspired by the wish to economize the sources ofpleasure. "Nowadays," saysa
paganwriter, Quinctilian, "the greatestvices are concealedunder the name of
philosophy." And the morality of the masses ofmen whom the philosophers
could not and did not dare to influence, was just what might be expected. The
dreadful picture of the paganworld which St. Paul draws (Romans 1.), is not
a darker picture than that of pagan writers — of moralists like Seneca,of
satirists like Juvenal, of historians like Tacitus;and yet enough survived of

moral truth in the human conscienceto condemn average paganpractices.
Man still had, howeverobscurely, some parts of the law of God written deep
in his heart. Men saw and approved (they said it themselves)the better course,
and they followedthe worse;and the natural law was thus to them only a
revelation of sin and of weakness. Itled them to yearn for a deliverer,
although their aspirations were indefinite enough. Still this widespread
corruption, this longing for better things, marked the close of the epoch of
moral experiments; it announced that the fulness of the time had come.
(Canon Liddon.)
Preparationof the Jewishpeople for Christ
Canon Liddon.
1. Politicallythe Jews were expecting change. Theyretained the feelings while
they had lostthe privileges of a free people. Their aspirations lookedto a
better future, though they mistook its character. The sceptre had departed
from Judah. Shiloh, they believed, would immediately come.
2. Their purely religious convictions pointed in the same direction. Prophecy
had in the course ofages completedits picture of a coming deliverer.
Beginning with the indefinite promise of a deliverance, it had gradually
narrowedthe fulfilment, first to a particular race, then to a particular nation,
then to a particular tribe, and a particular family. And the birth, the work,
the humiliations, the death, the triumph, of the deliverer had been described
during the interval the nation had been particularly active in arranging,
comparing, discussing the greattreasures which it had receivedfrom the past;
and there was consequentlywhat the New Testamentcalls an "expectationof
Israel," for which all goodmen in that age were waiting.
3. Above all, the Jews had a moral preparation to go through, too — the law,
which they had not kept either in letter or spirit, and which was therefore to

them nothing less than a constantrevelationof their own weaknessand sin. It
showedthem what in their natural strength they could not do; it showed
them, like a lantern carried into a dark chamber of horrors which had never
been lighted up before, what they had done. Thus the law was a confidential
servant (which is the true meaning of pedagogue;not schoolmaster), to whom
God had entrusted the educationof Israel, to bring him to Christ. And this
process ofbringing him had just reachedits completion; the fulness of the
time had come.
(Canon Liddon.)
The Divine plan in human affairs
Canon Liddon.
This remarkable expression, "the fulness of the time," is with a slight
variation elsewhere usedby St. Paul. He calls the gospel, whenwriting to the
Ephesians, "the dispensation of the fulness of times"; and it is easyto see that
in both cases he really means by "fulness" that which fulfils or finishes; he
means the arrival of a given hour or moment which completes an epoch — the
hour which thus makes its appointed measure and brings it to a close. Itwas
in a like sense that our Lord and His apostles usedthe word "hour," as
marking a particular point in His life, determined in the counsels ofGod
(John 2:4; John 4:21; John 5:25; John 7:6; John 13:1; Matthew 26:45)All
such language is only understood when we bear in mind that that succession
of events which, looking at it from a human point of view, we call "time," is
distributed upon a plan eternally present to the Divine mind, and that
particular persons or particular characters are assigned, by this eternalplan,
their predestinated place in the succession. "To everything," says the wise
man, "there is a seasonand a time for every purpose under heaven." All the
lesserincidents of our separate lives are really arranged in a preconcerted
order. There is a fulness of time at which, and not before, we canunderstand
particular truths or can undertake particular duties, because for these truths

or these duties all that has precededhas been a preparation. "My time," we
may say in this sense, too, "is in Thy hand." And this is peculiarly true of that
last awful moment which awaits us all, and for which all that precedes it is one
varied preparation — the moment of death. And in like manner it is true,
generally, of those whom the world recognizes as its greatmen, that each
appears in the fulness of time; eachhas his predestined hour, which he may
not anticipate. He is in some sense the ripe product of the ages ofthought, and
feeling, and labour, which have elapsedbefore he comes:and that he should
come when he does is just as much willed by the providence of God, as that he
should be born at all. So it is with writers, with artists, with statesmen, even
with discoverers and inventors. When such men as these are said to be before
their age, it is only meant that the age has not yet takenits own true measure,
and that they surprise it by a discovery. They really appear, one and all of
them, in the fulness of time.
(Canon Liddon.)
The fulness of time
R. Winterbotham, M. A.
"The fulness of the time" means that moment which filled up the measure of
the appointed time, which completed the number of the allotted days; it does
not refer to the feelings of men, but to the predestinationof God. Scripture
tells us that the world was being educatedfor the coming of Christ, so as to be
able to receive Him and to profit by His work. As the heir of some greathouse
is during his childhood treated as a servant, and kept under tutors and
governors, so were we under the elements of the world; if heathens, we were
under the vague teaching of natural religion; .if Jews, under the formal
instruction of Mosaic ordinances. Historytells us how all things were ripe for
the Redeemer's coming just when He did come. God had prepared the
civilized world for the reception of Christianity thus: —
I. By means of the Roman Empire He had reduced all the world under one
government, so that there was free intercourse betweenall parts of the known

world, and there was no political obstacle to the spread of the faith from one
nation to another.
II. By means of the Greek language,the most perfectinstrument of thought
ever known, He had made the earth to be (in a very great degree)of one
tongue, and thus He had prepared the way for the apostles and evangelists of
Christ.
III. By means of the chosenpeople of the Jews — having still their religious
centre at Jerusalem, yetscatteredthroughout the world — He had provided a
nursery for the tender plant of the gospel, where it should be shelteredand
fosteredunder the protection of an elder but kindred religion, until it was
strong enoughto be planted out in the world.
IV. By reasonofthe generalconfluence and mutual competition of all kinds of
heathen idolatries, He had causedheathenism to lose all its old repute and
powerover souls.
(R. Winterbotham, M. A.)
Timeliness of the Advent
Bishop Lightfoot.
It was the fulness of time.
I. IN REFERENCETO THE GIVER. The moment had arrived which God
had ordained from the beginning, and foretold by His prophets, for Messiah's
coming.

