You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source, of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth.
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.
