Galatians 6:13

Gal 6:13. Αὐτοὶ, they themselves) So far from it being their interest, that the law should be observed by you.—σαρκὶ, in your flesh) if it be circumcised.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gal_6:13. They have no other design than merely that stated in Gal_6:12 (ἵνα τῷ σταυρῷ κ.τ.λ.). For so far from its being their aim, by the enforcement of circumcision, to re-establish the observance of the law among you, not even the circumcised (who are in question) themselves, for their own part, keep the law, but διʼ ἀνθρωπίνην φιλοτιμίαν ταῦτα πάντα γίνεται ὑπὲρ ἀρεσκείας τῶν ἀπίστων, Chrysostom.

οἱ περιτετμημένοι] is said contemptuously, and with indignation, of the fraternity of the false apostles, of whom it might at least have been expected that they themselves would combine obedience to the law with their being circumcised.1[267] Comp. Stallbaum, ad Euthyphr. p. 12; Fritzsche, ad Marc. p. 613. But the ground for their non-observance of the Mosaic law is conceived by Paul to be, neither their distance from Jerusalem (Theodoret and others; also Schott), nor the general impossibility of a complete fulfilment of the law (Jerome, Estius; comp. Usteri),both of which would be exculpatory, and wholly unsuited to the idea of the worthlessness of the persons concerned,but the hypocritical badness of these people (comp. Gal_6:12). It is true that, amongst the Jews generally, notwithstanding their self-conceit, there was a deficiency in their obedience to the law (Rom_2:17-23); but an observance of the law might have been expected at all events from these περιτετμημένοι, who were such champions for circumcision and insisted on it so much (Gal_6:12). Yet not even they themselves, etc.

ἵνα ἐν τῇ ὑμετ. σαρκί καυχ.] The σάρξ is not to be here taken again in an ethical sense, as in Gal_6:12 (Wieseler, comp. Ewald); but, according to the close and definite connection with περιτέμνεσθαι, it must be taken as referring to the corporeal nature, so far as it is in it that circumcision takes place (Eph_2:11; Col_2:13). The emphasis is, however, on ὑμετέρᾳ;[268] hence Olshausen is the more wrong in finding a contrastwhich is quite out of place hereto the souls, which those false teachers ought to have sought after. The antithetic element of τῇ ὑμετ. lies in the conceit of the περιτετμημένοι as to their own circumcision, as the correlate of which the circumcision of the Galatian Gentile Christians, to be effected by them, was to be the subject of their boasting. But this sentence of purpose is parallel to the ἵνα τῷ σταυρῷ κ.τ.λ. contained in Gal_6:12, seeing that the pseudo-apostles in fact by this intended boastingof their diffusion of theocratic Judaism by the circumcision of Gentile Christians which they procuredthought to avert the persecutions of the Jews; Theophylact: ἵνα ἐν τῷ κατακόπτειν τὴν ὑμετέραν σάρκα καυχήσωνται ὡς διδάσκαλοι ὑμῶν καὶ μαθητὰς ὑμᾶς ἔχοντες. It is a καυχάσθαι, in the face not of heathenism (Holsten), but of the non-Christian Judaism, from whose side the persecution on account of the cross of Christ (Gal_6:12) was threatened.