II. IN REFERENCETO THE RECIPIENT.The gospelwas withheld until the
world had arrived at mature age;law had workedout its educationalpurpose
and now was susperseded. This educationalwork had been twofold:
1. Negative. It was the purpose of all law, but especiallyofthe Mosaic law, to
deepen the conviction of sin and thus to show the inability of all existing
systems to bring men near to God.
2. Positive. The comparisonof the child implies more than a negative effect. A
moral and spiritual expansion, which rendered the world more capable of
apprehending the gospelthan it would have been at an earlierage, must be
assumed, corresponding to the growth of the individual; since otherwise the
metaphor would be robbed of more than half its meaning. The primary
reference in all this is plainly to the Mosaic law;but the whole context shows
that the Gentile converts of Galatia are also included, and that they, too, are
regardedas having undergone an elementary discipline, up to a certain point
analogous to that of the Jews.
(Bishop Lightfoot.)
Shall we saythat greatevents arise from antecedents orwithout them
B. Jowett, M. A.
In the fulness of time, or out of due season;by sudden crises, orwith long
purpose and preparation? It is impossible for us to view the greatchanges of
the world under any of these aspects exclusively. The spread of the Roman
empire, the fall of the Jewishnation, the decline of the heathen religions, the
long series ofprophecy and teaching, are the natural links which connectthe
gospelwith the actualstate of mankind; the causes,humanly speaking, ofits
spread, and the soilin which it grew. But there was something else mysterious

and inexplicable beyond and above all these causes, ofwhich no accountcan
be given, which came into existence ata particular time, because Godchose
that it should come into existence at that time. This is what the apostle calls
"the fulness of time."
(B. Jowett, M. A.)
Of the fulness of time, in which Christ appeared
S. Clarke, D. D.
1. We may considerit with respectto God's fore-determination; and then it
was therefore the fulness of time, because determined and foretold by the
prophets. According to that ancientprediction of Jacob(Genesis 49:10), the
Messiahwas to appear before the total dissolution of the JewishGovernment.
Again; the prophecy of Malachi(Malachi3:1), determines the coming of our
Saviour to be before the destructionof the secondtemple. And that no less
remarkable prediction of Haggai(Haggai2:6, 7, and 9). 'Tis evident therefore
that the incarnation of Christ was in the fulness of time; that is, exactly at the
time foretold and fore-determined by the prophets. And indeed these
prophecies were so plain, that about the time of our Lord's appearance, the
Jews, andfrom them the Romans, and all the easternparts of the world, were
in greatexpectationof some extraordinary person to arise, who should be
governorof the world. But —
2. Though it be evident that our Saviour came into the world in the fulness of
time, viz., at the time foretold by the prophets; yet the question may still
return, Why was that time determined rather than any other, and accordingly
foretold by the prophets; for, without doubt, it was in itself absolutelythe
fittest and the properestseason. Now two reasonsthere seemto have been
more especially, ofour Saviour's appearing at that time: the first is, because
the insufficiency of the Jewishdispensation, as wellas of natural religion, was
then, after a long trial, become sufficiently apparent: apparent; not to God,
who knows all things at once, and makes accordinglyprovision for all things

from the beginning; but to men, to whom the counselof God is opened by
degrees. The secondreason, why we may suppose our Savior appearedjust at
the time He did, was because the world was at that time by many
extraordinary circumstances,peculiarly prepared for his reception. Now,
about the time of our Saviour's birth, it is observable that there was a
concurrence ofmany things in the world, to promote and further the
propagationof such a religion. The Romans had then conqueredalmost all the
known parts of the world; they had spread and settled their language among
all the nations of their conquests, and had made the communication easyfrom
one part to another. They had, moreover, improved moral philosophy to its
greatestheight. Further; the greatimprovement and increase oflearning in
the world about this time (according to that prophecy of Daniel, "Manyshall
run to and fro, and knowledge shallbe increased")gave occasionto the
Jewishbooks to be dispersedthrough the world: and particularly the
translating of the Bible some few ages before the birth of Christ into one of the
then most known and universal languages uponearth, which had before been
confined in a peculiar language to the Jews only, was a singular preparative to
the receptionof that greatProphet and Saviour of mankind, whose coming
was in that book so plainly and so often foretold. Indeed this seems to have
been the first step of God's discovering Himself further than by the light of
nature to other nations as well as to the Jews, andof His giving the heathen
also the knowledge ofHis revealedlaws, and remarkably instrumental it
afterwards appearedto be, in the propagating the Christian religion through
the Gentile world.
(S. Clarke, D. D.)
The fulness of time
Trench thinks it a very remarkable fact that God's prophecies concerning the
advent of His Sonseemto have spreadathwart the habitable globe, and in the

shape of traditional echoes to have been dispersed all over the world. The poet
Virgil says in one of his poems that He would soonbe born into the world who
would, he expected, bring in the golden age. Suetonius, an ancient historian,
states that a certain and settledpersuasionprevailed in the Eastthat the cities
of Judea would bring forth, about this time, a personwho should obtain
universal empire. And Tacitus states that it was containedin the ancient
books of the Jewishpriests that the Eastshould prevail, These were scattered
lights that went out from Judea, their reuniting centre, and gave the heathen
an anticipation and a persuasionthat some greatand illustrious Delivererwas
about to be born into the world.
The fulness of the time
Bp. Andrewes.
I. THE FULNESS OF TIME.
1. Time hath a fulness, because it has a capacity(Ephesians 4:13).
2. That fulness comes by degrees. As with life so with time.
3. There is a time when time cometh to its fulness (John 7:8. cf. 12:23). In the
day at the meridian; in man at full age.
4. When that "when" is. When God sends it. That which fills time is some
memorable thing of God's pouring into it. Moses andthe prophets filled it to a
certain degree;Christ filled it to the brim. Well might it be called the fulness,
for

