Christmas · First Sunday after Christmas · Year A
Galatians 4:4-7
Born of Woman, Born Under Law
December 28, 2025
Overview & Insights
“When the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law.” (Galatians 4:4)
These are the earliest surviving Christian sentences about the birth of Jesus, written a generation before Matthew and Luke, and they contain no Bethlehem, no angels and no shepherds, only that he was born of a woman and born under the law. Paul’s interest is chronological. “The fullness of time” closes the argument of 3:23 to 4:3, where the law functioned as a guardian and Israel as a minor who could not yet inherit, so the birth is dated by a change of legal era rather than by a census. Note the two sendings, the Son in v. 4 and the Spirit of the Son in v. 6, and the shift of pronoun from “we” to “you” between them, which draws the Galatians into an inheritance they had been told they must earn. The cry “Abba” is kept in Aramaic here and at Romans 8:15 and Mark 14:36, one of the few fragments of Jesus’ own language preserved in Greek, and Paul treats the cry itself as the evidence of adoption.
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Commentary
Commentary on Galatians 4:4-7Commentary on Gal 4:4-7 Working Preacher
Luther Seminary exegesis on adoption, the fullness of time, and heirs of God's promise, the RCL page for this passage.
Galatians 4:4-7 CommentaryGal 4:4-7 Commentary Center for Excellence in Preaching
Reformed commentary insisting the Son was God's Son before the incarnation, not adopted at birth.
Galatians 4 Commentary: Heirs and Slaves, Grace and LawGal 4 Commentary: Heirs and Slaves, Grace and Law Enduring Word · David Guzik
David Guzik's evangelical verse-by-verse study of sonship, the Spirit, and the cry of Abba.
Galatians 4:4 CommentariesGal 4:4 Commentaries BibleHub
Classic commentators aggregated on God sending the Son born of woman, born under law.
Galatians 4 CommentaryGal 4 Commentary Precept Austin
Deep verse-by-verse resource collating scholars and word studies on adoption and inheritance.
Background & Word Study
Enter the Bible: GalatiansEnter the Bible: Gal Enter the Bible
Luther Seminary background on Paul's argument against requiring circumcision and law observance.
Galatians OverviewGal Overview BibleProject
Animated overview tracing Paul's case for freedom and life in the Spirit.
Galatians 4:4 InterlinearGal 4:4 Interlinear BibleHub
Greek text with parsing and Strong's numbers for adoption (huiothesia) and the fullness of time.
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