Hi.<\/p>\n
I’ve read some of your articles and they’ve been helpful. Thanks.<\/p>\n
I’m a kind of confused about what is written in Galatians 5:3-4 “I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the law; you have fallen away from grace.” Is Paul trying to say we should forget circumcision or is he not talking about physical circumcision?<\/p>\n
I hope to get an answer. Thank you.<\/p>\n\t
Paul is talking about the physical circumcision that was required by the Law of Moses. He is using it as an example of one of many rules that the Jewish Christians were trying to impose on Gentile Christians. Paul’s point is that if you require one law then you would have to require the whole Law, but that law only looked toward Christ.<\/p>\n
Circumcision no longer has any meaning, since the Old Law has ended. “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery. Behold I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no benefit to you. And I testify again to every man who receives circumcision, that he is under obligation to keep the whole Law. You have been severed from Christ, you who are seeking to be justified by law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit, by faith, are waiting for the hope of righteousness. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything, but faith working through love<\/em>” (Galatians 5:1-6).<\/p>\n\t Thank you very much, sir. I’m delighted to have understood it. I can easily explain it to someone else now. God bless you.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Question: Hi. I’ve read some of your articles and they’ve been helpful. Thanks. I’m a kind of confused about what is written in Galatians 5:3-4 “I testify again to every man who accepts circumcision that he is obligated to keep the whole law. You are severed from Christ, you who would be justified by the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[480,710,115],"class_list":["post-51463","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-circumcision","tag-galatians","tag-old-law"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2465,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-christians-are-spiritual-israel-shouldnt-they-be-following-the-ten-commandments\/","url_meta":{"origin":51463,"position":0},"title":"Since Christians are spiritual Israel, shouldn’t they be following the Ten Commandments?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 5, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In the current age, Christians are spiritual Israel. Hence, the Ten Commandments would still apply to us just as they did to physical Israel. Answer: This point alludes to\u00a0Romans 2:23-29: \"You who make your boast in the law, do you dishonor God through breaking the law? For \"the name\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":88379,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/was-there-something-else-i-could-have-said\/","url_meta":{"origin":51463,"position":1},"title":"Was there something else I could have said?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I had a debate with someone about Colossians 2:11-12, specifically regarding how it was interpreted as referring to water baptism and that water baptism was a work of God. However, my opponent argued that \"without hands\" proved it was not water baptism since a man is involved in immersing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5197,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-marks-of-jesus\/","url_meta":{"origin":51463,"position":2},"title":"The Marks of Jesus","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 17, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Galatians 6:11-18 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Paul battled much of his life with his own Jewish brethren \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They insisted on preserving the Law in many ways. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A motivation is to be expected - Galatians 6:12 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0It appears some tried to justify it by appealing to Paul. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a01.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0After all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4244,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/in-galatians-512-is-paul-actually-wishing-that-some-would-emasculate-themselves\/","url_meta":{"origin":51463,"position":3},"title":"In Galatians 5:12, is Paul actually wishing that some would emasculate themselves?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: In\u00a0Galatians 5:12, is Paul actually wishing that those wanting to impose circumcision would emasculate themselves? Answer: The New King James Version renders this passage as: \"I could wish that those who trouble you would even cut themselves off!\" The New International Version states: \"As for those agitators, I wish\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":48821,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/circumcision\/","url_meta":{"origin":51463,"position":4},"title":"Circumcision","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Terry Wane Benton Circumcision was the cutting off of the foreskin of the males in Israel. Why was it done? It was a daily reminder that the offspring coming through these people (Israel) would one day bless all nations through the \"seed of Abraham\" (Genesis 12:1-4), and this mark\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12649,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/since-baptism-is-like-circumcision-then-isnt-it-unnecessary\/","url_meta":{"origin":51463,"position":5},"title":"Since baptism is like circumcision, then isn’t it unnecessary?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 9, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I would like to know, is it really important for a grown person to be baptized? If you feel like you are renewing your inner spirit man and reading the Bible and spending alone time with God, then isn't that enough? It's the same as what Paul describes circumcision\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51463","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=51463"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/51463\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=51463"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=51463"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=51463"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Response:<\/h2>\n