(1)Christ was the fulness of God(Colossians 2:9;John 3:34; John 1:14-16).
(2)In Him the promises were fulfilled.
(3)The heir, the world had come to his full age, and so was ripe to receive Him
its inheritance.
II. THE FILLING OF TIME.
1. From the fulness of His compassionGod"sent."
2. From the fulness of His love He "sent His Son."
3. In the fulness of humility He sent Him.
(1)"Made of a woman," to make full union with our nature.
(2)"Made under the law" to make the union yet more perfectly full with our
sinful condition by undertaking, at circumcision, to fulfil all the righteousness
of its law (Galatians 5:8), and at His passionfulfilling all our obligations to the
law (Colossians 2:14).
III. THE FULNESS OF THE BENEFIT TO US.

1. Redemption. Consider
(1)The price paid;
(2)The captives;
(3)The liberation.
2. Adoption.
(1)Prisoners translatedinto children;
(2)Slaves ofsin into joint heirs with God's Son.
IV. THE FULNESS OF DUTY BY US. Christmas should be —
1. A time of fulness of joy; but not that only; also a time of —
2. Thankfulness to God.
3. Piety.

4. Beneficence.
(Bp. Andrewes.)
I. CHRIST CAME IN THE FULNESS OF TIME.
1. What is this?
(1)The time appointed by the Father.
(2)Fore. told by the prophets.
2. How doth it appear?
(1)From Genesis 49:10.
(2)Daniel9:25.
(3)Haggai2:9; Malachi3:1.
II. CHRIST WAS SENT, THEREFORE HE HAD A BEING BEFORE. This
appears from

(1)John 6:33, 51;
(2)John 1:15; John 8:58.
(3)John 1:2; Hebrews 1:2; Colossians 1:15, 16.
III. CHRIST WAS GOD'S SON.
1. He was God (Romans 9:5; 1 John 5:20).
2. This GodheadHe receivedof the Father (John 5:26).
3. This communication was properly a generation.
IV. CHRIST WAS MADE OF A WOMAN.
1. He receivedHis human body substantially from a woman.
2. Made, i.e., without the help of man (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23, 24; Luke
1:34, 35).Uses.
1. Information.

(1)See the infinite love of God to man.
(2)The dignity of man above all other creatures.
2. Exhortation. Be thankful for this inestimable mercy.
(1)How miserable you would be without it. Your sins unpardoned; your God
unreconciled; your soulcondemned.
(2)How happy by it: your person justified; your God reconciled;your souls
saved. Sing with the angels (Luke 2:14).
(Bp. Beveridge.)
I. There was A THREEFOLD WORKOF PREPARATION, eachportionof
which demanded the lapse of a certain period.
1. The Gentile world had to he prepared.(1) Politically. A common language
and socialsystemwith laws and Government were required and provided in
the Greek language andthe RomanEmpire:(2) In religious conviction. The
old religions went to pieces, and an age of vice, superstition, and unbelief
supervened. The epoch of religious experiments closedin an epoch of
despair.(3)In moral experience. Mensaw and approved the better course and
followedthe worse. Consciousnessofsin and weakness ledthem to yearn for a
deliverer.

2. The Jewishworld —(1)Politically was expecting change, and that Shiloh
would appear.(2) Their religious convictions pointed to Him.(3) Their law was
a moral preparation, "a schoolmasterto lead them to Christ."
II. WHEN THE TIME WAS FULL CHRIST CAME.
1. If we had seenJesus in His earthly life what impression would He have
produced on our unprejudiced souls?(1)We should have observedin Him a
totally different relation to truth from that of every other man.
(a)There was no struggle betweenHis will and God's law.
(b)He never sinned.
2. His nature was at harmony with itself. No one excellence is out of
proportion. Contemplation and action; the desire for the public and the
individual good;all that was most manly and most womanly; the Jewish,
Greek, Romantypes, all harmonized. The first Adam containedthe whole
race of his descendents;so Christ became the Head of a new race.
3. As we lookedsteadilywe should have seenthat He was God's Son, made of
a woman.
III. FROM WHAT DID CHRIST COME TO DELIVER US.
1. From false views of the world and life.

2. From base and desponding views of human nature.
3. From bondage.
(Canon Liddon.)
J. Macgregor,D. D.
I. WHEN ROME HAD REACHED THE ZENITH of her powerand
influence.
II. WHEN CIVILIZATION HAD ATTAINED HER UTMOST
DEVELOPMENT.
1. Politicallythe world was one as it had never been before and has never been
since.
2. Intellectually. Except, perhaps, the golden age of Greece,without a parallel.
Cicero, Lucretius, Caesar, Pliny, Juvenal. Philosophy now in her prime.
3. Materially: every source openfrom which pleasure could be derived.
4. Artistically.

