Read Galatians 4:8–20. Summarize on the lines below what Paul is saying there. How seriously does he take the false teachings among Galatians?

Paul is very concerned with the behavior that the Galatians are demonstrating. This behavior is so startling to Paul that he believes that he has labored in vain. Further down in this passage Paul says that he is perplexed. I can imagine that Paul has worked very hard, and with sincerity and to find that his children in Christ have but seduced to their former ways is very unsettling.

Though he didn't get into specifics, what does Paul say the Galatians were doing that he found so objectionable? Gal. 4:9–11.

Here Paul is making reference to the ceremonial laws. When Jesus came and died for us on the cross these ceremonial laws were done away with. The Galatians were deceived into believing that it was necessary for then to keep these laws for their salvation.

Might there be any practices in Seventh-day Adventism that take away from the freedom that we have in Christ? Or instead of the practices themselves being problematic, what about our attitudes toward the practices? How could a wrong attitude lead us into the kind of bondage that Paul warned the Galatians about so vehemently?

Prayer: Father help us not to to turn back to be enslaved from the things that you delivered us from. Thank you in Jesus name amen.

What positive purpose has Christ achieved for us through the redemption we have in Him? Gal. 4:5–7; Eph. 1:5; Rom. 8:15, 16, 23; 9:4, 5.

Before the redemption offered by Christ we were slaves. We were not the sons and daughters of God but through the acceptance of Jesus Christ was are adopted into the family of God. The sacrifice of Jesus Christ mended the broken relationship which existed between God and humanity.

Read Galatians 4:6, realizing that the Hebrew word Abba was the intimate word children used to address their father, like the word Daddy or Papa today. Jesus used it in prayer (Mark 14:36), and as God's children we have the privilege of calling God "Abba," as well. Do you enjoy that kind of intimate closeness to God in your own life? If not, what's the problem? What can you change to bring about this closeness?

Prayer: Father thank you for adopting me as your son. Thank you in Jesus name amen.