Galatians 2:15-19 — That Building Has A Lil Sumthin'...

READ THIS: Galatians 2:15-19

15 “We who are Jews by birth and not sinful Gentiles 16 know that a person is not justified by the works of the law, but by faith in Jesus Christ. So we, too, have put our faith in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.  17 “But if, in seeking to be justified in Christ, we Jews find ourselves also among the sinners, doesn’t that mean that Christ promotes sin? Absolutely not! 18 If I rebuild what I destroyed, then I really would be a lawbreaker.  19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God.
 
WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY?

If you remember yesterday, we talked about how Paul called out Peter for trying to force the Gentile Christians to take up Jewish practices. This next section covers Paul continuing his argument against Peter's actions, and it mentions 2 big points: being justified by faith and rebuilding what we destroy... but what do those things even mean?

Being justified by faith is a fancier way of saying that we don't earn the grace that Jesus offers us. It's a gift, freely given by Jesus to anyone who wants eternal life with Him! All we have to do is believe in Him. If eternal life was the result of our actions, then we would just brag about how much better we are than others and miss the whole point of grace (Ephesians 2:9)! 

Then Paul talks about how we should be living because of that grace. He says that if we give our lives to Jesus but then we keep on sinning, we are like a person who builds a tower, destroys it (because it's bad), then builds the exact same thing again! It's kind of similar to what we learned in James 1 about looking in the mirror and forgetting what we looked like (remember... a lil sumthin'?). Grace saves us from sin, but we also need to leave sin behind us.

THINK ABOUT IT:

1. Do you ever feel like you have to earn the grace that Jesus offers us? What helps you remember that grace is a gift?

2. Sin can often be like a bad habit... so, what helps you get rid of a bad habit? Try and apply that to something you may be struggling with this week!
 
TRY THIS:

Take a couple of minutes to pray to God and thank Him for the gift of grace. Thank Him for giving us His Son so that we could experience grace as a gift rather than something we have to earn!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Galatians 2:1-5 — Marathon Training

R EAD THIS:  Galatians 2:1-5 1 Then after fourteen years, I went up again to Jerusalem, this time with Barnabas. I took Titus along also. 2 I went in response to a revelation and, meeting privately with those esteemed as leaders, I presented to them the gospel that I preach among the Gentiles. I wanted to be sure I was not running and had not been running my race in vain. 3 Yet not even Titus, who was with me, was compelled to be circumcised, even though he was a Greek. 4 This matter arose because some false believers had infiltrated our ranks to spy on the freedom we have in Christ Jesus and to make us slaves. 5 We did not give in to them for a moment, so that the truth of the gospel might be preserved for you.   WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? Yesterday, we learned about how Paul went to Jerusalem and shared the incredible things Jesus did, but today, we are hearing about Paul's second time visiting Jerusalem... 14 years later. Paul talks about a bunch of things that happened ...
Read more

Luke 8:19-21 — Jesus's Fam!

R EAD THIS:  Luke 8:19-21 19 Now Jesus’ mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. 20 Someone told him, “Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you.” 21 He replied, “My mother and brothers are those who hear God’s word and put it into practice.” WHAT’S THIS MEAN, ANYWAY? Ummmm, hold up, is Jesus dissing on His family here? I mean, I know He is God's Son and all, but at first glance, this passage makes it seem like He is kind of hating on His family! However, if we really look into this passage, it's actually a lot more about us than it is about the family of Jesus.  In case you forgot, the last few passages have features Jesus telling and explaining different parables to a large crowd as well as His disciples. Clearly, the crowd has gotten so large that Mary and Jesus's brothers (yes... Jesus had brothers!) couldn't even reach Him. When someone told Jesus "hey dude, your fam is here an...
Read more

WELCOME BACK! Hebrews Introduction

WELCOME BACK TO DEEPLY ROOTED!!! Greetings fellow Bible readers and Jesus journey-ers! We're stoked to get back in the swing of things with y'all. For any new readers, this section would usually be where our handful of Bible verses will be. The section below would break down what in the world the verses mean. Then, there are some debrief questions for you to dive deeper and an application point. A new addition this year is the Song of the Week! We'll share a song that ties into the theme of the next few verses...if you gaze ahead and have song suggestions, comment below or text! HEBREWS INTRODUCTION: As with any book of the Bible, different Biblical scholars say different things about this letter, but we'll tell you the most probable take. So here it is: Hebrews is a letter written to a group of Jews who were being persecuted for deciding to follow Jesus. It is a letter to encourage them and to show that Jesus truly is the best person to follow despite how hard it was g...
Read more