Galatians A Gospel Of Freedom

The Gospel of Freedom in Christ!

A study of Galatians

Introduction:

How do we live by the Spirit and enjoy true freedom in Christ? What does that mean and what does it look like? How can living under the law actually become a hindrance to Christian faith and violate the gospel of Christ? What will God do in me when He saves me and how do I cooperate with Him?

These are just a few of the questions this letter to the Galatians answers. But the best way to discover God’s answer to these is to let God’s word speak for itself and begin by listening and learning one layer at a time. Before we dive in to find out what this says to us, we need to be observers who watch how God spoke through Paul to the church in Galatia. As we hear and understand the original message to its original audience by its original Holy Spirit inspired author, we will discover God’s word to us as well. God hasn’t changed a bit. Neither has the human need for Him and His saving work in us changed.

For those of you who are ready and willing to be blessed by God’s word, be sure to take the time to read, reflect, write and share as we go through this God given message for His people.

Overview of Lessons:

We will be studying through Galatians over the next few weeks and each week you will receive a study guide with a reading plan and study questions for you to consider as you read. We will look for key words, and I suggest that you mark them either in your Bible or on the handout and keep them for review.

We will try to let the scriptures answer the questions: Who, What, When, Where, Why and How? As we do this our goal will be to hear and understand what God says, rather than just what we think. My prayer is that we will fill our minds and hearts with God’s words and be informed by them rather than human ideas and opinions. This will be a spiritual exercise that will strengthen us for God and help us draw closer to Him. Be sure to pray and set aside time to devote to God each day for building up your walk with Him. The rewards are eternal! They are out of this world! But they make us better people while we live in this world.

I am excited to share this great message together! Let’s encourage one another daily to keep it up and stay the course! May God be glorified as we join in this together in the name of Jesus Christ, His Son, our Savior.

Lesson 1 God Gives a Message that Changes Our Lives (Start each day’s study with prayer, asking for God’s guidance and wisdom as you read His word).

Day 1 (Getting to know the author)

This letter was written by Paul and in the first two chapters Paul tells us a lot about himself. Read Acts 9:1-31, also Acts 13 and 14. What do you learn about Paul in these chapters?

Day 2 (Getting to know Paul’s relationship with the Galatians)

Read Galatians 1-2. What do these chapters tell us about Paul?

What do they tell us about the Galatians?

Mark the words: gospel and grace in different ways.

Why do you think Paul wrote this letter, based on what he says in these two chapters?

How are the Galatians doing? Who is influencing them and how does Paul feel about it?

Day 3 (Getting in deeper)

Read Galatians 3. Mark the previous words, plus mark the words: Law, Faith, Spirit and Promise in different ways. Now go through the chapter and answer the questions: What does this say to us about the law? What does this tell me about faith and the Spirit? What is this teaching us about the promise? What does this chapter tell us that Jesus did for us? (vs 1, 13-14, 22-29)

Day 4 (Keep digging deeper)

Read Galatians 4. Mark the previous words and also mark: slave, bondage, free or words that express their meaning. Now go through and observe what this chapter teaches about all these things. What Old Testament illustration does Paul give to explain freedom and slavery? What does the son of the slave do with the son of the free woman? Which one represents us?

Day 5 (Applying the message)

Read Galatians 5-6. Mark the words again, and this time add the word flesh (NIV – sinful nature). After marking all the words go back and read the chapters again asking: What does this teach about each of these key words?

Day 6 (Gathering it all in)

Read through the entire letter of Galatians noticing how these key words open up the meaning of the letter. Note what it teaches about each one. How do these all relate to one another? What does Galatians say about the Law? What does it say about the Spirit? How are slavery, flesh and law related in this letter? How are freedom, Spirit, and faith related in this letter?