Paul now comes to a great climax in his letter to the Galatians. God has acted in the fullness of time by sending His Son to bring us out from the slavery of living under the whole Mosaic system of law and bring us into the liberating sonship of Christ.

Christian freedom is solidly grounded on the fact that all humanity has been shut up under the judgment of God’s law – ‘locked up until faith should be revealed’ but now ‘since faith has come’ all who believe – both Jew and Gentile are liberated from the guilt and impotence that we feel before God’s law. Paul makes it clear that this is more than a ‘get out of jail free’ card – rather it is being released from living an immature life of slavery under the law as our guardian into a position where we are given the full rights of sonship.

As a result, in terms of our status before God and one another, all the worldly divisions and distinctions, by which we judge and justify one another, are dissolved for we are all one in Christ and hear the same ‘Abba’ cry of the Spirit of the Son in our hearts confirming not only our liberating sonship but also our glorious destiny.