Galatians 6: 6-18 A New Creation, Starting Now

This week we are finishing our Large Group series on Galatians! In this final section, the Apostle Paul closes his letter with a vivid description of the “good life” in Christian community, where both our identity and our ethics flow out of the gracious love of God. In v. 15, Paul uses an important phrase: “a new creation.” The new creation refers to God’s promise to re-make this created world in the last phase of redemptive history. This means that the Christian idea of the future is not just life after death, but LIFE after life after death, in a remade cosmos that lasts forever. But the new creation doesn’t come all at once. Scriptures speaks about an in-between period, called the "overlap of the ages" or the "last days" where we live now. In this final passage, Paul describes a few key elements to the good life as we live in this in-between time. The good life is the new creation being worked out in all those who belong to Jesus. The good life God has for us, is a life lived in community, under the loving rule of God.  “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.” -Annie Dillard “Every time you make a choice you are turning the central part of you, the part of you that chooses, into something a little different than it was before. And taking your life as a whole, with all your innumerable choices, all your life long you are slowly turning this central thing into a heavenly creature or a hellish creature: either into a creature that is in harmony with God, and with other creatures, and with itself, or else into one that is in a state of war and hatred with God, and with its fellow creatures, and with itself.”―C.S. Lewis “The kingdom [of God] exists as a world-within-a-world. It’s just out of view of ordinary life, accessible not by will or power but by God’s grace. The Spirit reveals it to us, and once we see it, we’re invited to be one of the crazy ones who give all they have in hopes of living in that hidden world. Paul uses the same word to describe the Christian life: “For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Col 3:3). There are layers of hiddenness—the kingdom hidden in a fallen world and our new life hidden with Christ.”— Mike Cosper “What are we are for in the first place? The fundamental answer… is that what we’re “here for” is to become genuine human beings, reflecting the God in whose image we’re made, and doing so in worship on the one hand and in mission, in its full and large sense, on the other; and that we do this not least by “following Jesus.” The way this works out is that it produces, through the work of the Holy Spirit, a transformation of character." - N.T. Wright DISCUSSION QUESTIONS: How would your neighbors on campus (Christian and non-Christian) describe what “living the good life” looks like? (v. 6-10) Why do you think Paul uses the metaphor of “sowing” to describe a life of doing good and helping others? What is challenging about this image? What is encouraging about it? How does Rom 13:11-14 show us what sowing means? Why might faithful Christians be in danger “being deceived” or “growing weary”? Compare v.11-18 with 2 Corinthians 4:16-5:21. What do you notice about Paul’s description of “the new creation?” (v.14-15) What do you “boast” in? Where do you find your identity? What is more durable or desirable about the identity we receive from the gospel?