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Today's Pathway: Galatians 4:3-5 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.

Yesterday we saw Paul give the illustration that a son, when he is a child, is similar to a servant because he does not yet have the maturity to inherit his father's estate. He must receive training from others until his father decides that he is ready to handle the responsibilities of adulthood. Paul now relates that to the purpose of the Law. He is teaching that Israel had been a child while under the Law, but when Christ came they became adults. From the time of Moses the Jews had been in bondage to the Law. It ruled virtually every aspect of their lives. The term "elements" describes something "orderly in arrangement. In most of its uses, it denotes an elementary or fundamental principle in a subject or discipline. It refers to the first principles of something". The Law was simply the basics, but was needed to prepare Israel for its coming Messiah.

Warren Wiersbe made these comments:

"This word 'elements' means the basic principles, the ABCs. For some fifteen centuries, Israel had been in kindergarten and grade school, learning their 'spiritual ABCs,' so that they would be ready when Christ would come. Then they would get the full revelation, for Jesus Christ is 'the Alpha and the Omega' (Revelation 22:13); He encompasses all the alphabet of God’s revelation to man. He is God’s last Word (Hebrews 1:1-3)."

"But now hath he obtained a more excellent ministry, by how much also he is the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises."

Paul writes in verse 4 that God sent Christ "in the fullness of the time." At exactly the correct time God gave His Son in order to accomplish what had been promised. Just as a Roman father decided at what time his son had learned enough to inherit that which he had been promised, so God determined when Israel had been properly prepared to receive her promised Messiah. There were other ways in which the time was advantageous for Jesus to come: the Pax Romana (the peace of Rome) was a time of relative stability in the empire, and Greek was a common language understood throughout much of the world. But it was also a time when the Jews were looking for their Messiah to free them from their bondage to Rome. Alfred Edersheim wrote,

"Strictly from the gospel accounts, the expectation of the Jewish Messiah comes through clearly. For example, Simeon and Anna (Luke 2) both understood the importance of Jesus's birth, and Simeon in particular detailed the Messiah's role as 'a light of revelation to the Gentiles'. When the magi arrived (Matthew 2), the scholars in Israel directed them to Bethlehem as the Messiah's birthplace. John the Baptist, in answer to the priests and Levites sent from Jerusalem, immediately confesses he is not the Messiah (John 1:20). The apostle Andrew calls his brother, Peter, to Jesus by saying, 'We have found the Messiah' (John 1:41). Later, the Samaritan woman at the well knows the Messiah will come (John 4:25), and the crowds listening to Jesus argued not about the reality of a Messiah, but His place of origin and what signs were appropriate (John 7:27-31). Beyond the Bible, Jewish rabbis had long expected and made reference to the Messiah. In addition, several works written prior to, concurrent with, and soon after Jesus's life and ministry make reference to a coming Messiah."

So the time was right for Jesus to come. Paul notes specifically that He was "made of a woman, made under the law". Both of these qualifications are necessary for our redemption. We will look at them further tomorrow.