Opening Thought: "Whom the Son sets free is free indeed!" We are not called to be bound by the chains of sin, tradition, or law, but to live fully liberated lives through the power of Jesus Christ. Paul writes to the Galatian church to remind them, and us, that freedom in Christ is not a license to sin but an invitation to walk in the Spirit.
After our children grow up and mature, we don’t have to tell them not to play with fire or to look both ways before stepping into the street. When they become mature adults, they don’t require curfews. They no longer need our rules and supervision. In the same way, mature Christians don’t need rules and regulations. In this passage, Paul describes three things you will do if you are spiritually mature.
Mountains are some of God’s most beautiful creations. I love to go to the mountains to breathe the fresh air and marvel at God’s awesome power. At times I just feel the need to go to the mountains for rest and rejuvenation. In the Bible, we find two mountains to which every Christian must go if we are to have a “journey into liberated living.” In this section of Galatians, Paul reveals the benefits of what God did for us on both mountains. Let’s look at these two mountains …
Sometimes in life we must choose. We can be one thing or the other but not both. For example, we can’t be married and single at the same time. We can’t be saved and lost at the same time, and we can’t be saved by grace through faith and saved by works at the same time. The Judaizers taught salvation was a combination of faith and works, which, Paul explains, results in a curse. Beginning with Abraham (3:6), Paul has already proven God’s way of saving people and of avoiding a spiritual curse has always been exclusively by grace through faith. In this section, Paul reveals three actions required to avoid this curse.
In the 1960s, there was a TV show entitled Bewitched. In that show, “bewitched” meant being influenced by a witch. However, the Bible teaches that being bewitched is being influenced by error and evil. In this passage, we find three essential actions that help us resist being spiritually bewitched.
Are you a “Chameleon” Christian? Now, before we get too deep, let’s break it down. A chameleon is that sneaky little creature, a lizard, that can change its color to blend in with whatever is around it. And guess what? Some believers, and even whole churches, sometimes act just like that chameleon. They switch up their colors depending on the crowd, and they change who they are, what they believe, or what they do based on the pressure from the people around them. It's easy to get caught up in trying to fit in, but the Bible says that this is something we need to address. Paul dealt with it in Galatians 2:11–21 when he confronted Peter. And it’s not just a story from the past; it’s a warning for today. Are we being true to our faith, or are we just blending in?
