SERIES INTRODUCTION: As the Pentecost season begins, the color green comes back into the sanctuary. This custom in traditional churches marks the time when the appointed lessons focus our attention on growing in our love for God and for each other by the power of the Holy Spirit.
In the second half of his letter to the Galatians, Paul is addressing a serious issue that has cropped up among the first churches that were started during his mission journeys. Some were being persuaded that they needed to have more than faith to be saved. In these chapters, Paul maintains the importance of doing good, but that comes less from following certain customs than from being the children of God by faith. Using some of the same agricultural language that Jesus sometimes used in His parables, Paul illustrates how the life of a Christian is meant to grow by the grace of God.