[267] 1 As at any rate the false teachers are meant, and these were Jewish Christians, the reading περιτεμνόμενοι is plainly absurd. They were, in fact, not subjected to circumcision (Reithmayr), but circumcised, and could not therefore be designated, according to their quality as Jews (Moeller on de Wette), as περιτεμνόμενοι (present). See especially Reiche, p. 93. The idea that these people were formerly Gentiles, part of whom were still on the point of accepting circumcision, and that their adherents are included (de Wette), is quite as unhistorical (see Act_15:1; Act_15:5; 2Co_11:22; Act_11:20-22) as the makeshift of Hilgenfeld is groundless: that among those false teachers (the circumcision-people) the act of circumcision had still continued, not merely outwardly in the reception of the newly-born and proselytes (in that case Paul must have said οἱ περιτέμνοντες), but also inwardly, by virtue of the significance ascribed to it. In his Zeitschr. 1860, p. 220, Hilgenfeld appeals to οἱ περιτεμνόμενοι in the Act. Petr. et Pauli, 63; but wrongly, because there (see the sequel) the subject is moral circumcision. The view of Neander is also mistaken, p. 366. According to Wieseler and Matthias, who likewise read περιτεμνόμενοι, the περιτεμνόμενοι were those among the Galatian Gentile Christians, who, led away by the pseudo-apostles, allowed themselves to be circumcised. In that case we must with these expositors make the seducers themselves, the pseudo-apostles, the subject of θέλουσιν. But this view is intolerable; how could Paul enable the reader to guess this change of subject? The subject of φυλάσσ. must also be the subject of θέλουσιν, or else Paul must have written as awkwardly as possible. Consequently the subject of both the verbs can only be the false apostles, who, however, were περιτετμημένοι, and not περιτεμνόμενοι.Hofmann and Holsten are of opinion that the present participle is intended to denote the Jews generally, inasmuch as circumcision was in use among them. Against this view it may be decisively urged, that the subjects of the following θέλουσιν can be no other than οἱ περιτεμνόμενοι, and thus likewise the Israelites generally (as Hofmann consistently explains it); nevertheless these θέλοντες (ver. 13) must necessarily be the very same as those to whom the θέλουσιν in ver. 12 applies, and therefore not the Jews generally, but the Judaistic adversaries. Moreover, to these only is the οὐδέ, not even, suitable, which presupposes in those concerned a higher degree of obligation than in the case of others who were bound to obey the law. The forced expedient of Holsten is highly arbitrary: that Paul included the false teachers (consequently, according to our reading and interpretation, the περιτετμημένοι) in the category of those circumcising themselves (and therefore the περιτεμνόμενοι).

[268] Not on σαρκί (Matthias, Holsten), as if Paul had written τῇ σαρκὶ ὑμῶν. Comp. 2Co_8:8, Rom_11:31, 1Co_15:31, where the pronoun, rarely used by Paul, is likewise emphatic.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gal 6:13 . περιτεμνόμενοι . The present participle is more appropriate than the perfect περιτετμημένοι , which is read by some MSS.: for the author has in mind the adoption of a system, as in Gal 5:3 .

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That they have entangled you in Judaism, and yet he harpeth on the form of circumcision.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Translate, "For not even do they who submit to circumcision, keep the law themselves (Rom 2:17-23), but they wish you (emphatical) to be circumcised," &c. They arbitrarily selected circumcision out of the whole law, as though observing it would stand instead of their non-observance of the rest of the law.

that they may glory in your flesh--namely, in the outward change (opposed to an inward change wrought by the SPIRIT) which they have effected in bringing you over to their own Jewish-Christian party.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 13. Neither they themselves who are circumcised] They receive circumcision and profess Judaism, not from a desire to be conformed to the will of God; but Judaism was popular, and the more converts the false teachers could make; the more occasion of glorying they had, and they wished to get those Christian converts, who had been before proselytes of the gate, to receive circumcision, that they might glory in their flesh. Behold my converts! Thus they gloried, or boasted, not that the people were converted to God, but that they were circumcised.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. For neither they who hold by circumcision keep the law. The old version and Erasmus translate thus: who are circumcised. But Paul appears to me to refer to teachers only; and for this reason I would prefer to render the words, those who hold by circumcision, which would not include all circumcised persons, and thus would avoid ambiguity. The meaning is, “It is not from a strong attachment to the law that they bind you with the yoke of ceremonies; for, even with their own circumcision, they do not keep the law. It is no doubt under the pretext of the law that they require you to be circumcised; but, though they have themselves been circumcised, they do not perform what they enjoin upon others.” When he says, indeed, that they do not keep the law, it is doubtful whether he refers to the whole law, or to ceremonies. Some understand him as saying that the law is an intolerable burden, and therefore they do not satisfy its demands. But he rather insinuates against them a charge of insincerity, because, except when it suited their own designs, they found themselves at liberty to despise the law.

