STUDY GUIDE
In-Your-Face GRACE! – Paul’s Letter to the GALATIANS
Message 8
October 4, 2015
1. Read Galatians 2:20. How many times in this one verse does Paul use the first person singular pronoun – either “I” or “me”?
Consider the importance of your personal relationship with Jesus Christ to your effectiveness as a member of the body of Christ? What happens to your relationships with other Christians and with the church as a whole if your own relationship with Christ is in lousy shape?
Is Paul actually focusing on himself in this verse? Have you ever heard other Christians (or perhaps yourself) complain about how “me-focused” a lot of contemporary Christian songs are? Is that a legitimate complaint? Is the real problem with those songs the frequent use of the words “I,” “me,” “my,” etc., or is it something else?
2. What does Paul mean when he says “I have been crucified with Christ”? Read Romans 6:1-11. Compare verses 10-11 in that passage with Galatians 2:19.
What command does Paul give us in Romans 6:11 that flows from the FACT that we died with Jesus and were raised with Jesus?
If you died to sin so that you could live to God, WHY DO YOU STILL SIN?
In what sense is your death to sin FINISHED?
In what sense is your death to sin UNFINISHED – ONGOING?
How does the FINISHED part affect the UNIFINISHED part?
3. If it’s no longer YOU who live, but CHRIST lives in you, how important is your SELF-CONCEPT or SELF-ESTEEM? How important is it for you to “know yourself” or to “find yourself?” What one pursuit is WAY more important than those things? [See Philippians 3:7-14.]
Do YOUR desires and longings have to be fulfilled in order for you to have the “abundant life” that Jesus promised? (John 10:10) What DOES have to happen for you to experience that “abundant life”?
4. Why does Paul point out at the end of Galatians 2:20 that Jesus is “the Son of God who loved me and delivered Himself up for me”? How do these things that Jesus DID tie to Paul’s FAITH in Jesus?
Paul makes a critical connection in this verse between his FAITH and his LIFE. He says that he LIVES BY FAITH in the Son of God. How does TRUSTING JESUS CHRIST change the way you actually LIVE day by day?
How does a wife’s TRUST in Christ change the way she responds to her husband’s failure to treat her lovingly?
How does TRUST in Christ affect the way you respond when you’re hit by a large, unexpected expense?
What impact does TRUST in Christ have on how you spend your money and on how much of it you give away?
How does TRUST in Christ affect the kinds of ministries you’re willing to take on?
How does TRUST in the Son of God who loved you and delivered Himself up for you affect what you spend time looking at on the Internet?
What part of your life is NOT impacted when you are actually TRUSTING in the Son of God who loved you and delivered Himself up for you?
Does this exercise help you understand what Paul meant when he said, “. . . the life which I now live in the flesh, I LIVE BY FAITH in the Son of God, who loved me and delivered Himself up for me”?
Copyright © 2015 by Tom Wright. This is the edited Study Guide of the series, “In-Your-Face GRACE! – Paul’s Letter to the GALATIANS,” prepared by Tom Wright for October 4, 2015. Anyone is at liberty to use this lesson for educational purposes only, with attribution to the source.