Daily Reading — Sunday, October 25, 2026

Sunday, October 25, 2026

Galatians 2:16-20 · Luke 8:26-39

Galatians, chapter two, verses sixteen through twenty.

16knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. 17But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not! 18For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God. 20I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

Luke, chapter eight, verses twenty-six through thirty-nine.

26Then they sailed to the country of the Gadarenes, which is opposite Galilee. 27And when He stepped out on the land, there met Him a certain man from the city who had demons for a long time. And he wore no clothes, nor did he live in a house but in the tombs. 28When he saw Jesus, he cried out, fell down before Him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I beg You, do not torment me! 29For He had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For it had often seized him, and he was kept under guard, bound with chains and shackles; and he broke the bonds and was driven by the demon into the wilderness. 30Jesus asked him, saying, What is your name? And he said, Legion, because many demons had entered him. 31And they begged Him that He would not command them to go out into the abyss. 32Now a herd of many swine was feeding there on the mountain. So they begged Him that He would permit them to enter them. And He permitted them. 33Then the demons went out of the man and entered the swine, and the herd ran violently down the steep place into the lake and drowned. 34When those who fed them saw what had happened, they fled and told it in the city and in the country. 35Then they went out to see what had happened, and came to Jesus, and found the man from whom the demons had departed, sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind. And they were afraid. 36They also who had seen it told them by what means he who had been demon-possessed was healed. 37Then the whole multitude of the surrounding region of the Gadarenes asked Him to depart from them, for they were seized with great fear. And He got into the boat and returned. 38Now the man from whom the demons had departed begged Him that he might be with Him. But Jesus sent him away, saying, 39Return to your own house, and tell what great things God has done for you. And he went his way and proclaimed throughout the whole city what great things Jesus had done for him.

Daily Formation Synthesis.

What is the Church teaching your soul today?

Today the Church calls you to die to the self that wants to be fed first. You can see what that self becomes in the rich man: a man so full of his own comfort that a beggar at his gate is part of the scenery. You can also see the other way. A tired man casts his net again at the word of a stranger on the shore, and it fills. Paul puts the secret in one sentence: "Christ lives in me." If that is true, you do not need to save yourself by your own effort, and you do not need to protect your own comfort. You are free to look, to give, and to sit down at the table that Christ has already set. The Lord who stood on the shore and asked for food is the same Lord who lies at the gate. Let Him find you awake.

Ascetic posture for today: Notice one person you would normally pass by, and give them something real, such as money, time, or your full attention.

From the Orthodox Study Bible

Galatians 2:14-21Paul recounts the speech he gave in Antioch when he confronted Peter.

Galatians 2:16In this section, Paul gives the content of the true gospel by contrasting it with the false gospel, that of the Judaizers. (1) The source of justification is faith, not the works of the law (2:16–21). (a) Works of the law deal with man in his fallen state, in his corruption; faith “crucifies” man’s corrupt condition and deals with the new man in Christ. (b) Works of the law begin with the action of man; faith begins with the action of God. Every work of faith is the action of both God and man, a cooperation (synergy) between the divine and human wills. This faith and these actions find their source and fulfillment in God-made-Man, Christ. We experience them through our union with Christ brought about in baptism. (2) The Holy Spirit gives us power for the ongoing life of righteousness in Christ, the life of blessing (3:1–14). (a) Father Abraham is the father of faith and of the blessing of the Spirit. (b) But Judaizers, who have based their righteousness on the works of the law, have received a curse, not the blessing of the Spirit. (3) The status conferred by righteousness is sonship. We become children of God through union with God incarnate (3:15–4:31). (a) The source of sonship is God, not humanity; divine promise, not human deeds; faith, not works. (b) God introduced the works of the law to protect mankind until the time of divine sonship, the time when our union with the Son of God became possible. (c) The purpose of sonship is for us to become like God and to enter heaven. [2:16] What does it mean to be justified? See the article, “Justification by Faith,” at Romans 5. Faith in Jesus Christ is grammatically parallel to the works of the law and should be translated “the faith of Jesus Christ.” The faith of Christ is the gospel. As the source of works is the law, so the source of faith is Christ. It is the faith of Christ—His beliefs, His trust, His obedience—that justifies us, not our faith as such. Christ’s faith is seen in His entire life on earth, not in just a few of His crucial works.

Galatians 2:17By Christ should be “in Christ.” Justification is not merely legal but actual—effected by our real, personal union with Christ in His glorified human nature. That we could be found sinners shows this union never takes away our free will, and explains how some defected to Judaism.

Galatians 2:18Those things which I destroyed are “the works of the law” (v. 16). Paul destroyed them in the sense of proving their ineffectiveness for salvation. The real transgressor here is one who tries to reinstitute the Jewish Law.

Galatians 2:19We die through the law, not bypassing or dishonoring it, but by recognizing that it is holy; that we deserve its consequence, death; and that we voluntarily die to the law through our death with Christ. Being crucified with Christ through baptism, we come alive to the law of the Spirit, which perfects the intention of the OT law. There is no contradiction between law and gospel. The law is “holy and just and good” (Rom 7:12). However, the law is “weak” (Rom 8:3) and “obsolete” (Heb 8:13), for it is fulfilled in the gospel, in Christ Himself.

Galatians 2:20I have been crucified with Christ means our sinful “passions and desires” (5:24) have been crucified. This is not the crucifixion of human nature, but of the flesh, the corruption into which human nature has fallen. This crucifixion must be willingly and freely accepted, just as Christ freely accepted His death. Living in the flesh (Gr. en sarki) is contrasted with living “in the faith” (Gr. en pistei), translated here by faith. Just as living in the flesh involves the whole person, body and soul, so living “in the faith” involves the whole person. Justification therefore constitutes substantial union with Christ, not just an abstract position of the believer with respect to God. While it is no longer I who live under the dominion of sinful passions and desires, I do live a crucified life in Christ. As we are not saved by works alone, nowhere does the NT say we are saved by faith alone. We are saved by faith, but not faith alone.

Luke 8:33Some teach that the presence of swine indicates a Gentile population. However, since our Lord forbade His disciples to go to the Gentiles (Mt 10:5) and was Himself reluctant to seek out the Gentiles (Mt 15:24), likely these were Jews engaged in a sinful occupation (see also the note at Mt 4:15). The destruction of the entire herd reveals: (1) while animals are a venerable part of creation, man is of far greater value; (2) Christ removes a source of sin, for swine herding was an abomination to the Jews (Dt 14:8); (3) demons have no power over creation, but are subject to the will of God—they could only enter the swine at Christ’s command; (4) people are protected under God’s providence—otherwise, the demon-possessed man would have come to the same end as the swine; (5) the magnitude of the economic loss would remain as a sign for the hardhearted people who fled that region (v. 34).