Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Galatians 6:13
For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
13. He justifies the imputation of a bad motive, by a fact which cannot be denied. The Judaizers could not pretend that they so complied with the terms of the Law as perfectly to fulfil its requirements. They could not be justified by the Law. They acknowledged in some sense their need of Christ. And if so, why impose one of the legal ceremonies as necessary to salvation? Their real object is to gain a party triumph, that they may make Christian converts into Jewish proselytes.
neither they themselves ] Better, ‘ not even they themselves ’.
who are circumcised ] Lit. ‘ the circumcised ’, those on whom the rite is imposed as a condition of salvation, and therefore of course those also who imposed it. Another rendering, for which there is considerable authority, is, ‘who have been circumcised’. It does not, however, suit the argument so well as the present participle.
keep the law ] This does not refer, as some suppose, to the impossibility of keeping strictly the ceremonial law, owing to the distance of many from Jerusalem and similar causes, nor to the insincerity of the men themselves, who were not enough in earnest to observe it rigorously; but, as explained above, to the moral impossibility of fulfilling the Law, on which St Paul so frequently insists, owing to the fallen nature of man.
glory in your flesh ] boast in your submission to an outward ordinance. See note on Gal 6:12. In the later history of the Church there have been instances of the same tendency on the part of those who have gloried in the number of converts admitted to Baptism, without regard to the spiritual change of which it is the token and pledge.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
For neither they themselves who are circumcised – The Jewish teachers, or perhaps all Jews. It was true in general that the Jews did not wholly and entirely obey the Law of Moses, but it is probable that the apostle refers particularly here to the judaizing teachers in Galatia.
Keep the law – The Law of Moses, or the Law of God. Pauls idea is, that if they were circumcised they brought themselves under obligation to keep the whole law of God; see the note at Gal 5:3. But they did not do it.
(1) No person perfectly observes the whole law of God.
(2) The Jewish nation as such were very far from doing it.
(3) It is probable that these persons did not pretend even to keep the whole Law of Moses.
Paul insists on it that if they were circumcised, and depended on that for salvation, they were under obligation to keep the whole law. But they did not. Probably they did not offer sacrifice, or join in any of the numerous observances of the Jewish nation, except some of the more prominent, such as circumcision. This, says Paul, is inconsistent in the highest degree; and they thus show their insincerity and hypocrisy.
That they may glory in your flesh – In having you as converts, and in persuading you to be circumcised, that they may show their zeal for the Law, and thus escape persecution. The phrase in your flesh here, is equivalent to in your circumcision; making use of your circumcision to promote their own importance, and to save themselves from persecution.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 13. Neither they themselves who are circumcised] They receive circumcision and profess Judaism, not from a desire to be conformed to the will of God; but Judaism was popular, and the more converts the false teachers could make; the more occasion of glorying they had, and they wished to get those Christian converts, who had been before proselytes of the gate, to receive circumcision, that they might glory in their flesh. Behold my converts! Thus they gloried, or boasted, not that the people were converted to God, but that they were circumcised.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
In this the hypocrisy of your false teachers discovereth itself, that whereas, by their being circumcised, they had declared themselves debtors to the whole law, and under an obligation entirely to keep it if they would be saved, yet they themselves did not keep it; only they were very zealous for this one thing, not out of any love they had to the law, but that they might glory of you, as their converts, being by them persuaded to be circumcised.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
13. Translate, “For noteven do they who submit to circumcision, keep the law themselves (Ro2:17-23), but they wish you (emphatical) to be circumcised,”&c. They arbitrarily selected circumcision out of the whole law,as though observing it would stand instead of their non-observance ofthe rest of the law.