III. WHEN MEN HAD FATHOMED THE LOWEST DEPTHS OF
DEGRADATION. The fulness of time was marked by —
1. Disgusting licentiousness.
2. Inhuman cruelty.
3. Widespreadpractice of suicide.
4. Blank atheism.
5. Utter despair.
(J. Macgregor, D. D.)
Giles Hester.
I. A PERIOD IN WHICH WERE MANIFEST THE BONDAGE,
DEGRADATION, AND MISERYOF MAN, AND THE CORRUPTION,
DECAY, AND DEATH OF NATIONS.
1. After the Flood a new term of probation was granted; but Babelbecame the
monument of man's pride and self-will.
2. After the call of Abraham God's administration took a two-fold form:

(a)to prepare salvationfor the nations;
(b)To prepare the nations for salvation.(1)To the Jews the law was given as a
pedagogue to conduct them to Christ; but they lostsight of the end in the
means.(2)To the Greeks were givenexquisite intellectual faculties;.but these
greatgifts were prostituted to the basestuses.(3)To the Romans was given.
the faculty for law and empire; but they became slaves oflust. The world's
extremity was God's opportunity.
II. A PERIOD OF SPECIAL, SUPERNATURAL, AND DIVINE
INTERVENTIONAS MANIFESTEDIN THE PERSON AND WORK OF
CHRIST, AND THE SPIRITUAL FREEDOM AND MORAL ELEVATION
OF MEN.
1. The person of Christ.
(1)His Divinity — "sent forth His Son."
(2)His humanity — "born of a woman."
(3)His nationality — "under the law."
2. The work of Christ — "to redeem, etc."

3. The kindred and representatives ofChrist — "sons," whosedistinctive
marks are:
(1)Freedom.
(2)Spirituality.
(3)Permanancy.
(4)Hopefulness.
(Giles Hester.)
The Advent
The fulness of time
G. Hester.
The phrase marks a greatcrisis in the history of the world. The ages flow on
until they reacha certain defined boundary line, and then a new order of
things is established. An apprentice is bound for a term of years;at the
expiration of that period the fulness of time has come, and he obtains his
freedom from service. An heir arrives at his majority and enters into the
possessionoffreedom when he has filled with service the term fixed by his
father or by the law. Boys and girls at schoolcount the weeks whichintervene

betweenthe period appointed for breaking-up, and long for the fulness of time
to come that they may obtain their liberty and hastenhome to see their
fathers and mothers. So in the history of the world. The old order came to an
end. The sand in the hour-glass ran out. It was time to put the old lesson
books, the old habits, the old employments, away.
COMMENTARIES
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(4) The fulness of the time.—Thatwhich 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
clearexpressionof the conceptionof religionas 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 is described in John
1:1 : “The Word was with God.” The pre-existence of the Sonis distinctly
recognisedby St. Paul.
Made of a woman.—Perhapsbettertranslated, born of a woman. There is no
allusion here to the miraculous conception. The phrase “born of a woman”
was of common use. Comp. Matthew 11:11 : “Among them that are born of
women there hath not risen a greaterthan John the Baptist.” So here the
expressionis intended to bring out, not the divinity, but the true humanity of
Christ.
Made under the law.—Bornunder law—i.e., born into a state of things where
the whole world was subject to law—born under the legaldispensation,
though Himself destined to put an end to that dispensation.

MacLaren's Expositions
Galatians
THE SON SENT
Galatians 4:4-5 {R.V.}.
It is generally supposedthat by the ‘fulness of time’ Paul means to indicate
that Christ came at the moment when the world was especiallyprepared to
receive Him, and no doubt that is a true thought. The Jews had been trained
by law to the convictionof sin; heathenism had tried its utmost, had reached
the full height of its possible development, and was decaying. Rome had
politically prepared the way for the spread of the Gospel. Vague expectations
of coming change found utterance even from the lips of Roman courtier poets,
and a feeling of unrest and anticipation pervaded society;but while no doubt
all this is true and becomes more certain the more we know of the state of
things into which Christ came, it is to be noted that Paul is not thinking of the
fulness of time primarily in reference to the world which receivedHim, but to
the Fatherwho sent Him. Our text immediately follows words in which the air
is described as being ‘under guardians and stewards’until the time appointed
of His Father, and the fulness of time is therefore the moment which God had
ordained from the beginning for His coming. He, from of old, had willed that
at that moment this Son should be born, and it is to the punctual
accomplishmentof His eternal purpose that Paul here directs our thoughts.
No doubt the world’s preparedness is part of the reasonfor the divine
determination of the time, but it is that divine determination rather than the

world’s preparedness to which the first words of our text must be takento
refer.
The remaining portion of our text is so full of meaning that one shrinks from
attempting to deal with it in our narrow space, but though it opens up depths
beyond our fathoming, and gathers into one concentratedbrightness lights on
which our dim eyes canhardly look, we may venture to attempt some
imperfect considerationeven of these greatwords. Following their course of
thought we may deal with
I. The mystery of love that sent.
The most frequent form under which the great factof the incarnation is
representedin Scripture is that of our text--’God sent His Son.’It is familiar
on the lips of Jesus, but He also says that ‘God gave His Son.’ One canfeel a
shade of difference in the two modes of expression. The former bringing
rather to our thoughts the representative characterof the Son as Messenger,
and the latter going still deeperinto the mystery of Godheadand bringing into
view the love of the Father who sparednot His Son but freely bestowedHim
on men. Yet another word is used by Jesus Himself when He says, ‘I came
forth from God,’ and that expressionbrings into view the perfect willingness
with which the Son acceptedthe mission and gave Himself, as well as was
given by God. All three phases express harmonious, though slightly differing
aspects ofthe same fact, as the facets ofa diamond might flash into different
colours, and all must be held fast if we would understand the unspeakable gift
of God. Jesus was sent;Jesus was given;Jesus came. The mission from the
Father, the love of the Father, the glad obedience of the Son, must ever be
recognisedas interpenetrating, and all present in that supreme act.

