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you belong to God

Galatians 4:5
"To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

Christmas has passed, and life returns to normal. As wondrous as Jesus’ birth is, it is the cross and resurrection that changed everything. All creation and history point to Christ crucified and risen. God sent His only Son to rescue us.

Through Jesus, we are not only forgiven but adopted as God’s children—this is our focus this week. Yesterday’s verse showed that the timing of Jesus’ coming was no coincidence but part of God’s eternal plan.

Jesus is fully God—eternally one with the Father—and fully human, born of a woman and raised under the Mosaic Law. He perfectly fulfilled that law to redeem those enslaved by it.

Today’s verse uses the Greek word exagorazō for “redeem,” meaning to buy someone out of slavery. Christ’s death paid the price to free us from sin’s bondage—a bondage shared by Jews under the Mosaic Law and Gentiles under the law written on their hearts.

Born under the law, Jesus kept it perfectly, then died in our place to satisfy its demands and remove its curse. Redemption’s ultimate purpose is not just release from obligation, but a new identity: adoption into God’s family as His sons and daughters.

This adoption is pure grace, unearned, and it grants us the full rights of heirs—including eternal life and the indwelling Holy Spirit, who assures us we belong to God.

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