that they may glory in yourfleshnamely, in the outward change (opposed to an inwardchange wrought by the SPIRIT)which they have effected in bringing you over to their ownJewish-Christian party.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
But neither they themselves that are circumcised,…. That is, the pleaders for, and preachers of circumcision, whether they themselves were actually circumcised, or not; it means those that were of the circumcision, on that side of the question, whether heartily or not:
keep the law; of circumcision, as persons may preach up that, which they themselves do not practise; as did the Pharisees, the predecessors of these men; or if they did keep the law, and submit to it, yet this might be done, not out of regard unto it, and zeal for it, but for some other end; as Simon Magus submitted to baptism, and others preached Christ of envy and contention, and not of good will; or if they did do it in obedience to the law, yet this was not keeping the whole law, which circumcision obliged to; and which, unless they did so keep it, would signify nothing; and this no man is capable of keeping perfectly, and consequently no righteousness, life, and salvation, can be had hereby: besides, though these men were so zealous for the lighter matters of the law, the rites and ceremonies of it, as circumcision, c. they disregarded the weightier and more material parts of it, as judgment, mercy, and faith these they kept not, nor attended to: and many of them lived very dissolute lives and conversations, at least secretly, if not openly; which abundantly proved that they were far from keeping the law; and that their pleading for it, and submitting to some of the rituals of it, were not out of pure love and strict regard to it, but for some other end:
but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh; that is, in the circumcision of it; or, as the Ethiopic version, “in your bodies”. Their view in bringing persons to submit to circumcision was, that they might have occasion to glory among the Jews, and boast to them of the numbers of proselytes they brought, and of the service they did to Judaism, and so increase their fame and glory among them.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
They who receive circumcision ( ). Present causative middle of , those who are having themselves circumcised. Some MSS. read ), “they who have been circumcised” (perfect passive participle). Probably the present () is correct as the harder reading.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Neither they themselves who are circumcised [ – ] . For neither, translate not even. Const. themselves with keep the law. The persons referred to are the same as those in ver. 12. The participle tells nothing as to the antecedents of these persons, whether Jewish or heathen. It is general, those who are receiving circumcision. It is = the circumcision – party; and the present participle represents them as in present activity. They are circumcised themselves, and are endeavoring to force circumcision upon others.
Keep the law [ ] . See on ch. Gal 5:3. They are in the same category with all who are circumcised, who do not and cannot fully observe the law. Comp. ch. Gal 3:10; Gal 5:3. Hence, if circumcision develops no justifying results, it is apparent that their insistence on circumcision proceeds not from moral, but from fleshly motives.
That they may glory in your flesh [ ] . May boast, not of your fulfilling the law, but in your ceremonial conformity; your becoming legal zealots like themselves. They desire only that you, like them, should make a fair show in the flesh. For the formula kaucasqai ejn to glory in, see Rom 2:17; Rom 5:3; 1Co 1:31; 2Co 10:15.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “For neither they themselves who are circumcised,” (oude gar hoi peritimnomenoi autoi) “For not even the ones who are circumcised;” hence they are hypocrites. When the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch, Mat 23:2-5; Mat 23:23-25; Mar 7:6-9; Mat 15:14; Luk 6:39.
2) “Keep the law,” (nomon phulassousin) “keep or guard the law,” with respect or obedience that it required, as cited above. In such they were cursed deceivers, Gal 3:10; Gal 5:1-3.
3) “But desire to have you circumcised,” (alla thelousin humas peritemnesthai) “But they strongly desire (urge) you all to be circumcised;” to identify themselves with law worship and service, Gal 1:7; Gal 2:3-4; Gal 3:10; Gal 3:13; Gal 5:6.
4) “That they may glory in your flesh,” (hina en te humetera sarki kauchesontai) “in order that they may boast in your flesh,” brag on what they have done in leading professed Christians from following Jesus Christ to following them and Moses’ Law, 1Co 1:29; 1Co 1:31; 2Co 5:12; 2Co 11:12; 2Co 11:18; 2Co 11:30. To boast of their number of converts.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
13. For neither they who hold by circumcision keep the law. The old version and Erasmus translate thus: who are circumcised. But Paul appears to me to refer to teachers only; and for this reason I would prefer to render the words, those who hold by circumcision, which would not include all circumcised persons, and thus would avoid ambiguity. The meaning is, “It is not from a strong attachment to the law that they bind you with the yoke of ceremonies; for, even with their own circumcision, they do not keep the law. It is no doubt under the pretext of the law that they require you to be circumcised; but, though they have themselves been circumcised, they do not perform what they enjoin upon others.” When he says, indeed, that they do not keep the law, it is doubtful whether he refers to the whole law, or to ceremonies. Some understand him as saying that the law is an intolerable burden, and therefore they do not satisfy its demands. But he rather insinuates against them a charge of insincerity, because, except when it suited their own designs, they found themselves at liberty to despise the law.
