Galatians: Session 8 – Faith Works Through Love

Notes:

Faith Works Through Love – Galatians 5:6-6:10    See Session Slides Here

  • Gal. 5:6  Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any power. The crucial issue is faith.
  • Faith works through love.
  • It’s not that you believe in God, but what you believe about Him which qualifies your faith. What you believe about God will determine how you relate to Him.
  • When fear is in your heart, faith cannot work. If you think God will hurt you, you will draw back from Him. You cannot trust someone you are afraid of. Fear is the opposite of faith.
  • You are shaped by your perspective of God. You become like the God you believe in.
  • Jesus is the true image of God (Col.1:15; Heb.1:3).
  • When the Bible says to walk in the love of God, it means walk in the love God has for you.

 Three Groups Of People That God Wants To Love Through You:

1) The Fleshly. Gal. 5:13-15. Paul has been appealing to the Galatians to renounce legalism. Legalism results in a return to the flesh. The law-obsessed Galatians showed little love, which is typical of legalists.

  • Don’t meet flesh with flesh, but “by love serve one another.”
  • Agape love can only operate in an environment where there are unlovely people.
  • Agape love is best understood by value. The worth of each person has already been determined at the Cross. Every individual is either a child of God or a potential child of God.
  • Love is the ability to look at an undeserving person and have value for them, regardless of their behavior, and treat them accordingly.

2) The Fallen. Gal. 6:1. Love will lead to restoration of the fallen.

  • The word ‘overtaken’ here means to be taken beforehand, i.e. to be ensnared before one realises it.
  • Such a one should be restored in a spirit of gentleness.
  • Those who are spiritual, i.e. walking in the Spirit, should do this task and help bear the burdens of their brothers and sisters. This means they should help the fallen to recover from whatever has overcome them.
  • The word ‘restore’ is from the Greek word katartizo, meaning to mend, or bring something back to its former position of wholeness, e.g. Matt. 4:21.
  • The emphasis is not on punishment, but cure. Don’t hurt the one who is fallen; help him. Ask, “What is wrong in this person’s life that needs to be set straight?”
  • This is the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2) which He both taught and practiced, (e.g. Peter). Jn.13:34.
  • We are to wash one another’s feet, as Jesus did for His disciples.
  • Remember to take care of the temperature of the water! It should be done with humility, realising that in our flesh dwells no good thing, and we are capable of falling too, (Gal. 6:1&3).

3) The Family. Gal. 6:6. Some preach tithing in order to manipulate people into giving.

  • Gal. 6:7-9. Giving expresses a quality of living that reflects the nature of God. “God so loved…” The Father loved to give all things to the Son. Jesus gave His life for the world. In doing so has gained an everlasting kingdom. He will, one day, give it back to the Father. God desires to have a family that reflects His nature.

Tithing is not commanded, but the responsibility to upkeep the ministry is “commanded” (1 Cor.9:14; Luke 10:7). Those who receive instruction from those who minister the Word of God should share all good things, i.e. material things, with those who teach them.


# Answers to this quiz are found in the notes above. Click on quiz to commence. Only correct spelling is recognised. A minimum 70%  correct is required to advance to the next session.