Obligated to do the entire law. (5.2-6)

by Kent Leslie ✉️

Take note [Ga 5.2] is ἴδε/íde, “listen.” I don’t know why the CSB translated it “take note” instead of simply “listen.”

Christ will not benefit you at all [Ga 5.2] can also be interpreted Christ is no longer useful to you. Because if the Galatians get themselves ritually circumcised, it means they think obeying the legalists will save them. Obeying the Law will save them. Good deeds will save them. And if that’s true, what do we need Jesus for?

Obligated to do the entire law. [Ga 5.3] Pharisees believed if a gentile who never followed the Law (whom, they assumed, never knew to follow the Law; didn’t know any better) died, and stood before God their judge, he might accept them anyway—if they were moral people.

And by “moral people” they figured these were pagans who somehow, somehow, never worshiped idols, never engaged in sexual immorality, or never ate blood. If they naturally followed the most rudimentary commandments. That’s asking a lot of a pagan! Pagan culture doesn’t encourage such things.

On the other hand, if this gentile converted to Pharisaism and became a Jew, they now had to be like Pharisees and follow all the commandments. All 613 of them, if we go with Moses Maimonides’ count of all the commandments. Well, maybe not the ones about Levites, or the ones for people who lived in the land of Israel; but the rest, anyway.

Whereas Jesus instead offers gentiles the Holy Spirit and freedom. The legalists can only offer them 613 new rules.

Are alienated from Christ. [Ga 5.4] Jesus is offering us salvation free, and all we gotta do is trust him. And if you instead decide, “Nah; I’m good; I’ll just follow these commandments,” we’re basically telling Jesus we don’t trust him. So what else can we call this but alienating ourselves from Christ?

You have fallen from grace. [Ga 5.4] Some Christians debate whether Paul is talking about Jesus’s gracious gift of salvation, or God’s gracious gift of salvation, in this verse. Since Jesus is God, it’s kind of a silly debate; it all comes frome the same One True God.

And God went to all the trouble of becoming human, pointing us the right way, suffering and dying for us, paying off our sin; and he’s offering us free salvation, eternal life in his kingdom. It just shows how crazy it is to respond to God’s grace, “Oh you didn’t have to do all that; I’ll just be really really good.”

We eagerly await [Ga 5.4] ἀπεκδεχόμεθα/apekdehómetha, can also be translated “we fully expect.” We fully expect, through the Spirit, by faith, the hope of righteousness. We’re definitely gonna be right with God. We do trust him. (Well, hopefully we do trust him!) Now the Galatians just have to exhibit some of that faith.

For in Christ Jesus. [Ga 5.4] Meaning we need to be in Christ Jesus. And when we’re in Christ Jesus, circumcision doesn’t matter.

Likewise uncircumcision doesn’t matter. There are always gonna be those Christians who say, “I was never circumcised; you silly Jews were circumcised for no reason.” Well no; there was a reason for it; they’re obeying the Law! But if you thought it was something one has to do to be saved, that’d be wrong. When it comes to salvation, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision matters.

what matters is faith working through love. [Ga 5.6] Love God, love people, love one another; trust Jesus.