Galatians 3:1-9 Blessing the Nations
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: June 2, 2020 Galatians 3:1-9
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you do so by works of the law, or by hearing with faith— just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.” So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.
(Understanding the Text) Now Paul turns from the words that he spoke to Peter and the other Jews, and addresses the Gentiles. To the Jews, Paul reminded them that they could not keep the law, which was why Jesus’ sacrifice was necessary. Since their salvation did not come from the law, but through Jesus’ sacrifice, they should not be advocating law-keeping as a path to salvation. To the Gentiles, Paul reminds them that they were saved without any law keeping, so they should not try to be saved through law keeping now.
(Understanding the Text / Revelation of God) “Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” Paul reminds the Galatians that they had received the Holy Spirit without being circumcised or ceremonial cleansing or genetics that connected them to Abraham. They had, however, had another connection to Abraham. They had followed Abraham’s example of a relationship with God. They had believed that Jesus died for them and that He accepted them into His kingdom freely. They were already citizens, stamped with God’s seal of approval by the Holy Spirit. Why were they trying to gain citizenship in God’s kingdom by going through forms when they were already citizens through Jesus? The Spirit begins the work. The Spirit finishes the work.
This gives me insight as to why the baptism of the Spirit was so obvious in the apostles’ day. It wasn’t that the apostles had some special connection to Jesus and were thus able to send the Spirit into people. It was because the Jews needed an obvious sign that things had changed. They needed overwhelming evidence that God had accepted Gentiles into the church without any need to become Jews. God needed to show both the Jews and the Gentiles that they were His legitimate children. Later, it was not necessary to give proof of God’s acceptance of Gentiles, so there was no need for the signs. Just a thought. I wonder if some of the Gentiles’ gifts of tongues included Hebrew, so they could read the scriptures? Maybe not, because the Septuagint was in Greek and available. Another thought, I do not know who translated the Septuagint, but I am think that person(s) was inspired by God. On the other hand, I guess in one way that it would not be as hard as it is for many modern translators because a Jew would already know exactly what the scripture meant in Hebrew, so he would just have the job of putting it into Greek.
(Understanding the Text) Here is one of the areas of scripture that Paul saw differently once he became a servant of Jesus. He saw that Abraham was not beloved by God because he was circumcised, but because he believed God. He saw a promise that Abraham was not just going to bless Jews but also the whole world. Paul saw Abraham in a wider scope than he had before. He saw that children of Abraham was also a much bigger group than simply genetic descendants of Abraham.
(Application / Prayer) “It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified.” I think we can say, “Oh foolish Christians” again and again because we lose sight of a basic simple crucial part of our faith. We have heard and seen it again and again, but we keep losing sight of one simple fact. Jesus was crucified so that we might live. Jesus laid down His life so that He could save me. I need to trust that You love me and will take care of me because You already paid a high price for me, and You have invested a lot of time and effort in saving me. You care about me. I know that I have a hard time believing it. I always feel that I will be lost in the crowd and am not that important to anyone, even You. I ask for faith to believe that You love me and that You will take care of me and that You hold me in Your hand, not as one of many, but as Your special daughter. Thank you.