Bible Study Notes - God's Blended Family - Galatians 3:6-29 and 4:1-7

Bible Study Notes 

God’ Blended Family – Galatians 3:6-29 and 4:1-7

Introduction

 We, who live under the new covenant, must decide whether we will merely assert the Lordship of Christ or sincerely trust Him as Lord of our lives.  When we say, “Jesus is Lord of all,” are we simply stating that out of tradition? At some point, we face a personal impasse like that of Abraham.  Do we trust in Christ to make Him Lord of our own life?  Will we follow His lead rather than our own counsel?

Lesson Setting

 As we grow spiritually, we progress from belief to trust.  Daily, we desire to become better disciples.  Fundamentally, we cannot grow without change.  As we trust God, we take constructive steps of change.  Thus, we move from a religion that is grounded in theoretical concepts or rules to a relationship built upon a genuine reliance upon God.  The abiding faith of Father Abraham was the by-product of this type of relationship.

Exposition

I.                   Anyone who accepts Christ becomes right with God by faith just like Abraham (Galatians 3:6-9)

  In this passage Paul decides to use Abraham as a concrete example of how a person enters into right relationship with God by faith.  Paul most likely chose Abraham because he was an historic figure recognized by both Jew and Gentile.  According to Genesis 12:3, when God called Abraham into service He made an awesome promise that contemplated the planned redemption of humankind.  Specifically, God told Abraham “all peoples of the earth will be blessed through you.” 

  God favored Abraham with this assignment because of his faith.  Abraham accepted God’s call trusting in His word.  Abraham believed that the Lord would guide, sustain and enable him in carrying out his task. 

II.                Before Christ, right relationship with God was based on obedience to the law  (Galatians 3:23-24)

  Before Christ – and faith in his call to save us from sin and reunite us with God- the law was needed to keep us in line.  Essentially, it disciplined and supervised us by setting the boundaries for acceptable behavior in relating to God, others and ourselves. Additionally,  the law made us more conscious of sin by identifying our transgressions.  Prior to gift of salvation by faith, right relationship with God was based on strict adherence to the law. 

  “The law was put in charge to lead us Christ.” It does this by teaching us that we are entirely incapable of resisting the pull of sin in satisfaction of the law.  We may attempt to pick and choose the laws that apply to our lives or manipulate the law to find a way to fit our behavior within its bounds.  Both approaches wrongly focus on the letter of the law rather than its spirit, which is to help us to appreciate and live within God’s will for us. In the end, the law works to direct us to Christ by exposing our complete vulnerability to sin and the destruction it reaps.

  With Christ we have a choice.  On the one hand, we can choose the imprisonment of the burdensome, yet futile, pursuit of personal righteousness through strict obedience to the letter of the law.  Or, we can trust God’s promise and accept his offer of freedom through faith in Christ.  The Jewish people became so engrossed by the law that it became their master.  In their pursuit of righteousness through good works under the law, they lost sight of God who alone is righteous.  In effect, the Jewish people traded enslavement to sin to incarceration by the law.  Paul’s message is that righteousness by faith in Christ offers freedom from both of these oppressors. 

 

III.             In Christ we have a new relationship with God based on faith (Galatians 3:25-26) 

  In Christ we have a new relationship with God based entirely on faith.  Our genealogy is of no consequence. Therefore, we need not waste time and energy trying to trace our lineage to support our membership in the divine family of God.  For instance if you look at Luke’s genealogy, it begins with Adam and ends with Christ.  In contrast, Mathew’s lineage begins with Abraham and leads to Christ. Christ is the chosen seed for fulfillment of the promise to Abraham made in consideration of his personal relationship with God. Faith in Christ is the key.  Through Christ, Gentiles are grafted into God’s blended family without regard for genealogy. 

  Faith in Christ likewise surpasses obedience to the law.  This is because Christ is the embodiment of the law.  Christ the living Lord continually intercedes to redeem our lives on earth as well as in heaven.  When we place ourselves under the lordship of Christ we seek to follow his example.  In Christ we have the greatest revelation of God’s character. Through Christ we acquire a relationship with God that the law could not establish or maintain. The law accomplished all that it could in revealing to us our great need of the savior we have in Christ.  When we emulate Christ we rightly relate to God, each other and ourselves because we are motivated by divine love. 

  The third unique characteristic of our new relationship based on faith is the justification we know in Christ. Because Jesus paid the full price for our transgressions through his loving obedience to God’s will unto death, believers no longer face condemnation.  Christ himself assured us of this when he said, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned…” (John 3:17-18) God graciously grants the believer justification based on acceptance of Christ’s sacrifice.  This freedom from God’s condemnation enables us to enter into a loving relationship with Him that is grounded in hope rather than fear of for our lives from the present into eternity.

 

IV.             Regardless of circumstance, all who believe are one in Christ and heirs of Abraham (Galatians 3:27-29)

    Paul teaches that God is the God of all people.  In fulfillment of the promise made to Abraham everyone regardless of race, ethnicity, economic status, gender or age is offered parentage in God.  This is because God is impartial.  Accordingly, faith in Christ is the sole requirement of membership in the family of God. In fact, when we are baptized in evidence of our faith, we become one with Christ so that “there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male or female.” Acceptance of Christ as Lord of our lives makes us Abraham’s seed.  Therefore, we are Abraham’s heirs according to God’s promise.

V.                Jesus came to redeem us, so that we might be adopted into the family of a loving God (Galatians 4:1-7)

   In this passage Paul uses yet another analogy to further explain to the Gentiles the immense benefits of adoption into the family of a loving God.  Specifically, Paul suggests that the Gentiles consider the process of spiritual adoption in the following way. If a child is under the age of maturity when his father dies the inheritance has little or no immediate impact on the heir’s life.  This was particularly true at the time of Paul’s letter.  In that day, the child would have to live under the supervision of a guardian without full access to his inheritance until a specified age of maturity predetermined by the deceased father.  Though by birthright he or she was the owner of the father’s property, the child would have to obey the guardian until adulthood much like a slave is forced to obeys its master.

   Paul asserts that before Christ came to redeem us we faced a similar existence.  The law was our guardian and we were slaves to it for fear of the condemnation of death.  But, at God’s appointed time Christ came to purchase our freedom and offer us the benefit of adoption into God’s blended family. God’s sacrificial gift of Christ and its assurance of eternal life, frees humankind from enslavement to the law.  Upon our adoption as sons and daughters, God deposits the spirit of Christ in our hearts.

Because God is a loving father like no other, we are immediate benefactors of His estate.  To this end, in the very instant that we embrace Jesus as our Savior we cross over from death to life. We can enjoy an abundant life free of the fear of death because we are “…born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.” (1 Peter 23) Adopted as God’s children, we inherit eternal life so that we may love and honor our Father without limitation. Christ spoke of this new life saying, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.” (John 17:3) 

The Main Thought Explained

  “In Christ Jesus you are children of god through faith.” (Galatians 3:26)

  In this passage Paul seeks to explain to the Gentiles that God welcomes them into the divine family based upon faith in Christ.  This is the fulfillment of the promise to Abraham that clearly indicated that God intended to extend his blessings to all peoples. Abraham was a man of great faith, who trusted God to guide and sustain him.  As a result, God chose to use Abraham’s lineage to carry the seed of redemption that is our Christ.  Though Gentiles do not share this bloodline, when we demonstrate the faith of Abraham by accepting the new life Christ offers us God claims us as His sons and daughters.  Based on our faith, God adopts as His own so that we are heirs to the Kingdom together with Christ Jesus our Lord.