At EOU in Action, we are focused on Jesus, the Bible, and mission. When we thought about a section of the Bible that would enhance a student’s understanding (and our own!) of all three focuses, the book of Galatians was a clear choice.

On the surface, Galatians appears to be about an early Christian controversy about what it means to be a Christian. One group thought that in order to be connected to Jesus, you essentially had to become Jewish; this meant participating in the ritual of circumcision as well as obeying the laws found in the Old Testament. But Paul, the writer of Galatians, did not agree with this thinking and wrote a heated rebuttal to the position. Why was this issue so important?

Well, it turns out that there is a much deeper issue at stake. Galatians addresses for all people at all times what they must do in order to have God’s love and favor. The key question that is answered in Galatians could be posed like this:

Is eternal life an exchange, where we must do certain things in order to be made acceptable to God, after which God gives us eternal life as a reward for good living?  Or, is eternal life more like a gift?

If you want a sneak peek, here is our summary statement for Galatians:

“The gospel is not about what we must do for God in order to earn His favor, but what God has done for us in Christ.  Therefore, eternal life is not available by relying on what we do for God, but is available by receiving what God has done for us.”

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