(Everyone who believes in Christ is part of God’s family)
Bible verses: Galatians 3:26-4:7
A word list at the end of each Bible study explains words that have a *star by them. These are more difficult words.
Introduction
All Christians are part of God’s family. Paul calls these *people ‘sons of God’. It does not matter what sex they are. It does not matter what their work is. And it does not matter in what country they were born.
Paul uses the idea of *baptism to explain this. *Baptism is an important action. It is a sign that someone believes in Christ. He talked about baptism. Christ said that Christians should do this. Also Christians should please him by what they do.
Paul says that a child and a son are not the same. A child is not a free *person. He is like a slave. *People tell him what to do. But a son will receive all that his father has. And he must be the right age. Christians are like sons. They will receive what their father promised. Their father is God. What God has promised is his *Spirit in their lives. Christ has made this possible.
Questions
V26 ~ ‘All of you are God’s sons’. Why?
V27 ~ Paul says *baptism is like something that sometimes we do. What is this?
V28 ~ What does Paul mean in v28? What examples does he give?
V29 ~ Most of the Christians in Galatia are not *Jews. Why does Paul write about *Abraham?
V1,2 ~ What must a child or slave do until the ‘right time’ comes?
V3 ~ In past years, we were like children or slaves. Why?
V4 ~ What happened when the right time came?
V5 ~ What has Christ done? And because of this, what else can happen?
V6 ~ What does God give to all who are his sons?
What result does this have in our lives?
V7 ~ Paul says something else will happen. What is this?
Something to do
Often families do not agree. Also Christians do not agree about everything. Talk about this. Talk about whether these differences are important.
Think about any old rules that you obey. Think about whether these rules are important.
We have *God’s Spirit in our lives. Think about the difference that this will make to you this week.
Words to explain
Abraham ~ the first leader of the *Jews.
baptism ~ when someone puts something completely into something else (for example, into water).
Israel ~ the country where the Jews *lived.
Jew ~ a person who is born from *Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and their children (*Israel’s *people).
people ~ men and women.
Spirit ~ a being (person) that is always alive, even without a body. A person’s spirit is the part of them that will always be alive. It will be alive even after their body is dead.
See the other studies in this series: Explore Paul’s letter to the Galatians.