Read Galatians 3:1-15

 You foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? Before your very eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed as crucified. 2 I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by believing what you heard? 3 Are you so foolish? After beginning by means of the Spirit, are you now trying to finish by means of the flesh? 4 Have you experienced so much in vain—if it really was in vain? 5 So again I ask, does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you by the works of the law, or by your believing what you heard? 6 So also Abraham “believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

7 Understand, then, that those who have faith are children of Abraham. 8 Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel in advance to Abraham: “All nations will be blessed through you.” 9 So those who rely on faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

10 For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, as it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.” 11 Clearly no one who relies on the law is justified before God, because “the righteous will live by faith.”12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, “The person who does these things will live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.” 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

Discuss:

1. What stands out from the passage?

2. What does this passage say about how people ‘receive the spirit’

3. What does this passage say about how should live after receiving the spirit?

4. Why is it significant that Abraham was justified through faith and not through the law?

5. Why is it a curse to seek to live according to the law?

6. How does Jesus death free us from the obligation to the law?

In pairs or threes:

Choose an area of Holiness you would want to grow in (Ie. Spending time with God daily, ceasing pornography, forgiving someone who has wronged you.)

What would it look like to try to achieve this ‘by means of the flesh’?
What would it look like to pursue this in the spirit as one ‘by faith’? (What promises do you need to believe?)

Apply & Pray:

To share in smaller groups: Are you feeling any of the following with regards to following Jesus: exhausted, discouraged, like giving up, cold?

Spend some time encouraging and praying for one another in this.