Ver, 3. νήπιοι: children, i.e., spirit- ually children. The clause points to the stage of undeveloped spiritual life through which converts from heathenism had passed, the spiritual childhood which had been the lot of earlier generations be-
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στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου ἦμεν δεδουλωμένοι - 4. ὅτε δὲ ἦλθε τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου, ἐξαπέστειλεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸν υἱὸν αὑτοῦ, γενόμενον ἐκ γυναι- κὸς, γενόμενον ὑπὸ νόμον, 5. ἵνα τοὺς ὑπὸ νόμον ἐξαγοράσῃ, ἵνα τὴν
υἱοθεσίαν ἀπολάβωμεν.
6. ὅτι δέ ἐστε υἱοὶ, ἐξαπέστειλεν ὁ Θεὸς τὸ
πνεῦμα τοῦ υἱοῦ αὑτοῦ εἰς τὰς καρδίας ἡμῶν, κράζον, ᾿Αββᾶ, ὁ
πατήρ. κληρονόμος διὰ Θεοῦ."
7. ὥστε οὐκ ἔτι εἶ δοῦλος, ἀλλ᾽ υἱός - εἰ δὲ υἱὸς, καὶ 8. ᾿Αλλὰ τότε μὲν, οὐκ εἰδότες Θεὸν, ἐδου-
Ίημων ΑΒΟΡΙΕΟΡ; νµων Ρ΄ΕΚΙ.. 2 Bia Θεον NABC! 17; δια Θεον FG; Θεον δια Χριστον ΝΟ ΡΕΚΙΡ.
fore the time was ripe for the Advent.— στοιχεῖα. The association of this word with νήπιοι fixes on it the conception of a rudimentary training to which the world was subjected during its spiritual infancy way of preparation for the Gospel of Christ and the dispensation of the Spirit. Before men could enter into the spirit of His teaching, they had to learn the elementary principles of religion and mo- rality. Compulsory obedience to definite rules of justice and order was an preparation for the freedom of the Spirit. This preliminary education was given to the Hebrews in the Ten Commandments and the Law, it was imparted to a wider world in Greek civilisation and philo- sophy, in Roman law and government, and in other forms of national and social life. These rudiments are disparaged in ver. ϱ as weak and beggarly in compari- son with the teaching of the Spirit, for Christian men ought to have outgrown their spiritual childhood. So, again, in Col. ii. 8, 20, they are condemned wherever their traditional hold on hu- man society produces an antagonism to the higher teaching of Christ. But before the Advent they formed a valuable dis- cipline for the education of the world. Ver. 4. When God saw that the world was ripe for the Advent, He sent forth His Son. Until generations of mankind had learnt through years of social training to control some of the animal instincts of their lower nature, to rebel against its brutal passions, and cherish a desire to live in obedience to their higher nature, until they had developed some sense of sin and some craving after a holiness beyond their reach, they were not ready to welcome a Redeemer.—yevépevov . . - νόμον. The incarnate Son of God took upon Him our nature and our duties. He was (1) born of woman, (2) made subject to Law. His subjection to Law is so expressly associated with the sub- jection of the world in general to Law
that the term cannot be limited (as our versions limit it) to the Law of Moses. Christ was in fact subjected also to Roman Law, and died by its sentence.
Ver. 5. twa... ἵνα. These two final clauses couple together two gracious purposes of God in the scheme of re- demption, (1) the obliteration of a guilty past, (2) divine adoption with the blessings which sonship entails. The description under Law includes Gentiles as well as Jews: for though they had not the Law, they were not without Law to God (cf. Rom, ii. 14... .): they have indeed been expressly specified in iii, 14 as included in the redemption from the curse of the Law.—dmwodaBopev. This verb denotes receiving back, as ἀποδι- δόναι does giving back (cf. Luke xix. 8): accordingly it describes the adoption in Christ as a restoration of the original birthright, withheld throughout many generations for the sake of necessary discipline.
Ver. 6. Sonship involves relations ot mutual confidence and love between the Father who bestows His choicest gifts, and the Son who responds with His whole heart.