Galatians: Glorious Freedom from the Law

The book of Galatians stands right up there with Romans as one of the most important documents Paul the apostle ever wrote.

In this Magna Carta of Christian liberty, Paul got out his boxing gloves to fight against false teachers who had come into the church and were perverting the gospel of Jesus Christ. These were the Judaizers, a group of Jewish believers who said you still had to keep the Law of Moses and certain rituals in order to be right with God.

Paul, on the other hand, declared the believer's total liberty from the Law of Moses. In Galatians, he wrote, you're not made right with God by doing certain things; you're made right by believing in the one who already did it for you on the cross, Jesus Christ. That's justification by faith.

Justification by faith through God's grace is more powerfully written about in the six chapters of Galatians than anywhere else in the New Testament. Christianity could have been confined to a subset of Judaism were it not for this passionate little letter changing the course of church history.

Think it Through

Why do you think the Galatians (and many people today) turn away from freedom in Christ to live in bondage to religion and rituals?

Read Galatians 3:19-25. What is the purpose of the law?

Are you still trusting in your own works to save you or to earn approval from God? Memorize Galatians 5:1.

Read Galatians 5:19-23. What are the works of the flesh? The fruit of the Spirit? What's the key to producing the fruit of the Spirit (see vv. 16, 24-25)?

A Word of Encouragement

There are only two types of religions in the world: the religion of human achievement and the religion of divine accomplishment. Only Christianity fits into that second category. Galatians makes it clear that salvation doesn't come by works but by our belief in Jesus' finished work on the cross.

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I worship You because I owed a debt I could never pay, and You paid a debt You didn't owe. I receive that gift of freedom in Christ. I pray that I would stop trusting in my own works to earn favor before You, and that the message of the gospel would so transform me that I wouldn't want to add anything to it, but live by it.

Land and Explore

If you want to learn more about the freedom you have in Christ, Pastor Skip's thirteen-message teaching series through the book of Galatians  is available to download.