The purpose of the Son of God becoming a human being and living under the Jewish Law is twofold: negatively, to redeem those who were under the Law, and positively, so that we might become God’s sons.

For redeem, see the note on 3.13. The deliverance spoken of there is from the curse of the Law, but here it is deliverance from the Law itself. It may be difficult to render redeem in the sense of “paying back,” for a commercial transaction would tend to be misinterpreted in this type of context. The focus here is upon deliverance, and it may be best in a number of languages to translate “to deliver those who lived under the control of the Law,” or “… who had to obey the Law.” If this means primarily the Law of Moses, it is obviously a direct reference to Jews. If, however, one understands “born under law” as applying to wider legal requirements, then it may be necessary to use the first person inclusive, for example, “to redeem all of us who are under law,” or “… subject to law.”

Under the Law is literally “under law.” While Paul’s primary reference is to the Jewish Law, it is possible that he includes Gentiles, for they too were subject to legal ordinances. The inclusive we would naturally and logically follow.

We might become God’s sons is literally “we might receive adoption.” Paul uses similar expressions in Romans 8.15 and 23. The term “adoption” should not be understood, however, as a legal term but as a religious term, in the sense that God gives us the status of sonship (see New English Bible) together with all its privileges. Paul would obviously wish to include the Galatian believers as those who had become God’s sons, and therefore the inclusive “we” (for such languages as make a distinction between inclusive and exclusive first person plural) would be essential. Certainly Paul would not want to suggest that he and his colleagues had become God’s sons, while excluding the Galatians. Here again it may be necessary, in order to indicate clearly what is involved, to employ an expression such as “we all.”

Quoted with permission from Arichea, Daniel C. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1976. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .