Union With Christ Through Faith

In one paragraph

Pastor Ray opened Galatians 3 the way a teacher opens a pop quiz, and walked the congregation through Paul's argument that righteousness before God comes through faith in Christ, not through keeping the law. Paul does not ease into Galatians 3. He skips the warm greeting he gives every other letter and hits the Galatians immediately with a string of pointed questions: Who has bewitched you? Did...

Read together

1. Revelation 4:11 opening verse read aloud to begin worship
2. John 5:24 quoted in prayer as the promise that whoever hears and believes has eternal life and has passed from death to life
3. Galatians 3:1 Oh foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, launching the pop quiz section
4. Galatians 3:2 did you receive the spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith
5. Galatians 3:3 are you so foolish, having begun by the spirit are you now being perfected by the flesh
6. Galatians 3:4 did you suffer so many things in vain
7. Galatians 3:5 does he who supplies the spirit and works miracles do so by works of the law or by hearing with faith
8. Galatians 3:7 it is those who are of faith who are sons of Abraham
9. Galatians 3:8 scripture foreseeing God would justify the Gentiles preached the gospel to Abraham, in you shall all nations be blessed
10. Galatians 3:9 those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham the man of faith
11. Galatians 3:10 all who rely on works of the law are under a curse
12. Deuteronomy 27:26 cited as the source of cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law
13. Galatians 3:11 no one is justified before God by the law, the righteous shall live by faith
14. Habakkuk 2:4 source of the righteous shall live by faith, described as coming from a dark book of impending judgment
15. Galatians 3:12 the law is not of faith, the one who does them shall live by them
16. Leviticus 18:5 cited as the basis that the law is for those who follow it, determining how they live
17. Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree
18. Galatians 3:14 so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles and we might receive the promised spirit through faith
19. Galatians 3:15 even a man made covenant once ratified cannot be annulled or added to
20. Galatians 3:16 promises made to Abraham and his offspring, singular, referring to Christ
21. Galatians 3:17 the law coming 430 years later does not annul the covenant previously ratified by God
22. Genesis 12:1-3 God's covenant with Abraham that in him all nations would be blessed
23. Genesis 9 Noah's covenant that God would never flood the earth again, used in the timeline illustration
24. Exodus 20 where the law was given to Moses, placed 430 years after the Abrahamic covenant on the timeline
25. Galatians 3:18 if inheritance comes by law it no longer comes by promise, but God gave it to Abraham by promise
26. Galatians 3:19 the law was added because of transgressions until the offspring Christ should come
27. Galatians 3:21 is the law contrary to the promises of God, certainly not, if law could give life righteousness would be by law
28. Galatians 3:22 scripture imprisoned everything under sin so the promise by faith in Christ might be given to those who believe
29. Galatians 3:23 before faith came we were held captive under the law until the coming faith would be revealed
30. Galatians 3:24 the law was our guardian until Christ came so we might be justified by faith
31. Galatians 3:25 now that faith has come we are no longer under that guardian
32. Galatians 3:26 in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith
33. Galatians 3:27 as many as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ
34. Galatians 3:28 neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, all one in Christ Jesus
35. Galatians 3:29 if you are Christ's then you are Abraham's offspring and heirs according to the promise

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ray opened with Paul's phrase 'Oh, foolish Galatians' and noted that Paul skips his usual thanksgiving and hits them immediately with what's going wrong. What does that urgency tell us about how seriously Paul took the drift away from the gospel of grace?
2. Pastor Ray described the law as a 'pedagogos,' a guardian or tutor whose job was to show us our inadequacy before God. In what ways have you experienced the law doing that work in your own life, either before or after coming to faith?
3. Paul asks the Galatians whether they received the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith. Pastor Ray applied that same question directly to First B Jackson. What are some of the ways, subtle or obvious, that we can slip into trying to maintain or improve our standing with God through effort rather than faith?
4. Pastor Ray described the covenant God made with Abraham, walking between the split animals, and said the promise made there was unconditional and was not cancelled or overwritten by the law that came 430 years later. What does it mean to you personally that the promise of blessing rests on God's faithfulness rather than on yours?
5. The sermon closed with the idea that the whole of Galatians 3 comes down to union with Christ through faith. How does thinking of salvation primarily as union with Christ, rather than as a set of requirements met or a transaction completed, change the way you think about your day-to-day life with God?