The Israel of God: One People in Christ
Lesson Summary • Galatians 3 & 1 Corinthians 10
We Opened with Prayer
We thanked God for the day, for gathering us in His house, and for setting this day apart. We asked that His Spirit would work in our minds and hearts, that His Word would take root and grow, and that we would reflect Christ. Amen.
Review of Previous Weeks
We built directly on the capstone reached in recent weeks: Paul’s declaration in Galatians that we — the new creation people in Christ — are the Israel of God.
- The Church is not separate from the people of God in the Old Testament.
- The Abrahamic covenant is the restart of God’s original creation commission, pointing to blessing all nations through the promised Seed — Christ.
- We traced the single redemptive story from Eden through the covenants to the renewed creation.
This Week: Back to Galatians 3 & 1 Corinthians 10
We returned to Galatians 3 to see how Paul uses Abraham to establish the true identity of God’s people. We also stepped into 1 Corinthians 10, showing how this ancient Jewish history fully belongs to a Gentile church — because we are in Christ.
Key Passages • The Big Story
1. Galatians 3:8-14 — The Gospel Preached to Abraham
Paul returns to Abraham (the embryonic people of God) to correct a wrong understanding of “Israel.” God preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham: “All the nations will be blessed in you.”
Those who are of faith are blessed with Abraham. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law so that the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles and we would receive the promised Spirit through faith.
2. Galatians 3:28-29 — One in Christ
“There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.”
Key takeaway: These categories still exist in daily life, but they have zero bearing on our inclusion in Christ. Our supreme identity is “in Christ” — the new creation.
3. 1 Corinthians 10:1-4 — Our Fathers in the Exodus
Writing to a Gentile church, Paul calls the Exodus events “our fathers.”
We were all under the cloud, passed through the sea, were baptized into Moses, and drank from the spiritual Rock — which was Christ.
This history belongs to us because we are in Christ.
Overarching Themes: The Three Eras
We examined the three major eras that form Scripture’s big-picture backdrop:
- Garden to the Flood
- Abraham to the Exile
- New Creation in Christ → New Jerusalem
Each era follows the recurring pattern: Creation → Fracture → Judgment/Recreation. These are the same story told with increasing focus, always centering on Christ. The little pictures mirror the big picture.
We Closed with Prayer
Thanking God for His masterful plan, the recreation and redemption accomplished in Christ, and asking that our hearts and minds would be captivated by His grace.
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