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| EXPLORE THE BIBLE: (20 minutes) Read the passage together as a class. Then do a mini lecture and explain these points. 1 “Judaizers” were Christian Jews who thought that you had to be circumcised and keep the Jewish law to be saved. 2 “Judaizers” told new Christians (called Gentiles) that they had to be circumcised in order to be saved. 3 Paul said that if Gentiles got circumcised, then they would have to obey the whole law, which nobody can do. (This can be like running with chains on our legs.) 4 Paul also said that people are saved by God’s grace, not by obedience to the law. To Paul, those who follow all of the rules to gain God’s favor and be saved are forfeiting their rights in Jesus Christ, because they are relying on themselves to get in the gates of heaven rather than on the grace that Jesus provided us on the cross. Stop at this point and ask students: How does this sound? Is there anything that feels potentially dangerous about what you’ve heard Paul say so far? (The idea that this gives us freedom to follow our lustful, selfish, sinful desires and say that we didn’t feel it was wrong.) Ask students to look at verse 13 and read it again: Explain: “We are freed from the curse of the law but not from the moral law of God” (Harper). We still have rules, but God will not base his love for us or our salvation on those rules because he already provided the one and only way to him through his son on the cross and he won’t take that back. However, if we are serious about our faith, inner conviction must shape our actions. Ask for questions and comments. Discuss: Why do believers do good works? What does it mean if we don’t produce the fruits of the Spirit naturally? Are we not Christians? Or does this transformation just take time? (The fruits of the spirit are found in verse 22.) Continued... |
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