Episode 3.09: Study God’s Outlines Part 1 – Galatians 5
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iHeartRadioEpisode 309: Study the Bible Using God’s Outlines Part 1 – Galatians 5
Learn how to study the Bible using God’s outlines as a starting place. This episode focuses on Galatians 5.
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Transcript
S3 Episode 309 Study God’s Outlines Part 1 – Galatians 5
[00:00:00] Angela Legg: Hello. Welcome back to the diligent woman podcast. And we are in season three. Talking about “that you may understand”. We are working to grow diligently in grace and truth so that we can be diligent and intentional with God’s word and live it out daily. So I hope that you have listened through the season ’cause we’ve kind of built to this point, looking at different ways to study the Bible. Check out those earlier episodes I will link to some of them in the show notes below where we’ve talked about scripture writing and Bible marking and ways to approach the scriptures that keeps it simple without getting too complicated, getting into a need for a huge library. So that you can understand, because God said you can understand his will and that he gave you his word. And we’re going to [00:01:00] trust that God is good and able to give us exactly what we need to accomplish what he’s told us to do. That we have everything we need.
[00:01:08] We don’t have to rely on other people to have done research, to discover truths that God didn’t share. We can use God’s word and it be enough. Today’s episode is a follow-up to last week. In episode 3 0 8.
[00:01:26] We talked about following the pattern. Follow the patterns in scriptures as your starting place to grow. If you want to know how to do something
[00:01:35] go look at how that thing was done in scripture and start to see who you can imitate. If the question is, how do I teach someone this information, how did Jesus teach? Go follow his example? How did the apostles teach? And we’ve looked at some of that in our approaches to scripture and using [00:02:00] historical examples as a way to teach someone how to do something or how not to do something. So we’re looking for examples this week in that idea of following the pattern, letting the Bible show us how to study or give us our outline to study. And the, the next four episodes, this one, and then the next three are all going to look at specific outlines that God put into his scriptures. That you can use as a framework to study so that you can grow in your knowledge, right? So today we’re going to go to Galatians five.
[00:02:38] And when I talk about outlines, Try not to think in terms of, you’re in school and you’re learning how to write outlines for papers. Although those do exist in the structure where there’s a main point and then sub points. But in most of the new Testament, anyway, you’re talking about letters that are written from one individual to another [00:03:00] individual or a group of individuals that they’re communicating back and forth with.
[00:03:03] They’re not written as speeches. They are conversational. So your outline, we can pull outlines from them, but they’re not designed to be that formulaic, let’s put it that way. But that doesn’t mean that God has not given you recipes or outlines or some structure. That gives you a place to start. Okay.
[00:03:27] How can I start doing that thing? And I can walk through what he shows me to see how to do it. In Galatians five is a good example of this.
[00:03:36] In Galatians five. We have a context of understanding how the freedom is found under the new law. It’s the differences between being bound to
[00:03:47] the stringent task keeping that was part of the old law that also did not come with it an understanding of forgiveness, there was a constant need to be making. Sacrifices. [00:04:00] In all of these things to deal with your sins. Where now Christ has done that. And it’s created a freedom from that kind of. Always in your face, the wrongs that you need to make atonement for. Because Jesus made the atonement. For us. But there are still things that we need to do that reflect a life that is godly. And we are supposed to walk in the spirit. So, if you wanted to do a study, Titled, “how do I walk in the spirit?”
[00:04:31] What does that look like? Galatians five would be a good place for you to go and get an outline and make some notes of things to study. That if you just stay put. In that context as your starting place, you could spend months studying this concept so thoroughly just with Galatians five, being your jumping off point. That you would walk away with it thorough understanding. I have all of these [00:05:00] things that are mentioned in this, in the chapters slowing down. Writing out the context. And then focusing on each of the things that are mentioned, because God does give it in a list. The way that Paul describes things. He talks about in Galatians five. How there’s a conflict between the flesh and the spirit. Well, it’s the desires of the flesh versus the desires of a person’s spirit that is led by God’s spirit. So if you go to Galatians five.
[00:05:31] And start in verse. You really start in verse 13. It says for brethren, you were called upon the basis of freedom. Only do not use the freedom for a starting point for the flesh, but serve one another through love. For all the law is fulfilled in one word in the command. You will love your neighbor like yourself.
[00:05:54] And that is a quote back to Leviticus 19. Which oddly enough is not a part of the 10 [00:06:00] commandments. It’s not even a primary part of the reading of the law where it starts an Exodus. Is gone into detail in Leviticus and numbers and then repeated in Deuteronomy. Leviticus 19 falls in the middle. And it’s just this one little thing. But here we’re told that the whole law hinges on you will love your neighbor as you love yourself, love your neighbor as yourself. The 10 commandments are designed to show you how to have a relationship with God and your fellow man. And those are the two things that when Jesus tells you what are the two commands that are the things I needed focus on. It’s love the Lord, your God with all your heart. But your soul with all your mind. And love your neighbor as yourself. So, paul says for the laws fulfilled by doing this. Well, how do I do this?
