Yes, the heathen or the Gentiles are grafted into Israel, into a spiritual Israel, being filled with faith in God. They are obedient for Abraham believed God when God said, go and leave your home, and travel to the strange country that I will give you.

           
Abraham believed God. Abraham acted on that belief and obeyed God. That is faith. Faith is not just belief, it is action based on belief. We can believe all we want and if we do nothing about it, it has done us absolutely no good. We must believe God, and we must act on that belief by doing what God says.

           
So, then, they which are of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham.

           
Verse 10: For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continues not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

           
Paul is saying here, if you don't have faith and if you break the law in even the smallest point, you are cursed and you must pay the penalty for having broken the law. The penalty is death. And the only way to be saved from being forced to pay that penalty is to have faith in the promises and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ.

           
But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, the man that does them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, that is, the penalty of having broken the law, being made a curse for us, having died for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree.

           
The law itself is not a curse. It is a great blessing. But there is a curse of the law and the curse of the law is the penalty that must be paid when the law is broken. And when the law is broken, the penalty to be exacted is death.

           
And we can only be saved from that penalty through the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ and through our faith in Christ’s sacrifice and our faith in God. And at which point, we will be given God's spirit, and the spirit of Christ and of the Father will dwell in us, empowering us to keep the commandments.

           
And if we should slip now and then or here and there, we have faith that Christ sacrifice will atone for us. That does not justify continuing in sin. It does not justify habitual sin. But it is there to save us, when and if we do slip.

           
Verse 14: That the blessing of Abraham might come also on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

           
The Spirit of God, which empowers us to keep God's law, which imparts us with a very nature of God, that Holy Spirit is given through the promise of the spirit through faith. It is given because of our faith in the sacrifice of Christ and our willingness to obey Christ and the Father, and turn from our sins.

           
Brethren, I speak after the manner of men; Though it be but a man's agreement or covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man disannuls, or adds to it.

           
When you have a firm covenant or a contract with somebody, nobody can break it or disannul it or change it. It's there. There's a commitment made between two people.

           
Now, to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He said not, and to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

           
So, the promise of God to Abraham was that Abraham, your seed or your descendant shall bless all people.

           
And this I say, that the covenant, that was confirmed before of God in Christ, the law, which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot disannul that covenant or that promise that God made to Abraham, that it should make the promise of no effect.

           
That is, Jesus Christ acting as God before he was made flesh told Abraham, in your seed shall all flesh be blessed. And the law coming 430 years later at Sinai cannot disannul the promise that God made to Abraham. As a slight aside here, that is why the descendants of Abraham, that is, the tribes of Israel and Judaea are being blessed in this latter day.

           
The Mosaic covenant ended with the death of the husband. However, God's promises  have not ended. And he is keeping the promises he made to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph, to Moses that he would bless their descendants. And God is keeping his promise. And their descendants are being blessed at this time.

           
And because of the overspreading of our abominations, the blessing will be stopped and we will be corrected. But we are receiving the blessings that were promised to Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to Joseph and so on.

           
And Paul is here talking about the blessing of the coming of Christ, of the coming of Messiah and his sacrifice; for not just Jews but for all people of faith, all who would respond to the Father's call, all who would believe, all who would ask for the sacrifice of Christ to be applied to them, all who would ask in faith that the Holy Spirit be given to them.

           
This promise made to Abraham that all flesh shall be blessed through his seed; one of his descendants is firm and cannot be altered or change by subsequent covenants or laws. Therefore, the Mosaic covenant cannot alter the promise of Christ, that God made to Abraham.

           
For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of a promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

           
So, God's promise to Abraham was a promise and had nothing to do with the Mosaic covenant and the various laws. It was a personal promise of God to Abraham.

           
Verse 19: Wherefore, then, serveth the law? The law was added because of transgressions or wickedness, till the seed, that is, the one seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator. Now, a mediator is not a mediator of one, but God is one.

           
That is, a mediator mediates between two parties. A mediator does not just deal with one party. And there is one mediator between God and man and that is Jesus Christ. He came as our mediator, and our deliverer, and our sacrifice. And he mediates between us and God.

           
Is the law then against the promises of God?

