Take a few minutes to catch up and pray that God would bless you through the reading of His word.

Read Galatians 3:1-9

[3:1] O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? It was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified. [2] Let me ask you only this: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by hearing with faith? [3] Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? [4] Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? [5] 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—[6] just as Abraham “believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”? [7] Know then that it is those of faith who are the sons of Abraham. [8] 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.” [9] So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

Observation:

• How does Paul describe the Galatians (v 1)? 
  • What does he think has happened to them?
  • What was portrayed before their eyes (v 1)?
• Paul asks them five questions between verses 2-6. List each one.
• Who are those who are sons of Abraham (v 7)?
• What did the Scripture foresee (v 8)?
  • What did it say as a result?
• Who are blessed along with Abraham (v 9)? What kind of man was Abraham?

Interpretation:

• What does it mean that, "It before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified"? Why does Paul think that they’ve been “bewitched”?
• What is Paul asking in v 2-3? What answer does he want to his questions?
• How would reverting to a “works righteousness” mentality mean that their faith was in vain?
• How does verse 6 provide the answer to the question Paul asks in v 5?
• Who would people normally think of as the children of Abraham? How does Paul’s statement in v 7 subvert that idea?
• Paul wants to make the point that justification by faith alone is not something new, but has always been God’s plan. How does he make that point from the OT in verse 8?

Application:

• What might bewitch you and take your eyes off of Christ crucified as the source of your salvation?
• How have you been blessed “along with Abraham”? How does it change your day to know that God had planned your salvation since the beginning? 

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