[00:06:49] He says in verse 16, but I am saying walk by the spirit and you should never complete the lust of the flesh.
[00:06:56] You focus on the spirit and quit worrying about what you [00:07:00] like, what you don’t like. And instead of focusing on what God tells you to do. Because in verse 17 for the flesh. Less against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh and these lay in opposition to one another in order that you may not do these things, which you would wish. But if you are led by the spirit, You are not under the law. Now verse 19, we have a start of how do I do that?
[00:07:24] He’s told me to walk according to the spirit. Well, what’s that look like? He gives you the negatives first. This is not what it looks like, because this is what walking by the flesh looks like. And he gives you this whole list. And depending on what translation you’re using this list is either 16 or 18 things.
[00:07:44] The list that I have has 18.
[00:07:46] So that’s what I’m going from. This list includes adultery, fornication, uncleanness, unbridled lust, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strifes, [00:08:00] jealousies, furies, selfish ambitions, that’s S E C T S that would be factions, having divisions amongst you, envies, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and the like, which that just takes it into a broader scope
[00:08:15] right? Well, this is where you can start.
[00:08:19] How do I study what God doesn’t want me to be? Well, do you know what each one of those words means? Do you know, thoroughly
[00:08:27] what God means by that? And what implications come with each of those things? So, this is where you’re going to do a word study and by word study I don’t mean going back to the original Greek and getting those definitions. Those are things. I think they can be handy. But there also that’s men’s opinions of what those words meant in those times.
[00:08:48] And there’s different opinions on what those words mean sometimes. Let God define those words.
[00:08:54] So in your Bible, you can use a concordance that is just a gathering [00:09:00] of all of the verses that use this particular English word. Use your concordance to look up the word adultery. Throughout scripture, old Testament and new.
[00:09:10] And you’re going to make a list.
[00:09:12] You’re gonna make a list about adultery and what does the Bible say about adultery? And I go to the old Testament and it talks about if someone is committed adultery, how’s that dealt with what was God’s attitude about it? How does God talk about adultery? When he’s talking about it in relation to himself and Israel as a nation.
[00:09:31] How does he describe that separation that Israel created when they chose idolatry instead of worshiping God.
[00:09:40] What does that teach you about adultery? Because he uses it as a figure.
[00:09:46] And then in the new Testament, you find all the verses that talk about adultery. What does it teach you about adultery? What does God want from that? Does he have instruction on whether or not it’s okay to just [00:10:00] commit adultery with someone else? I think we all know the answer is no. That you cannot go have someone else’s spouse and treat them as though they are your own. What does he teach you about adultery?
[00:10:09] And then do that for every single one of the words in that list.
[00:10:13] Spend the time. You could do a word a day. I guarantee you that if you dig very deep at all, You could spend almost a month on almost every one of those words. God does not lack in education on these things that he tells you to avoid.
[00:10:31] Because he says, and. The all things that are similar to these things, which I am saying to you beforehand. Also just as I foretold you, that the ones practicing such things. They will not be inheriting the kingdom of God.
[00:10:47] So these are things you don’t want to do. And these are things that they’ve been reminded over and over.
[00:10:51] Don’t do these things stay away from this. So how do I stay away from it? I’ve got to know what it is. How do I know what uncleanness is? What [00:11:00] is impurity? Is that very specific? Is it very generic? What does God talk about when he talks about impurity? And he’s got all of these words that could be to deal with sexual sin, but he’s taken the time to use four words. Adultery that’s sexual immorality of married people. Fornication as a more generic word for sexual immorality, and then you have uncleanness. Which that gets into more specifics that are still also encompassing a lot of things. And then unbridled less. That’s even going a step further.
[00:11:37] It’s a different concept. God’s very thorough with his words, but you only get that sense when you go in and understand each of those words. God does teach us a lot about this. So you can establish this as an outline. How do I walk in the spirit? Well, just start with, I avoid these things and don’t [00:12:00] forget that he says, “and things like this”. So I need to understand that this is not a complete list. I need to use my judgment and understand that there are things that are like this that may not be listed here.
[00:12:10] It’s worth studying that he takes the time to express that you’re to avoid jealousies. And envies. Two different things. How has jealousy different from envy.
[00:12:23] We need to understand that. How else am I going to avoid it? I might end up being guilty of it. Because I didn’t understand it.
[00:12:32] Now this lovely context is telling you how to walk in the spirit. He tells you what to avoid, but then he also tells you what to do instead.
