In the first two verses of Galatians 4, Paul describes a traditional Hebrew, Greco-Roman process where a son, at the appointed time established by the father, transitions from being under a tutor – strict elementary disciplines – to adoption wherein the son as an heir receives the full right of sonship. In application, the apostle is not delineating for us the process of an individual’s redemption through coming to faith but is contrasting eras in the history of redemption. The law was a tutor to God’s people of faith and as such, people under the law were in bondage under the elements of the world. The term “world” here does not refer to the world system that does not acknowledge God, but basic religious disciplines in the realm of the physical and temporal – do not touch, taste, handle. The law, as tutor, simply delineated moral behavior as required by God for His people. Then came the adoption in the fullness of time.
The transition from child-under-a-tutor to full right of sons (adoption) was when God sent His unique Son – second Person of the trinity – to redeem. At this point, the righteous requirement of the law was absolutely fulfilled in Christ’s perfect life and redemptive sacrifice. This act opened the way for us (people of faith) to receive adoption with the full right of sonship. Now, as adopted sons, those of faith are no longer under bondage – the strict discipline of moral codes -- but under grace as partakers of the divine nature indwelt with the Spirit of His Son.
Instead of acting to fulfill a moral code through strict discipline, (therefore you are no longer a slave but a son) the sons of God are free to act according to an inherited nature (Spirit of His Son) rooted in a loving relationship with the Father. The freedom to approach and interact with the Father develops that inherited nature.
The statement that the Spirit of His Son in your hearts is crying out “Abba, Father” means that we are at liberty to call aloud to the Father. We were designed for this and the liberty to do so means the impediment has been removed. Calling out to the Father implies endearing relationship and intimate, trusting interaction. Because we were designed and desired for relationship with God, He has now graciously equipped us with the ability to freely commune with Him in right relation. Therein alone is transformational power that will produce the holy character of an heir who represents and carries on the values and purposes of the Father.
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