The Pulpit Commentary — Galatians — Section 246

accounted righteous (Rom. v. 19). Thus he fulfilled all the claims of the Law for us, bot.h as to precept and penalty. V. 'lirn DESIGN OF THE MISSION OF TIIE SoN. "To redeem thetn that were under the Law." His object was to redeem both Jews and Gentiles from the curHe of the Law, and from subjection to it. He was visited with the penal consequences of sin, with its curse and wages (eh. iii. 13), from the day he entered into humanity by incarnation. The deliverance wrought for us was the result of purchase, •'l'hus we are entitled to regard the cross of Christ as the fulfilment of the Law, the expiation of sin, the ransom of the Church, the sacrificial blood which brings us near to God in worship. VI. THE ULTIMATE RESULT OF THE REDEMPTION. "That we should receive the adoption of sons." This does not mean sonship, but son-position. Believers were even in Old Testament times true sons of God, but they were treated as servants. Now they emerge into the true condition of sons. The adoption has three foundations. It is by free sovereign grace; for "we are predestinated to the adoption of children" (Eph. i. 6). It is by incarnation, according to the text; it is by resurrection. Jesus, the Son, is the Form, the Fountain-head, the Fulness from which they all proceed. We are chosen to be sons in him who is the eternal Son; we are regenerated by his Spirit; the basis and example of the work of sanctification is the Son of God, born into our nature by the same Spirit; and "the resurrection of the just," which the apostle himself strives to attain (Phil. iii. 11), and which is limited to the "sons of God'' (Luke xx. 36), has its type in Jesus, the First-begotten from the dead. Ver. 6.-1Vie evidence of sonship. "And because ye are sons, God bath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father." The presence of the Spirit was the witness of their sonship (Rom. viii. 15), L THE MISSION OF THE SPIRIT. "God sent forth the Spirit of his Son." Here are the three Persons of the blessed Trinity. "God manifests himself in the Soo, but communicates his life by the Holy Ghost" (Oosterzee). 1. He is called the" Spirit of his Son," just as he is called the" Spirit of the Father." The title applies to the Son, not in his Messiahship, but in his Godhead. He is often described as the Spirit of Christ; and, if that were all, it might imply that he is simply related to Christ in his office as Mediator, either given to Christ or given by Christ, But he is called the Spirit of God's Son, which is not a title derived by Christ from his office, but from necessary and eternal relation. It cannot be supposed that he is the Spirit of the Father in one sense and to one effect, and the Spirit of the Son, who is also God, in another sense and to another effect. It is this eternal and necessary relation which is the ground of his coming forth in the free interpositions and covenant operations of his grace. 2. The mission of the Spirit. Just as in the fulness of time the Son was sent forth, so in the fulness of time the Spirit was sent forth to apply and witness the redemption purchased by Christ. It is the Spirit who unites us to Christ in our effectual calling, and makes us "son.s of God by faith in Christ Jesus." 3. The sphere of his operations. "In your hearts." It is thus au inward, sanctifying, saving work; for it has its seat in the heart, in which the habits of grace are implanted, and out of which are all the issues of life. "I will put my Spirit within them." IL THE OFFICE WHICH THE SPIRIT PERFORMS IN THE BELIEVER'S HEART, 11 Cry- ing, Abba, Father." 1. The crying is the earnest importunate prayer of the ~eliever, of which he is the organ and the Spirit the agent. The intensity of feeling in prayer is due to the Holy Spirit, who enables us to realize our need and the fulne2s of rnpply in Christ Jesus. 2. The cry finds voice in the tenderar,,;ents of" .Abba, Father." 'TLe two words- one Aramaic, and the other Greek-are a fitting type of the union of Jew and Gentile io Christ. The dearest conception io Christianity is the fatherhood of God. The believer is enabled by the Spirit of the Son to realize the tenderness as well as the dignity of the new relation in which he stands by adoption. Ill. 'l'HE OONCLUSION OF THE WHOLE MATTER. " Wherefore thou art no more a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ." Thus the apostle corroborates the closing verse of the third chapter : " And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise." The slave is not an heir; the iOll euters on bis father's inheritance, which comes to bi!Jl, not by merit, but by promi~e.. OH, IV, l-81,] THE EPIS'l'LE TO THE GALATIANS. 213