Jesus Was Born Under the Law for Us

But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons (Galatians 4:4-5). These words were my nine-year-old son’s part in the Christmas program this year. While it was hard at first for him to get all these phrases straight—“born under a woman?”—this passage is packed with meaning for our salvation.
What does it mean that Jesus was born “under the law?” Consider this: all people who live in the United States are “under the law” of the land. No one can decide that the laws do not apply to them. We cannot tell the government, “I don’t like such and such laws, so I’m not going to obey them,” and expect to get away with it. So also, all people born into this world are subject to God’s laws. The law is given to all people, both in our conscience and in written form in the Ten Commandments. So when Jesus was born as man, He made Himself subject to God’s laws.
Jesus was “born under the law” for this purpose: “to redeem those under the law.” That’s us. The law tells us what we are to do and not to do, but we have disobeyed it in our thoughts, words, and actions. We have done what shouldn’t have done and left undone what we should have done.
But Jesus was “born under the law” for us. He perfectly kept God’s law every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every month of every year. For example, Jesus became subject to the fourth commandment. This we see in Luke 2:51, where we read that He “was subject” to His mother Mary and her husband Joseph. He did this for us, as our substitute. By faith in Him, God credits Jesus’ perfect record to us.
Not only are we “under the law” in the sense of being subject to its rules, we are also under the curse of the law for our disobedience. Our disobedience to God’s law deserves the death penalty, both physical and spiritual, for eternity in hell. Jesus was “born under the law” to “redeem those under the law.” That is, He paid the price to set us free from the punishment of our disobedience. During Lent, we see Jesus “under the law” as He stands trial under the authorities of the church, the High Priest and Sanhedrin, and the state, Herod and Pilate. He even tells Pilate, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above” (John 19:11). As we confess in the Apostles’ Creed, He “suffered under Pontius Pilate.” He experienced death and hell on the cross for us so that we would enjoy eternal life.
Jesus was born under the law for us: to live a perfect life in our place and to pay the ransom price of death that sets us free from sin and death. We personally are given His gift of eternal life when we receive “adoption as sons” through the Holy Spirit working faith in our hearts through the Word and Baptism. In thankfulness to Christ and His work, we sing with Kingo:
For the joy Thy birth doth give me,
For Thy holy, precious Word;
For Thy Baptism which doth save me,
For Thy blest Communion board;
For Thy death, the bitter scorn,
For Thy resurrection morn,
Lord I thank Thee and extol Thee,
And in Heav’n I shall behold Thee. (ELH 354:10)
Shawn Stafford is pastor of Hartland Lutheran Church in Hartland, Minnesota, and Manchester Lutheran Church in Manchester, Minnesota.