Love Letters from Paul

Galatians 4–6 (NIV)

Introductory Prayer: Heavenly Father, as we come before your Word, which is perfect truth in its entirety, fill us with your Holy Spirit that we may, with our whole hearts, believe your Word and trust in you. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Galatians 4:1–7

Read Galatians 4:1–7

In what sense were we “in slavery under the elemental spiritual forces of the world” (NIVUK) prior to Christ’s coming?

Why is it such a blessing that we have been adopted into God’s family as his children?

This section follows from the wonderful ending of chapter 3, in which Paul says that our standing as children of Abraham and heirs according to the promise of God remains equal, regardless of our ethnicity, social status, or sex (Galatians 3:28,29).

Galatians 4:1–7 further confirms this by calling all Christians God’s “sons” (Galatians 4:6). In the Roman world, sonship was closely associated with full heirship, so Paul’s language of adoption as “sons” stresses that all believers (regardless of sex) are true heirs in God’s family.

Galatians 4:8–20

In the next section, Paul is perplexed that the Galatians are abandoning the Gospel of Christ and returning to slavery – by once again trying to justify themselves by a law that cannot make us right with God. Paul takes his calling as a minister of the Gospel so seriously that he compares his pain over potentially losing the Galatians spiritually to that of a mother giving birth: “My dear children, for whom I am again in the pains of childbirth until Christ is formed in you …” (Galatians 4:19).

Why might people be tempted to abandon the Gospel of Christ, and try to justify themselves by good works or various rituals?

Paul mentions that the Galatians are “observing special days and months and seasons and years”. As Lutherans, we too observe special days (such as Christmas and Easter). Discuss how what we do, though, is different from what the Galatians were doing (hint: justification plays a big part in the answer).

Talk about what it means for Christ to be formed in us.

Galatians 4:21–31

Read Galatians 4:21–31

Discuss what you know about Abraham, Sarah, and Hagar (Genesis 21:1–13 might help).

Paul says that we are children of the free woman (children of promise), not children of the slave woman. Why is this significant?

Although Abraham and Sarah both thought that they were way beyond the age of bearing children, Sarah bore Isaac when she was 90 years old and when Abraham was 100 (Genesis 17:17; 21:5). This miracle occurred because God was faithful to fulfil his promise to Abraham back in Genesis 12:1–3, which he made 25 years earlier! Paul emphasises this, saying that Isaac “was born as the result of a divine promise” (Galatians 4:23).

Why is it significant for us that God was faithful and fulfilled his promise to Abraham against all odds? What does this say about God’s promise to us of eternal life (see James 1:12 and 1 John 2:25)?

Galatians 5:1–15

Why does Paul say Christ will be of no value to us if we accept circumcision (which, in context, refers to the Judaizers’ claim that we must keep the Law of Moses to be saved)?

According to Paul, what has true value in the Christian life (see Galatians 5:6)?

Christ has set us free. What are we to use our Christian freedom for, and what are we not to use it for?

In Galatians 5, Paul reminds us that while we have been set free (from false gods, the Law that does not have the power to justify, our sins, etc.), this does not mean that we are free to do whatever we want. The freedom Christ has given us is that we have been freed to serve one another through love, which is the fulfilment of the Law (Galatians 5:13,14).

Galatians 5:16–26

Read Galatians 5:16–26

What does it mean to walk in step with the Spirit?

Why is it that we don’t always demonstrate the fruit of the Spirit, even though we believe in Jesus? Discuss spiritual warfare.

When we look at the fruit of the Spirit, we see exactly the kind of life that Jesus lived. Jesus perfectly fulfilled the Law of God (Hebrews 4:15), and the fruit of the Spirit shows us what our lives will look like when we too follow God’s Law faithfully.

Paul’s line here is key: “Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit” (Galatians 5:25). Paul is saying that since we have eternal life by the Spirit, therefore let’s walk with him by living in love, joy, peace, etc. The fruit does not come beforesalvation; it comes after salvation. And it will come, because no one can confess that Jesus is Lord except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:3), and we know that the Spirit is indeed at work in those whom he inhabits.

Galatians 6:1–10

Read Galatians 6:1–10

How are we to restore Christians who are caught in sin? How does this relate with carrying each other’s burdens?

Paul says let us do good to all, especially to the family of believers. Why are fellow Christians prioritised?

Paul starts by talking about the importance of bearing one another’s burdens. Paul is not saying we should accept sin. Rather, we should walk with sinners in their weakness, point them to where they can find forgiveness: Christ alone, and help them, by the Spirit, to overcome their sin. When we do this, we fulfil the Law of Christ.

Remember that earlier, Paul said that the entire law is fulfilled in the command to love your neighbour as yourself (Galatians 5:14). We fulfil the Law of Christ by bearing one another’s burdens, because this is nothing less than self-sacrificial love in action.

Galatians 6:11–18

Read Galatians 6:11–18

How were Paul’s opponents avoiding persecution for the “cross of Christ”?

What truly counts in the Christian life?

For Paul, what truly counts is the “new creation” that we are in Christ Jesus. This refers to the free gift of grace that we have received in Christ (the Gospel), and the transformation that comes from it (which earlier, Paul says is: “faith expressing itself through love” [Galatians 5:6]).

The new creation results in trusting in Christ alone as Saviour and being led by the Holy Spirit. As Christians, we are still called by Jesus to live according to God’s Law under the New Covenant (John 14:15), but we do so under God’s grace, not under the condemnation of the Law—for Christ has once and for all set us free from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13).

Discuss any final comments or questions.

Concluding Prayer: Lord Jesus, thank you for fulfilling the Law that we failed to fulfill by walking perfectly in step with the Spirit. Help us to love you with our whole being, by living according to the Holy Spirit, and carrying each other’s burdens. In your holy, most precious name we pray, to the glory of God the Father. Amen.

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