In the previous chapter, Paul pointed out that we should not seek to place ourselves under the guardianship of the Law. Christ died on the Cross to claim His inheritance, and that’s you and I. He ended the Law and set us all free, including Jews who embrace Him as the Messiah. The purpose of the Law was to drive Israel to the Messiah, and in the process to draw us Gentiles to Him. But it’s a one-way transaction; Christ does not drive people back to the Law. In Christ, we are set free from that regime to find the Father’s favor in His Son. The Law was never meant for Gentiles, but the Messiah was.
Christ set us free for a reason: so we could walk freely in His favor. This is a personal relationship with Him, not a highly ritualized subservience. The rituals are not part of His reign, and that includes circumcision. It’s not for Gentiles. If Gentiles enter into that dead realm, it owns them wholly and they are no longer part of Christ’s realm. They have walked back into the realm of flesh and death. We need not wonder fearfully whether God will accept us. The Holy Spirit assures us that we are accepted by Him. The condition of our fleshly body is not considered; it’s a matter of faith in Christ. His love replaces fear.
When Paul last saw them, the Christians in Galatia were running free and easy. Who loaded them down with burdens to make them drag around so slowly? That load of nonsense did not come from Christ. All it takes is just a tiny little bit of deception to stop you in your tracks. The “burden” of Christ is like wings that speed you up. Let the fools who are preaching that burdensome nonsense face their own judgment; don’t help them carry their garbage bags around.
Paul didn’t preach a Jewish identity to them. If he had, the Jewish authorities would not have persecuted him. He wouldn’t be preaching the Cross; there would be no reason for Jews to choke on the Cross as the final sacrifice God accepts to end the entire body of ritual law. Instead of cutting around (“circumcision”), let the Judaizers cut themselves off (emasculation). Paul suggests mockingly that, if a little cutting helps, how about a whole lot?
Granted, the wrong kind of freedom will also become a burden that kills. It’s the paradox of faith that it sets us free to voluntarily bind ourselves to loving each other as Christ did. Besides, rabbis had been teaching for at least a couple of centuries that loving your neighbor as yourself is the summary of the whole Law of Moses. Get that right and everything else will take care of itself. But if you follow the example of the Judaizers, you’ll end up like predators, taking advantage of each other. This would destroy the churches.
The Spirit and the fleshly nature are natural enemies; there can be no peaceful coexistence. One will rule or the other, and the Law is for the flesh, not for the Spirit. Obeying the Spirit transcends the law code. Paul lists the kinds of stuff that comes with the flesh. It’s power is nonexistent and desperately needs the Law, because it does not know how to do good. It can only destroy, not build up.
By contrast, the power of the Spirit produces a host of glorious behaviors that take you outside the reach of the Law. Belonging to Christ nails the flesh to the Cross. Law cannot do that, because flesh refuses to surrender. You can walk in the Law and stay in the flesh, or you can embrace the new life in the Spirit and live by His character.
Yet again: The typical character of Judaizers was to be snarky, always jockeying for position while seeking to undercut each other. That’s what they made of the Law. Christians don’t need that stuff.
