Galatians 4:4-5

Galatians 4:4-5

[4] But  when  the fulness  of the time  was come,  God  sent forth  his  Son,  made  of  a woman,  made  under  the law,  [5] To  redeem  them that were under  the law,  that  we might receive  the adoption of sons. 

What does Galatians 4:4-5 Mean?

Contextual Meaning

God, the father of the child in the illustration, sent forth Christ when He determined the time was right.
"It would seem that "when the time had fully come" (RSV, NIV) does not mean that a certain divinely appointed period had elapsed (so NEB?), or that certain divinely ordained events had to transpire (cf. 2 Thessalonians 2:3 ff.), or that God sent his Son into the world when all the conditions were ripe for his appearance. In view of the fact that the word "came" denotes in the context (cf. Galatians 3:23; Galatians 3:25) the eschatological event of the coming of Christ and of the principle of justifying faith, the thought is rather that the appearance of the Son brought the "fulness [1] of the time," marking the end of the present aeon (cf. Galatians 1:4) and ushering in the future aeon." [2]
Redemption has a double aspect: it delivers from bondage to the law, and it delivers to sonship. God sent His Son to free those children whom the Law held in bondage and to elevate them to the status of full sons. In Roman culture the father determined the proper time to conduct the ceremony of passage. He took his child out from under the tutelage of his professional guardians and made him a free son. Normally he did this when his child turned14. [3]
Paul referred to both Christ"s divine nature ("His Son") and human nature ("born of a woman"). The Messiah was born under the Mosaic Law that He alone fulfilled by keeping it perfectly (cf. Matthew 5:17).
"Verses4-5 contain one of the most compressed and highly charged passages in the entire letter because they present the objective basis, the Christological and soteriological foundation, for the doctrine of justification by faith." [4]