Even now this disease rages everywhere with virulence. You will find many who are prompted more by ambition than by conscience to defend the tyranny of the papal system. I speak of our courtly apostles, who are attracted by the smell of a kitchen, and who pronounce, with an air of authority, that the decrees of the holy Church of Rome must be observed with reverence. And what is their own practice all the while! They pay no more regard to any decisions of the Roman see than to the braying of an ass, but they take care to avoid personal risk. In short, Paul had the same kind of controversy with those impostors as we now have with hypocritical professors of the gospel, who hold out to us a monstrous union between Christ and the Pope. Paul therefore declares that they are not acting the part of honest men, and that they have no other object in enjoining circumcision than to boast to the Jews of the converts they have made. Such is the import of the words, that they may glory in your flesh. “They wish to triumph over you, and to gratify their own desire of applause, by offering up your mutilated flesh to the false zealots of the law, as a token of peace and harmony.”

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(13) Their insincerity is shown by the fact that they are not really careful to observe the Law. What they do is only to serve as a blind, that they may be able to point to your mutilated flesh as the visible sign of their success in gaining proselytes.

They themselves who are circumcised.—The expression in the Greek includes, not only those who were circumcised themselves, but also those who were for circumcising others.

Glory in your flesh.—Make a boast of getting this rite performed upon your bodies.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. He justifies the imputation of a bad motive, by a fact which cannot be denied. The Judaizers could not pretend that they so complied with the terms of the Law as perfectly to fulfil its requirements. They could not be justified by the Law. They acknowledged in some sense their need of Christ. And if so, why impose one of the legal ceremonies as necessary to salvation? Their real object is to gain a party triumph, that they may make Christian converts into Jewish proselytes.

neither they themselves] Better, ‘not even they themselves’.

who are circumcised] Lit. ‘the circumcised’, those on whom the rite is imposed as a condition of salvation, and therefore of course those also who imposed it. Another rendering, for which there is considerable authority, is, ‘who have been circumcised’. It does not, however, suit the argument so well as the present participle.

keep the law] This does not refer, as some suppose, to the impossibility of keeping strictly the ceremonial law, owing to the distance of many from Jerusalem and similar causes, nor to the insincerity of the men themselves, who were not enough in earnest to observe it rigorously; but, as explained above, to the moral impossibility of fulfilling the Law, on which St Paul so frequently insists, owing to the fallen nature of man.

glory in your flesh] boast in your submission to an outward ordinance. See note on Gal_6:12. In the later history of the Church there have been instances of the same tendency on the part of those who have gloried in the number of converts admitted to Baptism, without regard to the spiritual change of which it is the token and pledge.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

But God forbid that I should glory,.... The apostle, on the contrary, expresses his aversion to glorying in anything these men did; not in his outward carnal privileges, as a Jew; nor in his moral, civil, and legal righteousness; nor in his gifts and attainments; nor in his labours and success, as of himself; nor in the flesh of others, or in any outward corporeal subjection to any ordinance, legal or evangelical; his glorying and rejoicing were rather in the spirituality, the faith, hope, love, patience, order, and steadfastness of the saints, than in anything in the flesh, either his own or others: and indeed he chose not to glory in any thing,

save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ; meaning either the infirmities, reproaches, tribulations, and persecutions, which he endured for the sake of Christ, and the preaching of his Gospel; or the Gospel, the doctrine of the cross of Christ, and salvation by it: or rather a crucified Christ himself, whom he preached; though counted foolishness by some, and was a stumbling to others: he gloried in him, and determined to know, and make known, none but him, in the business of salvation; he gloried in him as crucified, and in his cross; not in the wood of the cross, but in the effects of his crucifixion; in the peace, pardon, righteousness, life, salvation, and eternal glory, which come through the death of the cross; he gloried in Christ as his wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption:

by whom the world is crucified to me: so that he feared not the worst men, and things in it, any more than he would one that was fastened to a cross, or dead; since Christ, by his crucifixion and death, had overcome the world, the prince of it, the men and malice of it, the sin that was in it, and had made him more than a conqueror also; his faith in a crucified Christ overcame the world likewise; so that he looked upon it as the Israelites saw the Egyptians, dead on the sea shore; nor did he affect and love, but trampled upon and despised, as crucified persons generally are, those things in it which are the most alluring to the flesh, the lusts of it; the doctrine of grace, of a crucified Christ, taught him to deny the riches, honours, pleasures, profits, and applause of the world; which were to him as dross, in comparison of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord: the ceremonial law also, the elements of the world, were dead unto him, being nailed to the cross of Christ, to be of no further use and service unto men:

and I unto the world; that is, am crucified to the world, as the Syriac and Arabic versions express it; that is, he was despised by the world for the sake of a crucified Christ, as the world was by him, in comparison of him; the world had no affection for him, as he had none for the world; and as the ceremonial law was dead to him, so he was dead to that, through the body of Christ, and had nothing to do with these beggarly elements, nor they with him, which sense is confirmed by the following words.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