There have been many men speciallysent forth from God, whose personal
existence beganwith their birth, and so far as the words are concerned, Jesus
might have been one of these. There was a man sent from God whose name
was John, and all through the ages he has had many companions in his
mission, but there has been only one who ‘came’as well as ‘was sent,’ and He
is the true light which lighteth every man. To speak in theologicallanguageof
the pre-existence ofthe Son is cold, and may obscure the truth which it
formulates in so abstracta fashion, and may rob it of power to awe and
impress. But there can be no question that in our text, as is shownby the
juxtaposition of ‘sent’ and ‘born,’ and in all the New Testamentreferencesto
the subject, the birth of Jesus is not regardedas the beginning of the being of
the Son. The one lies far back in the depths of eternity and the mystery of the
divine nature, the other is a historicalfact occurring in a definite place and at
a dated moment. Before time was the Son was, delighting in the Father, and
‘in the beginning was the word and the word was with God,’ and He who in
respectof His expressionof the Father’s mind and will was the Word, was the
Son in respectof the love that bound the Father and Him in one. Into the
mysteries of that love and union no eyes canpenetrate, but unless our faith
lays hold of it, we know not the God whom Jesus has declaredto us. The
mysteries of that divine union and communion lie beyond our reach, but well
within the graspof our faith and the work of the Sonin the world, ever since
there was a world, is not obscurelydeclaredto all who have eyes to see and
hearts to understand. For He has through all ages beenthe active energy of
the divine power, or as the Old Testamentwords it, ‘The Arm of the Lord,’
the Agent of creation, the Revealerof God, the Light of the world and the
Directorof Providence. ‘He was in the world and the world was made by Him,
and the world knew Him not.’
Now all this teaching that the Sonwas long before Jesus was born is no mere
mysterious dogma without bearing on daily needs, but stands in the closest
connectionwith Christ’s work and our faith in it. It is the guarantee of His
representative character;on it depends the reliableness of His revelation of
God. Unless He is the Son in a unique sense, how could God have spokenunto
us in Him, and how could we rely on His words? Unless He was ‘the

effulgence of His glory and the express image of His person’: how could we be
sure that the light of His countenance was light from God and that in His
person God was so presentedas that he who had seenHim had seenthe
Father? The completeness andveracity of His revelation, the authoritative
fulness of His law, the efficacyof His sacrifice and the prevalence of His
intercessionalldepend on the fact of His divine life with God long before His
human life with men. It is a plain historical factthat a Christianity which has
no place for a pre-existent Son in the bosomof the Father has only a maimed
Christ in reference to the needs of sinful men. If our Christ were not the
eternal Sonof God, He will not be the universal Saviour of men.
Nor is this truth less needful in its bearing on modern theories which will have
nothing to say to the supernatural, and in a fatalistic fashion regardhistory as
all the result of an orderly evolution in which the importance of personal
agents is minimised. To it Jesus, like all other greatmen, is a product of His
age, and the immediate result of the conditions under which He appeared. But
when we look far beyond the manger of Bethleheminto the depths of Eternity
and see Godso loving the world as to give His Son, we cannotbut recognise
that He has intervened in the course ofhuman history and that the mightiest
force in the development of man is the eternal Son whom He sent to save the
world.
II. The miracle of lowliness that came.
The Apostle goes onfrom describing the greatfact which took place in heaven
to set forth the greatfact which completedit on earth. The sending of the Son
took effectin the birth of Jesus, and the Apostle puts it under two forms, both
of which are plainly designedto present Christ’s manhood as His full
identification of Himself with us. The Son of God became the sonof a woman;
from His mother He drew a true and complete humanity in body and soul.
The humanity which He receivedwas sufficiently kindred with the divinity

which receivedit to make it possible that the one should dwell in the other and
be one person. As born of a woman the Son of God took upon Himself all
human experiences, became capableof sharing our pure emotions, wept our
tears, partook in our joys, hoped and feared as we do, was subjectto our
changes, grew as we grow, and in everything but sin, was a man amongstmen.
But the Son of God could not be as the sons of men. Him the Fatherheard
always. Evenwhen He came down from Heavenand became the Sonof Man,
He continued to be ‘The Sonof Man which is in Heaven.’ Amid all the
distractions and limitations of His earthly life, the continuity and depth of His
communion with the Fatherwere unbroken and the completeness ofHis
obedience undiminished. He was a Man, but He was also the Man, the one
realisedideal of humanity that has ever walkedthe earth, to whom all others,
even the most complete, are fragments, the fairestfoul, the most gracious
harsh. In Him and in Him only has been ‘given the world assurance ofa man.’
The other condition which is here introduced is ‘born under the law,’ by
which it may be noted that the Apostle does not mean the Jewishlaw,
inasmuch as he does not use the definite article with the word. No doubt our
Lord was born as a Jew and subject to the Jewishlaw, but the thought here
and in the subsequent clause is extended to the generalnotion of law. The very
heart of our Lord’s human identification is that He too had duties imperative
upon Him, and the language of one of the Messianic psalms was the voice of
His filial will during all His earthly life; ‘Lo! I come, in the volume of the Book
it is written of Me, I delight to do Thy will and Thy law is within My heart.’
The very secretofHis human life was discoveredby the heathen centurion, at
whose faith He marvelled, who said, ‘I _also_ ama man under authority’; so
was Jesus. The Sonhad ever been obedient in the sweetcommunion of
Heaven, but the obedience ofJesus was not less perfect, continual and
unstained. It was the man Jesus who summed up His earthly life in ‘I do
always the things that please Him’; it was the man Jesus who, under the olives

