The superiority of the Gospel, parts 1 and 2

Lynne Baab • Thursday April 30 2026

Overall theme for the next few months: God’s law is love

Lesson 8: The superiority of the Gospel, parts 1 and 2 (Galatians 3:1-18)

Key verse: “Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?” Galatians 3:2b.

Stepping into the Word

Anna was an obedient child, raised in a family with high expectations. Anna’s mother loved every form of socializing. Anna learned helpful and life-giving skills of hospitality from her mother, but she also learned that appearances really matter. Anna’s mother was slender and fashion conscious, while Anna inherited a stocky build from her father. Anna felt continual pressure from her mother, as well as from fashion magazines and television, to be thinner. The pressure eventually morphed into an eating disorder that Anna was able to mask reasonably well.

As a young adult, Anna became a Christian and rejoiced in the freedom she found in Christ and the deep acceptance she experienced from caring Christian friends. Her eating disorder faded into insignificance for many years. Later, after she married and had children, various stressors pushed her back into disordered eating. She began a journey of counseling and inner healing prayer, and at various times she experienced almost total freedom from disordered eating. At other times, the eating disorder reappeared.

Anger has been a part of Anna’s journey. At first, the anger was focused on herself. Why couldn’t she be thinner? Sometimes she felt anger toward God. Why would God give her this particular body? Later, she experienced anger at the enormous societal pressure for women to be thin. She has gradually learned to transfer the energy of that anger into healthy eating and exercise, along with self-compassion. She also turns her anger into compassion for others who feel trapped by behaviors and addictions that seem intractable. She has come to understand that many people, including Christians who experience God’s freedom in so many areas of their lives, sometimes feel frustrated by their inability to do what they long for and what they know to be best for them.

Creator and Redeemer, sometimes we feel trapped by inner forces that seem like they are pushing us into behaviors that are not life-giving. Help us experience your deep desire for us to have a loving relationship with you, even when we feel unworthy. Cleanse our hearts so we can receive your love.

Rejecting a gift

The apostle Paul is astonished, incredulous, and angry. The Galatians have received an enormous gift from God through the gospel of Jesus Christ, and they are rejecting that gift by trying to earn God’s approval by obeying the law. Specifically, they are requiring Gentile converts to be circumcised, something no longer necessary because of God’s grace shown through Jesus. Paul’s argument in Galatians 3 is aimed at the Jews in Galatia who are requiring circumcision for Gentile converts. Paul draws on numerous Old Testament scriptures to make his point to these Jews who believe they are being faithful to God.

He begins with an argument based on personal experience: “Did you receive the Spirit by doing the works of the law or by believing what you heard?” (Galatians 3:2). He wants them to return to the basics of the gospel by thinking back on their experience of being filled with the Spirit after they believed Paul’s initial preaching about Jesus. As he did in Romans 7, Paul contrasts “flesh” and “Spirit.” This time, however, he identifies the “works of the flesh” not as a failure to keep the law, but with an overabundance of confidence in the law, in this case an insistence that justification comes through circumcision.

Paul appeals to the story of Abraham: “Just as Abraham ‘believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness,’ so, you see, those who believe are the descendants of Abraham” (Galatians 3:6-7; see Genesis 15:6). The link between belief and righteousness (or justification) is found already in the call of Abraham, the forefather of all of Israel. Paul goes on to note that Abraham received the promise and was justified four hundred thirty years before Moses received the law at Sinai (Galatians 3:17). How could justification come from the law if Abraham was justified before the law ever came into existence?

Paul then quotes two more scriptural texts, the first from the prophet Habakkuk: “The one who is righteous will live by faith” (v. 11; see Habakkuk 2:4), which he takes to mean that righteousness comes from faith. Second, he cites Leviticus, “Whoever does the works of the law will live by them” (v. 12; see Leviticus 18:5). He does not take this to mean that the law brings life, but rather that one who performs works of the law as a means of justification is obligated to keep the whole law (see Galatians 5:3). Paul appeals to scripture to demonstrate that justification comes through belief in God’s promise, not through performing works of the law.

In what ways do you see God’s gift of grace in the Old Testament? In what ways are you tempted to reject this gift by trying to justify yourself through your actions?

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Next week: The superiority of the Gospel, parts 3 and 4. Illustration by Dave Baab: Rockaway Beach, California.

My latest book tells my story of healing, much like Anna in the first part of this post: Almost Peaceful: My Journey of Healing from Binge Eating.

This lesson appeared in the Fall 2023 edition of The Present Word adult Bible study curriculum published by the Presbyterian Publishing Corporation. Used with permission.

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