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Monday
February 8, 2010
Embodying Hope and Sharing God's Love
Introduction
Galatians 3:1-20: Paul knows the Law of Moses, and he uses this
understanding to argue that following the Law of Moses doesn't bring a
person closer to God. Faith in Jesus Christ is what makes a person a child
of God. All who have this faith are children of Abraham.
Today's Scripture: Galatians 3:5Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you because you do
what the Law requires or because you hear the gospel and believe it?
How is this Scripture passage speaking to me today? Today's Reading
1You
foolish Galatians! Who put a spell on you? Before your very eyes you had a
clear description of the death of Jesus Christ on the cross!
2Tell me this one thing: did you receive God's
Spirit by doing what the Law requires or by hearing the gospel and
believing it?
3How can you be so foolish! You began by God's
Spirit; do you now want to finish by your own power?
4Did all your experience mean nothing at all? Surely
it meant something!
5Does God give you the Spirit and work miracles
among you because you do what the Law requires or because you hear the
gospel and believe it?
6Consider the experience of Abraham;
as the scripture says,
“He believed God, and because of his faith God accepted
him as righteous.”
7You should realize, then, that the
real descendants of Abraham are the people who have faith.
8The scripture predicted that God
would put the Gentiles right with himself through faith. And so the
scripture announced the Good News to Abraham:
“Through you God will bless all people.”
9Abraham believed and was blessed; so all who
believe are blessed as he was.
10Those who depend on obeying the
Law live under a curse. For the scripture says,
Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in
the book of the Law is under God's curse!
11Now, it is clear that no one is
put right with God by means of the Law, because the scripture says,
“Only the person who is put right with God through faith
shall live.”
12But the Law has nothing to do with
faith. Instead, as the scripture says,
Whoever
does everything the Law requires will live.
13But by becoming a curse for us
Christ has redeemed us from the curse that the Law brings; for the
scripture says,
“Anyone who is hanged on a tree is under God's
curse.”
14Christ did this in order that the blessing which
God promised to Abraham might be given to the Gentiles by means of Christ
Jesus, so that through faith we might receive the Spirit promised by God.
15My friends, I am going to use an everyday
example: when two people agree on a matter and sign an agreement, no one
can break it or add anything to it.
16Now, God made his promises to Abraham and to his
descendant. The scripture does not use the plural
“descendants,” meaning many people, but the singular
“descendant,” meaning one person only, namely,
Christ.
17What I mean is that God made a
covenant with Abraham and promised to keep it. The Law, which was given
four hundred and thirty years later, cannot break that covenant and cancel
God's promise.
18For if God's gift depends on the
Law, then it no longer depends on his promise. However, it was because of
his promise that God gave that gift to Abraham.
19What, then, was the purpose of the Law? It was
added in order to show what wrongdoing is, and it was meant to last until
the coming of Abraham's descendant, to whom the promise was made. The Law
was handed down by angels, with a man acting as a go-between.
20But a go-between is not needed when only one
person is involved; and God is one.
Reflect
Reread Galatians 3:10-13. Paul argues that God's Law is a curse because no
one can follow it perfectly. He says that Jesus freed people from the
curse of the Law. How do you understand Paul's arguments? Are the laws
given to Moses, including the Ten Commandments, relevant for Christians?
Why?
Pray
Lord God, give me wisdom to understand your Word. Open my mind to your
teachings, that I may share your good news with others. Amen.
Prayer Concern
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