           
Are God's commandments and the Mosaic covenant, somehow contrary to or against the promises of God? Of course not.

           
As Paul says, God forbid: for if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness should have been by the law.

           
But the law cannot provide life. It doesn't provide forgiveness. What provides forgiveness is the sacrificial law but not the law itself but the actual application of that law, the actual sacrifice of the Creator.

           
So, the righteousness should have been by the law. The scripture hath concluded that all are under sin, that the promise of faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them who believe. But before faith came, we were kept under law and shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

           
He's saying, until faith came in, until the sacrifice of Jesus Christ came into the picture, until Christ actually fulfilled his mission, we were all under the course of the law. We all face the penalty for having broken the law. We were all facing death for having broken the commandments.

           
It is when Christ’s sacrifice was made that we can then have faith in the sacrifice; that it atones for our sin. And faith enters into the picture and the concept of being killed for our sin fades away, as we are justified by our faith that Christ paid the penalty in our place.

           
Verse 24: Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. For after faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

           
When faith has come in to the picture, we are no longer facing the penalty of death.

           
For you are all the children of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

           
Christ is dwelling in you through the power of God's spirit. Therefore, and Paul is getting back to the point here.

           
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you be Christ, then are ye all Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

           
Paul comes back to the issue here. He is saying, you are not Jews and you are not Gentiles you are all heirs together of the promise of faith and the promise that the sacrifice of Christ would be made and has been made. You all have his sacrifice applied to you. You are all the children of Abraham because you are all filled with faith in Christ and in God.

           
This is the important thing. The important thing is not whether one is circumcised or not. In fact, circumcision is a sign of the Mosaic Covenant. But the sign of the New Covenant is not circumcision in the flesh, it is circumcision of the heart.

           
It is, the sign of the New Covenant is faith. Faith in Jesus Christ, faith in the Father, faith in the sacrifice that was applied to blot out our sins. Faith that the Spirit of God is given to us and dwells in us and empowers us to keep God's Commandments, that  empowers us to please God and it fills us with the love of God.

           
It is faith. We shall now live by faith; because before we were dead  having broken the law; and  sin is the transgression of the law, 1 John 3:4.

           
Sin is the transgression of the law. We have all broken the law at some point in our lives. Therefore, we are all under the penalty of the law which is death. And it is faith in Jesus Christ and his sacrifice, that that sacrifice has atoned for our sins and that we are brought into a proper relationship with God. And it is through that faith that the Holy Spirit can be given to us; and that spirit then empowers us to keep the commandments in the future.

           
Once a penalty for breaking a law has been paid, that does not in any way justify continuing to break the law. If you have a habit of going through red lights, and you go and pay a fine, and the next time you're caught, you tell the judge, "Well, I paid the fine last time, I have a right to do it from now on." He's going to laugh at you, and probably take away your license, and maybe give you a few days to cool off in the cell.

           
The fact is, when we pay a fine that pays for the past law breaking. It doesn't pay for any future law breaking. And that is true with God as well, and it is true with God's commandments. The sacrifice of Christ applied to us, atones for past law breaking. It does not permit us to indulge ourselves in future law breaking.

           
If we break the law in future, we must repent, and have the sacrifice applied again, or we will face the penalty for that particular act of law breaking.

           
And there'll come a time, if we habitually break the law and say apply your sacrifice, apply it, apply it, apply, he's going to get fed up with you. You're not sincere. You're not honest. You don’t really want to keep my commandments. You're not really trying to please me. I've had it with you, forget it. My sacrifice is not going to be applied to you anymore until you straighten up, and wake up, and start really genuinely repenting, and start really genuinely trying to please God.

           
Faith saves us from the penalty of sin, which is death. It is faith and the sacrifice of Christ which saves us. That faith does not entitle us to then go out and incur the penalty a second time, and a third, and a fourth, and on and on, and on. No. Faith in the sacrifice, atones for past sin, past law breaking; and allows us to be reconciled with God. And that atonement for  sin places us into a proper relationship with God and through faith, we are given God's Holy Spirit which will then empower us to keep his commandments from now on.

           
Now, Paul continues with his guidance and instruction to this people, trying to reconcile the Jews and the Gentile converts with each other, and make them realize that they are all part of the same body, and through faith, they are all the children of Abraham.