Even now this disease rages everywhere with virulence. You will find many who are prompted more by ambition than by conscience to defend the tyranny of the papal system. I speak of our courtly apostles, who are attracted by the smell of a kitchen, and who pronounce, with an air of authority, that the decrees of the holy Church of Rome must be observed with reverence. And what is their own practice all the while! They pay no more regard to any decisions of the Roman see than to the braying of an ass, but they take care to avoid personal risk. In short, Paul had the same kind of controversy with those impostors as we now have with hypocritical professors of the gospel, who hold out to us a monstrous union between Christ and the Pope. Paul therefore declares that they are not acting the part of honest men, and that they have no other object in enjoining circumcision than to boast to the Jews of the converts they have made. Such is the import of the words, that they may glory in your flesh. “They wish to triumph over you, and to gratify their own desire of applause, by offering up your mutilated flesh to the false zealots of the law, as a token of peace and harmony.”
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
(13) Their insincerity is shown by the fact that they are not really careful to observe the Law. What they do is only to serve as a blind, that they may be able to point to your mutilated flesh as the visible sign of their success in gaining proselytes.
They themselves who are circumcised.The expression in the Greek includes, not only those who were circumcised themselves, but also those who were for circumcising others.
Glory in your flesh.Make a boast of getting this rite performed upon your bodies.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
‘FOR THOSE WHO RECEIVE CIRCUMCISION DO NOT EVEN THEMSELVES KEEP THE LAW. BUT THEY DESIRE TO HAVE YOU CIRCUMCISED THAT THEY MAY GLORY IN YOUR FLESH.’
Let them consider the second fact. That those who try to bring them in subjection to the Law cannot even keep the Law themselves. They offer them something that they themselves are unable to achieve. And they do it simply so that they can glory in what they achieve by having them circumcised. Indeed they want to ‘glory in your flesh’. In other words their glory is not in Christ but in fleshly things, they glory in ordinances, they glory especially in making men undergo circumcision that they may say, ‘see, he is marked as one of ours’. They are of those who follow the pull of the flesh, and they want others to be the same. They are not responsive to the Spirit, and they want them to behave likewise. For to be circumcised for this reason is as fleshly as all the other works of the flesh.
So those who want them to be circumcised and submit to ritual ordinances do it simply because they want to have physical proof of their success. They want to be able to glory in it. ‘See’, they want to be able to say, ‘they have submitted to circumcision’. Then they will receive their congratulations, and there it will end. The desires of their flesh will be satisfied.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Gal 6:13. That they may glory in your flesh. “May glory in this mark of circumcision, fixed in your flesh, and boast of the many converts to Judaism which they have had the interest and address to make.” See on Gal 6:4-5.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Gal 6:13 . They have no other design than merely that stated in Gal 6:12 ( . . .). For so far from its being their aim, by the enforcement of circumcision, to re-establish the observance of the law among you, not even the circumcised (who are in question) themselves , for their own part, keep the law , but , Chrysostom.
] is said contemptuously, and with indignation, of the fraternity of the false apostles, of whom it might at least have been expected that they themselves would combine obedience to the law with their being circumcised. 1 [267] Comp. Stallbaum, ad Euthyphr . p. 12; Fritzsche, ad Marc . p. 613. But the ground for their non-observance of the Mosaic law is conceived by Paul to be, neither their distance from Jerusalem (Theodoret and others; also Schott), nor the general impossibility of a complete fulfilment of the law (Jerome, Estius; comp. Usteri), both of which would be exculpatory, and wholly unsuited to the idea of the worthlessness of the persons concerned, but the hypocritical badness of these people (comp. Gal 6:12 ). It is true that, amongst the Jews generally, notwithstanding their self-conceit, there was a deficiency in their obedience to the law (Rom 2:17-23 ); but an observance of the law might have been expected at all events from these , who were such champions for circumcision and insisted on it so much (Gal 6:12 ). Yet not even they themselves , etc.
. .] The is not to be here taken again in an ethical sense, as in Gal 6:12 (Wieseler, comp. Ewald); but, according to the close and definite connection with , it must be taken as referring to the corporeal nature , so far as it is in it that circumcision takes place (Eph 2:11 ; Col 2:13 ). The emphasis is, however, on ; [268] hence Olshausen is the more wrong in finding a contrast which is quite out of place here to the souls , which those false teachers ought to have sought after. The antithetic element of . lies in the conceit of the as to their own circumcision, as the correlate of which the circumcision of the Galatian Gentile Christians , to be effected by them, was to be the subject of their boasting. But this sentence of purpose is parallel to the . . . contained in Gal 6:12 , seeing that the pseudo-apostles in fact by this intended boasting of their diffusion of theocratic Judaism by the circumcision of Gentile Christians which they procured thought to avert the persecutions of the Jews; Theophylact: . It is a , in the face not of heathenism (Holsten), but of the non-Christian Judaism , from whose side the persecution on account of the cross of Christ (Gal 6:12 ) was threatened.
