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I. THE TIME OF HIS COMING. He came "when the fulness of the time was come." And what time was that?

1. It was the time appointed of the Father — the time fixed for His coming in the mind and counsel of God. Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world, and even from all eternity. Nothing happens to Him by chance,

2. It was the time foretold by the prophets — those holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

3. It was a time peculiarly suitable for His coming, and is, therefore, called the fulness of the time. It was a time when events seemed to have gradually ripened for this glorious consummation. It was a time, lastly, when His forerunner appeared to prepare His way before Him, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, and thus making ready a people prepared for the Lord. Such was the time of the Redeemer's advent.

II. CONSIDER THE MANNER OF HIS COMING. "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law." There are here three particulars for our consideration.

1. God sent forth His Son. This expression evidently implies that the Son of God existed before He was sent forth. And does not the Scripture everywhere corroborate the truth thus implied? But where did He exist before His Divine mission? He existed with God in heaven. He was in the bosom of the Father. "I came down from heaven, not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me." Consequently, we are not to suppose, when God is here said to have sent Him forth, that it implies any inferiority of nature on the part of the Son; for "such as the Father is, such is the Son, and such, too, is the Holy Ghost."

2. The Son of God was made of a woman; and He was so made in accordance with the prophecies respecting Him.

3. He was made under the law. As a Divine person, a partaker with the Father in the Godhead, He was not subject to any law; nor as a perfectly holy man was he bound to submit to the ceremonial law, which in everything implied the sinfulness of man. Yet, for us men, and for our salvation, He humbled Himself to be made under the law. He was born of a Jewess, and was circumcised the eighth day, and thus was placed under the law as a covenant of works; that, as the surety of His people, He might in every way answer its full demands.

III. CONSIDER THE OBJECT OF HIS COMING. This was to "redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons." By the law, we may here understand both the ceremonial and the moral law. And what is the adoption here spoken of? It is a blessing of which by nature we are utterly destitute; for by nature we are without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world. But when does God thus adopt us? It is when we truly repent us of our past sins, and embrace by faith the method of salvation revealed in the gospel. And what are the privileges to which as adopted children we become entitled? They are numerous and important, too numerous indeed, to be here all specified.

1. The spirit of adoption, which enables us to approach God with filial confidence, and to open our whole heart before Him.

2. Heirship.

(D. Rees.)

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KJV: But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

WEB: But when the fullness of the time came, God sent out his Son, born to a woman, born under the law,