4 But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law,
In the fullness of the time, says Paul, God sent forth His Son. There is indeed great drama in these words, for we must needs interpret them like this: in the fullness of the time, something happened, something decisive, unique, once-for-all: the intervention of God, the invasion from beyond, a special, unique visitation by which God has made Himself known in grace and mercy to the world. This is the central affirmation of the Christian Faith. Christianity stands or falls on this basic reality. Either this is true or the whole fabric of the Christian Faith falls to pieces. There can be no kind of modification of it, for this is Christianity. It is a Christian duty to be intolerant of anything that ignores, denies or attempts to explain it away. Calvin teases out this verse into a whole theology, a whole Christology. The Son, he says, who was sent must have existed before. From this is proved His eternal divinity. He was made of a woman, because He put on our nature. So Paul means that He has two natures. Next, he says, Paul expressly intended to distinguish Christ from the rest of men as having been created of the seed of His mother, not by intercourse of man and woman. Calvin sees therefore a reference here to the doctrine of the virgin birth. This is not the place for a full discussion of the mystery of the two natures united in one Person, in Christ, but we do well to remember that He, the eternal Son, became true man, and truly man, for our sakes - true man, and yet, in the mystery of His Person, true God. This is what constitutes the true glory of our redemption, that He, the God-man, should become our Redeemer.