November 14, 2025 -Transformation Not Tradition

GALATIANS 3:24-6:18

ACTS 15:1-21

Chronological Bible Readings

Galatians 4:1 Think of it this way. If a father dies and leaves an inheritance for his young children, those children are not much better off than slaves until they grow up, even though they actually own everything their father had. ² They have to obey their guardians until they reach whatever age their father set. ³ And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world.

I love this way of explaining the law. I am reading this in the New Living Translation, and it is making so much more sense to me.

^{Galatians 4:4} But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. ⁵ God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. ⁶ And because we are his children, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, prompting us to call out, “Abba, Father.” ⁷ Now you are no longer a slave but God’s own child. And since you are his child, God has made you his heir.

As someone who is adopted I have always loved this. I have always known I was adopted and never felt like I was treated any differently than my other siblings even though my brothers were natural born to my parents. If you think about adoption with the Jew and Gentile thing, as a Gentile I feel like I have been 2 times adopted but 2 different ways. Once by my worldly parents. Then as a child of God through Jesus and the other way as a sibling to the Jewish brother and sisters.

^{Galatians 4:8} Before you Gentiles knew God, you were slaves to so-called gods that do not even exist. ⁹ So now that you know God (or should I say, now that God knows you), why do you want to go back again and become slaves once more to the weak and useless spiritual principles of this world? ¹⁰ You are trying to earn favor with God by observing certain days or months or seasons or years. ¹¹ I fear for you. Perhaps all my hard work with you was for nothing. ¹² Dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to live as I do in freedom from these things, for I have become like you Gentiles—free from those laws.

I think about life before Jesus and being a slave to "so-called gods that do not even exist" sounds like exactly what I was. How wonderful to be known by God. I don't want to go back to that slavery but it is sometimes a struggle to not fall into that.

^{Galatians 6:11} NOTICE WHAT LARGE LETTERS I USE AS I WRITE THESE CLOSING WORDS IN MY OWN HANDWRITING

¹² Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save.

I love that in this version it uses capital letters for verse 11 to stress that when works and rules are stressed as the most important thing then you are doing it to please people not God. None of it saves. Only Christ.

^{Galatians 6:15} It doesn’t matter whether we have been circumcised or not. What counts is whether we have been transformed into a new creation.

Tradition is not a bad thing, but it is not necessary. To me this is a clear statement that there is more to salvation than belief. There has to be a surrendering to the Spirit of God in your life because only He can transform you into a new creation. There should be a change in who you are if you are saved. If you see no change in who you are then are you truly saved? Transformation is what matters not tradition.