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    Galatians: A 12-Week Study
    Galatians: A 12-Week Study
    Galatians: A 12-Week Study
    Ebook123 pages1 hour

    Galatians: A 12-Week Study

    By Geoff Ziegler

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    About this ebook

    The Knowing the Bible series is a resource designed to help Bible readers better understand and apply God's Word. These 12-week studies lead participants through books of the Bible and are made up of four basic components: (1) Reflection questions help readers engage the text at a deeper level; (2) "Gospel Glimpses" highlight the gospel of grace throughout each book; (3) "Whole-Bible Connections" show how any given passage connects to the Bible's overarching story of redemption, culminating in Christ; and (4) "Theological Soundings" identify how historic orthodox doctrines are taught or reinforced throughout Scripture. With contributions from an array of influential pastors and church leaders, these gospel-centered studies will help Christians see and cherish the message of God's grace on each and every page of the Bible.
    The book of Galatians is one of the apostle Paul's most impassioned and eloquent letters. It warns Christians of the dangers of both legalism and lawlessness, while calling them to live lives that are shaped by the gospel. In this study, pastor Geoff Ziegler walks readers through the promises, warnings, and gospel declarations found in Galatians. Both accessible and theologically robust, this study will help Christians find freedom in their identity as God's adopted children.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCrossway Books
    Release dateJul 15, 2015
    ISBN9781433543050
    Galatians: A 12-Week Study
    Author

    Geoff Ziegler

     Geoff Ziegler (PhD, Wheaton College) serves as the senior pastor at Trinity Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Hinsdale, Illinois. Geoff and his wife, Jennifer, have three sons.  

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      Book preview

      Galatians - Geoff Ziegler

      SERIES PREFACE

      KNOWING THE BIBLE, as the series title indicates, was created to help readers know and understand the meaning, the message, and the God of the Bible. Each volume in the series consists of 12 units that progressively take the reader through a clear, concise study of that book of the Bible. In this way, any given volume can fruitfully be used in a 12-week format either in group study, such as in a church-based context, or in individual study. Of course, these 12 studies could be completed in fewer or more than 12 weeks, as convenient, depending on the context in which they are used.

      Each study unit gives an overview of the text at hand before digging into it with a series of questions for reflection or discussion. The unit then concludes by highlighting the gospel of grace in each passage (Gospel Glimpses), identifying whole-Bible themes that occur in the passage (Whole-Bible Connections), and pinpointing Christian doctrines that are affirmed in the passage (Theological Soundings).

      The final component to each unit is a section for reflecting on personal and practical implications from the passage at hand. The layout provides space for recording responses to the questions proposed, and we think readers need to do this to get the full benefit of the exercise. The series also includes definitions of key words. These definitions are indicated by a note number in the text and are found at the end of each chapter.

      Lastly, for help in understanding the Bible in this deeper way, we would urge the reader to use the ESV Bible and the ESV Study Bible, which are available online at www.esvbible.org. The Knowing the Bible series is also available online. Additional 12-week studies covering each book of the Bible will be added as they become available.

      May the Lord greatly bless your study as you seek to know him through knowing his Word.

      J. I. Packer

      Lane T. Dennis

      WEEK 1: OVERVIEW

      Getting Acquainted

      Paul’s letter to the Galatians presents a paradox: how can something so severe bring so much delight? Here is a letter that attacks and assaults its original readers—and all of us who attempt to prove our worth to God and others: O foolish Galatians! Paul writes (3:1). And yet we have here a letter capable of bringing inexpressible joy and peace and freedom, as those who truly hear Paul’s passionate message find themselves basking in the light of the grace of God found in Christ Jesus.

      Galatians sounds a clear call to the doctrine of justification¹ by faith alone. It teaches that Jesus, and only Jesus, provides the way for us to be accepted by God and fully a member of his family. We are righteous through his righteousness. Any addition to Jesus as the basis for our standing before God is ultimately a deadly subtraction; to say we need more than Jesus to be justified before God is to lose everything.

      Beyond proclaiming to us the way we become members of God’s family, Galatians also provides guidance for how we can experience the ongoing freedom of being his children, the freedom that Christ has won for us. Even as Christianity must begin by faith in Jesus, so also must it continue in the same manner. Avoiding the dangers of slavery to either religion or irreligion, a Spirit-led trust in Jesus enables the believer to discover the joyful freedom of serving others in love.

      At the heart of Galatians are the glorious words, no longer I . . . but Christ. Joined to Christ by faith, the believer has been crucified with him: the previous self, with its ties to this evil age and its vain attempts at independence, is no more. Now believers live by faith in Christ, empowered by his resurrection life, filled with hope because of their newfound status as sons of God, heirs of his extravagant promises, members of his unimaginably great new creation.² (For further background, see the ESV Study Bible, pages 2241–2244, or visit www.esvbible.org.)

      Placing It in the Larger Story

      Though Galatians is (rightly) understood as an epistle that proclaims the doctrine of justification by faith alone in Christ alone, a careful study of this letter must recognize the redemptive-historical context³ in which it was written. During the centuries years leading up to the coming of Christ, God’s people believed that the only way to experience God’s saving blessings was by becoming a part of ethnic Israel and placing oneself under the law of Moses. This understanding was upended when Peter was sent by God to proclaim the gospel to Cornelius, a Roman centurion (Acts 10). Ten years later, when Paul writes this letter, there remains a significant amount of confusion regarding how a person enters the family of God. What is required to become an heir to the promises of blessing that God made to Abraham? What place do Gentiles have in God’s redemptive plan for humanity? These questions lie near the center of the controversy addressed in Galatians.

      Key Verse

      I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:20).

      Date and Historical Background

      The absence of any references to the Jerusalem council⁴—certainly an event that would have been highly relevant to the subject matter of this letter—suggests that Paul wrote Galatians sometime after his first missionary journey and before the meeting of that council. Thus AD 48 is a likely date for its

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