Suggestions for leading a study:
Live Free or Else
13 You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: "Love your neighbor as yourself." 15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God.
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.
Discussion Questions
·
·
Verse 13 assures us of the freedom we have in
Christ, but warns us not to mis-use that freedom. How does that happen?
·
What is it that we should be doing rather than
indulging our sinful natures? If these
are two opposing options, what does that say about what Paul means by
“indulging the sinful nature?” (NIV)
·
According to verse 14, what does the law of God
consist of? What were the Galatian
Christians doing instead of that, according to verse 15? What do you think that means?
·
Paul is arguing that we are free from the law,
except the one to love each other. What
does that have to do with what was going on in verse 15? Does a legalistic approach to our faith tend
to make us “devour” each other?
·
In describing the results of the sinful nature,
Paul calls them “acts”, but in describing the results of the work of the Holy
Spirit in our lives, he uses the term fruit.
Do you think that says something about the difference between these?
·
Paul’s antidote to the issues we’ve looked at
are given in verse 16 and verse 25,
having to do with the Holy Spirit. What
are they?
·
Paul doesn’t explain exactly how to accomplish
these things in regards to our relationship to the Spirit. How do you think we can do that?
Leaders' Guide
The goal of
this lesson is to help explore the difference between legalistic and
self-centered living and living by the Spirit, in order to avoid conflicts with
each other brought on by comparing our righteousness with each other.
·
Verse 13 assures us of the freedom we
have in Christ, but warns us not to mis-use that freedom. How does that happen?
This verse
tells us that indulging the sinful nature is how we mis-use our freedom from
the law. You might want to explore with
your group whether they think that is a common problem (which it is).
·
What is it that we should be doing rather
than indulging our sinful natures? If
these are two opposing options, what does that say about what Paul means by
“indulging the sinful nature?” (NIV)
What Paul
juxtaposes against indulging the sinful nature is serving one another in
love. This would seem to imply that the
most common characteristic of indulging the sinful nature is that we are
selfish and inconsiderate of other people, unwilling to make sacrifices in
order to serve them.
·
According to verse 14, what does the law
of God consist of? What were the
Galatian Christians doing instead of that, according to verse 15? What do you think that means?
According to
this verse, the entire law is summed up in the command, “Love your neighbor as
yourself.” (Jesus in the gospels also
includes to love God). The NIV
translates what the church in Galatia was doing as “biting and devouring” each
other. In the context of this
discussion, that no doubt means that some of them thought they were better than
the others since they were better at observing the law, which at that time many
Jewish Christians would have assumed still meant the ritual and dietary laws of
the Old Testament.
·
Paul is arguing that we are free from the
law, except the one to love each other.
What does that have to do with what was going on in verse 15? Does a legalistic approach to our faith tend
to make us “devour” each other?
The final part
of this question makes it clear where this is going. Clearly, when we judge ourselves and each other based on external
lists and standards, that rarely leads to really healthy relationships. The
final question of this study will come back to this issue (since the author
does.)
·
In describing the results of the sinful
nature, Paul calls them “acts”, but in describing the results of the work of
the Holy Spirit in our lives, he uses the term fruit. Do you think that says something about the difference between
these?
The point here
is that the term “acts” implies things that we do by our own will and
volition. By contrast, fruit is
something that happens naturally when you have a healthy plant. For what Jesus had to say about this, see
Matthew 12:33.
·
Paul’s antidote to the issues we’ve
looked at are given in verse 16 and verse
25, having to do with the Holy Spirit.
What are they?
According to
the NIV, these are “live by the Spirit”, and “keep in step with the
Spirit.” Tie this question back to the
previous one, if you can. This is how
fruit is born naturally in our lives, as opposed to “trying to be good.”
·
Paul doesn’t explain exactly how to
accomplish these things in regards to our relationship to the Spirit. How do you think we can do that?
Even though we
have underscored that righteousness is something that happens naturally as a
result of walking in the Spirit, there nevertheless is something we need to be
intentional about. This is clear by the
directions we get to “live by the Spirit”, and to “keep in step with the Spirit”, phrases that speak of
deliberate activity on our part. But
they have to do with a process, a lifestyle, and a relationship. The question is how do we do that? The common assumption is that this is a
result of spiritual disciplines in our lives.
Prayer, time in the Word of God, worship, service, and being the church
together in your group, as you are now doing, are some of those disciplines.
·
Paul offers a final warning in verse 26: the “or else” of this
study. What do we need to be careful
of, and what is the result that we need to avoid?
Once again, Paul reminds us not to become conceited. Focusing on pursuing our relationship to God through the Holy Spirit rather than how good we are at being righteous is the way to do that. If we don’t we are in danger of “provoking and envying” each other. (NIV) In other words, we make comparisons between ourselves and other Christians and either become conceited and provoke others, or become envious because we realize we aren’t measuring up. Neither one is a healthy option for relationships in the church.