Reading for January 22nd

Read Galatians 5.2-12
In 5.2-12: Why circumcision should be refused.
Here Paul gets to the central issue that is dividing the community.
The opposing teachers thought God required the gentile Christians in Galatia to be circumcised.
In verse 3: Circumcision indicated willingness to live by the Torah (Gen 17.9-14).
The emphasis here is entire law 3.10).
In verse 4: Cut yourself off can be rendered "You were estranged."
To choose the law is to abandon Christ, the symbol of God's grace (1.6, 15;2.20-21; Rom 5.15).
In verse 5: Rom 8.18-25.
In verse 6: Christ redefines the meaning of ethnic identity (6.15; 1 Cor 7.19).
Faith working through love is generally taken as "faith made effective through loving acts" (5.13-14).
It could be "faith that becomes effective by responding to Christ's love" (2.20).
In verses 7-8: The call to follow the law does not come from God.
In verse 9: 1 Cor 5.6.
In verse 10: The curse of 1.6-9 will take effect.
In verse 11: To convince the Galatians, the opposing teachers apparently argued that Paul approved of circumcision.
In verse 12: Not only would circumcision hurt physically, it would also banish them under the law (Deut 23.1).
Comments or Questions..