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

Ver. 13. Keep the law] Rom 2:23. Jerome doubteth not to pronounce that man accursed, that saith it is impossible to keep the law. Sed quid visum sit Hieronymo, nihil moramur; nos quid verum sit inquirimus, saith Calvin. But let Jerome hold as he will, we know there is no such thing.

That they may glory in your flesh] That they may pride themselves in the multitude of their followers, and curry favour with the Jews by gaining many proselytes.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For neither they themselves who are circumcised - The Jewish teachers, or perhaps all Jews. It was true in general that the Jews did not wholly and entirely obey the Law of Moses, but it is probable that the apostle refers particularly here to the judaizing teachers in Galatia.

Keep the law - The Law of Moses, or the Law of God. Paul’s idea is, that if they were circumcised they brought themselves under obligation to keep the whole law of God; see the note at Gal 5:3. But they did not do it.

(1) No person perfectly observes the whole law of God.

(2) The Jewish nation as such were very far from doing it.

(3) It is probable that these persons did not pretend even to keep the whole Law of Moses.

Paul insists on it that if they were circumcised, and depended on that for salvation, they were under obligation to keep the whole law. But they did not. Probably they did not offer sacrifice, or join in any of the numerous observances of the Jewish nation, except some of the more prominent, such as circumcision. This, says Paul, is inconsistent in the highest degree; and they thus show their insincerity and hypocrisy.

That they may glory in your flesh - In having you as converts, and in persuading you to be circumcised, that they may show their zeal for the Law, and thus escape persecution. The phrase “in your flesh” here, is equivalent to “in your circumcision;” making use of your circumcision to promote their own importance, and to save themselves from persecution.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

In this the hypocrisy of your false teachers discovereth itself, that whereas, by their being circumcised, they had declared themselves debtors to the whole law, and under an obligation entirely to keep it if they would be saved, yet they themselves did not keep it; only they were very zealous for this one thing, not out of any love they had to the law, but that they might glory of you, as their converts, being by them persuaded to be circumcised.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the Law (oujde gamenoi aujtoimon fulassousin); for neither do they who are being circumcised themselves keep the Law; or, for not even. they who are being circumcised, themselves keep the Law. It is doubtful whether the oujde accentuates the main idea of the clause, (see note on Gal_1:12) or only the single term, "they who are being circumcised," as inmenoi Joh_7:5 it accentuates "his brethren." "For;" pointing back to the words," only that," "for no other reason than that," of the previous verse. The apostle means, it is from no zeal for the Law itself that they do what they do, for they are at no pains to keep the Law; but only with the object of currying favour with the Jews. The present participle periteuno) is the reading more generally accepted, though the perfect peritetmhmenoi has a competing amount of documentary authentication. The perfect is so much the easier reading to understand ("not even those who have actually been circumcised") as to be much more likely to be a correction displacing peritemnomenoi than the converse hypothesis of the latter being a correction of the other borrowed from ver. 3. "They who are being circumcised" may be understood of a party, including those who first set the movement ageing, who were one after another undergoing the rite. Another turn is given to this participial phrase, as meaning "who are eager for circumcision," "who are all for being circumcised, the circumcision party." Bishop Lightfoot is in favour of this view, referring to "the apt quotation" from an apocryphal book, in which the phrase appears used in this very sense (see his note). It is a sense grammatically difficult to sustain from the usage of the New Testament; for oJ diwkwnssw of Gal_1:23, which has been cited on its behalf, does not bear it out. But the passion of scorn with which the apostle writes make the supposed strain upon strict grammatical propriety not altogether improbable. "Themselves;" this is inserted with allusion to the zeal shown by those men, both the first promoters and those drawn in by them, in urging upon others the observance, not indeed of the whole Law, but of certain of its prescriptions. The verb fula) is used similarly in Rom_2:26; mon, Act_21:24. The sense seems founded upon the notion of watching the Law to see what it requires, as one is endeavouring to carry it out. The article is wanting before no though specifically denoting the Law of Moses, as in Rom_2:25, Rom_2:27, and often. But desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh (ajllalousin uJmav peritemnesqai ina ejn th uJmetera sarkiswntai); but they desire you to receive circumcision, that in your flesh they may have whereof to glory. The conjunction ajlla is used in its proper original sense, "instead of that." All that they want is that in their intercourse with the Jews they may have your circumcision to refer to as evidence of the high respect which they and you as influenced by them have for the Law. "See! so far from trampling upon the Law, we and these our brethren too are adopting the very badge of the servants of the Law." The word "flesh" is in this clause used in its strictly literal signification. The account which the apostle here gives of the motives actuating this particular section of Judaizing reactionaries was no doubt grounded on specific information which he had just received. But such information, both in respect to its general probability and to its grave importance, was doubtless corroborated to his own mind by large experience which he had had elsewhere among the Gentile Churches of the behaviour of unsteady and imperfectly instructed Gentile converts. In almost every important place where Gentiles were won to the faith, there were previously existing communities of Jews; (Act_15:21) and contact with these must have given rise to an endless diversity of relations both of attraction and of repulsion. Everywhere, from the very first, the contact of Christianity with Judaism gave birth to varying phases of Judaico-Christian-ism such as afterwards developed into monstrous forms of error. It was no new thing with the apostle that he should find himself called upon to check, on the part of weak or insincere brethren, a tendency to draw towards Judaism at the cost of not merely unseemly but even fundamentally fatal compliances. The peril was always very near, and had to be constantly watched and guarded against.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

