156 Thrive Deeper: Galatians

Written to Christians in the Roman province of Galatia. (In the center of modern Turkey). Capital of Galatia at the time was Ancyra. Written about the same time as Corinthians or alternate view is that this was Pauls earliest letter. The Christians in this province came manly from a Gentile background. They were relatively new believers (most likely only a matter of 2 or 3 years).

Paul wrote to respond to issues that had arisen after he left the Galatian church, where there were people saying that Christianity had to be a sect that sat within Judaism. Essentially Gentiles had to become Jews – and follow the Mosaic laws (circumcision, diet etc.), before they would be accepted as part of Gods people. These false teachers were called Judaizers.

We don’t belong to Gods family because of our behaviour, following ‘rules’ or even good works. We can’t make ourselves ‘righteous’ with God. We can only be righteous with God because of what He did for us in sending Jesus to die for our sin and brokenness.

We have to remain and grow in sensitivity to the leading of the Spirit so that we stay in step with God’s good and perfect way to live.It’s through the Spirit that Jesus can make us into the people God created us to be, we can live lives loving God and others and in this way we still fulfill the Torah of the Messiah. We need to be thankful that we are free from the burden of having to earn God’s love and approval.

Love is BigHearted NOT Big Headed. Legalism condemns, whilst Grace restores. We impress others with what we know. We impact others with how we love.