Galatians 3 (6)

Opening Prayer: Psalm 133.1-3
Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brethren to dwell together in unity!
It is like the precious oil upon the head,
Running down on the beard,
The beard of Aaron,
Running down on the edge of his garments.
It is like the dew of Hermon,
Descending upon the mountains of Zion;
For there the LORD commanded the blessing—
Life forevermore.

Sing Psalm 133.1-3
(Tryggare Kan Ingen Vara: Children of the Heavenly Father)
O behold, how sweet, how pleasant, when the brethren dwell together;
all in unity abiding find God’s blessing there presiding.

Read Galatians 3.1-26; meditate on verses 26-29.

Preparation
1. What do we become as believers in Jesus?

2. Of what are we heirs?

Meditation
Because salvation is by grace through faith, resulting in our ingrafting to the Body of Christ, all who believe become members of that Body and are one together in Him. By adoption, we are children of God (v. 26) and heirs of the covenant promise (v. 29), which finds its fulfillment in Jesus.

Baptism is an important sacrament for the life of faith, for by it believers, and children of believers, put on the Lord Jesus Christ (v. 27). Christ becomes our new identity, orientation, and goal. He lives in all who believe that He might make us more like Him day by day (2 Cor. 3.12-18).

Baptism is not a work, like the Judaizers wanted circumcision to be, but a seal, an initial proof of our belonging to Jesus. Indeed, this is what God intended in giving circumcision to Abraham. Abraham circumcised Isaac, not to make him a child of God in His covenant but because he already was one. Isaac would grow up to confirm that as an adult, but he would not need to be circumcised again at that time. In the Gospel, all who believe in Jesus—Jews and Gentiles alike—are Abraham’s children and are baptized into Christ. Baptism is not a guarantee of faith, but a sign and seal of it for all who believe.

In Christ we are all members of His Body without regard to our natural differences (v. 28). Those differences do not disappear once we become Christians; nor are they rendered insignificant. Rather, they find their greatest fulfillment in the context of our being members of the Body of Christ, one with one another in Him.

Being in Christ Jesus changes everything. All that we are and do become means whereby we declare to the world that we are children of God and members of the Body of Christ.

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Human beings clearly are not bugs; but God has set forth in His creation an example of change—caterpillar to butterfly—that He foresees happening to us. The metamorphosis—transitional change—happens within every believer’s heart.

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” (2 Cor. 5.17).

God wants us to see that new ideas are afoot through salvation. There is no hierarchy in Christendom—only equal people serving the living God. There is neither: Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female (Gal. 3.28). We are all one in Christ Jesus. “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Eph. 2.19-22).

Without getting too graphic, circumcision was obviously a sign given only to men; but now that we are “all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3.26) women and men, without any divisive encumbrances, are both offered the gift of salvation by grace through faith, without any outward signs being necessary to belong in the family of God. Equal entrance—equal judgment. All the same in God’s eyes.

The metamorphosis continues with our heavenly bodies: for “in the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels of God in heaven” (Matt. 22.30). And as Luke remembers Jesus’ statement to the Pharisees regarding our risen bodies: “The sons of this age marry and are given in marriage. But those who are counted worthy to attain that age, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry nor are given in marriage; nor can they die anymore, for they are equal to the angels and are sons of God, being sons of the resurrection” (Lk. 20.34-36).

How glorious to think that all the trappings of humanity will one day be expunged, and we will be free from these concerns, rejoicing in glorified bodies. But for now, God encourages us to think of ourselves as transformed and already overcomers.

We can free ourselves from the disabling thoughts that trip our minds up on things that are not uplifting. He wants us to dwell with Him now, knowing that we are already “seated” with Him in the heavenly places (Eph. 2.6), with a new perspective on life. And seated there we are encouraged to dwell on: “whatever thing are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever thing are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things” (Phil. 4.8).

The moment we “put on Christ” (Gal. 3.27) the metamorphosis began and will continue as we “work out [our] own salvation with fear and trembling” (Phil. 2.12). One—in Christ—until that Day and beyond into eternity.

Reflection
1. In what sense is baptism a sign of our belonging to Jesus? How does it “seal” our faith in Him?

2. Is there a difference between thinking of ourselves as members of Christ’s Body and members of a local church? Explain.

3. According to John 17.21, why is it important that we pursue unity with our fellow believers? Which fellow believers?

The meaning is, that there is no distinction of persons here, and therefore it is of no consequence to what nation or condition any one may belong: nor is circumcision any more regarded than sex or civil rank. And why? Because Christ makes them all one. Whatever may have been their former differences, Christ alone is able to unite them all. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Galatians 3.28

Closing Prayer: Psalm 133.2, 3
Pray for unity in your church and for greater unity between the churches in your community.

Sing Psalm 133.2, 3
(Tryggare Kan Ingen Vara: Children of the Heavenly Father)
Like the precious oil of blessing flowing down on Aaron’s vestment,
God’s anointing rests forever where His people dwell together.

Like the dew of Hermon’s fountain falling down on Zion’s mountain,
so the blessing of the Savior dwells where unity finds favor.

T. M. and Susie Moore

If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.