God made Jesus just like you so that you could be made just like Him.
Galatians 4:4-5 (NIV)
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5 to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.
Listen to passage & devotional:
Belgic Confession of Faith, Article 19: The Two Natures of Christ
We believe that by being thus conceived
the person of the Son has been inseparably united
and joined together
with human nature,
in such a way that there are not two Sons of God,
nor two persons,
but two natures united in a single person,
with each nature retaining its own distinct properties.
Thus his divine nature has always remained uncreated,
without beginning of days or end of life,
filling heaven and earth.
His human nature has not lost its properties
but continues to have those of a creature—
it has a beginning of days;
it is of a finite nature
and retains all that belongs to a real body.
And even though he,
by his resurrection,
gave it immortality,
that nonetheless did not change
the reality of his human nature;
for our salvation and resurrection
depend also on the reality of his body.
But these two natures
are so united together in one person
that they are not even separated by his death.
So then,
what he committed to his Father when he died
was a real human spirit which left his body.
But meanwhile his divine nature remained
united with his human nature
even when he was lying in the grave;
and his deity never ceased to be in him,
just as it was in him when he was a little child,
though for a while it did not show itself as such.
These are the reasons why we confess him
to be true God and true man—
true God in order to conquer death
by his power,
and true man that he might die for us
in the weakness of his flesh.
Summary
Today’s scripture passage may sound familiar, that is because it was our passage almost two weeks ago. In this opening section of Galatians chapter 4, Paul speaks to our redemption and adoption. We are returning to this passage because it speaks to Christ’ human nature. Specifically, Paul writes that the Son was “born of a woman”, “born under the law”, which was “to redeem those under the law”.
Being born of a woman speaks to Jesus’ human nature. The Son was sent into the world, and through the incarnation he took on a human nature. Jesus was born under the law, and while all other humans are found guilty of transgressions according to that law, Jesus alone perfectly kept the law. This is why the human nature of Jesus is so crucial for our salvation. We are guilty under the law and can only be redeemed by one who was also born under the law.
Dig Deeper
Jesus is fully human and fully God, and there are significant differences between these two natures. While the Son has always been divine, the human nature of Christ does have a beginning. This human nature, through the incarnation, was added to the Son the moment He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary.
Being fully human means that Jesus also faced some of the same realities that we face in our humanity. Just as we must breathe air, drink water, and eat food to live, Jesus in his humanity also required these things.
Our Confession speaks to the importance of this human nature, stating that “our salvation and resurrection depend also on the reality of his body.”
God’s plan of salvation requires a Savior who was born under the law and who perfectly kept the law. Essentially, our redemption is dependent on a perfect human exchanging our sin for his righteousness. Since there are no perfect humans, God provided one for us by sending his Son into the world to bring about our redemption.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who sent His Son, born of a woman and under the law, to redeem us that we might receive adoption to sonship;
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Pray that you'll remember at all times that you are an adopted son of God, and that you'll act accordingly;
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
Read the New Testament in a year! Today: Ephesians 1
