‘The anointed has set us free, therefore, stand firm, not holding yourselves within the yoke of slavery once more. 2 Look, I Paul am saying to you that if you become circumcised, the anointed will benefit you nothing 3 and I call to witness once more, that every man being circumcised is indebted to continue constructing the whole of the law. 4 Whosoever being judicially approved and right-wise within law, you are idle and inactive away from the anointed one, you have dropped away from the freely extended favour, 5 for we are eagerly awaiting judicial approval and being made right wise with confident expectation from out of Breathful [Pneuma] persuasion. 6 For within Jesus the anointed one, neither circumcision nor foreskin has any power, strength or ability, on the contrary, persuasion to the point of obedience, effectively working by means of practical beneficial love’, (Galatians 5 v 1b - 6).
What is the practical application and result of this allegory of Sarah and Hagar? It is that God’s anointed, Jesus, has set us Christians, both Jews and Gentiles, free. Jewish Christians in particular have been set free from being enslaved to the Sinai Covenant with its written codes of law. Therefore – stand firm within this freedom. Persevere within it. Maintain it. Hold on to it. Don’t turn back to the Sinai Covenant and its written codes of law so as to be enslaved again.
Then in verse 2 Paul addresses a wider audience. He turns his attention to those male Gentile Christians who were being pressured by these visiting Jews to be circumcised according to Covenant law. Paul says, ‘Look, it’s me, Paul, an Apostle, who is speaking to you’. He sets out his own delegated authority in opposition to these Judaizers.
First of all he says to these Gentile Christians, ‘If you submit to circumcision then the Messiah will benefit you nothing at all. You are entering into a completely different Covenant or set arrangement that negates or bypasses the Messiah’.
Second, he reminds them of what he has told them before. ‘Every man being circumcised is indebted to begin and continue constructing the whole of the law’. Failure to observe just one aspect of divine law results in self-forfeiture and loss. When it comes to combating legalism it is important that the law is correctly perceived as an integrated unified whole containing both moral and ceremonial aspects.
Third, whoever is seeking ongoing and final divine judicial approval within the sphere of Covenant law is ‘idle and inactive away from the anointed one’. These two set arrangements cannot be mixed or blended together. Within the Messiah, an individual is rendered idle and inactive away from the external written codes of Covenant law. If an individual turns to seeking ongoing divine judicial approval by means of obedience to Covenant law, then they are rendered idle and inactive away from the Messiah, [they] have dropped away from the freely extended favour’. These two Covenants are mutually exclusive. They are two different orders of priesthood.
By contrast, we Christians ‘are eagerly awaiting judicial approval with confident expectation from out of Breathful persuasion’…NOT by seeking to observe all of the written codes of Covenant law. Thus we come back to Paul’s earlier statement, that ‘within Jesus the anointed one, neither circumcision nor foreskin has any power, strength or ability’ - there is no difference, there is neither Jew nor Gentile. Where is the power, strength or ability? It is found in ‘persuasion to the point of obedience, effectively working by means of practical beneficial love’ – persuasion carried across into the primary fruit of the set apart Breath of God – practical beneficial love.
