Galatians 6:13Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Then, wishing to show that the false teachers are unworthy of pardon from another side as well, he further exposes them for commanding circumcision not only to please others, but also for their own vainglory. Therefore he added: "that they may boast in your flesh," as though they truly had disciples and were themselves teachers. But from where is this clear? "For even they themselves do not keep the law," he says. Yet even if they did keep it, they would still be worthy of the greatest condemnation. But now their very intention is criminal.

They do this, he says, not only from man-pleasing, but also from ambition. For they do this, he says, not from zeal for the law and not for the sake of piety, but because of ambition: "that they may boast in your flesh," that is, that they may boast in the circumcision of your flesh, since they are supposedly your teachers and have you as disciples.

This means that they not only wished to avoid the persecutions of the Jews, who by no means wanted the law to be given to the uncircumcised, but also intended to boast before the Jews that they had prepared so many proselytes.

"For not even those who are circumcised keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh." Here one involuntarily recalls Christ's words about the Jewish teachers. By their stubbornness in Judaism they destroy themselves, and by zealous conversion to Judaism they make those whom they convert still more wretched. "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves. You outwardly appear righteous to men, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. You do not enter the Kingdom of Heaven yourselves, and those who are entering you do not allow to enter" (Mt 23:15, 28, 13).

So that they may boast in your circumcision, saying: See, we circumcise those whom Paul taught not to be circumcised.

Because of weakness, Paul says, the law cannot be fulfilled. Therefore the Jews also observe the precepts and teachings of men more than the commandments of God. They keep neither the fleshly law, because this is impossible, nor the spiritual law, because they do not understand it.

For how is it possible for them to keep the law while living far from Jerusalem? How can they celebrate the feasts? How can they offer sacrifices? How can they perform washings after touching something unclean? Therefore it is clear that, wishing to boast as though they had taught you a new doctrine, they forced you to be circumcised.

The former circumcision was not forbidden in its own time, if it preserved the law. But the law proclaimed Christ, who was coming to bestow the law of liberty. In the time of Christ, fleshly circumcision would no longer serve any purpose. For with Christ came the true circumcision, of which the former was a figure. Let those who bear the seal of circumcision keep the whole law. Yet its observance will no longer be reckoned to them as righteousness, because the law spoke of Christ: "The Lord God will raise up for you a Prophet like me from among my brethren; Him you shall hear" (Deut 18:15). But they did not listen to Christ. Therefore their circumcision becomes uncircumcision (Rom 2:25), and their keeping of the law is no longer keeping it (cf. Rom 2, 7, 9). Thus the law is good (1 Tim 1:8), and circumcision is good, because through the law and circumcision we have come to know Christ, His more perfect law, and His more perfect circumcision.

Why do those who are circumcised themselves not keep the law? Because whoever is circumcised must keep the whole law. "I testify again to every man who becomes circumcised that he is a debtor to keep the whole law" (Gal 5:3). Yet your circumcised teachers, he says, fulfill only circumcision, forcing you also to be circumcised. They have not the slightest concern for fulfilling the other obligations of the law. They desire only this: that you also be circumcised, "that they may boast in your flesh." That is, they boast in the circumcision of your flesh, proclaiming that they persuaded you to be circumcised. In this way they avoid persecutions from the Gentiles under the statutes of the Roman emperors, and from the Jews because of their regard for circumcision. The false apostles boasted that they persuaded the faithful to be circumcised. Hear, then, in what the true Apostle of God boasted.

"That they may boast in your flesh." The Galatians' fulfillment of the law at the false teachers' urging brought honor to the false teachers, as such zealots of the law who not only fulfilled the law themselves but also led others to the same. The Apostle exposes the hypocrisy of these zealots by proving that they themselves do not fulfill what they prescribe to others.

Beyond this, he points to the contrast between his own motives, which were entirely pure, and his own manner of action, which was selfless and courageous, compared with the false teachers who were deceiving the Galatians. They compel you, says the Apostle, to be circumcised only so that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. This shows cowardice and attachment to sensual ease. Or else they do it "that they may boast in your flesh," that is, boast in the number of marks of your circumcisions. This is irony. Or, what is the same, they boast in the number of their disciples. This shows vanity and vainglory.

Since the chief aim of the epistle was to expose the false teachers and turn the Galatians away from them, the Apostle once more shows their character. It consists in this, that they do everything for display and vainglory. They even pride themselves on performing many circumcisions. According to blessed Jerome, "Julius Caesar, Octavian Augustus, and Tiberius published a law that the Jews scattered throughout the whole Roman Empire should live according to their customs and serve their God as they had received from their fathers. Therefore whoever was circumcised, even if he believed in Christ, was regarded by the Gentiles as a Jew and was not troubled. But whoever did not accept circumcision and was estranged from paganism was subjected to persecutions by the Gentiles and by the Jews.

By the words, "For not even those who are circumcised themselves keep the law," the Apostle seems to mean only that they have no care at all to keep the law. The glory of the law is not their aim, but their own glory, so that they may hear praise for having made many circumcisions. St. Chrysostom says: "To show that these false teachers are also unforgivable from another side, he again exposes them. They teach circumcision not only to please others, but also for their own vainglory. Therefore he adds: 'that they may boast in your flesh,' that is, that they are your teachers and you are their disciples." Blessed Jerome says the same: "All that they care for, seek, and pursue is to boast before the Jews in your flesh.