GALATIANS 3:15-29
GALATIANS 3:15-29
New International Version
15 Brothers and sisters, let me take an example from everyday life. Just as no one can set aside or add to a human covenant that has been duly established, so it is in this case. 16 The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ. 17 What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise. 18 For if the inheritance depends on the law, then it no longer depends on the promise; but God in his grace gave it to Abraham through a promise.
19 Why, then, was the law given at all? It was added because of transgressions until the Seed to whom the promise referred had come. The law was given through angels and entrusted to a mediator. 20 A mediator, however, implies more than one party; but God is one.
21 Is the law, therefore, opposed to the promises of God? Absolutely not! For if a law had been given that could impart life, then righteousness would certainly have come by the law. 22 But Scripture has locked up everything under the control of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
23 Before the coming of this faith, we were held in custody under the law, locked up until the faith that was to come would be revealed. 24 So the law was our guardian until Christ came that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that this faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian.
26 So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, 27 for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
GALATIANS 3:26-27
So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.
REFLECTION
Have you ever attended an event with a dress code? Paul wrote that when we’re adopted into God’s family, there’s a new kind of dress code for us—but it’s not about what we’re wearing on the outside. It’s all about putting on our new identity in Christ. Picture yourself before Jesus; sinful, broken, weighed down by the past. But now, in Christ, those things are gone, and you’re clothed in something brand new. When God looks at you, He doesn’t see those old filthy rags of your mistakes or failures that you once wore. He sees the perfect righteousness of Jesus. That means you’re no longer defined by your worst moments—you’re defined by who you are in Christ.
RESPONSE
Imagine God is thinking about you. How do you think He sees you?
Being “in Christ” is a recurring theme throughout this study. What does that statement mean to you?
