NOTES for Gal 6:11-18

Paul says directly that the teachers who demand mandatory circumcision from the Galatian Christians want, on the one hand, to avoid unnecessary problems and even persecutions, and on the other, to boast about those members of the church community who were circumcised at their urging, as though this were some achievement of their own. The first point was connected with the fact that circumcision was the sign of belonging to the Jewish community.

Circumcised meant Jewish. The synagogue existed quite legally throughout the Roman Empire, and although a certain antisemitism was present both in Roman society and in Roman authority, there was still no question of systematic persecution. The uncircumcised, however, automatically found themselves outside the Synagogue and therefore outside the Roman legal field: the communities that had separated from the Synagogue had no other basis for legal activity. Here one could expect problems, even direct conflict with the authorities.

In this sense, being circumcised was safer than remaining uncircumcised: then any Christian church gathering could pass for a synagogue gathering, especially since the authorities were usually not inclined to go into the subtleties of synagogue life. But there was something else as well: the desire to demonstrate one's own "achievements" as teachers and mentors. Indeed, spiritual work is not quick and often not especially visible; spiritual changes in a person usually happen slowly and cannot be seen from the outside. Moreover, genuine spiritual work is almost always, so to speak, individual work; there is usually no room here for mass scale, which so catches the eye and therefore is so beloved by many.

Religious propaganda and calls to observe one or another religious norm or prescription, even the same circumcision, are a completely different matter: the call is quite concrete, the response is also quite concrete, the result is visible to everyone at once, and it may even become massive if the preacher is active enough. This is probably why religious preaching in all communities and at all times has attracted preachers, especially beginners, far more than properly spiritual work has. But religion does not replace spiritual life, although sometimes it can substitute itself for it. And Paul speaks sharply against such substitution, because it cuts a person off from the Kingdom and from its life.