It is interesting how sometimes we would do things to please man even if it is against our good conscience. Sometimes it is because you are employed in a particular organization and you are paid for the job you do. Or, you sense an obligation to stay connected with a particular individual or organization because of some historical ties. In the early church this was also evident.
Paul straightforwardly highlights some hypocrisy about the adherence to the law. There were Jewish followers of Jesus who kept the law, including circumcision. There was even references to situations where people will not sit together because there were Gentiles. Paul clearly shows (there are indications in Galatians that he spent 17 years in quiet study of the Holy Scriptures from a new perspective as a follower of Jesus Christ) that if the law was to be fulfilled, then Christ' death on the cross was in vain. We are saved by faith. Old habits die hard.
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain.
A new paradigm formed in the early days of the church to correct the path that the faith was taking. It was evident that the Holy Spirit continued to move in the hearts and minds of the Jews and the Gentiles alike. Both the circumcised and the uncircumcised. It is sad that about 500 years later a new major religion came from this warped notion that adherence to the law would save you. You cannot be saved because your "good works" are as filthy rags to God.
Father, help us to return to Jesus Christ the author and finisher of our faith.
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