June 22 2025, Sunday School Lesson

Hold Fast to the Gospel

Lesson Text: Galatians 2:15 – 3:5

Related Scriptures: Romans 3:9-31; 4:13-25; 9:30-10:4;

Titus 3:3-7

TIME: probably A.D. 48

PLACE: from Syrian Antioch

Golden Text: “Are ye so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” (Galatians 3:3)

Introduction

The Bible is unique for many reasons, not the least of which is its divine inspiration. Only its divine origin can account for the fact that although the Bible can humble the greatest minds with its unfathomable riches, its basic message is so simple.

Once when a theologian was lecturing, he invited questions after a lecture. One student asked, “What is the greatest truth that ever crossed your mind?” The theologian replied, “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so!” (Brown, ed., Day by Day with Billy Graham, World Wide).

No wonder John 3:16 is one of the best-known verses in the entire Bible! That God would love underserving sinners (Rom. 5:8) and send His Son to die for us is truly amazing.

Although this love is amazing, it is only fully realized when we come to Christ and receive Him as our Savior and Lord (John 1:12).

LESSON OUTLINE

I. JUSTIFIED BY FAITH – Gal. 2:15-18

II. CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST – Gal. 2:19-21

III. FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT – Gal. 3:1-5

QUESTIONS

1. How did Jews think of Gentiles?

2. Why is it not possible to be justified by the works of the law? How are we justified?

3. What does the word “justify” mean?

4. How had Paul died to the law?

5. How had Paul been “crucified with Christ” (Gal. 2:20)? How is this also true for us?

6. How could the grace of God be frustrated?

7. How could Christ be “dead in vain” (vs. 21)?

8. Why did it seem to Paul that the Galatians had been “bewitched” (3:1)?

9. How clearly had the message of the gospel been presented to the Galatians? Explain

10. How had these converts received the Holy Spirit?

ANSWERS

1. “Sinners of the Gentiles” referred to those who were not a part of the Jewish faith. Of course, Jews were also sinners (Rom. 3:9), but in the Jewish mind, “Gentiles” and “sinner” were almost synonymous terms.

2. Paul himself was painfully aware of the fact that obedience to the law does not bring salvation. To begin with, no one can perfectly keep the Mosaic Law. The law reminds people that they are sinners in need of divine grace (Rom. 3:20). Although some may break fewer laws than others, breaking any law of God makes one a lost sinne (Jas. 2:10). God’s holy standard is perfection (Matt. 5:48)

3. “Justified” was a legal term. In a court of law, one may either admit to the charges or attempt to be “justified” and declared not guilty. Luke 7:29 gives an example of people “justifying” God. Clearly, they were not making God righteous, but merely declaring Him to be righteous, but merely declaring Him to be righteous. However, when God declares someone righteous, He also makes them righteous.

4. Paul was “dead to the law,” meaning the law hadd ceased to have control over him. Paul no longer relied on it for his justification. The law was a burden, and Paul fell beneath its heavy load. The law could demand, forbit, judge, and condemn, but it could not save! Paul died to the law so that he could live for God. The law demanded perfection, and Christ was perfect. The law demanded death for the sinner, but Christ took the place of sinners at Calvary. In a sense, Paul was there because Christ died in his place – and in ours.

5. After Christ died and rose again, death no longer had any claim on Him, and He shall never die again. Likewise, the law no longer has any claim on us. Through Christ’s perfect fulfillment of the law, Christians have died to the law. This is one of Paul’s greatest statements in the preceding verse, Paul said that he was dead to the law; now he rejoiced that Christ was alive in him. The phrase “I am crucified with Christ” is the perfect tense “I have been crucified with Christ.” It denotes something that occurred in the past but has not lost its power in the present. When Paul accepted Jesus as the Messiah, he died to sin, was buried with Christ, and was raised to “walk in newness of life” (Rom. 6:4). That is true for all who come to Christ.

6. “I do not frustrate the grace of God” means that Paul would do nothing to deter God’s grace from producing the effects for which it was designed. Trying to be justified by the Mosaic Law (5:4) or living in unrepentant sin (Rom. 6:1-2) would both frustrate God’s grace.

7. If righteousness came through the law, then Christ would have died in vain (Gal. 2:21). If we were justified through our works apart from Christ’s coming, there would have been no reason for Him to have died. If a person could save himself, he would not need a Saviour!

8. When Paul asked who bewitched them, he was likely sarcastically implying that since there was no reasonable explanation to abandon grace for the law, someone must have deceived them using witchcraft. It is highly unlikely he thought someone had literally cast a spell on them.

9. As elsewhere, Pul determined to preach only the message of the crucified One as the means of our deliverance (1 Cor. 2:2). The preaching of Christ in Galatia had been so vivid that it was as if they had “seen” Him. The word translated “set forth” was used for public announcements in modern thought, it might be compared to a large billboard message. So clearly had the gospel been presented in Galatia that Paul was at a loss to understand why they had been so easily led astray (Gal. 1:6). The gospel message had been a major emphasis, and it was absurd that they were forgetting it!

10. Obviously, the presence of the Spirit among the Galatians was not the result of their conformity to the Mosaic law but through the gospel. In Acts the coming of the Spirit is associated with accepting Christ (8:14-16; 10:44-48)