But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons. —Galatians 4:4.
What a rich passage loaded with many wonderfully challenging ideas. God made history ready for the Savior, then sent his Son as that Savior. God’s Son then dealt with all the difficulties of the law, the religious politics, and the frailties of mortality. Our Father bought our freedom at the terrible cost of his Son’s crucifixion on a cross in front of a jeering mob jealous of his Son’s popularity and afraid of his power. God allowed this so he could raise Jesus from the dead, and you and I could become his honored children, entitled with the Son to the Father’s full inheritance (Romans 8:17). Paul is not being prejudiced in saying that we are given the rights of sons because in his day, daughters often didn’t have any rights of inheritance. So, he is saying everyone men and women have the full rights of an honored son. God’s perfectly timed plan and perfect Son led to the Father’s perfect sacrifice that paid our ransom from sin and death, bringing us salvation and the assurance of glory in the future.