Day 4
Lisa Sheffler, author
Do you have a special email signature that attaches to all your messages? Mine isn’t very original, it’s “Blessings, Lisa.” Some people have signatures with a little more meaning. One of my friends signs off, “in His adventure” and another “joyfully serving Christ.” Bruce has been signing his recent emails with “in Christ’s joy.” Each of those email signatures fit their individual personalities very well.
We’ve now arrived at the very last verse in Galatians. We might assume it’s just a perfunctory closing — a short prayer to wrap things up. But let’s look more closely. Paul varied his final lines in all his letters, so let’s see how he’s signing his letter to the Galatian churches.
Read
Galatians 6:18
18 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.
What does Paul emphasize in his closing? Why do you think he did that?
Reflect
That wonderful word “grace” opened Galatians in verse 3, “Grace and peace to you from God our Father the Lord Jesus Christ.” And now Paul closes the letter with grace.
NT Wright reminds us that grace runs through Galatians as a powerful theme. “The final lines of the letter are a benediction not only on the Galatians but on all of us who read these words. It is all of grace from start to finish: the grace of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah. God, in the Messiah, took the initiative in the plan of salvation; like Paul’s apostleship itself (chapter 1), the gospel does not come from human sources, and membership in the Messiah’s people is not defined by human categories.”
“Grace reaches out and embraces the whole world. The sign of that embrace is not a mark in the flesh, but the presence and joy of the spirit. So it was in the first century; so it is now, in the church and world that still needs the message of Galatians. So it will be until faith is rewarded with sight, patience with the final harvest, and eager hope with fulfilment.”[1]
As the Galatians needed to remember “grace” back then, so do we today. It’s all too easy to become tangled in Christian rule-keeping or distracted by nationalism. I pray that we all grow in the grace of Christ Jesus.
I’ve intentionally kept us to one verse today because I want to recommend a short video by the Bible Project to you. They do a beautiful job outlining the main themes of the letter. Now that we’ve covered the entire letter of Galatians, let’s look back over its the structure and meaning.
Go ahead and watch it. I’ll wait…
What do you like about the video? Do you notice any differences from the way it was taught here at Christ Fellowship? If so, what?
Who do you know who needs to understand the message of Galatians? Share the video with them, and tell them what you’ve learned.
Respond
At the end of his commentary, Scot McKnight asks a question that probably represents a lot of people. What relevance does Galatians — a letter dealing with a conflict over circumcision and the Mosaic law — have for us now? Who is the target audience today for Galatians?
His answer?
“The target of Galatians today is anyone who depreciates Jesus Christ as sufficient Savior and minimizes the power of the Holy Spirit as sufficient guide. Whoever minimizes the sufficiency of Christ or discounts the power of the Spirit finds the finger of Paul pointing right at him or her.
Do you think his finger is pointing at you? Why or why not? In what ways are you tempted to add to what Christ did, or to minimize the Spirit’s power?
How could invite the Spirit’s power to be more manifest in your life?
What could you do to remind yourself of Christ’s sufficiency?
[1] Tom Wright, Paul for Everyone: Galatians and Thessalonians (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2004), 83.