Journaling: Galatians 2-5

Possessing the right gospel is the key to: 1) being effective in ministry/evangelism (2:1-10), 2) identifying Christian fakes and flakes (2:11-14), 3) defending your Christian Faith (2:15-21).We can be confident that faith (in Jesus’ death) is enough to gain justification by considering: 1) it is the key to receiving the Holy Spirit (3:1-3), 2) It is why the early Christians were persecuted and experienced miracles (3:4-5), 3) It was the basis of Abe’s justification (3:6), 4) It was part of the gospel preached to Abe (3:7-9), 5) justice is the purpose of the Law not justification (3:10), 6) it was prophesied beforehand as coming after the OC/Law (3:11-12), 7) Christ is the only One who has cleansed away the curse (i.e. God’s wrath – Eph 2:11-13) that comes upon all people (Jew and Gentile) when they violate the Law (3:13-14), 8) you can’t annul God’s prior & promised benefactor transfer (from Abe to Jesus – the singular “offspring” referring to Gen 22:17) (3:15-18), 9) the OC was only meant tb temporary as the way to save people (3:19-26), 10) this is the purpose of baptism (to make us Abe’s “offspring” and the “heirs” or beneficiaries of justification thru the new benefactor, Christ) (3:27-29), 11) being a Jewish “heir” (i.e. physical descendant of Abe – the old benefactor) only makes you eligible; you need tb connected (as a spiritual heir) to Jesus (the new benefactor) to realize the promises of God (4:1-7), 12) observing anything extra/other than faith for justification wb like going back to wearing diapers, needing a binkie – or worshipping false “gods” (4:8-10), 13) it is based on facts not feelings (4:12-16), 14) it is based on identity not identity markers (4:17-20), 15) this is what is being communicated through the story of Isaac and Ishmael (4:21-31), 16) the way of salvation is a closed system (5:1-12; “a little leaven leavens the whole lump” = The whole system is connected and affected”; “severed…bear the penalty…offense of the cross removed…emasculate” = Something/someone has to be removed if something/someone has been added), 17) it passes the human flourishing test/it does not negate the need to maintain through faithfulness to the rest of the Law/moral commands (5:13-15).You can lose your salvation (5:4).Just (or righteous) living requires living that focuses on producing the fruit/fulfilling the desires of the Spirit versus producing the fruit/fulfilling the desires of our flesh (5:16-26).