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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadWilliam Burkitt Notes and Observations - Galatians 4:6 - 4:6
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
As if the apostle had said, "That you are now, under the gospel, become and made the sons of God, appeareth by this, that God hath sent the Spirit of his natural Son into your hearts to authorize and enable you to call upon him, not only as your God, but as your Father: The gospel assuring you, that you are no longer in that servile condition you were in whilst under the law; but God will deal with you now upon gospel terms, and justify you by faith, without the deeds of the law: Now God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts."
Observe here, 1. The title given to the Holy Spirit; it is called the Spirit of God's Son; that is, the Spirit of Christ, because it is the same Spirit which abode upon him that resteth upon us, and because the Spirit is purchased and procured for us by the blood of the Son. Those rivers of living water, by which the effusion of the Spirit is expressed, do flow out of Christ's pierced side; Christ purchased the spirit for us, before he sent him from heaven to us.
Observe, 2. The act respecting his person, God hath sent forth. This imports not any change of place, as if he were more distant from the Father when he was thus sent, than he was before; but it notes his commission for some special work in and upon the creature.
Observe, 3. The objects which have the benefits of this act; God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into your hearts; that is, into the hearts of believers; signifying that the work here intended is an inward work, and a saving work, I will put my Spirit in them; Eze_36:27 not into the brain, to dwell there by common unsanctified gifts, but into the heart, where all the habits of grace are planted, and from whence all the issues of life proceed.
Observe, 4. The office which the Holy Spirit performs in the believer's heart: First, it cries; secondly, it cries, Abba, Father: The Spirit cries, by enabling us through his gracious influences and assistances to cry or pray unto God; and it cries, Father, Father: The repetition made, and the word redoubled, denotes the strength and vehemency of the desire, and speaks a passionate and extraordinary concernment of soul, for obtaining the mercy desired, and the blessings prayed for.
Learn hence, 1. That there are three sacred persons in the blessed Godhead, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit: all are held forth to us in this single verse, yea, in this single clause of the verse, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son.
Learn, 2. That the Spirit is not a quality or operation, but a person that has a real being and subsistence; else the phrase of being sent could not be properly applied to him.
Learn, 3. That the Holy Spirit proceeds both from the Father and Son; for he is the Spirit of the Son, and is sent by the Father: There is an order among the divine persons, though no priority of being.
Learn, 4. That the spirit of adoption is a spirit of supplication; and this spirit of supplication is the great privilege and advantage of believers under the gospel, for it teaches us what to pray for, and the manner how we are to pray; it joineth with our prayers his own effectual intercession; it gives us a right and privilege to come unto God as unto a Father, and gives us also confidence and assurance, as sons, to be accepted with him.
Learn, 5. That the great privilege of adoption is both discovered and improved by the help of the Spirit of Christ: Our privilege of sonship under the gospel excels by far theirs under the law:
1. In point of manifestation and clearness.
2. As to fulness and amplitude of enjoyment.