For neither they themselves keep the whole law - 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, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

VERSE 13. For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.

In other words: "I shall tell you what kind of teachers you have now. They avoid the Cross, they teach no certain truths. They think they are performing the Law, but they are not. They have not the Holy Spirit and without Him nobody can keep the Law." Where the Holy Ghost does not dwell in men there dwells an unclean spirit, a spirit that despises God and turns every effort at keeping the Law into a double sin.

Mark what the Apostle is saying: Those who are circumcised do not fulfill the Law. No self-righteous person ever does. To work, pray, or suffer apart from Christ is to work, pray, and to suffer in vain, "for whatsoever is not of faith is sin." It does a person no good to be circumcised, to fast, to pray, or to do anything, if in his heart he despises Christ.

"Why do the false apostles insist that you should be circumcised? Not for the sake of your righteousness," although they give that impression, but "that they may glory in your flesh." Now what sort of an ambition is that? Worst of all, they force circumcision upon you for no other reason than the satisfaction they get out of your submission.

Martin Luther — Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians (1535), English translation by Theodore Graebner (Zondervan, 1939) — public domain (U.S. copyright not renewed). Text from a community e-Sword module.

For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law; but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh . [In taking the pen in his own hand it was natural that he should show his earnestness in what he had dictated about circumcision and the Judaizers, tracing with his own fingers a line or two more on that subject. This, therefore, he does, telling them that all those who desire to make a fair show in the flesh, i. e., to please men by complying with worldly demand, seek to compel them (the Galatians) to be circumcised. They did this for no zeal for circumcision, but in order to escape the persecution of their Jewish brethren for adherence to the doctrine of the cross. Moreover, these Judaizers who were thus urging circumcision did not do so from any zeal for the law, for they made no effort themselves to keep it, but they did it that they might boast to other strict and unconverted Jews how they were making Jews out of Gentile Christians. Thus their motives were not religious and holy, but base and selfish.]

J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

13. For neither they themselves. They do not keep the law in all its details, but want to bring you under it that they may boast of their Gentile proselytes. Glory in your flesh. Glory because circumcision has made marks in your flesh.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

13. οἱ περιτεμνόμενοι אACDKP vulg. syrr. οἱ περιτετμημένοι B(G)L Westcott and Hort marg.

13. οὐδὲ γὰρ. I attribute this unworthy reason of fear to them, for etc.

οἱ περιτεμνόμενοι. See notes on Textual Criticism. Passive, and timeless, “the circumcision party”; for the full force of the present is excluded by the fact that these evidently have themselves been circumcised. They are apparently the same as those of Gal 6:12 (and therefore Jewish Christians), the οὐδἐ referring to the whole clause, not to οἱ περιτ. only.

