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Christmas Season · Solemnity of Mary: The Holy Mother of God · Year C

Galatians 4:4-7

Sons of God

January 1, 2028

Nursing Madonna (Madonna del Latte), Antonio da Correggio
Nursing Madonna (Madonna del Latte), Antonio da Correggio, c. 1524Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Correggio's Virgin feeding the child, painted with the soft modelling and intimate scale he used for private devotional pictures.When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law.Antonio da CorreggioA painter from Parma who dissolved ceilings into open sky and invented effects of light that the Baroque spent a century catching up with.Museum of Fine Arts, BudapestHungary's collection of international art, built on the Esterházy holdings bought by the state in 1870.Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest
Roman Lectionary
GospelLuke 2:16-21Lk 2:16-21
Second ReadingGal. 4:4-7Gal 4:4-7
First ReadingNum. 6:22-27Nm 6:22-27
Responsorial PsalmPs. 67:2-3, 5, 6+8Ps 67:2-3, 5, 6+8

Overview & Insights

“God sent forth his Son, born of woman... so that we might receive adoption as sons.” (Galatians 4:4-5)

The basis upon which Paul makes the previous statement in verse 25 is his conviction that the Galatians are all sons of God by virtue of their being in Christ Jesus . Paul continues to work with the metaphor of inheritance to underscore that all of his readers are inheritors of God’s promise. Paul emphasizes that the Galatians already are “sons” or inheritors of God’s promise. (Paul’s use of “sons” is meant not to exclude the female members of the Galatian churches, but to work with the inheritance metaphor. In the ancient world it was generally sons and not daughters who could expect to be inheritors.) For the benefit of both his Gentile Galatian converts and the Jewish Christian troublemakers who would have eventually heard his words, Paul says that “all” receive the inheritance through the faith of Jesus Christ.

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Take it further: Galatians 4:4-7

Commentary

Commentary on Galatians 4:4-7Commentary on Gal 4:4-7 Working Preacher

Working Preacher's reading of adoption and the Spirit's cry of Abba, Father.

Galatians 4:4-7Gal 4:4-7 Center for Excellence in Preaching

Preaching notes on Christ's birth under the law and believers' adoption as heirs.

Galatians 4 CommentaryGal 4 Commentary Enduring Word · David Guzik

A full chapter walkthrough covering sonship, adoption, and inheritance.

Galatians 4:4 CommentariesGal 4:4 Commentaries BibleHub

A side by side library of classic commentaries on the verse.

Galatians 4 (Barnes' Notes)Gal 4 (Barnes' Notes) StudyLight

Barnes' concise notes on Christ's birth under the law and believers' adoption.

Galatians 4 CommentaryGal 4 Commentary Precept Austin

A devotional, cross-reference heavy walkthrough of the chapter.

Background & Word Study

Galatians 4:4 InterlinearGal 4:4 Interlinear BibleHub

Greek text with parsing for the sending and adoption language of the passage.

The Church Fathers

Catena on Galatians 4Catena on Gal 4 Catena

Patristic comments on the chapter collected verse by verse.

Questions preachers ask

Why is Galatians 4 a Christmas reading?

It gives the theology of Christmas in one sentence: in the fullness of time God sent his Son, born of a woman, to redeem us and make us sons and heirs who cry, “Abba, Father.”

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