in Gethsemane, made the greatsurrender and yielded up His own will to the
will of the Fatherwho sent Him.
He was under law in that the will of God dominated His life, but He was not so
under it as we are on whom its precepts often press as an unwelcome
obligation, and who know the weightof guilt and condemnation. If there is
any one characteristic ofJesus more conspicuous than another it is the
absence in Him of any consciousnessofdeficiencyin His obedience to law, and
yet that absence does not in the smallestdegree infringe on His claim to be
‘meek and lowly in heart.’ ‘Which of you convinceth Me of sin?’ would have
been from any other man a defiance that would have provoked a crushing
answerif it had not been taken as a proof of hopeless ignorance ofself, but
when Christ asks the question, the world is silent. The silence has been all but
unbroken for nineteen hundred years, and of all the busy and often unfriendly
eyes that have been occupiedwith Him and the hostile pens that have been
eagerto say something new about Him, none have discovereda flaw, or dared
to ‘hint a fault.’ That characterhas stamped its own impression of perfectness
on all eyes even the most unfriendly or indifferent. In Him there is seenthe
perfect union and balance of opposite characteristics;the restof us, at the
best, are but brokenarcs; Jesus is the completed round. He is under law as
fully, continuously and joyfully obedient; but for Him it had no accusing
voice, and it laid on Him no burden of broken commandments. He was born
of a woman, born under law, but he lived separate from sinners though
identified with them.
III. The marvel of exaltationthat results.
Our Lord’s lowliness is describedin the two clauses whichwe have just been
considering. They express His identification with us from a double point of
view, and that double point of view is continued in the final clauses ofour text
which state the double purpose of God in sending His Son. He became one

with us that we might become one with Him. The two elements of this double
purpose are statedin the reverse order to the two elements of Christ’s
lowliness. The redemption of them that were under law is presented as the
reasonfor His being born under law, and our reception of the ‘adoption of
sons’is the purpose of the Son’s being sent and born of a woman. The order in
which Paul here deals with the two parts of the divine purpose is not to be put
down to mere rhetoricalornament, but corresponds to the order in which
these two elements are realisedby men. For there must be redemption from
law before there is the adoption of sons.
We have alreadyhad occasionto point out that ‘law’ here must be takenin
the wide sense and not restricted to the Jewishlaw. It is a world-wide
redemption which the Father’s love had in view in sending His Son, but that
all-comprehending, fatherly love could not reach its aim by the mere forth-
putting of its own energy. A process was neededif the divine heart was to
accomplishits desire, and the majestic stagesin that process are setforth here
by Paul. The world was under law in a very sad fashion, and though Jesus has
come to redeem them that are under law, the crushing weight of
commandments flouted, of duties neglected, ofsins done, presses heavilyupon
many of us. And yet how many of us there are who do not know the burden
that we carry and have had no personal experience like that of Bunyan’s
Christian with the pack on his back all but weighing him down? Jesus Christ
has become one of us, and in His sinless life has ‘magnified the law and made
it honourable,’ and in His sinless deathHe endures the consequencesofsin,
not as due to Himself, but because they are man’s. But we must carefully keep
in view, that as we have already pointed out, we are to think of Christ’s
mission as His coming as well as the Father’s sending, and that therefore we
do not graspthe full idea of our Lord’s enduring the consequences ofsin
unless we take it as meaning His voluntary identification of Himself in love
with us sinful men. His obedience was perfectall His life long, and His last and
highest actof obedience was when He became obedient unto death, even the
death of the Cross.

This is the only means by which the burden of law in any of its forms can be
takenawayfrom us. Fora law which is not loved will be heavy and hard
howeverholy and just and goodit may be, and a law which we have broken
will become soonerorlater its own avenger. Faithful in _Pilgrim’s Progress_
tells how ‘So soonas a man overtook me he was but a word and a blow, for
down he knockedme and laid me for dead. . . . He struck me another deadly
blow on the breastand beat me down backward, so I lay at his footas dead as
before, so when I came to myself again I cried him "Mercy," but he said, "I
know not how to show mercy," and with that knockedme down again; he had
doubtless made an end of me but that one came by and bid him forbear. . . . I
did not know him at first, but as he went by I perceivedthe holes in his hands
and in his sides.’He was born under law that He might redeemthem that
were under law.
The slaves bought into freedom are receivedinto the greatfamily. The Son
has become fleshthat they who dwell in the flesh may rise to be sons, but the
Son stands alone evenin the midst of His identification with us, and of the
greatresults which follow for us from it. He is the Son by nature; we are sons
by adoption. He became man that we might share in the possessionofGod.
When the burden of law is lifted off it is possible to bestow the further blessing
of sonship, but that blessing is only possible through Him in whom, and from
whom, we derive a life which is divine life. There is a profound truth in the
prophetic sentence, ‘BeholdI and the children which God hath given me!’ for,
in one aspect, believers are the children of Christ, and in another, they are
sons of God.
We have been speaking ofthe Son’s identification with us in His mission, and
our identification with Him, but that identification depends on ourselves and
is only an accomplishedfact through our faith. When we trust in Him it is
true that all His--His righteousness, His Sonship, His union with the Father--is
ours, and that all ours--our sins, our guilt, our alienation from God and our
dwelling in the far-off land of rags and vice--is His. In His voluntary