[00:12:42] And you get another list. So we go to the next list and this is the fruit of the spirit. That’s a good word to research as well. Fruit. How does God use the word fruit? Is it in beneficial ways is this food that is feeding that is nurturing? [00:13:00] That concept that goes with it.
[00:13:01] So we’ve got the fruit of the spirit and it is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, and self-control. There’s another word study for you. And don’t forget. And it says
[00:13:17] and things like this, again, says “against such things, there is no law”. So again, it’s not a complete list.
[00:13:24] But you’re going to learn the difference. How do I learn to have discernment and wisdom to know what is righteous and what is not? This is a good list. This is a good place to start.
[00:13:36] And there’s lots of ways that you could study this. I don’t want to dig into studying this outline here. That would be a seasoned in and of itself. We could just take a season and break each one of these down and study them. What I want to give you today are ideas for how you can study this outline. And take it and spend time in it.
[00:13:56] Don’t just gloss over it. Don’t just read it once. Don’t just memorize the [00:14:00] list. It does no good. If you have the list in your memory and don’t have any idea what it means.
[00:14:06] You can compare it to other lists. He gives the other lists of ways to walk in. God’s will Second Peter, 1 has another list. It has some of these things. It’s not exactly the same. He has other lists of things that are sinful. It’s not exactly the same. All of them overlap. Give similar information, but they all can build on each other as well. So you can take these lists
[00:14:29] If you just take the words you’ve got 28 weeks. It’s more than half of a year of study if you did one word a week.
[00:14:36] Took a whole week to pray about, meditate, write down scriptures, locate those and fully understand how God uses those words.
[00:14:46] What’s in the context around them? Put these words, don’t just take them out of the list. Put them in the context of Galatians four, five, and six.
[00:14:55] They don’t exist in a vacuum. They exist in a context in the thread that [00:15:00] Paul is giving. What does he mean by these things? And then go to where god uses those words
[00:15:07] and learn what that looks like. Expand your knowledge so that you can understand what God means by that.
[00:15:13] And I believe I firmly believe you will learn more.
[00:15:16] And you will trust God better. If you will do this work and let God tell you what he means by that.
[00:15:24] Let God tell you what he means by adultery. So you have no doubts, no question. About what that is. So that when you encounter a circumstance with other people and you have to decide whether or not adultery has occurred. You’re going to know how God used that. Because men get really confused and they have disagreements back and forth on all of these things.
[00:15:46] Let God, talk to you. Let God’s word be your teacher. Trust him. And were there something about it that is not clear?
[00:15:56] Then just wait. And pray about it and continue to [00:16:00] study and enlightenment will come someday, you’ll be reading another verse that will have the light bulb that clicks on that makes you understand that something else. And it’s okay if you don’t get it all in one day.
[00:16:13] Just start with God’s word and trust him. Trust that he is an excellent conveyor of what he wants you to know. Because he’s got his faithful. And he said, understand my will. So he’s going to make sure that you do.
[00:16:28] So that’s one way that you could study this. You could break it up into two separate lists and study the negatives. And then take a break. And then study the positives. There’s lots of studies out there on the fruit of the spirit. I actually have a. Prayer and study kit. That is just the fruit of the spirit and it is nine plans. One plan of 31 days of scripture on each one of those words, it’s in that list. That’s nine months of study, just doing the scripture [00:17:00] writing.
[00:17:01] I offer a scripture writing study builder that it helps you create an outline where you write out the verse. And then you go and collate all of this information. Cross-reference verses that, go with it. You can write out a prayer next to it.
[00:17:18] And then at the bottom you decide, how does this verse help me?
[00:17:23] To be better about the words that I use. For me, the live a pure life, more things like that.
[00:17:29] You’ve got so many different ways that you can study it. And I’ll link to some of that down on the bottom. If you’re interested in those things. But I’ll tell you don’t need my stuff. Because you can build these things yourself. Because it doesn’t have to be done in a hurry. And then one thing at a time, you can take a month and a concordance and look up all of the verses that encompass faithfulness from the fruit of the spirit that is faithfulness. And see what God means by faithfulness.
[00:17:58] How does he use that word? [00:18:00]
[00:18:01] And after 31 days of writing that I would be shocked if you did not have any better understanding of what that means. And how God shows us that. And how we can live that out. What does it mean for me to have the fruit of the spirit as being faithful? I am described as one who is faithful, that I have faithfulness as a part of my character. What does that look like?
[00:18:25] Is it a great unknown that nobody can put their finger on?
[00:18:28] Or is it something that can be watched and observed? And behaviors that can be seen. That’s what you would discover through the study, see how God uses it.
[00:18:40] So those are some, those are options for how you work through, use this as an outline. Can you imagine the study?
