11 See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand. 12 It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. 13 For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.
There are two things to note in these verses, and both are brought out more clearly in the modern translations than in the AV. First, Paul points out that these false teachers urged circumcision on the Galatians 'to escape persecution for the cross of
Christ' (NEB). From which we may learn that it is easier and far less costly to adhere to a legalistic creed of observances than to take up the cross and follow Christ. All too often a preoccupation with rules and regulations has become a substitute for the real discipline of Christian living even in our day, and we need to see some of the narrower expressions of the legalistic spirit for what they really are. Secondly, underlying their desire for the Galatians to be circumcised was no real concern either for the law or for their truest welfare, but the unworthy motive of wanting to be able to boast in the Galatians' submission to their ruling. It is as well that we should learn to discern the real motives of people in the service of the kingdom. It is possible to be tireless in one's zeal, and yet be driven by a subtle, selfish ambition, which calls in question the worth of all we do, and renders it unacceptable to God. The question, then, is not what we do, but why we do what we do.