Christ in the Law: A 5-Day Plan to Delighting in God’s LawSample

Day 1: Context of the Passage

Just like Israel and the early church, believers today desire to obey the Lord. The questions around the promises of God, obedience to the law, and faith are ancient. We desire to grow in our faith, and we feel the tension of wanting to “do” the right thing when it comes to our faith.

The book of Galatians gives us a sneak peek into some of these tensions in the early Christian church, particularly the tension between the law and faith in Christ. The main disagreement concerned Gentile converts to Christianity, whether they needed to observe the law and if men needed to also be circumcised to be considered true Christians. A Jewish sect called Judaizers maintained that Gentile believers must adhere to Jewish customs, which caused confusion and division in the church.

In Galatians 2:11–21, we learn about a related situation involving Peter, an apostle of Christ who became a leader in the early church. Peter believed Gentile believers should be accepted into the Christian community, but his own actions proved inconsistent. When he was with his Jewish friends, he followed dietary rules and imposed these on Gentiles as well. But, when he was with Gentiles, he ate like Gentiles and did not adhere to dietary rules. This inconsistency created confusion in the church.

This passage teaches us about the dangers of legalism and the importance of relying on faith in Christ, not on mere obedience to the law for justification. Peter’s actions remind us that it’s not following the law, but only faith in Christ, that makes us right with God. This was true for Israel, for the early church, and for us today. Israel trusted in the Promised One to come. We trust in the Promised One who was revealed to us in the person of Christ.

In Galatians 3, Paul details the relationship between faith, the law, and the promises of God. He brings heavy theology to the level of the ordinary people who wanted to understand how to live out the gospel in their daily lives. He emphasizes that faith does not stand in opposition to the law and God’s promises. Rather faith is the connective tissue that binds the law and the promise of God.

Read Galatians 3:

What aspects of God’s character do you see most clearly in this chapter?

As you close your time in today’s study, meditate on what it means to you to be Abraham’s offspring (Gal. 3:29).