Galatians 4:1-5
Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all; But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): It is among the precious testimonies of divine teaching, that there is a “set time” to favor Zion, Psalm 102:13…There is an uncommon degree of beauty in the expression “the fulness of the time.”
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): The coming of Christ to this earth was not some sudden, isolated, unexpected event.
STEPHEN CHARNOCK (1628-1680): Every circumstance about Christ was timed according to the predictions of God. Hence the time of the incarnation of our blessed Saviour is called “the fulness of the time”—the proper season for His coming.
JOHN GILL (1697-1771): The time was agreed and fixed upon between God and His Son from all eternity, when the Son of God should assume human nature; which time was diligently searched into by the prophets, was revealed unto them, and predicted by them—that it should be before the civil government ceased from Judah, and before the destruction of the second temple.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): When the promise of a Saviour was given to Adam and Eve in Genesis 3:15, nothing was specified respecting the time. Nothing seems to have been declared concerning the time of the Messiah’s arrival, till it was revealed to Jacob, that “the sceptre should not depart from Judah, till Shiloh should come,” Genesis 49:10. And it is remarkable, that a separate jurisdiction did depart from all the other tribes several hundred years before Christ’s advent; but Judah retained it, in a measure, even during the captivity in Babylon; and never completely lost it, till Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. After the restoration of the Jews from Babylon, it was revealed to the Prophet Haggai, that the Messiah should come while that temple was standing; and by the Messiah’s presence in it should add greater glory to it, than the former temple with all its magnificence, Haggai 2:7,9. Thus the fulness of the time was come, because it was the time ordained by God in His eternal counsels, and made known to the world by his holy prophets.
A. W. PINK: After A.D. 70, when the Temple was destroyed, the Jews dispersed throughout the world!
ALEXANDER MacLAREN (1826-1910): It is generally supposed that by “the fulness of time” Paul means to indicate that Christ came at the moment when the world was especially prepared to receive Him.
A. W. PINK: The “fulness of time” means more than that the ordained hour had arrived: it signifies when all the preliminary operations of Divine providence had been completed, when the stage was thoroughly prepared for this unparalleled event, when the world’s need had been fully demonstrated…In its relation to the immediate context this expression, “the fulness of the time,” signifies that the Church on earth had been prepared for the coming of God’s Son by having now outgrown the conditions of her childhood and minority, making her feel the irksomeness of the bonds upon her and to long for the liberty of maturity. The legal Mosaic dispensation was merely a “schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we may be justified by faith,” and it had now served its purpose, Galatians 3:24. The old Mosaic dispensation had decayed and waxed old, and was “ready to vanish away,” Hebrews 8:13. “But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster,” Galatians 3:25.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): The time appointed of the Father having come, when the church was to arrive at its full age, the darkness and bondage under which it before lay are removed, and we are under a dispensation of greater light and liberty.
A. W. PINK: There was a remarkable combination of circumstances tending to prepare the world for the Gospel, and a fearful climax in the world’s need of redemption. The break up of old heathen faiths and the passing away of the prejudices of antiquity, disposed men for a new revelation which was spiritual, humane, non-provincial. The utter failure of Pagan religion from immorality, and of Pagan philosophy to cure that immorality and the miseries it entailed, called loudly for some new Faith, which should be both sure and powerful. The century immediately preceding our Lord’s advent was probably the most remarkable in all history. Everything was in a state of transition; old things were passing away…There were strange rumours afloat of coming relief, and singular hopes stirred the hearts of men that some Great One was about to appear and renovate the world.
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): Hence also it is evident that Christ was promised, not only to the Jews, but to the whole world.
ALEXANDER MacLAREN: 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 received Him, but to the Father who sent Him.
JOHN CALVIN: “God sent forth his Son, made of a woman,” These few words contain much instruction. The Son, Who was sent, must have existed before He was sent; and this proves His eternal Godhead. Christ therefore is the Son of God, sent from heaven. Yet this same person was “made of a woman,” because He assumed our nature, which shows that He has two natures.
THOMAS GOODWIN (1600-1679): And this woman was yet a virgin: “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel,” Isaiah 7:14.
JOHN GILL: “Made,” not created as Adam was; nor begotten by man, as men in common are—but “made;” which word the Holy Ghost chooses, to express the mighty power of God, in His mysterious incarnation, wonderful conception, and birth…He was “made of a woman,” and was “made under the law,” and became subject to it.
ADAM CLARKE (1760-1832): “Made of a woman” according to the promise of Genesis 3:15—to redeem them that were “under the law,” who were condemned and cursed by it.
THOMAS COKE (1747-1814): He was appointed both to endure the penalty due to our transgressions, and to fulfill the broken Adamic covenant of immaculate obedience; that He might thereby “redeem them that were under the law,” under its bondage and curse, “that we,” who believe in Him, “might receive the adoption of sons.”
JOHN NEWTON (1725-1807): The long-expected Messiah appeared, as the surety and Saviour of sinners, to accomplish the great work of redemption. For these purposes he was born of a virgin, of the family of David, at the town of Bethlehem, as the prophets had foretold.
C. H. MACKINTOSH (1820-1896): And what God purposed in eternity, Jesus accomplished in the fulness of time, or in the due appointed time—the Son, who was “in the bosom of the Father” before the world was, when the fullness of time came, was sent forth, made of a woman; “He was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death…that He, by the grace of God, should taste death for every man,” Hebrews 2:9. He came to save, to redeem, and therefore to die for the ungodly. He glorified the Father on the earth. He finished the work which the Father gave Him to do. His death as a sacrifice for sin was for the glory of God.
JOHN NEWTON: He did come in the “fulness of time,” according to the prophecy; and the word of prophecy assures us, that He will come again. “Behold he cometh in the clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also that pierced him,” Revelation 1:7.
