Charles Billingsley
Galatians Overview
Chapters 1-2: Personal
Chapters 3-4: Doctrinal
Chapters 5-6: Practical
Glossary of Terms
Law – God’s standard of righteousness.
Grace – God’s riches at Christ’s Expense. Undeserved and unmerited favor.
Justification – An act of God whereby we, who are sinners and deserve a just punishment, are looked upon as righteous in the eyes of God, not because of anything we have done, but because of what Jesus has done for us.
Faith – Believing in something and committing to that belief.
Freedom – The state of being set loose from the power or the control of something or someone else.
- You are Free
Galatians 5:1
Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage.
Matthew 11:28-30
28 Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart,
and you will find rest for your souls
30 For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”
Colossians 2:14 (NLT)
He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross.
True liberty does not gravitate towards legalism.
Galatians 5:2-4
2 Indeed I, Paul, say to you that if you become circumcised, Christ will profit you nothing.
3 And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.
4 You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace.
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9 not of works, lest anyone should boast.
Grace + Law = Legalism – it undervalues the Grace of God
You are free!
- You are Free Because of Faith
Galatians 5:5-6
5 For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. 6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
- Your Faith is Expressed in Who You Love
Galatians 5:7-15
7 You ran well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?
8 This persuasion does not come from Him who calls you.
9 A little leaven leavens the whole lump.
10 I have confidence in you, in the Lord, that you will have no other mind; but he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.
11 And I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why do I still suffer persecution? Then the offense of the cross has ceased.
12 I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!
13 For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.
14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
15 But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!
- Your Love is Expressed in How You Live
Legalism – Liberty – License
True liberty does not gravitate towards legalism, but also, liberty does not grant
us license to sin.
Galatians 5:16-18
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.
How do You Walk in the Spirit?
- It’s Daily, not Weekly.
Galatians 2:20
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Luke 9:23
Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me.
- It’s a Walk, not a Run.
- It’s Constant, not Casual
Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness,
20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies,
21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Romans 8:2
“For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.”
Galatians 5:22-26
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
Observations on Fruit
- Fruit is Always Visible
- Fruit is Always Consistent with the Plant from which it was Produced.
- Fruit does not Exist for Itself.
Galatians 5:13-15
13For you were called to be free, brothers and sisters; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but serve one another through love.
14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one statement: Love your neighbor as yourself.
15 But if you bite and devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.
- Fruit doesn’t Try to be Anything that it is Not.
John 15:4-5
Remain (or abide) in me, and I in you. Just as a branch is unable to produce fruit by itself unless it remains on the vine, neither can you unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him produces much fruit, because you can do nothing without me.’