Galatians 6:13 Commentary and Bible Study

In spite of all this boasting in the law, the Judaizers do not themselves keep the law. One might have thought that the party which says so much about the law would keep it better, but the truth is that only faith in Christ produces acceptable good works, and they do not have Christ. By insisting on their legalism they actually bring dishonour on the law which they claim to value so highly.Paul’s analysis of their motivation continues. Is it out of any true zeal for the Lord that the Judaizers desire to see Christians circumcised? If that were so, if their real motive was a love for God’s law, then they would first of all keep it themselves. They set themselves up as the party on the side of God’s law, but they show that they do not really love it from their hearts, for love is measured not by word but by deed. Their only interest in the law was as something which could give them a route to the praise from men. All the fuss they made about circumcision was only a means to an end, a way of boasting. Those who are circumcised in submission to the law commit themselves to keep all the law, for circumcision is then the first step on a road that leads to a legal righteousness, a promise, in effect, to keep the whole law. But the self-righteous man only pretends to keep the law. He knows that the law is spiritual and he has no intention of yielding his entire heart to God. He is content to keep just enough of the law to convince others that he is righteous, but having got this far he is careful to go no further. It was not that the Judaizers earnestly tried to keep the law but failed, but rather they deliberately obeyed only as much as necessary to serve their own interests. At the same time they urged the Christians to devote themselves fully to the law and therefore Paul charges them with insincerity. Calvin makes the same point, but for a different reason, for he sees their insincerity to consist in their failure to even keep the ceremonial.So why did they attempt to circumcise others? Paul has said that, negatively speaking, they do it to avoid persecution. Positively they do it to glory in the flesh of their converts, that is, they wish to point to the success of their proselytizing, the proof of which is the circumcision of those who have submitted to their ceremonies. This is a far cry from truly loving the law.