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.
These verses really sum up the central controversy that has been the subject of the epistle, viz., the outward versus the inward in true religion. 'Throughout, Paul has insisted that the essence of true Christianity lies in inward realities, not outward observances; on grace, not law. It is to this that he now reverts here, going with a devastating thrust to the heart of the matter, exposing the motives of the Judaisers and enemies of the cross of Christ. The charges he makes against them are pretty devastating, but he is simply being realistic. It is just not possible to deviate from the truth without becoming wrong men. For the issue is never one of mere ignorance or mistake: there is always a moral issue involved. With them, there was a death they had refused to die. It is easier (for the flesh) to make a show of religion than to be right with God, easier to compromise with the truth and hold to outward observances than to take a stand for Christ, easier to 'count heads' and tabulate 'ecclesiastical statistics' than to bring sons and daughters to the birth in Christ.
Here, then, were men who were substituting external observances for reality. It is not even that they themselves were keeping the law they were advocating for others. Even by their own standards they were a living lie, concerned only to glory in the en- snaring of as many as possible in the meshes of law keeping.