           
Chapter 4 of Galatians: Now, I say, that the heir or an heir, as long as he is a child, differs nothing from a servant, though he is the lord of all.

           
If you are inheriting a huge estate but you're still a child, you need to learn how to handle that responsibility before that responsibility can be given to you.

           
And the child is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father. Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. That is, we were subject to the evils of this world, to the lust of the flesh.

           
But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them which were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

           
He is saying here that Christ became flesh, made of a woman, under the law. That is Mary herself had at some point in her life committed some sin for sure, as we all have; and she was worthy to die. And Christ died for her, as much as for anybody else. For we are all facing the penalty of the law; until the atoning sacrifice of Christ is applied to us.

           
That we might receive the adoption of sons, Verse 6. And because you are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

           
So, the spirit of his son, that is, the spirit of Jesus Christ; the Holy Spirit is the spirit of Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ said, I can do nothing of myself. All things I have done by the Father. And again, he said: I have kept my Father's commandments.

           
And that same spirit will be given to you and you will be able to cry, Father, Father, with true genuine love and have a real, true, genuine relationship, a father-son relationship with him through the spirit of Christ dwelling in you as Christ was the Son of the Father, as Christ loved the Father, as Christ obeyed the Father. You with the spirit of the Son, the spirit of Christ will love the Father, will obey the Fatherl will please the Father. And will have the same kind of relationship with the Father that Jesus Christ had.

           
Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but you are a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

           
That is, when we have that kind of relationship with the Father and we become the sons of the Father, we are also heirs and will receive an inheritance of the Father along with Christ. We will be part of God's kingdom. Christ will be king of kings over all the earth and we will have a part, receiving a portion of that inheritance working with Christ as a brother and fellow heir.

           
Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are not gods. But now, after that ye have known God, or rather you are known of God, how is it, how can you turn again to the weaker and beggarly elements, whereunto you desire to be in bondage?

           
Paul is saying here, you have been justified by faith. Why would you go back into sin? Why would you go once again into the bondage of sin and of law breaking, when you have been liberated from that?

           
Verse 10: For you observe days, and months, and times, and years.

           
He's talking here about various Jewish things about fasting two or three times a week and doing special things on special days. He's talking about tradition here. He is not talking about God's commanded Sabbath or God's commanded holy days. He is talking about the traditions of men, as it says; he's talking about coming again into the weak and beggarly elements of this world.

           
The things of God are not weak and beggarly. They are holy and right and just and good as Paul says in another place, the law of God is holy. But why then do you seek to turn away from the things of God and go back to these beggarly, weak things? Go back to observing all of these traditions and so on, including the tradition of not eating with the Gentiles, unless they've been circumcised.

           
This is a tradition and it's wrong. It's wrong to say you can't go into a Gentiles' house least you become unclean when these Gentiles are converted and they are keeping the commandments, so why would you be unclean to associate with them? This attitude is wrong.

           
I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you my labors in vain. Brethren, I beseech you, be as I am; for I am as you are or as you should be: you have not injured me at all. You know how through infirmity of the flesh I preached the gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation, which was in my flesh you despised not, nor rejected; but received me as an angel of God, even as Jesus Christ. Where is then the blessedness you spake of? For I bear you record, that, if it had been possible, you would have plucked out your own eyes, and have given them to me.

           
Paul here is talking about a weakness in his sight as a result of him being struck down by that bright light on the road to Damascus. And God allowed him to have a partial distortion of his vision from the time forward as a continual reminder of what had been required to turn him to the truth.

           
Verse 16: Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

           
Paul is trying to emphasize to these people that what he is telling them is the truth, that they should remember that both Jews and Gentiles are the heirs of Abraham. They are the children of Abraham, the children of faith. And they should not look down on each other or refuse to associate with each other.

           
They zealously affect you, but not well; yea, they would exclude you, that you might affect them. But it is good to be zealously affected always in a good thing, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. Tell me, you that desire to be under the law, do you not hear the law? That is, you people who think the law can save you.

           
Do you not hear the law itself? For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he, who was of the bondwoman, was born after the flesh.