αὐτοὶ νόμον φυλάσσουσιν. νόμον is probably the Law of Moses; see Gal 2:16 note. Why do they not keep it? (a) Because of their distance from Jerusalem (Theodoret)? But St Paul’s words imply blame, which then would hardly be credible, (b) Because no one can keep it, as they have themselves acknowledged by believing on Christ? But then St Paul would surely blame them directly for their inconsistency, (c) Because to keep the Law externally is not to keep it fully; it must be kept spiritually (Gal 6:14)? But even this is to read too much into the words, (d) The simplest explanation is that they do not really try to keep it; their actions show insincerity (Lightfoot).

ἀλλὰ θέλουσιν ὑμᾶς περιτἑμνεσθαι, “But they wish you to be circumcised,” cf. Gal 6:12.

ἵνα ἐν τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ σαρκὶ. ὑμετ. emphatic; because thus you are proved to be their disciples. They will boast “We have won Gentiles to acknowledge the binding character of the Law of Moses.”

καυχήσωνται. Contrast not only the next verse but also Php 3:3-4. It is probable that few Jews of ancient or modern times would fail to pardon Jewish Christians their faith on Jesus if they also brought Gentile Christians to circumcision.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13.] For (proof that they wish only to escape persecution) not even they who are being circumcised (who are the adopters and instigators of circumcision, cf. ἀναγκάζουσιν above) themselves keep the law (νόμον emphatic: the words contain a matter of fact, not known to us otherwise,—that these preachers of legal conformity extended it not to the whole law, but selected from it at their own caprice), but wish you (emphatic) to be circumcised, that in your (emphatic) flesh they may make their boast (ἵνα ἐν τῷ κατακόπτειν τὴν ὑμετέραν σάρκα καυχήσωνται ὡς διδάσκαλοι ὑμῶν, i.e., μαθητὰς ὑμᾶς ἔχοντες, Thl. In this way they escaped the scandal of the Cross at the hands of the Jews, by making in fact their Christian converts into Jewish proselytes).

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. οὐδὲ γὰρ οἱ περιτεμνόμενοι αὐτοὶ νόμον φυλάσσουσιν, ἀλλὰ θέλουσιν ὑμᾶς περιτέμνεσθαι ἵνα ἐν τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ σαρκὶ καυχήσωνται. “For not even they that receive circumcision are themselves law-abiding, but they wish you to be circumcised that they may glory in your flesh.” This sentence introduced by γάρ confirms that which is expressed by μόνον in v. 12 (viz., that the only reason for their course was a desire to escape persecution), by excluding the reason which the judaisers probably themselves alleged as the motive of their conduct, and which Paul assumes is the only alternative motive, namely, a sincere zeal for the law. This zeal he disproves by the fact that their converts, οἱ περιτεμνόμενοι, do not themselves keep law, doubtless referring not to failure on the part of these converts to attain to perfect conformity to the law, since such failure would not disprove the zeal of the judaisers, but to the fact that they do not undertake to keep it in full and are not required by the judaisers to do so. See 5:3 and notes there. οἱ περιτεμνόμενοι, however, does not refer specifically to those who among the Galatians had been circumcised, which would have called for οἱ ἐν ὑμῖν περιτμηθέντες (or περιτετμημένοι). φυλάσσουσιν is a general present and the statement refers in general to those who under the influence of the judaisers receive circumcision. νόμον has here the same sense as in 5:3, but is used qualitatively. “In your flesh” means “in the fact that you have been circumcised,” which would be the sign of your conversion to legalistic Judaism.

The words θέλουσιν ὑμᾶς περιτέμνεσθαι repeat the thought of ἀναγκάζ. ὑμ. περιτ., v. 12, and the clause ἵνα … καυχήσωνται expresses in positive and emphatic form that of ἵνα μὴ διώκωνται. The phrase ἐν τῇ ὑμετέρᾳ σαρκί, referring literally to the flesh in the material sense as that in which circumcision takes place, is chosen in preference to a pronominal phrase referring directly to the subject of περιτέμνεσθαι the more distinctly to express the unworthy character of their boasting. On σαρκί here cf. the same word in 3:3. It is more literally employed than in v. 12 above. ἐν, literally denoting the sphere of the boasting, suggests also ground, basis.

