What Does “The Fullness Of Time” Mean?
Categories: Church of Christ Bulletin Articles
A querist asks, Gal. 4:4, states that God sent forth His Son “when the fullness of the time had come.” Can you please explain more fully what this phrase means?
To get the complete thought of the inspired writer, the text in Gal. 4:4-5 reads:
“But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a women, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons.“
The phrase means “At God’s appointed time” (see commentary on verse 4), or when the time was right in God’s mind, He sent His Son to redeem mankind, both Jew and Gentile (John 3:16-17; cf. Romans 5:6-10; Gal. 3:1-14; 1 John 2:1-2; 1 John 4:8-10).
We see the results of God sending His Son at the appropriate time on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2:1-47) for the Jews (Acts 2:5) and later on in Acts 10:1-48 for the Gentiles (Acts 10:44-45; cf. Acts 11:18; Gal. 3:14).
Through our obedient faith (cf. Hebrews 5:9; Hebrews 11:8; 1 Peter 1:22), there is no longer any class distinctions, social distinctions or gender distinctions in God’s sight. If we have been baptized “into Christ” (Gal. 3:27), we (both Jew and Gentile) are all “one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28).