           
That is, this is an allegory. The one who was born of the bondwoman, the servant, was born after the flesh, is a likeness of the things of this world. But he who was born of the freewoman was by promise. That is, God had promised Abraham that his wife Sarah would have a son.

           
There was a promise there. And further, she was his legal, lawful wife. And these things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which genders to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

           
Paul is saying here that the physical Jerusalem is a type of the Mosaic covenant; made at Sinai. And there is no salvation promised there and there is no atonement or forgiveness for sin there. There is no promise of eternal life. There is no promise of the Holy Spirit. There is no promise of all these things.

           
The Mosaic covenant promises that God will bless the people. There will be a great and wealthy nation if, and that's a big if, they'll be faithful to the Covenant and obedient to their husband. And the whole book of Deuteronomy is a warning from Moses telling the people they must obey God to receive the blessings of the Mosaic covenant. And if they do not obey God, they will eventually have those blessings withdrawn and removed.

           
Now, the Mosaic covenant was to end because there was no salvation. The new covenant, which is a picture or pictured by the new Jerusalem. The new covenant is a heavenly thing, a divine thing in which the Creator God himself gives his life for his creation.

And those who are called and respond and have that sacrifice applied to them, can go forward in faith, justified before God to keep his commandments and to have a relationship as a true son of God the Father and as a man of faith, a true child of Abraham.

            
Paul is saying over and over and over again here that all those who are of faith and have the sacrifice of Christ applied to them, are the true children of Abraham. And those who are of the Mosaic covenant are under the penalty of sin because they lack faith and do not accept the sacrifice that could save them.

           
There was no effective atonement for sin in the Mosaic Covenant; because the death of lambs and cattle could not truly atone for sin; being of much less value than men. Those called during that dispensation were called in faith looking forward to the promise of the sacrifice of messiah for their sin. Later the Mosaic covenant ended with the death with one of the parties so there is no covenant anymore of the Mosaic type.  Atonement for sin is all about FAITH in God’s promise that the death of Messiah would truly atone for all sin repented of.

           
Now there is only the New Covenant and those who lack faith, regardless of whether they call themselves Jews or Hindus or whatever, if they lack faith in Christ, then the atonement of Christ, the sacrifice of Christ cannot be applied to them. Therefore, their law breaking cannot be atoned for.

           
For it is written, rejoice, thou barren that bears not; break forth and cry, thou that travails not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now, we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. But as then he that was born after the flesh.

           
That is, after the carnal manner, that is Abraham consorting with a slave, which was a matter of physical lust and not of lawful marriage, and not of a promise of God, but was consorting with a slave.

           
And he who was born, that is, Ishmael after the flesh, persecuted him that was born after the Spirit or after the promise, as Ishmael persecuted Isaac, even so it is now. Nevertheless what saith the scripture? It says, cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the freewoman. So, then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.

           
And we are heirs of God because we are a part of the new covenant of faith. Faith in the atoning sacrifice of Christ: Faith in the power of God's spirit. And we have a good relationship with God if we are filled with the spirit, and are keeping his commandments and in this way, we can call him our Father and he will call us his sons, and we shall receive a reward and an inheritance.

           
Chapter 5: Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, yes his sacrifice has made us free from having to pay the penalty of death, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage, which yoke is sin.

           
Once we are liberated from the penalty of sin, from the penalty of breaking the commandments through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and our faith in Christ and that sacrifice, we should not come again into bondage to sin. We should not continue in sin. We should rather turn our backs on sin and start keeping the commandments.

           
Behold, I, Paul, say unto you, that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing.

           
He is talking here about these Gentiles who are being told that they had to be circumcised to associate with the Jews. And he was saying, if you do that, if you allow this people to force you to be circumcised then Christ has profited you nothing. You haven't learned yet that you are the children of Abraham through faith in the sacrifice of Christ. It is not this physical act which saves you. It is the sacrifice of Christ which saves you.

           
Verse 3: For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.

           
That is, he is a debtor of the law. He faces the penalty for sin because he is looking to physical actions and has not faith toward Christ and toward God.

           
Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; you are fallen from grace.

           
There is the key. You cannot be justified by the law. You are justified through grace which is the pardon God gives us because of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Christ paid the penalty for us, therefore the Father pardons us. He reaches out and gives us grace or pardon. And in so doing, we are justified. But we cannot be justified by the law.

