It all began with a man named Abraham. God established a covenant with Abraham. In the covenant God promised Abraham land, a descendant, and a blessing. He outlined the territory that He wanted Abraham and his family to live in and He said that Abraham would have a son that would be a blessing to all peoples on earth. Today we call this the Abrahamic Covenant.

430 years later God established a covenant with Moses and the Nation of Israel – Abraham’s descendants. In this covenant, which we call the Mosaic Covenant, God gave the Jewish People the laws, instructions, and guidelines that they were to follow in the building of their nation in the Promised Land. This covenant did not replace the Abrahamic Covenant, but rather it gave the people a clear understanding of what God wanted from them and how God wanted them to live their lives.

Jesus came not to abolish the Law, but that the Law might be fulfilled in Him. (Matthew 5:17) This was the message Paul gave to the Galatians and the Judaizers who were trying to pervert the freedom that Christ brought. The Law served as a good nanny teaching the Children of Israel right from wrong and teaching Who and What God is. But when Jesus came the whole dynamics of the relationship with God changed. After the resurrection the Spirit of God came to live within those who accepted Jesus as their Savior. It’s the Holy Spirit within us Who has taken on the roll of nanny so that we no longer need an outside force keeping us in line, the Holy Spirit will do that. . . . if we let Him.

The blessings of Abraham are now ours thought the blood of Jesus by which we are justified in the eyes of the Law and are adopted into the Family of Faith. And the result? We don’t have to work at keeping the Law – we just focus all of our attention on Jesus through His Word (Old Testament and New Testament), through prayer, through worship, and through fellowship with other believers. When we do, we automatically want to keep His commands. The closer we draw to Jesus, the more we want to be like Him and do the things He deems important.

As He said to the prophet Ezekiel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.” – Ezekiel 36:26–27

This Bible study was presented to the Agape Life Bible Study Class of the First Baptist Church in Brenham, Texas, on Sunday, March 1, 2026. It is part of a series in a Bible study curriculum called Connect 360, published by the GC2 Press of the Baptist General Convention of Texas. The overall title of the current set of lessons, which covers the Book of Galatians, is A Cry for Freedom: Grace that Is Still Amazing. You can find print and digital versions of this series online at https://gc2press.org/a-cry-for-freedom-galatians-study-guide/ . Handouts with class presentation content can be requested at: fromthebackporchintexas@gmail.com . Handouts are also available at: fromthebackporch.org .


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