Reading With the People of God #15 Purposeഉദാഹരണം

Beginning Galatians

As we continue journeying through Ecclesiastes, reflecting on life’s questions and the search for meaning “under the sun,” we now begin reading Galatians alongside it—a letter that grounds us in the good news of life in the Son.

Paul writes to remind the early church (and us) that our purpose and identity aren’t found in what we do, but in what Christ has done. While Ecclesiastes explores the limits of human striving, Galatians proclaims the freedom of grace through faith.

As you read both books in parallel, notice the contrast and the invitation. One asks, “What’s the point?” The other answers, “Christ is enough.”

Take a moment now to prepare your heart for Galatians, and then continue into the full introduction.

An introduction to Galatians:

The letter to the Galatians is the only letter written to several churches and was among the first of Paul's letters. Paul planted many churches among the Jews in Asia Minor that later drew in the Gentiles as well. Galatia, named after the Gauls who invaded the region about 300 years before Christ, refers to a large region in what today is Turkey.

Paul left the fledgling churches well established in the gospel, but later heard that a troubling faction had introduced a different take on the Christian faith. These false teachers, Judaizers, disparaged Paul's credentials as a true apostle, thus undermining his message of justification by faith alone. Judaizers were Jews who professed to be Christians but insisted that some ceremonial Laws from Judaism were still binding and should continue to be observed.

The first two chapters tell of Paul's credentials as an apostle, and he makes it clear his message is from Christ Himself. His gospel was the same preached by the apostles in Jerusalem and ratified by them as authentic. His message was not different or distorted from the very followers of Jesus, but was even more sure because it was taught to him by Christ.

The core of Galatians is that we are justified by faith alone, just as Abraham was, not faith plus works of the Law. His point is that the Law is there to show our need for grace, and he proceeds to use seven arguments to prove his point. Several times in the letter, he uses content from the Old Covenant to prove his point in the New Covenant to help Christians with a Jewish background to see how the two are connected and satisfied in Christ, their Messiah. His conclusion: Justification rests on Christ alone.

Because of this truth, we are now called to walk in the Spirit and live a life that produces the fruit of Christ's nature implanted in us by His own Spirit.

* Primer contributed by Jinet Troost, Women's Bible Study Teacher at Cornerstone Church of Chowchilla.