Galatians 5:3
3 For [de] I testify [marturomai] again [palin] to every [pas] man [anthropos] that is
circumcised [peritemno], that [hoti] he is [esti] a debtor [opheiletes] to do [poieo] the whole [holos] law [nomos]. KJV-Interlinear
3 And I testify again to every
man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole
Law. NASB
When God commanded Abraham to be circumcised, it
should be understood that circumcision was not a common practice in Abrahams
day. It was therefore an extremely
profound demand of God that would raise the eyebrows of any normal thinking man.
You want me to do what?
The purpose of this act, was to set Abraham and his
faith, apart from all other religious beliefs and practices of that day, and in
a most dramatic way. It continued to be
a common practice for subsequent generations until the nation of Israel was
established out of the sons of Jacob, which further set the nation apart and
distinguished it from other nations. And so the practice continued thereafter.
Just as baptism is today a trait of Christianity,
so to, circumcision became that common trait for the Jews, which made them different
from all other races.
Unfortunately, that act was construed as salvation,
or a requirement of salvation, as it was maintained as a recognition of the Mosaic
Law, and in keeping with that Law.
We have already seen that the Law of Moses, was not
the means of salvation, but the means of teaching that man could not live a
perfect life and was therefore in need of something else for salvation. That something else, was the Savior who is
Christ, and it was our duty to believe in Him, in order to receive salvation
from God as His gift to us.
And here, Paul states that if you look to
circumcision as your path to gaining righteousness, then you must keep the
entire Law, not just one small requirement. You cannot pick and choose what you
will keep or not keep. You have no say
as to what the requirements are as far as being a perfect person.
But of course we have already studied, and Paul
will restate it again, that no person can live a perfect life. That circumcision was a mere act that made
the God of Israel, different from all other gods, and therefore made people sit
up and take notice.
Today we have the gospel, the cross, baptism and
various other articles of Christianity, but these things only designate
Christianity as being different from all other religions and beliefs. None of them save. They only help people take notice.
Faith alone saves. And with that all a person need
do is think in his own mind, ‘Father, I believe in Jesus Christ.’ And that is the totality of salvation. Once you believe then you are saved forever.
There is nothing that you can add to
salvation. There is nothing that you can
do in place of faith. You cannot gain
for yourself a better salvation.
There is only one salvation, which is accomplished
by means of believing in Christ.
