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When I read this, what sticks out to me is how faith in Jesus trumps everything man can do to try to please God. Paul is writing to people who have been wrongly taught that the Old Testament law bring s life and salvation. It is cool how Paul takes the Law, what the church is wrongly holding up as the standard for living, and uses it to point to Jesus. How does he do that? By going after the biggest Hero for the Jews in the Old Testament...Abraham. When Paul says that Abraham was justified by FAITH and not by works and through this great hero Jesus was promised to us, he begins to completely unravel the church’s wrong line of thinking and points them to faith in Christ alone.
What can we learn from Galatians 3? We learn that through faith in Christ, we are rescued from the penalty of death that the law brings. If we try to follow the Old Testament Law...or any other set of religious rules, we are going to fall very short of the righteousness God demands.
The other thing that sticks out to me is how faith in Christ destroys all social barriers and everyone is on an equal playing field. He says that gender (male or female), economic status (slave or free), or ethnicity (Jew or Gentile) affect who you are in Christ. Our youth group is to be one unified body that loves each other and belongs to Jesus. Our faith is to be placed in Him alone as He freely works among us to accomplish His will.What about you guys, where does it hit home for you?
When I read the first 2 chapters of Galatians, a couple things stand out to me...
First is Paul's determination to let everyone know that the message he preaches comes straight from Jesus Christ. It is not based on human logic (1:11), but on a direct revelation from Jesus Christ Himself. Because of this, he is completely unashamed and unabashed to live out what Jesus has called Him to do. He was not a people pleaser, but Christ's servant (1:10)...and he was not intimidated by anyone because he knew that everyone was equal before God (2:6). Jesus had made a radical change in his life.
The second thing that I see is what Paul is so vigorously writing against. It will unfold more in later chapters, but Paul really seems to hate "religion." You know what I mean, you follow a couple rules and practice some regulations, ask for forgiveness when need be and BOOM, you and God are doing good. When I read about the Gospel revealed to Paul, it teaches something far different. God called Paul out of a "religion" and taught him that he must be "crucified with Christ." It was no longer Paul doing what he wanted to do or Paul going where he wanted to go, but "the life he lived in the flesh was by faith alone in Christ Jesus" (2:20-21). A false Gospel had been going around teaching the Christians that they had to go back to the law and follow a bunch of rules to and then God would be pleased. According to Paul, this ain't true.In my opinion, these two items are foundational for the rest of the letter. Paul is constantly defending himself and the Gospel according to Jesus against the "false gospel" being preached by "false christians." The one thing that hits me when I read this is the question: "Which teaching am I following?" I mouth says that I have faith in Christ, but in reality, am I crucified with Him, or am I following some "Christian Rules." You may know how it goes...go to church every Sunday, read your Bible because you have to, don't drink, curse, or have sex (that is for those of you who are NOT married) and I am good with God. I try to do more good than bad and always vote Republican. Those are in the Christian handbook...right? All the while I am simply livin for myself, spending my money as I see fit and my heart does not look much different than an unbeliever. Christ calls us to a higher standard than this, and he sets us free from living by a bunch of rules by shaping us into His image. Paul will play this out later on in the letter.So, what about you guys...where does Galatians hit home for you?
As a youth group, we are going to come together and encourage each other to abide in Christ and spend time daily in His Word. One of the ways we are going to do this is enable you all to come together on this blog and discuss the how the Scripture is speaking to you. Thus, we are going to start off by reading Paul's letter to the Galations together. On this blog you will find questions that will allow you to think and digest the Scripture and the ability to interact with each other. Before we get started, let me give you a little bit of background information.Galations was written by Paul between 46-50 CE (otherwise known as AD). Paul had planted the Church there in Galatia and had left it to plant others when he caught wind of the Christians there being led away from the Gospel of faith in Jesus Christ to a works based religion by false teachers. These teachers wanted the Christians there to follow the old laws of Judaism (mainly circumcision and dietary restrictions) and taught that these rules would make them right with God. They also taught them that Paul was incorrect in his teachings and they needed to disregard him. The main points of this letter are that salvation comes by faith in Jesus Christ alone and what Paul preaches does not come from himself or others, but was revealed to him by Jesus Christ.Helpful links for the study of Galations:http://www.biblegateway.com/resources/commentaries/index.php?action=getBookSections&cid=7&sourcehttp://www.bible.org/page.php?page_id=1237http://www.theopedia.com/Epistle_to_the_Galatians