           
Let's read it again. Chapter 5 of Galatians, Verse 4: Christ is become of no effect unto you, whoever of you are justified by the law; you have fallen from grace. For we through the Spirit wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which works by love.

           
You did run well; who did hinder you that you should not obey the truth? This persuasion comes not of him that called you.

           
Paul is here saying, you were not persuaded that this was required; by God or by Christ who called you. You are persuaded of this by men. Men who wanted to force you to submit to their own ideas. No, you need to be circumcised in heart, in the spirit; and have that covering, that veil that comes between you and God, that veil of sin: removed.

           
What circumcision is; is the removal of a piece of skin, which acts a veil or a covering. Spiritually speaking in the New Covenant, it is the veil of sin which separates us from God which is removed by the sacrifice of Christ. That is spiritual New Covenant circumcision, the removal of the sin. And that is what saves us and that is what justifies us.

           
The removal of a piece of skin from the flesh accomplishes nothing except that it caused people to consider themselves to be part of the Mosaic covenant. It was a sign of the Mosaic covenant but it was not a sign of the removal of sin or of anything spiritual. The removal of this physical piece of skin was just simply a symbol of the Mosaic covenant.

           
Now, in this time; spiritual circumcision is the removal of that veil or barrier of sin that comes between us and God. And that can only be done through faith and the sacrifice of Christ. And we cannot be justified by cutting off a piece of skin from off our bodies. We must have the sin removed; and sin is the transgression of the law. Therefore, when Christ’s sacrifice is applied to us and that barrier, that veil of sin is removed, we must make sure it stays removed by stopping our sinning.

           
We must not sin anymore because if we sin again, that wall, that veil, that covering goes right back up again and separates us from God again. We need to make sure that that veil, that wall goes down to the sacrifice of Christ and is demolished through our faith in his sacrifice and we must make sure that it is not built up again by continuing in sin.

           
A little leaven leavens the whole lump. Meaning, as it says in another place, when you're breaking the law on one point, you have broken all of it. You have broken the whole law. The whole point here is that a little bit of something which is wrong, or a false teaching; pollutes the whole lump. Even a small sin pollutes us and separates us from God.

           
I have, confidence in you through the Eternal, that you will be none otherwise minded: but he that troubled you shall bear his judgment, whosoever he is. And I, brethren, if I yet preach circumcision, why do I yet suffer persecution? Then is the offence of the cross ceased. I would they were even cut off which trouble you.

           
For, brethren, you have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh or an occasion to sin, but by love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one thing; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed of one another.

           
That is, if you're continually attacking one another, that's wrong. There is no love in that. Take heed lest you destroy one another or consume one another.

           
This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

           
If you walk in the spirit of God, you're not going to be divided against God. You're not going to fulfill the lust of the flesh. You are not going to sin.

           
For the flesh lust against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that you cannot do the things that you would.

           
That is, the things of God are contrary to the things of the flesh and the things of this world.

           
But if you are led of the Spirit, you are not under the law or you are not facing the penalty for having broken the law because being led of the spirit, the spirit will lead you to keep God's commandments.

           
Now, the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

           
Consider, they which do such things shall not be in the first fruit, shall not be in the resurrection, shall not receive eternal life, shall not inherit the Kingdom of God. Go back over these, and read these things, and do some meditation about envying, and emulation, and wrath, and strife, and heresies, sedition, and idolatry, and witchcraft. Think about these things. Look them up, define them and make that a good personal Bible study to learn because these are the things that will keep you out of God's kingdom, besides the actual commandment breaking itself.

           
These are the things Paul is mentioning here. These are the heart and core of the lust of the flesh which lead to commandment breaking. Commandment breaking is sin but sin always starts with a thought, an idea, a concept, a lust. And those are the things Paul is talking about here.

           
Give it some consideration and do some study because they will keep you out of God's kingdom.

           
Verse 22: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts thereof.

           
If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit or conduct our behavior, conduct ourselves in spiritual manner. Let us not be desirous of vain glory or provoking one another or envying one another.

           
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual or spiritually minded, restore such a one in the spirit of meekness; considering yourself, lest you also be tempted. Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he is deceiving himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. For every man shall bear his own burden. That is, everyone will be judged by his own conduct.

