Galatians 3: Out of Legalism and into Faith

This is the lesson I wrote for tonight in Sunday evening class. Should be an interesting one. Use it if you need or would like to.

If you want the whole series tell me and I will send it to you.

Faith in Love: The Book of Galatians

Galatians 3: Out of Legalism and into Faith

It is a tendency for people to make up rules. People see holes in what is there and they feel compelled to fill them. Some of that is a fear of doing something wrong or in not doing everything needed. Some of it is the desire to help others. Some is the desire to rule others.

The apostle Paul called this an evil spell. He said that people who tried to take away your freedom were taking away the message of the cross. The Spirit didn’t come from obedience to law. And that law would do nothing to help them in their Christian life. There is no way to become perfect in doing things yourself. The perfection can only come through the grace of Christ.

He even goes so far as to say that this dependence on works would destroy all their progress. We, as Christians, go back to Abraham as our father. It was he who believed in God and God counted him righteous. And Abraham couldn’t be justified by law because there was no law then. He was before law. When he was alive, each person came to God themselves, individually. And his children do the same. They put their faith in God.

Paul calls the desire to do works a curse. After a long list of all the things they were supposed to do in Moses’ farewell sermon, Moses says in Deuteronomy 27:26: Cursed is anyone who does not affirm and obey the terms of these instructions.’ And all the people will reply, ‘Amen.’ The keeping of the law, God said, Moses said, Paul said, the Bible says, is a curse. Jesus came to free us from that curse.

Paul uses a common illustration. An agreement cannot be revoked unless there is some kind of provision. The promise God gave to Abraham was absolute and was not to be canceled 430 years later when the law of Moses was given. Law was never made a part of that promise. Those who followed Paul around trying to change his message missed the point. The law of Moses was never meant to be permanent. The promise to Abraham was. There was no mediator or go-between to Abraham. There was to the Israelites (Moses) and there is to us (Jesus). But the promise to Abraham of his children receiving that promise of God’s presence through faith was absolute.

When Jesus came, he brought that promise again. We come to him through faith, not works. The old law was never intended to last. It was a schoolmaster that led us to Jesus. Jesus is the final point, so the law is no longer needed.

He ends up by saying that we are God’s children and are made so through our faith, not our works. When we have come to Jesus and allowed ourselves to be immersed in his grace, we have been saved. And when we are baptized into him, we receive that new clothing, the clothing of commitment. In this new situation there are no racial barriers, no socioeconomic barriers, no sexual barriers. We are his. And as such we are Abraham’s children and have his promise.

Questions:

1. Is the desire to do extra stuff for God bad? Is there nothing we need to do?

2. Does God like it when we do good stuff and encourage others to do the same?

3. Where does doing good stuff and encouraging others start being a demand on us to toe certain lines? What about what different denominations think? Are their requirements bad?

4. Why does the Holy Spirit come to us? Is it to strengthen or to cause us to do better things?

5. When our hearts are changed, we act differently. Is that works?

6. Do you think God is pleased when we do good things? Does it really matter?

7. What is the God’s law today? (cf Matthew 22:36-30; James 2:8)

8. How exactly are we children of Abraham, a guy who lived 4000 years ago.

Are segregated churches wrong? Should all churches be integrated?