4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

An Early Confession

The book of Galatians is one of Paul's earliest works. In it, he combatted the idea that faith plus works lead to salvation. He warned his audience about the danger of trying to obtain God's favor through the keeping of the law (and losing God's favor when disobeying the law).

And, here, to bolster his argument, Paul seems to have quoted an early Christian confession. There are some clues in the passage that this saying pre-dated Paul and that the early church proclaimed this statement. This formulaic saying was a way for believers to succinctly declare their beliefs, and it makes for a beautiful Christmas meditation because it considers four elements of his coming:

• When did he come?

• Where did he come from?

• How did he come?

• And why did he come?

Each of these questions is answered in our text, and we will take four weeks to meditate upon these answers. For this fourth week, we have our fourth question: why did Jesus come?

Let's observe.

5 ...to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Our Experience Under the Law

This verse shows us the fundamental way our relationship to the legal code of God's word shifted when we met Christ. He came to redeem those who were under the law (5). Redeem is a freedom word -- he came to set people free from the burden of the law. We were under it, condemned by it because we could never keep it in its entirety at all times. We could never keep it in our hearts. Evil always loomed within us. And the law was there to pronounce our guilt before God.

But Jesus came to set us free -- to redeem us -- from that kind of relationship with God. There was no reason for the Galatian Gentile converts to try to relate to God through the ceremonial law of God, just as there is no reason for us to try to relate to God that way today. We have been set free from that law.

Birth vs. Adoption

Having been redeemed from being under the law, we receive something else: adoption as sons (5). Many of you might be wondering about the word "sons." Why doesn't it say sons and daughters? Even a cursory glance at the Old and New Testaments reveals God's plan to reach both men and women, and most churches have more men than women, so why does Paul say God came to make sons?

In many other verses like this one, the answer is that the cultures that first received the New Testament would've seen "sons" as an expression meaning children. So women are included. But that is not the correct answer here.

In Roman society, the son was the one who would inherit the position and property. He was the heir of the father.

Now, our passage tells us that Jesus came so that we might receive the adoption as sons (5). Adoption.

Dismiss the idea of adoption as you know it. This word isn't talking about the adoption of babies or young children. We don't come into God's family that way. We come by the birth of regeneration -- we are born again (John 3:3).

But in Roman culture, adoption could happen to a full-grown adult servant who is given the rights and privileges of the son. The master of the estate would "adopt" the servant and treat them as they treated their own son.

This is what we have in Jesus! The Son came so that we might receive the adoption as sons. Before the Father, we have the position of the Son.

Sons

This is why our relationship with the law has been fundamentally changed. You cannot earn a better position before God because a better position does not exist. In Christ Jesus, you have the greatest standing you could ever hope to have. This is why it was important for Paul to point out God adopts all believers as "sons."

Notice how this doctrinal statement began: God sent forth his Son (4). Why did God do this? Why Christmas? To set us free from the law so that we might receive the adoption as sons (5).

See it? This little creed starts with the sending of the Son, and it ends with the adoption of many sons. The Son came to make sons. He came to bring you home.

This Christmas, when you reflect on the baby lying in a manger, know he is the Son who was sent by the Father. And he came to set you free from a broken relationship with God. He came to give you his position, adopted as sons by God. If you have Jesus, you have his position, so you have the deep, deep love of God.

The shift from youth to adulthood is filled with growing pains. I remember one of mine. Away from home, studying Scripture at a little Bible college, my mouth began to hurt. As the discomfort turned into agony, it became clear my wisdom teeth needed to be removed. But I was far from home, without dental insurance, and with no car to get back to my family. I was forced to find a local dentist, save up a few dollars for the surgery, and drive myself to get my wisdom teeth removed.

I was miserable afterward, and the student cafeteria was not accommodating to my dietary needs in the days that followed. With a swollen face, bloody gauze everywhere, and throbbing headaches, I did not win any roommate of the week awards.

It was then that one of the faculty learned of my predicament. He and his wife opened their home to me and let me spend a couple of days there -- eating their soup and ice cream while they brought me fresh gauze and ice for my swollen cheeks. For a brief moment, they had brought me home by bringing me into their home.

This Christmas, we must remember that Jesus came so he could bring us fully and completely home -- into God's family. On a lonely night two thousand years ago, Jesus arrived in anonymity. The time was right, so he arrived for us -- born like everyone else. But he had a mission: to set us free from our burdens and bring us home to God.

Merry Christmas.