4:4 fulness of the time. The many Messianic prophecies and promises in the Old Testament had indeed focused on a time in history when the Savior would come into the world. Note especially the prophecy of the seventy weeks in Daniel 9:24-26. There were actually a few Jewish men and women who were somehow aware that the time was at hand and who, therefore, “looked for redemption in Jerusalem” (Luke 2:25-26,38).

4:4 made of a woman. This phrase, “made of a woman,” may mean merely that, when God sent Him forth, the Son became part of the human family. There is, however, a strong probability that it refers to His miraculous conception and virgin birth. The word rendered “made” (Greek ginomai) is not the usual word for “born” (gennao), and was never so rendered by the King James scholars. The latter word normally refers to male procreation, although it can also refer to the actual birth process of the mother. Paul deliberately rejected this word meaning “born,” and instead used the standard word for “made,” evidently to emphasize that the human birth of Jesus was unique, different from all other human births. He was to be, in a one-time-only sense, the Seed of the woman, as promised by God in the very beginning (Genesis 3:15), not made from a male seed. In fact, His human body was specially “prepared” by God (Hebrews 10:5), so as to be born without inherent sin or genetic defects form either parent. See notes on Luke 1:31-37.

4:5 redeem. In order to “redeem” those who were under the law (and, therefore, lost sinners) the Son must Himself be “without blemish and without spot” (I Peter 1:18-20). He had been “foreordained before the foundation of the world,” then, finally, was “manifest in these last times.”

4:6 Abba. “Abba” is the Aramaic word for “father” (perhaps more like “papa”). The cry of the Spirit in our hearts is thus, “Abba, Father,” using both an intimate name and a respectful name for one’s father. It was actually the expression used by Jesus as He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane (Mark 14:36). See also Romans 8:15.