3
So we also, when we were children, were held in bondage under the principles of the world;
4
but when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, come of woman, come under law,
5
that he might redeem those under law, that we might receive sonship.
6
But because ye are sons, God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
7
So thou art no longer bondman, but son; but if son, heir also through God.
Footnotes 1
[a].
Or 'adoption.' It is receiving the position of sonship as a gift. 'Receive' has an active force here. Jew and Gentile received it as a gift from another, even freely from God; for the Jew was in bondage under law: the Gentile had right to nothing: see Rom. 8.15,23; 9.4; Eph. 1.5.