[00:18:46] If you have children, or if you are a Bible class teacher,
[00:18:49] Whether it’s adults or children. It’s irrelevant. And you need a topic to teach.
[00:18:55] Look at the bounty that’s right here in these two lists in this one chapter [00:19:00] in this context. It’s not doing the steady of Galatians. It’s not doing a verse by verse. Go into all the ins and outs of the whole book. It is just taking this concept of walking in the spirit. That Paul’s laying out. And he’s showing them how to do it, what not to do and what to do. And how through that process, you’re not being bound by this law that is hypercritical and watching every single thing it’s having a heart of love for your fellow man. That’s at the heart of all of this is having a desire to serve others and what that looks like.
[00:19:34] And that’s what these lists are supposed to be showing us. How do I live a life of service for my brethren?
[00:19:40] How do I show love that is in the best interest of everyone else? How do I show that?
[00:19:46] I do it in all of these ways, by avoiding these things and doing these things. But studying this context would give you that. Can you imagine what that would do in your home? If you and your spouse study these things together, [00:20:00] how would your marriage be impacted? If we understood what these words were and how to avoid them and not to give Satan an opportunity to bring those things in.
[00:20:11] How would that impact your marriage? How would that impact your home life? If you are a family or mother, and you’ve got kids at home yet teenagers. You’ve got little kids and there’s a lot of bickering. What if you studied these words with your children.
[00:20:26] Give them the knowledge by walking through scripture and letting God define what some of these things are.
[00:20:32] Does it make a difference for them to learn that having hostilities and anger and furies, there’s a difference in hostilities or furies being out of control in anger. There’s differences there. How does that play out in their day to day life and interacting with one another.
[00:20:50] If you have children in your life who are Christians? And they need to start learning how to walk the walk. What if you gave them [00:21:00] this. As all of this ammo to fuel their lives, that this is their protection. This is part of their armor. This is wrapping God’s word around them as armor by giving them this knowledge. But taking the time to do it.
[00:21:15] Don’t just throw the list at them. Help them to understand what each one of those things are. What is idolatry?
[00:21:22] Is it limited to the way in which idolatry was done in the old Testament days, is it literally having a shaped object in front of you that you bow down in worship.
[00:21:35] Or maybe as you explore the way that idolatry and idol worship is used in the new Testament. We come to see that it even falls into just the things we give our heart to.
[00:21:47] Where we focus our energy.
[00:21:50] What kind of impact would that make, if you did a study like that? If you understood again, the differences between jealousy and envy.
[00:21:58] There is a [00:22:00] difference.
[00:22:00] And we need to understand why is it that God can be described as a jealous God and it’s righteous.
[00:22:07] But I can be guilty of jealousies that are not. I need to understand the word. I need to understand the word in the context where I might be jealous about something that I don’t have a right to be jealous over.
[00:22:20] But there might be times where I do have a right for that. But could my jealousy then crossover into something that’s not righteous. I have to understand the word. I have to understand the concept, but I need to understand that the way God meant it. That’s what matters.
[00:22:37] Your salvation is not found in the definitions that some man decided to attribute to those words. Based in their original usage. It’s how God used them and defined them.
[00:22:49] God used the words the way he intended. And we need to understand his use and his intention.
[00:22:54] He used them and he used them rightly in his context.
[00:22:58] So dig into that, use [00:23:00] that as your outline for study.
[00:23:03] You got at least half a year. If you do the fruit of the spirit alone and you take a month for each one, you got nine months out of the year. If you go back and do Bible marking and you slow down and add memory verse, work to that. You could take a whole year, just studying, the fruit of the spirit.
[00:23:20] How much stronger are you going to be in the spirit?
[00:23:24] If you dive into the fruit of the spirit and learn how to live it. How to walk in it the way God system. You take a year.
[00:23:35] What would a year be like? We like to talk about reading the whole Bible through in a year and there’s value in that. But if you can read it over and over again, year after year, but not understand the words.
[00:23:47] Not understand what God means when these obsessive things, you may have read it 20 times. Slow down this time, take this time to slow down. And focus on it a little bit. Add that layer to all of [00:24:00] those readings. You’ve gotten a sense of it from every time you’ve read it before. Dig in and add a new layer.
[00:24:07] So I want to encourage you to do that. Next week, lord willing in our next episode, we’re going to go into a different context and we’re going to learn how to use that outline in a similar way.
[00:24:19] Make sure you subscribe and click for notifications. If you are on YouTube. Following the podcast. And if you have a podcast player, make sure you follow. The diligent woman podcast so that you get notified anytime there’s a new episode. I hope that you found this helpful. There’s so many ways that you can use these things to teach yourself. To teach your children. To teach in Bible classes to teach your friends. Just learning how to live this out loud.
[00:24:48] So enjoy.