Paul NEVER suggested that if you become circumcised, you are suddenly bound to the whole law.....

Ever taken a close look at Galatians 5 through the lens of the Ruach (Holy Spirit)? If you did, then you know that Paul does NOT suggest that if you become circumcised, you are suddenly bound to the whole law.....

Let’s take a look at that entire passage in context via the Hebraic mindset:

Galatians 5: 2. Behold, I Paul say to you, if you are circumcised,[1] then Mashiyach is a thing that has no benefit for you. 3. I testify to you again (return to my testifying),[2] that every circumcised man is obligated to act on the entire Torah. 4. Those of you who are in Torah and who are seeking justification (from it),[3] you have ceased to be from Mashiyach, (and therefore) you have fallen from grace.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] If a person is immersed (baptized) or circumcised to please the status quo, it profits them nothing. Paul is referring to traditional, religious, Pharisaical, peer group circumcisions that are required before acceptance into status quo religious organizations. Christians who have been baptized into the name of a denomination can likely relate to this as well. Many Christians choose to be re-baptized after realizing their former baptism was into a denominational religion, rather than into the Kingdom of Elohim.

[2] The word tob has multiple meanings; the root means “to return” and this covers several related ideas. Semitic thought has always viewed morality as a straight path (Isaiah 40:3, Matthew 3:3). An evil person is one who is lost or has taken a crooked path, but if he repents he is said to have “turned back.” That is why a variant on this word, teshuvah means “to repent.” In this case, Rav Shaul is literally “returning” to his main point.

[3] Some seek “justification” through observance of Torah, others seek it by not observing Torah; both pursuits are based on man’s religion. The answer is to observe Torah in YHWH and His Mashiyach and live righteously as Y’shua did. Put trust and Faith in YHWH, not in works or religion, but as co-laborers with Mashiyach!

Galatians 5:5. For we, through the blessings of the Spirit, which is from faith, abide in the hope of righteousness. 6. For in Mashiyach Y’shua, circumcision and uncircumcision are nothing, but faith is completed through love. 7. You were progressing beautifully! Who confused you to not obey the truth? 8. Your persuasiveness was not from him who called you. 9. A little leaven leavens the whole lump.

10. I am confident with you in our Master (Y’shua),[4] that you will not consider anything else, and that he who troubled you will bear his judgment, whoever he is. 11. My brothers, if I then preached circumcision,[5] why was I persecuted? Why? Has the stake ceased to be an offense?[6]

FOOTNOTES:

[4] Maran, always refers to Y’shua as “our Master” and is a common narrative term throughout the NT.

[5] In other words, if he went back and preached salvation through physical circumcision in the context of tradition, rather than Torah. Rav Shaul clearly indicates that religious tradition, which overruled Torah, was the majority view within the religious welter of his day.

Therefore, if he preached the “party line” he would no longer be persecuted. But persecution came about because he exposed religious tradition and taught that Torah requires understanding and a circumcised heart before physical circumcision.

[6] The upright “stake” brings to mind the “pole” which YHWH instructed Moshe to hold up in Numbers 21:8. A brass serpent was put upon the pole and when the people looked upon it, they were healed from the bite of the snake.

So it is, that when people are bitten by the “serpent” (Genesis 3:15), they must look to Mashiyach for healing and deliverance. The cross was introduced by pagans; it was formerly a symbol of the Babylonian sun god as cruciforms indicate. Later, Julius Caesar and his heirs struck coins with symbols of the cross (solar wheel) to commemorate the sun god.

The Roman Emperor Constantine was a sun worshipper who became a Christo-Pagan and advanced Hellenized Christianity, making his “version of Christianity” the official religion the Roman Empire. The Greek “stauros” also denotes an upright stake; the verb stauroo means to drive stakes.

The Greek “xulon” denotes a timber or a log or any piece of dead wood. Bullinger’s Companion Bible notes that, “Our English word “cross” is the translation of the Latin crux ; but the Greek stauros no more means a crux than the word “stick” means a “crutch.”

Galatians 5:12. Oh that those who are also troubling you would be expelled![7] 13. You who are called to liberty, brothers, do not use your liberty for things of the flesh, but in love serve each other. 14. For the entire Torah is properly understood in one Word/Manifestation,[8] “You will love your neighbor as you would yourself.” 15. But if you bite and devour one another--beware!--or else you consume one another.

FOOTNOTES:

[7] Or, literally “cut off” which, given the subject matter, has an ironic and almost dark humorous twist.

[8] Greek translations have logos, which is translated into English as “fulfilled.” In sources like Philo and the Greek NT this is rendered as “word”; in this verse the Aramaic “miltha” can also mean “manifestation,” “emanation,” or “substance.”

Therefore, Torah (The Word) was fulfilled by the Manifestation (also Word), which is why John says “grace and truth came from Y’shua the Mashiyach.” Therefore, if one is to read “fulfilled” here, then it must be understood that the correct interpretation of Torah is given according to what Mashiyach Y’shua elucidated. This can in no way be construed that Mashiyach brought an end to Torah.

Galatians 5:16. I say then: you should walk through the Spirit and the lust of the flesh will not subdue you. 17. For flesh desires a thing that is against the Spirit, and the Spirit desires a thing that is against the flesh, and both of these are opposed to one another so that you are not able to do as you wish. 18. If, then, you are led by the Spirit, you are not under Torah;[9]

19. For you know the works of the flesh, which are these: adultery, impurity and lasciviousness, 20. idolatry, witchcraft, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, stubbornness, treacheries, heresies, 21. Envy, murder, drunkenness, revelry and all like things. Those who do things like these, they will not inherit the Kingdom of Elohim.

22. The fruits then of the Spirit are these: Love, joy, peace, kindness, goodness, faith, 23. Meekness, self-control. Against these there is no instruction[10] put in place. 24. And those who are of Mashiyach have put to death their flesh with all its passions and lusts. 25. Let us therefore live by the Spirit and surrender to the Spirit. 26. And let us not be of vacant glories that cause us to ridicule one another and envy one another. (AENT)

FOOTNOTES:

[9] The idiomatic expression “under the Torah” refers to a false teaching that has never been true. The Dead Sea Scrolls confirm that this phrase “under the Torah” refers to strict religious halacha, not obedience to Torah itself.

Torah has not at any time saved anyone! YHWH saves when His people demonstrate a sincere obedience to His Righteous Instructions (Torah). Blind ritual (or religion) alone without the love of YHWH profits nothing. YHWH is “the Spirit” of the Renewed Covenant that writes Torah upon the heart. =

[10] In this context, namusa, the Aramaic cognate for torah, is better understood at its root level, meaning “to instruct,” rather than as a formalized title. Otherwise, Rav Shaul might be construed as saying that these “Fruits of the Spirit” are not taught in Torah, when (the fact is) they are. His point is that there is no instruction against fulfilling these fruits of the spirit.