           
Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teaches in all good things. Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap. For he that sows to his flesh, that is physical things and the lust of the flesh and breaks the commandment of God shall of the flesh reap corruption and correction from God; but he that sows to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

           
You see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand. As many as desire to make a fair show in the flesh, they for sure constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ.

           
And here, Paul is getting down to the meat of the very concept of why people who were of Jewish or Pharisaical persuasion; of why Jewish converts were forcing the Gentiles to be converted.

           
It is because they were afraid of the other Jews. And they were afraid that if they consorted with Gentiles then the whole big basic community of Pharisees would reject them. And they didn't want this. They wanted to make a show of physical things so that they could have the pretense of doing things in the Christian, Christ like way; but still be accepted by the Pharisees.

           
Verse 12, lest they should suffer persecution. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law. See they were circumcised on the eight day of their birth, but they didn't keep the commandments. They go around sinning.

           
The Pharisees did all kinds of sins. You can read that in the gospel in the words of Christ. They did a lot of things that were not right. But they were circumcised and they were proud of that circumcision.

           
For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.

           
That is, these people don't keep God's commandments but they're trying to force you to be circumcised so they can say, oh look at the converts I made and look at how righteous I am because I got these people to agree with me.

           
Verse 14: But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, that is, in the sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world. For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new person. And as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them, and mercy, and upon the Israel of God.

           
From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus. Brethren, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit. Amen.

           
The whole subject of this book is about certain Pharisees converted to the faith, who are afraid of persecution by the larger Jewish community, or the Pharisees. And they wanted to make a show in the flesh that they would not associate with Gentiles unless those Gentiles were circumcised.

           
Under the Mosaic covenant, a Gentile could be grafted into Israel if he was circumcised, and committed to keeping the commandments. And these people, these Jewish people, these Pharisees who are newly converted wanted to make a show that they were not going to associate with these people, these Gentiles who were converted, who had that veil of sin removed by faith in Christ and a spiritual circumcision. But they were going to somehow make a show for the rest of the Jewish community that they were still not associating with these Gentiles so that they could maintain their standing in the community and they could sort of conceal their new faith from them in order to avoid persecution. That is the root and core of it.

           
And Paul is saying over, and over, and over again; here that men are justified by FAITH. That is, sin is atoned for through faith in the sacrifice of Christ. And we can go forward from there, living in a spiritual manner, we can stop sinning, repenting from sin, turning away from sin. But the only atonement that exists for past sin is the sacrifice of Christ and our faith in that sacrifice. And that all people of faith who had accepted and had their sins atoned for through the sacrifice of Christ are the children of Abraham.

           
They are the children of faith. And one group should not lift up their noses and turn away from others because of some physical thing or because they are afraid of being persecuted if they do associate. We are all brethren, we are all of faith and we all need to associate with one another, love one another, help one another, encourage one another and be true brothers and sisters, true brethren in Christ.

           
And we should not look down our noses on somebody in the faith because they were of a different race or because they have minor little differences. Like one person might think, well, you know I don't eat meat. I want to be a vegetarian. Well, fine, if that's how you feel, that's between you and God. It's not my business. Okay?

           
And that's the attitude we need to have toward these things. We have to say, let's not let the little physical things separate us as brothers. Let's all stand together, as long as we have faith in God and Christ, as long as we are keeping God's commandments, as long as we are trying our best, we should be loving one another, working together, helping one another, supporting one another in every way that we can.

           
This idea that some group of people doesn't want to associate with another part of the brotherhood because they're afraid of persecution is wrong. It is not godly love and it is not loyalty to the household of faith. Therefore, it is sin.

           
And that's what the book of Galatians is talking about. It's talking about faith. It's talking about justification from sin through the sacrifice of Christ, its talking about turning AWAY from commandment breaking and about refusing to build again the sinful conduct of the past: and it's talking about brotherly love, and loyalty, and not being afraid of persecution by outsiders who are not really converted.

The Book of Galatians is about LOVE FOR ALMIGHTY GOD AND THE BRETHREN.  A LOVE BORN OF FAITH AND TRUST IN GOD!!!

james david malm   copyright 2010