Galatians 3
Readings for this week February 12 - 16
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Day 1 – Tough Words
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Galatians 3:1-5
Anyone who has read anything of Paul’s before now will know that he doesn’t mince words. He calls it how he sees it, especially if people are turning away from Jesus and the gospel and heading down (often back down) paths no longer leading the right way. Twice in these few verses Paul calls the Galatians ‘foolish’ or ‘mindless’ – imagine how the assembled communities would have felt listening to that being read out! Having started in the Spirit they are now reverting to the flesh; having by faith received the gospel of grace they seem intent on living as if it’s performing the works of the law that count – as if physically being grafted into Israel’s family was what counted, rather than faith in Jesus. The Galatians have committed but want to change the terms of the deal.
But remember, Paul’s berating them like this because they have the gospel. They have heard and have believed, but some of them seem to be flirting with a return to life before Jesus and the grace and renewal available through him. Paul’s concern is to bring the Galatian believers back to Jesus and the transforming gospel of grace and salvation. He won’t pull his punches – after all, what could be more important than the gospel? But he does so in order that they may return to the right path and continue to travel along it as God’s called community meant to be a light to the world, Christ’s co-workers in restoring all of God’s creation back to himself.
Questions to Consider
What answers would Paul hope for from the questions he asks in this passage? Why?
Prayer
Heavenly Father, warn me when my answers to these questions show that I am falling into old ways, neglecting the truth of the unmerited grace you have shown me. Remind me of your goodness and love. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 2 – That We Truly Belong
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Galatians 3:6-9
The Galatians seem to be confused about who they are, where (or more specifically, as Paul is at pains to point out, to whom) they belong, and how to belong. And it was this how that saw many of these Gentile Galatians arguing that circumcision and the works of the law were still the required badges of membership in God’s people: that being a physical part of the people of Israel was necessary for full membership in God’s people. So Paul tells them two very important things that they should have already known and believed but that seem to have escaped them or been forgotten. The first is that God has given them his Spirit, his own personal presence amongst his people, to dwell in them, transform them, motivate them and guide them. It was due to the Spirit himself working through Paul’s preaching that the Galatians came to believe in the first place. The gospel was preached, the Spirit moved, and people believed.
The second important point is that they are already true children of Abraham. The promise was made to Abraham and he believed it. He didn’t do anything to earn it – he couldn’t earn it. The covenant promise was made for an enormous family of descendants and he believed God for that promise. Faith is the sign of covenant membership; God will bless the nations through Abraham. When people believe the gospel of Jesus, they are already Abraham’s children, fully part of the covenant family. God’s family has been expanded and the mark of membership has been redefined as faith in Jesus Christ as risen Lord and Messiah.
Questions to Consider
What does belonging to God’s family look like? What signs show we belong? How do we avoid seeing these signs as the means of belonging?
Prayer
Lord God, grow my faith. Help me live in a posture that is open to you growing and transforming me into a greater image of you. Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 3 – Removing the Roadblock
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Galatians 3:10-14
Genesis 12 tells us that God’s plan was always for all the nations of the world to come to know him and be blessed through his chosen people, the people of Israel. The promise made to Abraham that ‘all the peoples of the world would be blessed through you’ was there right from the beginning of God calling a people to himself; it was always God’s intention for this to happen. But the Israelites stumbled. They wandered off the designated path, occasionally, at the prompting of God’s prophets, found their way back onto the road, only to eventually wander away yet again. The very people called to be a light to the nations kept dousing their own flame, falling into darkness. The bearers of the promise of God’s salvation were themselves in need of saving.
And save them God did, through the sending of his son, Israel’s long-promised Messiah, to redeem his people, lift the curse of sin, and allow the promise made to Abraham to finally flow out through his family and his seed, through the person of the Messiah himself to all the nations of the world. The covenant has been renewed, just as the prophets said it would, and God has poured out his Spirit upon Israel so they can once again walk the road towards the promised inheritance. There are no roadblocks in the way anymore – other than those that some of the Galatians seem intent on putting back in the way by insisting on other markers of the people of God other than faith in Jesus Christ. Foolish!
Questions to Consider
What does verse 12 mean that the law is not of faith? What about “He who practices them shall live by them”?
Prayer
Loving Father, with no more roadblocks there are no more excuses for being far from you. Help me remain close, help me be faithful, help me walk the road you have called me to. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 4 – One Big Family
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Galatians 3:15-22
The rules and regulations of the Law – rules and regulations designed to highlight Israel’s status as God’s chosen people, a holy people called and set apart to be light and hope to the world – have been set aside, not because they were bad or unnecessary or because God made a mistake, but because they were good and vital and have now completed their task. The Law was God-given; it was a gift from God to his people, and therefore a gift for the world too. The promise was made to Abraham. 430 years later the Law is given to Moses. And then God himself, incarnate in the person of Jesus Christ, came to fulfil the Law, representing in himself everything that Israel was meant to be.
In Jesus that promise to Abraham has now come true, and not just for the Jews but for people of any nation or ethnic group whatsoever. The family started with Abraham’s family has now been expanded to include anyone and everyone. The family is now a worldwide family and the badge of membership is simply faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Messiah. There is nothing else that need be done to belong; those earlier rules and regulations, as good and appropriate as they were, have now been set aside because of the faithfulness of Jesus. The rules were an act of loving grace on God’s part; Jesus is the living embodiment of this loving grace, and the one whose Spirit now works in us to mould and shape us into the people of God we were always meant to become.
Questions to Consider
How did the covenant change (or not change) over time? Why was this? What point is Paul making here about God’s relationship with his people?
Prayer
Gracious God, thank you for becoming one of us so that we could become like you. Thank you for calling your people together, as a family, shaped and moulded by you but also by each other. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)
Day 5 – All Equally Beloved Members of the Family
Silence, Stillness and Centering before God (2 minutes)
Scripture Reading – Galatians 3:23-29
This family of God does not have any special members. Everyone is in it together. Everyone has their own identity, is their own person, and is welcomed into the family together with others. Whatever identifying markers that might have been used in the past, while still valid and important as markers of personal identity, are no longer valid as markers of membership in God’s family. It’s faith in Jesus Christ and a life lived in the power of his Spirit that marks you as one of God’s family. Are you Jewish? Great, you’re in the family. Gentile? You’re welcome too. Male and female are welcome too, both on their own terms. Master or slave? Both are welcome into the family equally by faith in Jesus.
We still all have aspects of who we are that are distinct from others, and aspects that are the same. Who we are is important; each of us is wonderfully and uniquely made in the image of God and loved by him. Verse 28 does not erase these (and other) distinctions but simply states that these markers are not what defines us as members of God’s family. Our relationship with Jesus does. It is our faith in him that is the most significant marker of them all. Every other attribute/characteristic/identifier not only takes second place to faith in Jesus but is itself seen and challenged and transformed in the light of Jesus. The labels we have, whether self-designated, applied by others, or culturally conditioned, are not our defining feature. Faith in Jesus, and our new identity in him, is.
Questions to Consider
What applications can we make from this verse? How does this verse affect us in everyday life?
Prayer
Almighty Father, help me love all people, whether they have joined your family or whether they have yet to. Help me be a welcoming, warm-hearted ambassador for your people. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Conclude with Silence (2 minutes)