Finding Freedom in Christ with Portia Collins
Get Portia’s Study on Galatians
Today we get to hear from Portia Collins about how she has seen God’s love and truth in the book of Galatians. We pray that this episode encourages you to know God more through his Word, and that it helps you to love your Bible even more!
NOTES & QUOTES
“It is through the book of Galatians that I finally began to understand what it means to be saved by grace through faith in Christ, period. Nothing more to add, nothing to take away. And that moment was a turning point in my spiritual life. Since then I have returned to the book of Galatians again and again and again.”
“Galatians teaches us how we are made right with God through Jesus Christ alone and what it looks like to live freely and faithfully in light of that grace.”
“[Paul] says the law which came 430 years afterward, meaning after the promise, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God so as to make the promise void. What he's basically saying is that the promise of salvation was made to Abraham 430 years before the law was ever given. So if the purpose of the law was to save, then why did the law not come first? The law was never intended to save. God made his promise before he even gave us the law. And I'm just like, how did I miss this?”
“Only God can weave together a story like this. Only God can weave together a book like this.”
“Jesus is the one who justifies us by faith. And then in the third chapter, he redeems us from the curse of the law. And now he lives in us.”
“I've become a stickler about this whole consumer-driven version of Christianity that we're seeing where it's me, me, me, me, me, it's all about me and my faith and my relationship. And don't get me wrong, yes, it is wonderful to experience the transformative work of God in ourselves and to experience that personally. But God calls us to something greater. We know, of course, to glorify him. But also, the beautiful thing that Galatians shows us is the ‘now what?’ That is, how do we live in gospel-centered community?”
“Galatians paints such a beautiful picture of what gospel-centered community is.”
“Even now, after writing this study, I'm all the more grateful for God's Word and that truth. I need those reminders every day, I need to keep coming back and being reminded of how I am saved, why I am saved, and then now what now what do I do? How do I live? What is God's vision for me now that I am saved? And that is to live with his people.”
“I came out of this study more anchored in Christ, more at peace with the fact that I don't have to perform for God's love, more ready to engage in gospel-centered community and not run from it. So it grounded me even more and it makes me excited for what I think other women will experience when they get down in the dirt and mine through the truths of God's Word that’s found in this book.”
“Every one of us is tempted to drift from the gospel, whether we're going to the right of legalism or the left of lawlessness.”
“There is a temptation to drift from the gospel. Galatians calls us back to the truth. It reminds us of what the gospel really is because in our wandering, in our leaning, we sometimes want to change what the gospel is. We want to make our own version, which Paul says is no gospel at all. And so Galatians calls us back to truth. It reminds us what the gospel is, that salvation is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone.”
“It teaches us…this foundation of doctrine, this foundation of truth, it then teaches how we live that truth out. And every woman, regardless of what season of life you're in, can take away so much from Galatians because it's that recalibration.”
“Sometimes there are things in us or things that we're doing that we don't even see until we stand in the mirror of God's Word. And I think Galatians does a beautiful job of that. So whether you're new to the faith or you've been walking with Jesus for decades, Galatians will reorient your heart and it will help you to stay firm in the freedom that Christ has secured for us.”
“Even before [Paul] gives us what the fruit of the Spirit is, he tells us what the works of the flesh are.”
“There's a humility in seeing the work of the Spirit in your life because you know this isn’t Portia, this is truly God and he is working in me and through me. It really changes the posture of your heart in terms of how you view yourself and even how you view others.”
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
What gospel-truth from Galatians stood out to you most as you listened to this episode?
Do you tend to struggle more with the tendency toward legalism or lawlessness? How has God’s love met you in that?
How have you seen the Spirit work in your life to cultivate the fruit of the Spirit in you? Which fruit of the Spirit feels most difficult for you to emulate?
Is there someone in your community who you might reach out to to study the book of Galatians together?
What might you do or implement based on what you learned in this week’s episode?
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IMPORTANT NOTE
Journeywomen interviews are intended to serve as a springboard for continued study in the context of your local church. While we carefully select guests each week, interviews do not imply Journeywomen's endorsement of all writings and positions of the interviewee or any other resources mentioned.
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