Sunday, February 15, 2026
Scripture Readings
- Primary Reading: Galatians 2-3
Key Verse
Galatians 3:5 — “He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, doeth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?”
Devotional Thought
There is a particular temptation that comes with the middle of February — the season of resolutions already wilting, the glow of Christmas long faded, the disciplines we began with such fervor now feeling like chains. And it is precisely here that Galatians 2 and 3 speak with startling directness. Paul tells of standing in Antioch face to face with Peter, who had eaten freely with Gentile believers until certain men came from James — and then quietly withdrew, and even Barnabas was carried away with the dissimulation. The issue was not merely table manners. It was whether the gospel of free grace would be lived out or quietly abandoned under social pressure. Paul would not yield “no, not for an hour.”
The heart of the passage is verse 20: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.” This is not religious poetry but the engine of the whole letter. If justification comes by keeping the law, Paul argues, then Christ died for nothing (2:21). The law was a schoolmaster, a guardian, until faith came — good and holy, but never able to give life. It shut us up under sin so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. And now, in Christ, the dividing walls fall: neither Jew nor Greek, bond nor free, male nor female, for we are all one in Him.
So what does this ask of us on an ordinary Sunday in February? It asks whether we are still, in subtle ways, trying to finish in the flesh what was begun in the Spirit (3:3). It asks whether we add quiet conditions to grace — certain behaviors, certain company, certain appearances — that make us feel justified. Paul names the danger plainly: rebuilding what we destroyed makes us transgressors. The believer who has died to the law cannot go back to measuring himself by it without denying the very cross.
And yet the passage is not merely a warning; it is a liberation. If you are in Christ, you are Abraham’s seed and an heir according to promise. Your standing does not rise and fall with your performance this week. Christ lives in you — not as a distant example, but as the life itself. The same grace that saved you is the grace that keeps you, and it is received the same way it was first received: by hearing with faith. Rest there today.
Reflection
- Where in your life are you tempted to add conditions to God’s grace — treating your standing with Him as something earned by performance rather than received by faith?
- Like Peter at Antioch, is there a place where fear of others’ opinions has caused you to withdraw from the freedom Christ purchased for you?
Prayer
Father, we confess that we are prone to begin in the Spirit and then try to finish in the flesh, adding our own conditions to the free gift of Your grace. Thank You that Christ became a curse for us and redeemed us from the law’s condemnation. Teach us to live as those crucified with Christ, no longer measuring ourselves by works but resting in His finished work. Give us courage like Paul to stand for the truth of the gospel, and humility like Peter to receive correction. Make us faithful children of Abraham, heirs according to promise, to the glory of Your grace. In Jesus’ name, Amen.