Galatians 5:3 - Printer Friendly

ESV: I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law.

NIV: Again I declare to every man who lets himself be circumcised that he is obligated to obey the whole law.

NASB: And I testify again to every man who has himself circumcised, that he is obligated to keep the whole Law.

CSB: Again I testify to every man who gets himself circumcised that he is obligated to do the entire law.

NLT: I’ll say it again. If you are trying to find favor with God by being circumcised, you must obey every regulation in the whole law of Moses.

KJV: For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

NKJV: And I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law.

Paul often repeats things to stress how important the point is. Here he repeats what he said in the previous verse and adds to it. The Galatians were being pressured by the Judaizers to get circumcised in order to be welcomed into the family of God (Galatians 2:4). Paul has urged them to believe that they have already been fully welcomed into God's family as His very children. Circumcision can do nothing to add to what Christ has already done for them through their faith in him (Galatians 3:25–29).

Some of these Galatian men might have been tempted to go along with being circumcised, though, just to cover all their bases. After all, what could it hurt, spiritually speaking?

Paul is not saying that circumcision, in and of itself, is wrong. What he is saying is this: the Galatians can't trust in Christ alone for their salvation and also be circumcised "just in case." To add something to faith in Christ in the hope of being fully accepted by God is to give up on Christ completely. Any addition of works, or rituals, or sacraments is a complete rejection of a gospel of grace through faith (Romans 11:6).

Paul says that anyone who chooses circumcision to be accepted by God is actually signing up to follow the entire law of Moses. That person is asking God to judge him according to his works and not according to Christ's works and death in his place on the cross. This suggests that such a person does not trust Christ for their salvation.

Galatians 5:1–15 focuses on what those in Christ should do with our freedom in Christ. First, we must guard it, especially from those who would pressure us to follow the law. Paul was confident the Galatians would resist the one leading them in the wrong direction. Paul also warns us not to waste our freedom in Christ to selfishly serve ourselves instead of serving each other in love. The entire law is fulfilled in that one word: love. Those who serve themselves, though, will always end up in conflict with each other.

Those who trust in Christ have been set free. Paul's readers were in danger of wasting that freedom, by veering off in one of two directions. On the one hand, false teachers were pressuring them into circumcision in order to be sure of being right with God. On the other hand, freedom can also be squandered on serving only our sinful desires instead of investing it through serving others in love. God's Spirit gives us the power to do that when we let Him lead us. Life in the Spirit bears powerful and positive fruit in a Christian's life.

Galatians 3—4 focused on theology. Galatians 5—6 focus on how Christians should live in response to those truths. In short, we must resist being dragged away from the freedom we have in Christ to follow the law. We must also resist wasting our freedom on serving our sinful desires instead of serving others in love. We can do this by the power of God's Spirit with us. When we give Him the lead, powerful, positive characteristics show up in us. Galatians 6 will show how to use those characteristics to serve each other.

Galatians is sometimes called “a short Romans” for its similar themes of justification and sanctification through faith. A group of Christians known as “Judaizers” were preaching a gospel of legalism, rather than grace. Paul’s main purpose in writing the letter to the Galatians was to reiterate the true nature of the gospel: we are justified (made righteous) and sanctified (made more Christlike) through our faith in Jesus Christ alone. This letter was probably written shortly before the church elders in Jerusalem issued their official refutation of the Judaizers, commonly called the Jerusalem Council.