Paul's explanation of the ramifications of the gospel in our lives continues: the gospel sets us free from sin, guilt, shame, and the Law, and this freedom is an opportunity to serve others, as well as an opportunity to walk in the Spirit.

Application Questions:

Confession: What are some ways you use your freedom in Christ to serve yourself rather than others?

Transformation: How can you use your freedom to serve those around you in your life?

Application: What does "walking in the Spirit" look like for you on a day-to-day?

In this passage, Paul expresses his pastoral heart for the Galatians—he longs for them to hold fast to the gospel and its truth, reject the lies of the circumcision party, and use their freedom in Christ to serve one another.

Application Questions

1. What does gospel freedom look like in your life? How do you cling to gospel truth day in and day out?

2. Why does Paul use such aggressive language towards the circumcision party? What does it look like to reject lies in your life?

3. How can you form your thoughts to consider the freedom you have in Christ as an opportunity to serve others rather than an opportunity for your own flesh? What would it look like to grow in serving others in your life?

Paul wants the Galatians to live in the freedom of the gospel, and he uses an Old Testament story to show them. We can live trying to control our own future, or trust God to take care of us by his own power. One leads to slavery, the other to freedom. For Christians, life is lived secure in the promise of God.

Application Questions:

1. What are some reasons you might be tempted to live “under the law” and try to be in control of your own salvation? 

2. Abraham and Sarah struggled to see how God’s promises would come to pass in their lives. Can you relate to that struggle?

3. The gospel is for those who don’t have the ability to save themselves. Why is that good news for you this week?

Paul gives us a profound analysis of human beings, from our motivations to our decisions. Just like the Galatians, we are all tempted by idolatry: replacing God with something else we look to for stability and hope. It is so ingrained in us that we don’t see it, and it enslaves us. The solution, Paul says, is the knowledge of God—both our knowledge of him and, more importantly, his knowledge of us. Lastly, our church communities are the place we minister this to one another in love. 

Application Questions:

1. What idols are you tempted to serve? 

2. How does knowing God and being known by God free you from serving other things?

3. How can this passage change the way you minister to others?

Our fractured, divided, and imperfect world keeps us from knowing and relating to ourselves and others as we should. But our union with Christ makes us all sons of God and heirs according to promise. Through Christ we have our identity shaped and established, our way settled, and our relationship with God secured, as we enjoy a sonship, through any and every circumstance, both in part now and one day fully with Him forever.

Application Questions:

1. Do you struggle to see yourself as a son of God (as a woman) and the bride of Christ (as a man)? 

2. Do you ever think about the fact that, because of Christ, you will inherit everything?

3. How can you make the security of your adoption, as an heir through God, an anchor point in your life this week?

Paul finishes explaining God’s law with the image of a guardian or tutor in ancient Roman society. Like tutors, life under the law was a time of preparation, not a final destination. The law is meant to drive us to the promise of God’s grace in Christ, which gives us a new identity and forms a new community.

Application Questions:

1. Why does Paul think it's so important that we are no longer under the law?

2. What does it mean to “put on Christ” and how does that shape your identity?

3. How should our identity in Christ shape our church community?

What do we do with the Old Testament? Paul shows us that we don’t need to ignore it or downplay it. The whole Old Testament points to the promise of God, fulfilled in Jesus Christ. 

Application Questions:

1. Why should we read the Bible as a cohesive story and not a big collection of truths? 

2. Why is it important that Christianity is based on promise not law? 

3. How would your life be different if you were “free to fail” and “free to follow” because of the gospel?

We all want the blessing of the Spirit, even if we don’t usually think about it in terms of Abraham and the Old Testament law. When we connect our daily lives to this search for the blessing, we find a powerful lesson about faith in Christ who took our curse so we could share in his blessing.

Application Questions

1. How do you see a desire for the blessing of God in your own life? 

2. Can you relate to the idea of the law showing you that you are condemned? 

3. What holds you back from trusting in God’s full justification in Christ? How do you see that affecting your life?

How do we change and grow? We're all in the process of striving to change, mature, or grow in one way or another. We want to grow in our career, as parents, as friends, simply as humans.  But how does real, lasting change actually happen? Self-help books and life-hack blogs promise they hold the keys to success. But what does God say? Surprisingly, the answer is a lot simpler than we could ever imagine.

Application Questions:

1. Where do you turn, other than Christ, to produce change in your life?

2. What is the difference between leaning on something that helps depend on the gospel for change and leaning on that same thing in a way that seeks to produce change apart from the gospel?

3. How have you seen God miraculously produce change and transformation in your life that you would be unable to do on your own strength?

4. What does it look like to rest in the gospel in the areas of your life that you long to change?

5. How does continually hearing and trusting in the gospel bring ongoing sanctification in the life of the Christian?

This passage is at the heart of Galatians, and it deals with the doctrine of justification by faith. Paul is extremely clear: we are justified by what God does, not by what we do. When we go to Christ with nothing, we get everything.

Application Questions:

1. How do you see a need for justification at work in your own life?

2. Why isn’t faith a “work”? How does that help you understand what it means to have faith in Christ?

3. Paul says that all Christians are “in Christ.” Why does that shape his identity so deeply? How could that shape your identity?