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Paul opens with urgency and astonishment: the believers in Galatia are turning away so soon from God, who called them through the loving mercy of Christ, and are following a different kind of “Good News”—which is not good news at all. Anyone who twists the true message is under God’s curse. Paul makes it clear that he is not trying to win people’s approval, but God’s. The message he preaches is not based on human reasoning—it came by direct revelation from Jesus Christ.

He reminds them of his past—how he once persecuted the church and tried to destroy it. Yet God, in his grace, chose him and called him to proclaim the Good News to the Gentiles. The leaders of the church recognized that God had entrusted him with this mission. Even when Paul confronted Peter for drawing back from Gentile believers out of fear, he stood firm in the truth that a person is made right with God by faith in Jesus Christ, not by obeying the law.

Paul speaks plainly: no one can be made right with God by following the law. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me.” If righteousness could be gained by the law, then Christ died for nothing.

He asks the Galatians a piercing question: did they receive the Spirit by obeying the law, or by believing the message they heard? Having begun by the Spirit, how can they now try to finish by human effort? Scripture shows that Abraham was counted as righteous because of his faith, and all who share that faith are his true children.

The law cannot bring blessing—it brings a curse, because no one can perfectly obey it. But Christ has rescued us from that curse by taking it upon himself. Through him, the blessing promised to Abraham is given to all who believe, and we receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Before faith in Christ, people were held in custody under the law. But now that faith has come, they are no longer under its control. All who have been united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ like new clothes. There is no longer Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female—for all are one in Christ Jesus. And if they belong to Christ, they are Abraham’s heirs, and God’s promise belongs to them.

Paul explains that before Christ came, they were like children under guardians, still in a kind of slavery. But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman and subject to the law, to redeem those under the law so they could be adopted as God’s own children.

And because they are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into their hearts, prompting them to call out, “Abba, Father.” Now they are no longer slaves, but God’s own children—and since they are his children, God has made them his heirs.

Verse of the Day: Psalm 63:7

Because you are my helper, I will sing for joy under the shadow of your wings.

Question of the Day:

What is God calling you to follow him in today?