But when the fulness of time was come
The time agreed and fixed upon between God and his Son from all
eternity, in the council and covenant of peace, when the Son of
God should assume human nature; which time was diligently
searched into by the prophets, was revealed unto them, and
predicted by them; as more generally that it should be before the
civil government ceased from Judah, and before the destruction of
the second temple; and more particularly by Daniel in his
prophecy of the "seventy weeks", towards and about the close of
which there was a general expectation among the Jews of the
Messiah's coming; and was the fulness of time here referred to,
and what is sometimes called the dispensation of the fulness of
time, the end of the Mosaic dispensation and Jewish church state,
the last days of that state, and the end of the Jewish world, as
to their ecclesiastical and civil polity. The Jews themselves own
that the time of the Messiah's coming is fixed, and that at that
time he shall come, whether they are worthy or not, for so it is
asserted in their Talmud F4;
``says R. Jochanan, the son of David does not come, but in an age which is all worthy, or all wicked; in a generation which is all worthy, as it is written, ( Isaiah 60:21 ) in a generation that is all wicked, as it is written, ( Isaiah 66:5 ) and it is written, "for my name's sake will I do it"; says R. Alexander, R. Joshua ben Levi objects what is written, ( Isaiah 60:22 ) "in its time"; and it is written, "I will hasten it"; if they are worthy I will hasten it, if they are not worthy it shall be (hteb) , "in its time".''And accordingly a more modern writer of theirs says F5,
``our redemption upon all accounts shall be, (hnmzb) , "in its time", whether worthy or, wicked; but if worthy its time will be hastened;''it must be owned they do not always say so: this phrase, "the fulness of time", is an Hebraism, and is the same with (ymy talm) , in ( Ezekiel 5:2 ) which the Septuagint render (thn plhrwsin twn hmerwn) , "the fulness of days", and we, "when the days were fulfilled", when the time was up; and the same sense it has here, and it is also the same with (dewm) , "the appointed time", ( Habakkuk 2:3 ) and answers to (proyesmia tou patrov) , "the time appointed of the Father", ( Galatians 4:2 ) .
God sent forth his Son;
God not absolutely and essentially, but personally and relatively
considered, is here meant, namely, God the Father, as appears
from the relation the person sent stands in to him, "his Son";
not by creation, as angels, Adam, and all men are the sons of
God; nor by adoption, as saints are; or by office, as magistrates
be; or on account of his incarnation or resurrection from the
dead, for he was the Son of God before either; but by divine
generation, being the only begotten of the Father, of his divine
nature and essence, equal to him, and one with him: and who was
"sent" by him, not out of disrespect to him, but love to us; nor
without his consent or against his will, he readily and heartily
agreeing to it; nor does it imply any local motion or change of
place, but only designs the assumption of human nature; nor does
it suppose any superiority and inferiority, for though Christ, as
man, and in his office capacity, as Mediator, is inferior to the
Father, yet not as to his divine nature, or as the Son of God;
but it suggests, that he existed before he was sent, and that as
a person, and as a distinct person from the Father, otherwise he
could not with any propriety be said to be sent by him; and also
that there was an entire harmony and agreement between them in
this matter, the Father agreed to send his Son, and the Son
agreed to be sent; and that as to his taking upon him the office
of Mediator, and his assumption of human nature in order to
obtain eternal redemption: all this was not of himself, but done
in concert with his Father, from whom as Mediator he had his
mission and commission;
made of a woman;
"made", not created as Adam was; nor begotten by man, as men in
common are; nor is he said to be born, though he truly was, but
"made"; which word the Holy Ghost chooses, to express the mighty
power of God, in his mysterious incarnation, wonderful
conception, and birth; though some copies read, "born of a
woman"; and so the Arabic and Ethiopic version: "of a woman";
whose seed he was from the beginning said to be; of a woman,
without a man; of a woman, a virgin, as was foretold; and not
only made and formed in her, but of her, of her flesh and blood,
of which he took part; and which denotes the low estate and great
humiliation of Christ, and shows that as sin came into the world
by the woman, the Saviour from sin came also the same way:
made under the law;
under the civil and judicial law as a Jew, to which he was
subject, paying tribute to the collectors of it; and which was
necessary; that it might appear he sprung from that nation, to
whom he was promised; and that he came before the civil
government of that people was at an end; and to teach us
subjection to the civil magistrate: and as a son of Abraham he
was made under the ceremonial law, was circumcised the eighth
day, kept the several feasts of tabernacles, passover and which
was proper, since he was the principal end of it, in whom it
centres, and for whose sake it was made; and that he might
completely fulfil it, and by so doing put a period to it: and he
was made under the moral law, both as a man and the surety of his
people, and was subject to all the precepts of it, and bore the
penalty of it, death, in their room and stead, and thereby
fulfilled it, and delivered them from its curse and condemnation.
So the Targumist F6, joins the incarnation of the
Messiah and his subjection to the law together, as the apostle
here does;
``the prophet saith to the house of David, because a child is born unto us, and a son is given to us, (hrjml yhwle) (atyrwa lybqw) , "and he hath took upon him the law to keep it, and his name shall be called"''