Bethel Students Blog

“You must be born again…”

With those words Jesus shattered the religious paradigm of the night-time questioner Nicodemus. This captivating command, however, was not meant for that pharisee only but for all of us all the time. WE must be born again.

Recreation is part of the post Genesis 3 story that we are all part of. Rebirth is necessary now because death entered the story then. If death hadn’t entered the story Jesus never would’ve said that to Nicodemus. But it did. And He did. And we must be born again.

Rebirth has been interwoven into our very fabric. Every six months nearly every cell of hair and skin and bone does and another is directed to its former place. (I’m not certain of the scientific validity of that fact. I read it in Donald Miller’s book A Million Miles in A Thousand Years). New birth is what our bodies proclaim and what our souls desire.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ he is a new creation… 2 Cor 5.

10 Questions to help you think through Galatians 5 & 6. (Want to read online? Go http://www.esvbible.org/search/Gal+5+-+6/)

1. Why does Paul urge us not to “submit” again to a yoke of  slavery in Gal 4:1? Most people don’t submit to a yoke of slavery but are forced into it. What’s different about this type of slavery? (Read the Exodus 14 to see what it’s like for someone to desire slavery).
2. Reading Gal 4:2-6 shows us that the Galatians were tempted to go back to their old (slavery) way of thinking that circumcision was what they needed in order for God to love them. What are you tempted to believe that you need other than Christ for God to love you?
3. What do you think other people are tempted to pursue thinking they will find freedom when in reality they are running towards slavery?
4. How would you define “freedom?” (Galatians 4:13).
5. What does Paul warn us about our freedom and what does he urge us towards in Gal 4:13?
6. How does it make sense that we are set “free” to “serve” others?! (Note: most people mistake slavery to selfishness for freedom!)
7. What might it look like for you to “walk by the Spirit?” (Gal 5:16).
8. Reading through Gal 4:16 – 24 what do you learn about the truly free life, lived in the Spirit?
9. What does Paul teach us about our obligations to others in Gal 6:1-2? How does this differ from what we might be tempted to think “freedom” is?
10. When we realize the love with which Christ loved us and “served” us in his freedom, how does that change the way we love and serve others in our freedom?

Ten questions to help you think through Galatians 4. (Want to read online? Go http://www.esvbible.org/Galatians+4/

1. Sometimes a biblical author will repeat words or phrases at the beginning and ending of a passage as “bookends” to highlight the topic of a certain section. Read Galatians 4:1 and Gal 5:1. Based on those “bookends,” what do you think Paul’s topic will be in chapter 4?
2. What are some of the immediate differences between how a person would treat a slave and how a person would treat a son/daughter?
3. As sons/daughters of God we receive the Spirit of God (verse 6), what does the Spirit do?
4. If we have the Spirit who cries “Abba” (an intimate form of ‘daddy’), then how would you describe our relationship with God?
5. It we are close with God (His Spirit dwelling in us), and no longer slaves, how do you think God feels when something begins to get between us and him?
6. The entire book of Galatians is about our relationship with God. Paul’s overarching point is that we are made sons/daughters of God not by what we do but by what Christ has done for us. What is Paul’s attitude towards the Galatians understanding this truth in verses 8 – 20?
7. We all have a tendency to believe that we our relationship with God is dependent on our works. We have a tendency to believe that God loves us more when we have ‘good’ days and less when we have ‘bad’ days. How does what you’ve read so far in Galatians help you to fight that tendency towards false belief?
8. Read Galatians 5:1. What is Paul calling us to turn towards and what is he calling us to turn from?
9. How are you tempted to finish the sentence: If I really want God to love me, I have to …
10. Have you been set free in Christ?

Ten questions to help you think through Galatians 3 (want to read online? Go www.esvbible.org/Galatians+3/)

1. Paul asked the Galatians, “who has bewitched you?” What did he mean by that? Did he mean that some sort of witch had cast a spell on them?
2. Have you ever had a friend who once believed in Christ but later in life didn’t believe? How did you respond to that situation?
3. Read verses 2 – 6. What had changed about the Galatians’ belief? What had their confidence in salvation changed from and changed to?
4. Read verses 10 – 14. What verb does Paul use in verse 10 to explain the Galatians unhealthy relationship with the Law (the Old Testament code of ethics, so to speak)?
5. Instead of relying on the law (or our obedience to it) for salvation what (or whom) does Paul urge us to rely on in verses 10 – 14?
6. According to verse 13, how did Christ free us from the curse of the law?
7. Why do you think Jesus was crucified? Why do you think God abandoned (or cursed) Jesus when Jesus was on the cross and God did not answer his cry, “My God, My God why have you forsaken me?”
8. Paul explains that this abandonment and punishment was actually ours to receive as enemies of God. How is it then that our guilt is given to Jesus and his innocence, and all the blessings therein, are given to us?
9. Read verses 23 – 26. How do we become sons of God?
10. Who is the hero of our salvation in this passage?