The True Gospel is Reaffirmed to the Galatians Volume 29

Paul’s Final Unmasking of the Judaizing Teachers to the Galatians

Galatians 6:11-13 Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you with mine own hand.  As many as desire to make a fair shew in the flesh, they constrain you to be circumcised; only lest they should suffer persecution for the cross of Christ. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. KJV

Paul concludes his letter to these Galatians by declaring to them that this letter was so important to him that he chose on this occasion to write these most crucial words with his own hands. Paul used someone to transcribe his other letters, for example Paul’s letter to the Roman believers was written or transcribed by Tertius as declared by these words in the actual letter, “I Tertius, who wrote this epistle, salute you in the Lord.” (Romans 16:22). Whether there was a physical impediment (eye trouble?) that caused Paul to transcribe all of his other letters we do not know, but what we do know here with this letter is that Paul wanted these Galatians to know that this letter to them came directly from his own hands.

Paul ends where he began his letter with the sounding of an alarm (as we declared in the last study also) (Galatians 1:6-7) to these Galatian converts warning them of the motive of these Judaizing teachers for wanting them to be circumcised. Paul declares that their motive of compelling the Galatians to be circumcised and observe the Mosaic Law was to fend off or ward off the persecution from their fellow Jews as Paul suffered declared with these words by Dr. Luke, “When the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon seeing him in the temple, began to stir up all the crowd and laid hands on him, crying out, ‘Men of Israel, come to our aid! This is the man who preaches to all men everywhere against our people and the Law and this place; and besides he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.’ For they had previously seen Trophimus the Ephesian in the city with him, and they supposed that Paul had brought him into the temple. Then all the city was provoked, and the people rushed together, and taking hold of Paul they dragged him out of the temple, and immediately the doors were shut. While they were seeking to kill him, a report came up to the commander of the Roman cohort that all Jerusalem was in confusion. At once he took along some soldiers and centurions and ran down to them; and when they saw the commander and the soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.” (Acts 21:27-32).

As we see from this documentation of Paul’s treatment, it was not popular to declare the true Gospel of Grace among many Jews; therefore, the Judaizing teachers perverted the Gospel by adding to it circumcision and the Mosaic Law keeping appeasing the Jews and gaining favor or goodwill with them, while at the same time exploiting and manipulating some of the Galatians in order to get financial gain from them. It was not their deep reverence for the “Law of Moses” that motivated these Judaizing teachers, for they did not keep or isolate the “Law of Moses” in their hearts and minds guarding it, but their desire was to boast everywhere of the quantity or number of their personal converts. These men were not interested in these Galatians or anyone else for that matter coming into a real relationship with the God of Abraham (Genesis 26:24), but they wanted glory for themselves among men. These Judaizing teachers wanted the praise of men (Jew and Gentile) when people saw how many followers they had. These men were boasters and Paul dealt with the Jews in this matter of boasting in themselves and in the “Law of Moses” in his letter to the Romans when he wrote, “You who boast in the Law, through your breaking the Law, do you dishonor God? For ‘the name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you,’ just as it is written. For indeed circumcision is of value if you practice the Law; but if you are a transgressor of the Law, your circumcision has become uncircumcision.” (Romans 2:23-25).

These Judaizing teachers made a fine outward impression among people, but they did not have any inward desire to please God as our Lord Jesus declared with these words to the Scribes and Pharisees, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but inside they are full of robbery and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee, first clean the inside of the cup and of the dish, so that the outside of it may become clean also. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness. So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:25-28). It was the intention and motivation of these Judaizing teachers to make the Galatians believe that they too were followers of Jesus Christ while at the same time making the Jewish followers of the Mosaic Law think that they too kept the Law of Moses, when in reality both were deceptions perpetrated by these men for their own glory of living out what they perceived to be the good life. The Judaizing teachers were selling something that did not even exist or that was not real and that was a melding, mixing, and merging of Christianity with Judaism to form a monstrosity that would only damn souls eternally and not save souls eternally.

My own Personal Note: If someone cares more about what other human beings think of them (their character, their motives, their desires) rather than what God knows about them internally, then that soul is destined for eternal destruction regardless of what legacy they may leave here on the earth that mankind may lift up and esteem for many years.

“So far are they from a real zeal for it. But yet they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh - That they may boast of you as their proselytes, and make a merit of this with the other Jews.” John Wesley

“The policy of the Judaizers was dishonorable both in spirit and in aim. They were false to Christ in whom they professed to believe; and to the law which they pretended to keep. They were facing both ways, studying the safest, not the truest course, anxious in truth to be friends at once with the world and Christ. Their conduct has found many imitators, in men who ‘make godliness a way of gain,’ whose religious course is dictated by considerations of worldly self-interest. A little persecution, or social pressure, is enough to ‘turn them out of the way.’ They cast off their Church obligations as they change their clothes, to suit the fashion. Business patronage, professional advancement, a tempting family alliance, the entree into some select and envied circle-such are the things for which creeds are bartered, for which men put their souls and the souls of their children knowingly in peril. Will it pay?-this is the question which comes in with a decisive weight in their estimate of matters of religious profession and the things pertaining to God. But ‘what shall it profit?’ is the question of Christ.” Expositor’s Bible Commentary

If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ and His amazing healing power, pray this from your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ (you speaking directly to Him), Dear Lord Jesus, I confess to You that I am a sinner and I need Your forgiveness. I believe You shed Your Blood and died for my sins. I believe that You rose from the dead proving that You alone are God. I repent of my sins. I want to turn from my sins. I ask You Dear Lord Jesus to come into my heart and take control of my life. I want You to be my Lord, Savior, and my God. Amen...


Sincerely in Christ,


Clifford D. Tate, Sr.

Author of “Silent Assassins of the Soul - Are you Broken by Pornography and Masturbation? You can be Restored by the Lord Jesus Christ and brought into Deliverance, Freedom, and Victory! A Guide for Men and Women in the Enemy’s Crosshairs” e-book available now @ Amazon Kindle, @ Apple I Bookstore for IPod, Barnes and Noble for Nook, Reader Store for Sony Reade, Kobo, Copia, Gardners, Baker and Taylor, and eBookPie…