Interactive Core Study: Transformed Through Faith

Interactive Core Study: Transformed Through Faith
(15–20 minutes, easy set-up)
Download the Learner Worksheet. Print a copy for each learner. Also provide pens, dry erase marker, and dry erase board. Display the Salvation is by Faith Alone Essential Truth poster.

Learning Goal: Learners will describe the transformed identity that results from a life lived in Christ.

Ask: Wouldn’t it be nice if all your stressful relationships could become stress free?  What would it take to make that happen? (Answer: acceptance) Explain that today’s lesson focuses on how Jesus transforms our relationship with God by making us acceptable and how He transforms our life. Distribute pens and copies of the Learner Worksheet at this time.

1. Faith in Christ transforms our relationship with God (Gal. 2:15–18).

Write the following definition from theologian Wayne Grudem on the dry erase board and read it aloud: “Justification is God’s legal declaration that we are in right standing with Him.” Then read Galatians 2:15–16 and point out that Paul was recounting a previous conversation with Peter to the believers at Galatia. Ask: What did Paul and Peter know about justification? (No one is justified by observing the law; people are only justified by faith in Jesus Christ.) Invite a volunteer to reread Galatians 2:15–16, substituting the word justification with the phrase “in right standing with God.” Write “Faith in Christ” on the board. Lead learners to share what it means to have faith in Christ. (to rely on Jesus to take our sin and give us His righteousness) State that Jesus is the only person who completely obeyed God and therefore has always been in right standing with God. Say: On the cross, Jesus took the guilt and punishment of our disobedience upon Himself. Through reliance on Jesus and His work on our behalf, God chooses to think of our sins as belonging to Jesus and Jesus’ righteousness as belonging to us. Direct learners’ attention to the Salvation is by Faith Alone Essential Truth poster. Then ask: Without faith, what is our standing before God? (guilty, condemned) How does our new status with God affect our relationship with Him? (We can approach God in confidence and with assurance even when we sin.) Encourage learners to write relationship in the first blank on the worksheet.

Explain the phrase “Gentile sinners” in verse 15 by sharing that it was the Jewish term for Gentiles who blatantly broke the Jewish customary laws. Read Galatians 2:17 with Paul’s meaning in mind. Write, “Does Christ promote Sin?” on the board? Then lead learners to rephrase Galatians 2:17–19 in a way that answers that question. (Possible answers: Jesus does not encourage sinning; if we depend on Christ’s righteousness for our justification, then we are counted righteous; our faith in Christ does not make us worse sinners; the law cannot make us right with God—it can only expose our sin; when we depend on Jesus and not keeping the law, the law’s demands over us are destroyed and we look like “Gentile sinners” to those who think law-keeping is the means to justification.)

2. Faith in Christ transforms our life (Gal. 2:19–21).

Read Galatians 2:19. Then ask: Based on this verse, what must happen in order to live for God—that is, to live in right relationship with God? (We must die to the law––stop relying on law-keeping as the means of justification.) Read Gal. 2: 20. Ask: What does it mean to be crucified with Christ? (Our self-reliance on law-keeping and our identity as a law-keeper as the means of justification/salvation died with Christ.) Write “Old Paul” and  “New Paul” on the board. Invite learners to reread verses 19–20 to discover what is true about the old Paul. (He died to the law; he was crucified with Christ; he no longer lived.) Then ask: What is true about the new Paul? (He lives for God; Christ lives in him; He lives by faith in Jesus.) Record answers beneath the corresponding heading. Ask: What does it mean to live by faith in Jesus? (living earthly life in such a way that demonstrates total dependence on Jesus as the means of God’s acceptance of us) Prompt learners to write life in the second blank on the worksheet.

Point out that Paul referred to Christ’ death three times in Galatians 2:19–21. Lead learners to identify these references. (Christ was crucified; the Son of God gave himself for me; Christ died.) Emphasize that Paul saw Christ’s death as an act of Christ’s love for him (v. 20) and a gift or grace of God (v. 21). Ask: What does the necessity of the cross imply about our ability to gain our right sanding with God? (Christ’s death, because it was necessary, proved that keeping the law could never justify/save us.)