Note 8 at Gal. 4:5: When the right time came (see note 4 at v. 4, above), God sent forth His Son in His pre-existent state from Heaven into the world. He was born of a woman (virgin birth) and was made subject to the requirements of the law (see note 7 at v. 4, above).

His purpose in coming into the world was twofold. First, He came to "redeem them that were under the law." He did this by perfectly keeping the law, fulfilling it, and paying its curse (Mt. 5:17; Gal. 3:13). Thus Christ delivered us from the entire system of the law. The Greek word for "redeem" used here is EXAGORAZO and means "to buy OUT OF the slave market." Kenneth Wuest notes in his Word Studies of the Greek New Testament that "the word law is not preceded by the definite article, hence law in general is referred to here" (Wuest, Vol. 1, p. 115). This system of law was then superseded by grace, with an emphasis on living by faith.

Secondly, Christ gave us the status of sonship with all its privileges. In the Greek the expression means "adult-sons." Under grace we are treated as adults, not babies.

Therefore, we were not only redeemed from the bondage of the law, but we were redeemed unto sonship. Many people stop short, only realizing what we were delivered from. Sure, we need to rejoice in that, but we also need to move on into realizing the full benefits of our inheritance (Rom. 8:19; see note 10 at v. 7, p. 1073).