Before placing our faith in Christ, we were imprisoned and guarded, as we saw in last week’s article. Let’s also think about what we become after placing our faith in Christ. What does faith in the gospel do to us?

In this passage, Paul will tell us what faith in the gospel does to us. When we truly believe, what happens to us? Paul will explain it to us in fairly radical terms, first by telling us what we were (the bad news) and then by telling us what we are (the good news). So, let us look first at what we were.

Last week, we began looking at how the law complements the Gospel, the first way being that it arrived after Christ was promised - over four centuries after the promise made to Abraham and his offspring.

In a sense, there is no bigger question than the one Galatians attempts to answer: How do we relate to God? Do we experience God as a reward for good works? Do we gain fuller and more complete revelation of him by keeping more of his law as revealed in nature, conscience, or Scripture? Or do we encounter God by his grace? Do we enjoy him through faith in his promises?