Galatians 4:1 Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

2 But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

3 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

4 But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

5 To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

6 And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

7 Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Galatians 3:13 Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:

14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

Romans 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.

20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;

22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference.

MEMORY VERSE: The law and the prophets were until John: since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it. –Luke 16:16

CENTRAL THOUGHT: Jesus Christ was born, grew to manhood, and began His ministry under the law. He respected, honored, and obeyed the law, but it was for the purpose of redeeming those who also were under the law to the spiritual sonship of the New Covenant that He was to establish.

WORD DEFINITIONS:

Galatians 4:4 “Made under the law”: born under the law. Galatians 4:5 “Adoption”: sonship.

LESSON BACKGROUND

Christ Jesus came forth into this world under the jurisdiction and authority of the law. Joseph and Mary respected and obeyed the laws of God. When Jesus was taken as an infant to the temple in Jerusalem, it was in obedience to the law. The law had given the commandment that every male child that was the firstborn was to be holy unto the Lord. Mary and Joseph took Jesus to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord and to offer the sacrifice that was commanded in the law—a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons (Luke 2:22-24). At the age of twelve, Jesus was taken, after the custom of the law, to Jerusalem and the feast.

Jesus alluded to the law many times in His ministry. The scriptural rebukes with which He overcame Satan in the days of temptation were taken from the law. The leprous men that He healed were commanded to go and show themselves to the priests, after the manner of the law. His quotations from the law were time and time again a reproof to the Jews who professed to be keeping the law. Jesus was fully aware of their problem. He knew that they were not keeping the law, and they knew it, too. Thus they were enraged when Jesus tore their playhouse down. He showed them that there was not any shelter in their superficial religious system. Christ was under the law, but He was bringing in a better hope all the time.

There was an overlapping of the law system with that of grace. From the days of John the Baptist, God was bringing forth the New Testament plan of salvation. The animal sacrifices had lost their value in the face of the real sacrifice, the Victim for the salvation of men, who walked and talked in their midst. Christ was not bringing to the souls of men another carnal commandment of “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not.” He was bringing the Spirit of adoption, or sonship. He was the Son of God, and was to give His life on Calvary that we might be sons of God even as He was. Thus, we are to no longer be as servants who take commands, but we are to be in the bosom of the Father, obeying and serving Him with a joy of acceptance, being His heirs. It was no longer to be a system of where men obeyed to gain favor, but it was favor granted as a gift of righteousness, winning the heart and affection to an obedience that satisfied the obeyer and the Obeyed.

—Bro. Leslie Busbee

QUESTIONS:

1. Can you think of different incidents that showed Jesus being subject to the law?
2. Who does He want to redeem and what are they to receive?
3. In what ways is the Spirit of adoption superior to servitude under the law?
4. How was Christ made a curse?
5. Why can there be no flesh justified by the law?

COMMENTS AND APPLICATION

In the previous lessons we have studied the establishing of God’s relationship with man on the principles of faith and the giving of the law, which came 430 years later. We have viewed the purpose of the law, why it failed to bring real perfection to the soul, how it was corrupted and misused, and how that faith was employed during the time of the law for those who really served God.

Today we will behold the Savior—brought forth into the world, born of a woman, born under the law. But let us bear in mind the truth that Christ was not born under the law to continue under the law. No, He was brought forth to rescue and to redeem those who were condemned and under the sentence of death by the law. He came to bring to men the access to eternal sonship with the Father. We see Him bearing the curse of the law for us. In other words, He took the punishment that the law prescribed for offenders. He became “sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself” (Verse 19).

The world had become guilty before God. The law had justified no one, and mankind lay in spiritual death and degradation. Satan had taken over many lives with evil bondage and disease. The religious system that professed to be holding to the law was corrupted with covetousness and self-righteousness. But Jesus came forth into the world, taking upon Himself human flesh. He was born of a woman just as every other man had been born. He entered into the realm of the great conflict with Satan. There were important and serious consequences at stake as Jesus made His advent into the world. But thank God, He came and we shall behold the glory and blessing of His salvation in the remaining lessons of this study.

—Bro. Leslie Busbee

REFLECTIONS

In the 7th chapter of Romans the apostle Paul vividly describes his experience under the law – how that the law was unable to give him dominion over and deliverance from the law of sin and carnality that was warring in his members against the spiritual law of God. But he continues in chapter 8 to say that the “law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh. That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.”

Jesus said, “Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus came to provide the missing link, so to speak, of the law. As Paul said, “the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good” (Romans 7:12). But it had no power to transmit its holiness to the moral nature of man. It took the Spirit of life emanating from Christ Jesus to accomplish that. Jesus became the true spiritual substance of what the law was all about. Uniting with Him in spirit will completely fulfill the righteousness of the law in us. Therefore our focus should no longer be the law, but Christ, the fulfillment of the law. “… He that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:17). He says, “Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest [Sabbath]. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls” (Matthew 11:28-29). It is the rest of faith (see Hebrews 4:1-11).

“Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God…that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter” (Romans 7:4, 6b). “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body (substance) is of Christ” (Colossians 2:16–17).

—Bro. Harlan Sorrell