Galatians 4:4

But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,

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Ambrose of Milan

AD 397

He says “his Son,” not one of many, not “a Son” but his own. When he says “his own” he confirms that he has the property of eternal generation. This is the one whom he subsequently declares to have been born from a woman, so as to ascribe the fact of being born not to the Godhead but to the assumed body. He was made from a woman by assuming flesh and made under the law by observing the law. But that heavenly birth of his is prior to the law, while the incarnation happens later.

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Ambrosiaster

AD 400

“The fullness of time” is the completed time which had been foreordained by God the Father for the sending of his Son, so that, made from a virgin, he might be born like a man, subjecting himself to the law up to the time of his baptism, so that he might provide a way by which sinners, washed and snatched away from the yoke of the law, might be adopted as God’s sons by his condescension, as he had promised to those redeemed by the blood of his Son. It was necessary, indeed, that the Savior should be made subject to the law, as a son of Abraham according to the flesh, so that, having been circumcised, he could be seen as the one promised to Abraham, who had come to justify the Gentiles through faith, since he bore the sign of the one to whom the promise had been made. .

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Cornelius a Lapide

AD 1637

But when the fulness of the time was come. When the time fixed beforehand for the end of the law and the beginning of the Gospel was fully come, we were transferred from the servitude of the law to the freedom of sonship. S. Bernard (Serm1de Adventu) explains the passage somewhat differently: "The fulness and abundance of temporal things had brought about forgetfulness and famine of eternal things. It was at the moment when temporal things held sway that eternal things opportunely arrived." But this is a symbolical rather than literal explanation. Literally, the fulness of time is not the abundance of temporal things, but the full completion of the predetermined time. God sent forth His Song of Solomon , as His legate or Apostle, with full instructions to act on His behalf. He sent His Song of Solomon , not by change of place, as though He left heaven and arrived at earth; but the Song of Solomon , remaining where He was, in heaven and on earth, took a new role, viz, that of a Human A... Read More

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Cyprian of Carthage

AD 258

Also Paul to the Galatians: "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent His Son, horn of a woman."

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Gaius Marius Victorinus

AD 400

Because he is brought forth from a woman he can be said to be made, but made for this temporary purpose: to be subject to the law…. The Galatians were to understand from this that they had fallen into error, for the Savior himself, in whom they believed, was made subject to the law though he remained the Lord of the law. –.

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Gaius Marius Victorinus

AD 400

As there is a fullness in things, so there is in times. For each thing has its fullness in a full and copious perfection that abounds in everything. Christ is the fullness of things. The fullness of times is the consummation of freedom. So that his fullness may be whole and perfect Christ collects his members who are scattered, and in this way his fullness is achieved. So in the same way the fullness of times was achieved when all had become ripe for faith and sins had increased to the utmost, so that a remedy was necessarily sought in the judgment of all things. Hence Christ came when the fullness of time was completed. –.

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George Leo Haydock

AD 1849

The fulness of the time. That is, the time decreed by Divine Providence. God sent his Son made of a woman, who took a true human body of his virgin Mother. Under the law, as he was man, because he was pleased to make himself so. (Witham)

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Irenaeus of Lyons

AD 202

And again, in his Epistle to the Galatians, he says: "But when the fulness of time had come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption; ". Paul also says: "But when the fulness of time came, God sent forth His Son.". The Apostle Paul, moreover, in the Epistle to the Galatians, declares plainly, "God sent His Son, made of a woman.". This fact is exhibited in a still clearer light in the same Epistle, where he thus speaks: "But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman."

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John Chrysostom

AD 407

Here he states two objects and effects of the Incarnation, deliverance from evil and supply of good, things which none could compass but Christ. They are these; deliverance from the curse of the Law, and promotion to sonship. Fitly does he say, that we might receive, [be paid,] implying that it was due; for the promise was of old time made for these objects to Abraham, as the Apostle has himself shown at great length. And how does it appear that we have become sons? He has told us one mode, in that we have put on Christ who is the Son; and now he mentions another, in that we have received the Spirit of adoption.

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Leo of Rome

AD 461

He is God in that “all things were made through him and nothing was made without him.” He is human in that he was “made from a woman, made under the law.” The nativity of his flesh shows his human nature. The virgin birth is an indicator of his divine nature. Letter , To Flavian

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Methodius of Olympus

AD 311

But when He says, "As the years draw nigh, thou shalt be recognised "He means, as has been said before, that glorious recognition of our Saviour, God in the flesh, who is otherwise invisible to mortal eye; as somewhere Paul, that great interpreter of sacred mysteries, says: "But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons."

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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220

A certain person thought that he had cleverly solved this question: that Mary was called a woman by the angel and the apostle because she was already betrothed. For a betrothed is in some sense a bride. Yet between “in some sense” and “truly” there is a great distance…. He spoke of one who was a virgin and was called woman according to a proper usage of this term with respect to the basic quality of a virgin, which is therefore vindicated by the generic term woman.

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Tertullian of Carthage

AD 220

"But when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son". Since, then, the Creator promised the gift of His Spirit in the latter days; and since Christ has in these last days appeared as the dispenser of spiritual gifts (as the apostle says, "When the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son; ". When he says, "God sent forth His Son, made of a woman."

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