identification with us, He has borne our griefs and carriedour sorrows. It is
for us to determine whether we will lay on Him our iniquities, as the Father
has alreadylaid the iniquities of us all. Are we by faith in Him who was born
of a woman, born under law, making our very own the redemption from the
law which He has wrought and the adoption of sons which He bestows?
BensonCommentary
Galatians 4:4-7. But when the fulness of time — Appointed by the Father,
(Galatians 4:2,) and marked out by the predictions of the prophets for the
accomplishmentof this greatevent; was come — And we were arrived at the
age proper for our entering on our adult state, and being put in possessionof
the promises, by the introduction of the gospeldispensation;Godsent forth —
From heaven into our world; his Son — Miraculouslymade, or rather, born,
as the word γενομενον may, with equal propriety, be translated; because,
although Christ, as to his body, or his human nature in general, might be said
to have been made of a woman, and of the seedof David, (Romans 1:3,) yet as
he was the Sonof God, sent forth from the Father, he was not made at all,
much less of a woman. See on Hebrews 1:3-6; Hebrews 7:3. Or the clause may
be read, made flesh of a woman, namely, of a virgin, without the concurrence
of a man. Made under the law — Under its discipline, in all its rigour; subject
not only to the precepts, but to the curse of the law, even the Mosaic law;to
redeem them that were under the law — From the curse of it, which he bore
in their stead, and from that low, servile state in which they were before; and
that he might bring them into a happy liberty from any future obligation to
observe its ceremonialinstitutions. It must be observed, however, that the
apostle had not only the Jews in his view here, but the Gentiles also, as is
evident from Galatians 4:8, where they are addressedin particular. The law
from which all are redeemed, or bought off, was not the law of Mosesalone,
but the law of nature, as a rule of justification: see note on Galatians 3:13.
From both these laws, with the religious institutions attachedto them, Christ
hath redeemedmankind by his death, that he might place them under the
gracious dispensationof his gospel. Thatwe — Whether Jews or Gentiles,
who believe; might receive the adoption of sons — Might stand relatedto
God, not only as his people, his true and spiritual worshippers, his subjects
and his servants, but also as his sons and daughters; might be peculiarly near

and dear to him; made partakers of his nature, favoured with his special
guidance, protection, and care;might have continual liberty of accessto him
and intercourse with him; might have all our wants, ghostly and bodily,
supplied by him here, and might be constituted joint heirs with his beloved
Son of the heavenly inheritance hereafter. See on John 1:12; Romans 8:14-17.
Observe, reader, it is the privilege of true believers in the present life to have
the assuranceofGod’s love, peace of conscience,protectionfrom their
spiritual enemies, assistance intimes of trial and temptation, and the certain
hope of eternal life. And because ye are thus made his sons — By adoption
and regeneration;God hath sent forth — From heaven, as he sent forth his
Son from thence; the Spirit of his Son — The very same Spirit of truth,
holiness, and consolation, whichdwelt in his Son; into your hearts — To take
up his abode there; crying, Abba, Father — Enabling you to call God your
reconciledFatherin truth and with assurance, andto callupon him both with
the confidence and temper of dutiful children. The Hebrew and Greek word
signifying father are here joined together, to express the joint cry of Jews and
Gentiles. Wherefore thou — Who believestin Christ, and art a true member
of the gospelchurch, whether born a Jew or a Gentile; art no more — No
longer; a servant — As formerly, in a state of bondage, whetherto the legal
dispensationof Moses, orto the law of nature, and the ceremonialinstitutions
attachedto it, by custom or divine appointment; but a son — Of mature age;
and if a son, an heir of God — Entitled to the everlasting inheritance, and
even to the enjoyment of the all-sufficient Godhimself; through Christ —
Through his sacrifice and intercession, andmy interesttherein by faith.
Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary
4:1-7 The apostle deals plainly with those who urged the law of Moses
togetherwith the gospelofChrist, and endeavoured to bring believers under
its bondage. They could not fully understand the meaning of the law as given
by Moses. And as that was a dispensation of darkness, so ofbondage; they
were tied to many burdensome rites and observances,by which they were
taught and kept subject like a child under tutors and governors. We learn the
happier state of Christians under the gospeldispensation. From these verses
see the wonders of Divine love and mercy; particularly of Godthe Father, in
sending his Son into the world to redeem and save us; of the Son of God, in

submitting so low, and suffering so much for us; and of the Holy Spirit, in
condescending to dwell in the hearts of believers, for such gracious purposes.
Also, the advantages Christians enjoy under the gospel. Although by nature
children of wrath and disobedience, they become by grace children of love,
and partake of the nature of the children of God; for he will have all his
children resemble him. Among men the eldestson is heir; but all God's
children shall have the inheritance of eldestsons. May the temper and conduct
of sons ever show our adoption; and may the Holy Spirit witness with our
spirits that we are children and heirs of God.
Barnes'Notes on the Bible
But when the fulness of the time was come - The full time appointed by the
Father; the completion (filling up, πλήρωμα plērōma,) of the designated
period for the coming of the Messiah;see the Isaiah 49:7-8 notes; 2
Corinthians 6:2 note. The sense is, that the time which had been predicted,
and when it was proper that he should come, was complete. The exactperiod
had arrived when all things were ready for his coming. It is often askedwhy
he did not come sooner, and why mankind did not have the benefit of his
incarnation and atonementimmediately after the fall? Why were four
thousand dark and gloomy years allowedto roll on, and the world suffered to
sink deeperand deeper in ignorance and sin? To these questions perhaps no
answerentirely satisfactorycanbe given. God undoubtedly saw reasons which
we cannot; see, and reasons which we shall approve if they are disclosedto us.
It may be observed, however, that this delay of redemption was in entire
accordancewith the whole systemof divine arrangements, and with all the
divine interpositions in favor of men. People are suffered long to pine in want,
to suffer from disease,to encounter the evils of ignorance, before interposition
is granted. On all the subjects connectedwith human comfort and
improvement, the same questions may be askedas on the subject of
redemption. Why was the invention of the art of printing so long delayed, and
people suffered to remain in ignorance? Why was the discoveryof vaccination
delayed so long, and millions suffered to die who might have been saved? Why
was not the bark of Peru soonerknown, and why did so many millions die
who might have been saved by its use? So of most of the medicines, and of the