περιτεμνόμενοι is attested by אACDK al. Mcion. f Vg. (qui circumciduntur) Syr. (psh. et harcl.) Sah. Arm.; Chr. Euthal. Thdrt. Dam. περιτετμημένοι is the reading of BL al.50 (F reads περιτέμνημοι, G περιτεμνημένοι, both impossible readings, but probably attesting the perfect), d g (qui circumcisi sunt) Goth. Boh. Eth. Victorin. Aug. Hier. Ambrst. External evidence is not decisive. Transcriptional probability favours -μνόμενοι, since the perfect would have been a wholly unobjectionable reading.

Against the common view held by Mey. (who reads περιτετμ.) Sief. Zahn, Ell. Ltft. Alf. that οἱ περιτ. designates the judaisers (Wies. and, according to Sief., Mathias hold the other view) the following reasons are decisive: (1) It is very doubtful whether Paul could have alleged in this unqualified way, and without explanation that the Jewish Christians did not keep the law. Rom. chap. 2, is scarcely a parallel case. (2) Had he wished to affirm it, the words οἱ περιτεμνόμενοι would have been superfluous, the subject of φυλάσσουσιν being the same as that of διώκωνται. This affirmation would have been most forcibly and clearly expressed by οὐδὲ γὰρ αὐτοὶ νόμ. φυλ. Had he wished to refer to the circumcision of the judaisers as emphasising their inconsistency in not keeping the law, he must have written not οἱ περιτ., but οὗτοι περιτ., “these, though circumcised.” (3) The tense of the participle is in itself decisive. (a) Although a present participle may be used as a general present, designating all those who perform (or, in the passive, are subjected to) the action denoted by the verb, whether the mark of the class be the single or the habitual doing of it (BMT 123-126), yet it is not so employed, unless the mind is directed to the performance of the action, as distinguished from the resultant fact. There could have been no motive for such a distinction in this case if the apostle had intended to designate the judaisers (or the Jews). For this he must inevitably have written περιτετμημένοι.* (b) Throughout this epistle the present of περιτ. whether in participle, infinitive, or subjunctive, 5:2, 3, 6:12, 13b, means “to be circumcised” in the sense “to receive circumcision,” “to get circumcised” (Moffatt), not in the sense “to be a circumcised person.” (4) This conclusion is confirmed by 5:3, which shows that the judaisers had not as yet endeavoured to bring the Galatians under obedience to the whole law. Against these reasons the absence of an expressed subject of θέλουσιν is of little weight. The statement concerning οἱ περιτεμν. reflecting, as it does, the attitude of the judaisers, the mind easily supplies as the subject of θέλουσιν after ἀλλά the judaisers who have been the principal subject of the discourse from the beginning of v. 12, and all possible ambiguity is excluded by the close parallelism between θέλουσιν ὑμᾶς περιτέμνεσθαι, v. 13b and ἀναγκάζουσιν ὑμᾶς περιτέμνεσθαι of v. 12.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Neither they themselves who are circumcised [ουδε - οι περιτεμνομενοι αυτοι] . For neither, translate not even. Const. themselves with keep the law. The persons referred to are the same as those in ver. 12. The participle tells nothing as to the antecedents of these persons, whether Jewish or heathen. It is general, those who are receiving circumcision. It is = the circumcision - party; and the present participle represents them as in present activity. They are circumcised themselves, and are endeavoring to force circumcision upon others.

Keep the law [νομον φυλασσουσιν] . See on ch. Gal 5:3. They are in the same category with all who are circumcised, who do not and cannot fully observe the law. Comp. ch. Gal 3:10; Gal 5:3. Hence, if circumcision develops no justifying results, it is apparent that their insistence on circumcision proceeds not from moral, but from fleshly motives.

That they may glory in your flesh [ινα εν τη υμετερα σαρκι καυχησωνται] . May boast, not of your fulfilling the law, but in your ceremonial conformity; your becoming legal zealots like themselves. They desire only that you, like them, should make a fair show in the flesh. For the formula kaucasqai ejn to glory in, see Rom 2:17; Rom 5:3; 1Co 1:31; 2Co 10:15.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.