So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir.
Before we dive in:
Welcome to Week 2 of the Summer Reading Plan!
If I had to sum up the main idea for this week, it would be this: Live a New Life.
Now, this meant something completely different to the Galatian church than it means to us today. As we go forward in our summer reading plans, we'll jump into the books of 1 Peter, 1 John, and James. In these books, we will take a look at what kind of life we are supposed to be living, but for this week in Galatians we will be taking a look at what kind of life we are not supposed to be living.
If you remember last week, we left off with Paul sternly talking to the church in Galatia, because the Jewish church members were pressuring the Gentile (non-Jewish) church members to follow a set of rules that God had laid out in the Old Covenant.
Specifically, Jewish Christians were trying to tell Gentile Christians that they had to be circumcised and follow Jewish customs in order to be saved.
Bearing this in mind, this week Paul is trying to hammer three points home -
1 - The Law of Moses (or Old Covenant) does not save us.
2 - The work of Jesus on the cross has removed racial and societal barriers (so ethnicity has nothing to do with salvation either).
3 - Live a new life!!!
Section 1:
Before we even start, there's something that I need to address right off the bat.
Paul references "the law" a lot in the reading this week. Some people take these passages to say that God has set us free from all laws, and to experience total freedom in Christ is to live life free of any restrictions. That is not at all what Paul is saying here. Let me just reiterate:
This is not what Paul is saying.
So what is Paul saying?
Well first, we need to remember our context. He's writing this letter to a church whose congregation has been led astray by false teachers that have been teaching that Gentiles need 'Jesus and' in order to be saved. (Remember the 'and' they are teaching is that the Gentiles not only have to follow Jesus, but also observe Jewish customs.)
Paul is responding directly to this false belief with his talk about the law. He is reminding the Gentiles (and Jewish people) that they did not receive the grace of God because they followed the rules exactly. He reminds the church in Galatia that all who have put their faith in God are welcome in the family of faith by throwing a curve ball at these Jewish false teachers in verses 6-7:
In the same way, “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” The real children of Abraham, then, are those who put their faith in God.
See, some Jewish Christians believed that they were 'above' the Gentile Christians because they were actual descendants of Abraham. This was a big source of pride for the Jewish people who believed that bloodlines held intense significance.
Paul flips their entire belief over on its head by stating that the real children of Abraham are those who put their faith in God. The Jewish Christians were taking pride in not only their ancestry, but their customs, which they believed gained them favor in God's eyes. Paul turns right around after that first truth bomb and reminds them that in fact, no one has been able to keep the law, and follows it up with this statement:
So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.” This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.”
Section 2:
In our next section of the reading (vv. 3:13-4:7), Paul answers the question that is swirling around the minds of everyone who is hearing this letter being read: "How does Jesus tie into the law? What's the point of the law?"
Paul clearly answers this question in the first part of verse 19:
Why, then, was the law given? It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who was promised...
This is what he means: the law was given to Israel to show people that they had all fallen short before the standard that God had set before them (an idea Paul expounds on around Romans 3:23). This showed the Israelites that they had to depend on God, and that they could not earn salvation on their own.
The Pharisees believed that they were close to God because outwardly, they followed all of the commands of the Law. But Jesus reminds them in Matthew 15 that simply going through the motions will not gain favor with God. Man may look on the outward appearance of doing good, but the Lord looks at the heart.
Paul reminds the Galatian church here that in the same way, the Law was given simply to keep our sinful natures in check until the promise (Jesus) came and paid the price for our sins. Now, we no longer have to follow the Law perfectly (hallelujah, because we can't!). Instead, Jesus has ransomed us from the grip of our sinful nature, and a faith in God and walking according to the Spirit is the way to salvation.
Paul wraps up this section with our memory verse for this week, reminding us that we were once slaves to sin, but now we have been redeemed into God's own family. We can call on God as our Father, not just as our mighty King!
Section 3:
Finally we arrive at section 3. In this section Paul begins to hammer the point home that I brought up at the very beginning of this post: Live a new life!
Paul reminds the Gentile believers in Galatia that he himself brought them the good news of Jesus, the good news that said they didn't have to follow the customs of the Jewish people. He urges the Gentile Christians to live in "freedom" from the rules and regulations that Jewish Christians believed they had to follow.
He finishes off this section reminding the Gentile Christians that they were so grateful for Paul when he was there giving them the Gospel, and that they should not feel negatively toward him now because he's speaking out against the false teachers. This gives us the impression that these false teachers weren't just random people in the church, these were favored men with the church of Galatia, men who a random Christian in the congregation would readily defend. Paul reminds the church that it doesn't matter what their reputation is, if they are teaching falsely they are a false teacher.
Lastly, we see Paul comparing his agony with wanting to see change in the Galatian church with a woman who is giving birth. Paul cared deeply for the Christians in Galatia, and he didn't want to see them led astray by these false teachers. The wording that Paul uses here, "they (the labor pains) will continue until Christ is fully developed in your lives," reminds us that the Christian life is not a one time decision.
We don't just accept Jesus and then live how we would like to live. We don't just accept Jesus and get our 'ticket to heaven.' The life of a true Christian is a life of constant working towards maturity in Christ. This week I would encourage you to examine yourself as Paul commands in 2 Corinthians 13:5. Do you have a hunger for the Word of God? Are you maturing in your walk and living a different life? Or are you just coasting through with your 'ticket to heaven?'
All throughout the New Testament Paul warns against those who believe they are saved and yet continue living the same life. Next week as we continue in Galatians we will learn more about what that new life looks like. See you next week!