“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love” (Gal. 5:6).
This is the climax of Paul’s argument in answer to the “Pharisees, which believed,” who preached to those who were saved by faith of Jesus Christ, that “except ye be circumcised and keep the law, ye cannot be saved.”
The force of it is more fully discerned when there is understood just what was claimed for circumcision, and what it represented to those who there preached it. By them it was held that “so great is circumcision, that, but for it, the Holy One, blessed be he, would not have created the world:” that “but for circumcision, heaven and earth could not exist;” “it is as great as all the other commandments;” and “how great is circumcision, since it is equivalent to ALL the commandments of the law?” Thus, in their estimation, he who was circumcised had, in that, all the keeping of all the commandments. How this emphasizes the weight of that sentence of Paul’s: “I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law.” Instead of his having in circumcision all the keeping of the commandments, he had by that none of it at all; but was still in debt to do the whole law, with nothing at all wherewith to pay.
From the value, which they gave to circumcision, it is easy to see how the “Pharisees, which believed” could insist that persons who believed in Jesus, and so were saved by the faith of Jesus, must yet be circumcised in order to be saved. This was so, and was so easy, simply because to them circumcision was greater than was Jesus; and because to them, in every sense, circumcision stood exactly in the place that Christ in truth occupies.
Thus the question involved between Christianity and “the Pharisees, which believed,” the question which was settled by the Holy Spirit, and which is made plain in Galatians, is: Are men saved by faith of Christ, or by something else? Is Christ the true Saviour, or is something else the savior?
Yet, in reality, though that was the question, it did not stand exactly that way. Notice: the people to whom came preaching the “Pharisees, which believed,” were already believers in Jesus; and the “Pharisees, which believed” did not say that men should not believe in Jesus. They admitted that it is proper to believe in Jesus. They themselves professed to believe in Jesus. But they insisted that the faith of Jesus is not enough to save: salvation must be by the faith of Jesus and something else.
Therefore the question in reality stood: Is Christ alone sufficient for salvation? Or must salvation be by Christ and something else?
Does faith in Christ alone, save the soul? Or must salvation be by faith in Christ and something else?