Formed By His Word Galatians 4:21-31

Part I-Slow down, ask the Holy Spirit to lead you as you read through Galatians 4:21-30 one time. Read slowly, soaking in the Word of God, every word has meaning and God’s words are powerful and active.

Part II-Read through the passage againwhile answering the questions. The questions are designed to focus in on what the Holy Spirit is saying aboutthe two great themes of scripture: revelation of God and our response to that revelation. The basic questions of every passage are who is God and how should we respond to him

  1. Revelation of God:God is the main character of the Bible. Who God is, what He does, or how He feels is the most important theme of scripture. What the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are and do is the basis of our worship and our hope.
  2. The Biblical Response:all of creation is designed to respond to the beauty of the creator. In the Bible all of creation; people, nations, animals, and nature are our teachers to learn from their positive or negative example of how to respond to God.
  1. These false teachers were probably teaching them that it is through obedience to the law that you become sons of Abraham and they took pride in the fact that they were sons of Abraham. However Paul lets them know that being a son of Abraham isn’t always good news. The first son was born of the ______and the second son was born of the ______, according to verse 23.
  1. Paul uses an allegory to explain how some sons of Abraham are still slaves. An allegory is where a person, place or thing is used in a story or poem to reveal a hidden meaning. In this case these mothers are an allegory. Who or what do they represent?Hagar is from ______and her children are in ______. Hagar corresponds to the city of ______, which is in slavery. Verses 24,25
  1. Paul’s opponents claim authority from Jerusalem. What is so special about Jerusalem?
  1. Jerusalem is the city of God and his people. However according to Paul’s allegory there are two Jerusalem’s. What is the difference between the two Jerusalem’s, according to verses 25,26?
  1. Jerusalem was the city of God, the place of His dwelling. But as we move into the NT we find that the presence of God is no longer dwelling in the “present day Jerusalem.” Read these two NT verses (John 2:19, Heb 12:22). Where is the dwelling place of God now?
  1. Remember Sarah was barren but she was the woman of promise. Read Isaiah’s prophesy in verse 27. What is the hope of the barren/desolate one?
  1. This is not the first time God has brought life out of what was barren/desolate. This quote out of Isaiah is referring to God bringing a desolate people back to the land of promise. He did it with Sarah, he did it with Israel in Egypt, he did it with Hannah and Samuel, he did it with the Exile and now Paul is saying that he is doing it in the church. Can you think of any places in your life that you need to be reminded of God’s pattern to extend grace to the barren/desolate places?
  1. What is the relationship between the child of the flesh and the child of promise according to verses 28,29?
  1. Can you think of times when you have experienced hostility from those who are committed to the law, a works based salvation?
  1. What is gained by slavery to the law and what is gained by being children of the free woman according to verses 29-31?

Part III-Read through the passage and your notes a 3rd time. Listen for what the Holy Spirit wants to emphasize. Ask God about your personal response to him from this passage. The Spirit of God is active and alive so what is he drawing your attention to, what treasure is unfolding before you or conviction he is bringing, so the question that remains is how will you respond.