Happy New Year, WEPC!
A new year often means a fresh start, hitting the ‘reset’ button, goal setting, and new possibilities followed by the realization that we’re a long way from Spring and it’s too cold to get out of bed. Ah, yes, the January doldrums. Know the feeling?
Well, to start 2024, we’re going back to the basics and revisiting one of Paul’s earliest writings—his letter to the Galatians. By all counts, these believers had started well in the faith only to find themselves mired in a long ‘to-do’ list of religious obligations. They needed to hear from God as they wavered between complete adequacy in Christ and their belief that their own efforts would boost their spiritual standing and bring about lasting results. Sounds a bit like our new year resolutions, doesn’t it? Paul addresses this very conundrum as only he could: Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? (Galatians 3:3).
Galatians is a message featuring many contrasts: law and grace, bondage and freedom, the Spirit and the flesh, faith and works, Hagar and Sarah. Wait. What? Yes, we will explore each of these themes as we witness the Apostle Paul’s emotional appeal to his Galatian converts. We will see that by placing their confidence in a hybrid of faith and legal observation, the believers risked forfeiting their true identity and privileges for a return to a life of bondage.
Grace, mercy, and peace,
Matthew Liethen
A new year often means a fresh start, hitting the ‘reset’ button, goal setting, and new possibilities followed by the realization that we’re a long way from Spring and it’s too cold to get out of bed. Ah, yes, the January doldrums. Know the feeling?
Well, to start 2024, we’re going back to the basics and revisiting one of Paul’s earliest writings—his letter to the Galatians. By all counts, these believers had started well in the faith only to find themselves mired in a long ‘to-do’ list of religious obligations. They needed to hear from God as they wavered between complete adequacy in Christ and their belief that their own efforts would boost their spiritual standing and bring about lasting results. Sounds a bit like our new year resolutions, doesn’t it? Paul addresses this very conundrum as only he could: Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? (Galatians 3:3).
Galatians is a message featuring many contrasts: law and grace, bondage and freedom, the Spirit and the flesh, faith and works, Hagar and Sarah. Wait. What? Yes, we will explore each of these themes as we witness the Apostle Paul’s emotional appeal to his Galatian converts. We will see that by placing their confidence in a hybrid of faith and legal observation, the believers risked forfeiting their true identity and privileges for a return to a life of bondage.
Grace, mercy, and peace,
Matthew Liethen
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