14 day plan

The Kids are All Right

Day 2 of 14

CSB

Galatians 3:26-29

26for through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus.

Sons and Heirs

27For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. 28There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

Reflection:  My parents are really into family history. They get on those websites with access to ancestry, track down headstone records, and even get DNA mapped to see if we have some Finnish blood. Turns out … we do! But such trawling through the root system of my family tree has barely raised more than polite interest from me. Yet I start to get a whiff of what delving into descendants can stir within my parents, and other ancestor adventures, when I get stuck into the end of Galatians 3. Having written a lot about the contrast between the Law of Moses and the Law of the Messiah in this letter to the Galatians, the apostle Paul here helps us see powerful consistency throughout the history of God’s people. Incredibly, being a child of God through faith in Jesus harks all the way back to the family promises made to Abraham. Discovering you are in that family tree of inheritance and blessing is an injection of identity and assurance worthy of maximum cultivation.

Question:  What does your spiritual ancestry, stretching back to Abraham, inspire in you? How does it impact your identity as a child of God?

Prayer:  Lord God, your promises are incredible and steadfast. May I be energised by knowing my spiritual pedigree and how blessed I am by being in the long family line of faithful Abraham. Amen.

© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers

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Galatians 3:1-29

Justification through Faith

1You foolish Galatians! Who has cast a spell on you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? 2I only want to learn this from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law or by believing what you heard? 3Are you so foolish? After beginning by the Spirit, are you now finishing by the flesh? 4Did you experience so much for nothing — if in fact it was for nothing? 5So then, does God give you the Spirit and work miracles among you by your doing the works of the law? Or is it by believing what you heard —  6just like Abraham who believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness?

7You know, then, that those who have faith, these are Abraham’s sons. 8Now the Scripture saw in advance that God would justify the Gentiles by faith and proclaimed the gospel ahead of time to Abraham, saying, All the nations will be blessed through you. 9Consequently, those who have faith are blessed with Abraham, who had faith.

Law and Promise

10For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written, Everyone who does not do everything written in the book of the law is cursed. 11Now it is clear that no one is justified before God by the law, because the righteous will live by faith. 12But the law is not based on faith; instead, the one who does these things will live by them. 13Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, because it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree. 14The purpose was that the blessing of Abraham would come to the Gentiles by Christ Jesus, so that we could receive the promised Spirit through faith.

15Brothers and sisters, I’m using a human illustration. No one sets aside or makes additions to a validated human will. 16Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say “and to seeds,” as though referring to many, but referring to one, and to your seed, who is Christ. 17My point is this: The law, which came 430 years later, does not invalidate a covenant previously established by God and thus cancel the promise. 18For if the inheritance is based on the law, it is no longer based on the promise; but God has graciously given it to Abraham through the promise.

The Purpose of the Law

19Why, then, was the law given? It was added for the sake of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise was made would come. The law was put into effect through angels by means of a mediator. 20Now a mediator is not just for one person alone, but God is one. 21Is the law therefore contrary to God’s promises? Absolutely not! For if the law had been granted with the ability to give life, then righteousness would certainly be on the basis of the law. 22But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin’s power, so that the promise might be given on the basis of faith in Jesus Christ to those who believe. 23Before this faith came, we were confined under the law, imprisoned until the coming faith was revealed. 24The law, then, was our guardian until Christ, so that we could be justified by faith. 25But since that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26for through faith you are all sons of God in Christ Jesus.

Sons and Heirs

27For those of you who were baptized into Christ have been clothed with Christ. 28There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, heirs according to the promise.

© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers