Galatians 4:4-5 But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,… What is it that the Incarnation should deliver us from? 1. It delivers us from false views of the world and of life. It divides all history into two portions for the Christian — that which precedes and that which follows it. It divides the human race into two portions — that which is within the kingdom of the Incarnate Son, and that which is without it. It divides the interests of life, of thought, of work, for a downright, genuine Christian into two portions — that which bears upon and advances God's work of love in the Incarnation of His Son, and that which does not do so. When a man has once learnt really what it means — this stupendous event, the Incarnation of the Eternal Son, up to which all history leads, down from which all true human interests worthy of the name will ultimately be found to radiate — then life, work, the world, death, the future, all wear another aspect. 2. It delivers us from base and desponding views of this our human nature. Often enough we are weighed down to the very dust by a sense of weakness, of defilement, of distance from the source of sanctity and peace; and yet what must be the worth, the capacities, of these poor human powers, when retouched, when regenerated by God — this nature upon which the Eternal Son has put such high honour that He has robed Himself in it that it might become to us a channel of sanctification and grace. 3. And the Incarnation delivers us from bondage. In every Christian in whom the life of Christ really exists — in whose heart it beats, however intermittently — there is a knowledge that by union with Christ he is free. He knows he is not a slave, but a son. He knows that this filial freedom is a possession of which nothing without him can deprive him, although he may forfeit it himself — a possession of which every prayer, every act of sacrifice, every true conquest of self, enhances the value. (Canon Liddon.) Parallel Verses 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, |
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