arts and inventions that go to ward off disease, andto promote the
intelligence, the comfort, and the salvationof man. In respectto all of these, it
may be true that they are made knownat the very best time, the time that will
on the whole most advance the welfare of the race. And so of the incarnation
and work of the Saviour. It was seenby Godto be the besttime, the time when
on the whole the race would be most benefited by his coming. Even with our
limited and imperfect vision, we can see the following things in regard to its
being the most fit and proper time.
(1) it was just the time when all the prophecies centerdin him, and when there
could be no doubt about their fulfillment. It was important that such an event
should be predicted in order that there might be full evidence that he came
from heaven; and yet in order that prophecy may be seento have been uttered
by God, it must be so far before the event as to make it impossible to have
been the result of mere human conjecture.
(2) it was proper that the world should be brought to see its need of a Saviour,
and that a fair and satisfactoryopportunity should be given to men to try all
other schemes ofsalvation that they might be prepared to welcome this. This
had been done. Four thousand years were sufficient to show to man his own
powers, and to give him an opportunity to devise some scheme of salvation.
The opportunity had been furnished under every circumstance that could be
deemed favorable. The most profound and splendid talent of the world had
been brought to bear on it, especiallyin Greece andRome; and ample
Opportunity had been given to make a fair trial of the various systems of
religion devised on national happiness and individual welfare;their power to
meet and arrestcrime; to purify the heart; to promote public morals, and to
support man in his trials; their power to conduct him to the true God, and to
give him a wellfounded hope of immortality. All had failed; and then it was a
proper time for the Sonof God to come and to reveala better system.

(3) it was a time when the world was at peace. The temple of Janus, closed
only in times of peace, was thenshut, though it had been but once closed
before during the Romanhistory. What an appropriate time for the "Prince
of Peace"to come!The world was, to a greatextent, under the Roman
sceptre. Communications betweendifferent parts of the world were then more
rapid and secure than they had been at any former period, and the gospel
could be more easilypropagated. Further, the Jews were scatteredin almost
all lands, acquainted with the promises, looking for the Messiah, furnishing
facilities to their own countrymen the apostles to preach the gospelin
numerous synagogues, andqualified, if they embracedthe Messiah, to become
most zealous and devoted missionaries. The same language, the Greek, was,
moreover, after the time of Alexander the Great, the common language ofno
small part of the world, or at leastwas spokenand understood among a
considerable portion of the nations of the earth. At no period before had there
been so extensive a use of the same language.
(4) it was a proper period to make the new system known. It accordedwith
the benevolence ofGod, that it should be delayed no longerthan that the
world should be in a suitable state for receiving the Redeemer. Whenthat
period, therefore, had arrived, God did not delay, but sent his Son on the
greatwork of the world's redemption.
God sent forth his Son - This implies that the Son of God had an existence
before his incarnation; see John 16:28. The Saviour is often representedas
sent into the world, and as coming forth from God.
Made of a woman- In human nature; born of a woman, This also implies that
he had another nature than that which was derived from the woman. On the
supposition that he was a mere man, how unmeaning would this assertionbe!
How natural to ask, in what other way could he appear than to be born of a
woman? Why was he particularly designatedas coming into the world in this

manner? How strange would it sound if it were said, "In the sixteenth century
came Faustus Socinus preaching Unitarianism, made of a woman!" or, "In
the eighteenthcentury came Dr. JosephPriestley, born of a woman, preaching
the doctrines of Socinus!" How else could they appear? would be the natural
inquiry. What was there specialin their birth and origin that rendered such
language necessary? The language implies that there were other ways in
which the Saviour might have come; that there was something specialin the
fact that he was born of a woman; and that there was some specialreasonwhy
that fact should be made prominently a matter of record. The promise was
Genesis 3:15 that the Messiahshould be the "seed" orthe descendantof
woman; and Paul probably here alludes to the fulfillment of that promise.
Made under the law - As one of the human race, partaking of human nature,
he was subject to the Law of God. As a man he was hound by its
requirements, and subject to its control. He took his place under the Law that
he might accomplishan important purpose for those who were under it. He
made himself subject to it that he might become one of them, and secure their
redemption.
Jamieson-Fausset-BrownBible Commentary
4. the fulness of the time—namely, "the time appointed by the Father" (Ga
4:2). Compare Note, see on[2346]Eph1:10; Lu 1:57; Ac 2:1; Eze 5:2. "The
Church has its own ages"[Bengel]. Goddoes nothing prematurely, but,
foreseeing the end from the beginning, waits till all is ripe for the executionof
His purpose. Had Christ come directly after the fall, the enormity and deadly
fruits of sin would not have been realized fully by man, so as to feelhis
desperate state and need of a Saviour. Sin was fully developed. Man's inability
to save himself by obedience to the law, whether that of Moses,orthat of
conscience, wascompletelymanifested; all the prophecies of various ages
found their common centerin this particular time: and Providence, by
various arrangements in the socialand political, as well as the moral world,
had fully prepared the wayfor the coming Redeemer. Godoften permits

Jesus was sent at just the right time

Jesus was sent at just the right time

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