FULNESS OF TIME

What Is the Fulness of Time?
This phrase appears in Galatians 4:4, where Paul describes Christ's birth and earthly ministry as occurring when "the fulness of time" had arrived. The expression highlights how, over the centuries, God providentially prepared to ensure the success of Christianity's founding. For example:
  • The Hebrew people had given the ancient world a monotheistic religion and a body of inspired Scripture, announcing the coming of the Messiah. 
  • The Greeks provided the Koine Greek language, the most perfect instrument for the conveyance of human thought ever known to man. 
  • The Romans contributed a remarkable legal system (under which Jesus was declared "innocent" of wrongdoing -- see Acts 2:23) and a remarkable highway system that facilitated the distribution of the gospel. 
Everything came together with pinpoint focus; truly, God was the master planner who brought it to glorious fruition.

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Adapted from the book "Bible Words and Theological Terms Made Easy" by Wayne Jackson