[267] 1 As at any rate the false teachers are meant, and these were Jewish Christians , the reading is plainly absurd. They were, in fact, not subjected to circumcision (Reithmayr), but circumcised , and could not therefore be designated, “according to their quality as Jews” (Moeller on de Wette), as ( present ). See especially Reiche, p. 93. The idea that these people were formerly Gentiles , part of whom were still on the point of accepting circumcision, and that their adherents are included (de Wette), is quite as unhistorical (see Act 15:1 ; Act 15:5 ; 2Co 11:22 ; Act 11:20-22 ) as the makeshift of Hilgenfeld is groundless: that among those false teachers (“the circumcision-people”) the act of circumcision had still continued , not merely outwardly in the reception of the newly-born and proselytes (in that case Paul must have said ), but also inwardly, by virtue of the significance ascribed to it. In his Zeitschr . 1860, p. 220, Hilgenfeld appeals to in the Act. Petr. et Pauli , 63; but wrongly, because there (see the sequel) the subject is moral circumcision. The view of Neander is also mistaken, p. 366. According to Wieseler and Matthias, who likewise read , the were those among the Galatian Gentile Christians , who, led away by the pseudo-apostles, allowed themselves to be circumcised . In that case we must with these expositors make the seducers themselves, the pseudo-apostles, the subject of . But this view is intolerable; how could Paul enable the reader to guess this change of subject? The subject of . must also be the subject of , or else Paul must have written as awkwardly as possible. Consequently the subject of both the verbs can only be the false apostles, who, however, were , and not . Hofmann and Holsten are of opinion that the present participle is intended to denote the Jews generally , inasmuch as circumcision was in use among them. Against this view it may be decisively urged, that the subjects of the following can be no other than , and thus likewise the Israelites generally (as Hofmann consistently explains it); nevertheless these (ver. 13) must necessarily be the very same as those to whom the in ver. 12 applies, and therefore not the Jews generally, but the Judaistic adversaries . Moreover, to these only is the , not even , suitable, which presupposes in those concerned a higher degree of obligation than in the case of others who were bound to obey the law. The forced expedient of Holsten is highly arbitrary: that Paul included the false teachers (consequently, according to our reading and interpretation, the ) in the category of those circumcising themselves (and therefore the ).
[268] Not on (Matthias, Holsten), as if Paul had written . Comp. 2Co 8:8 , Rom 11:31 , 1Co 15:31 , where the pronoun, rarely used by Paul, is likewise emphatic.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
Ver. 13. Keep the law ] Rom 2:23 . Jerome doubteth not to pronounce that man accursed, that saith it is impossible to keep the law. Sed quid visum sit Hieronymo, nihil moramur; nos quid verum sit inquirimus, saith Calvin. But let Jerome hold as he will, we know there is no such thing.
That they may glory in your flesh ] That they may pride themselves in the multitude of their followers, and curry favour with the Jews by gaining many proselytes.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
13 .] For (proof that they wish only to escape persecution) not even they who are being circumcised (who are the adopters and instigators of circumcision, cf. above) themselves keep the law ( emphatic: the words contain a matter of fact, not known to us otherwise, that these preachers of legal conformity extended it not to the whole law, but selected from it at their own caprice), but wish you (emphatic) to be circumcised, that in your (emphatic) flesh they may make their boast ( , i.e., , Thl. In this way they escaped the scandal of the Cross at the hands of the Jews, by making in fact their Christian converts into Jewish proselytes).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
Gal 6:13 . . The present participle is more appropriate than the perfect , which is read by some MSS.: for the author has in mind the adoption of a system, as in Gal 5:3 .
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
neither. Greek. oude.
keep. Compare Rom 2:26.
to have you = that you should be.
that. Greek. hina, as in Gal 6:12.
glory. Greek. kauchaomai. See Rom 2:17.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
13.] For (proof that they wish only to escape persecution) not even they who are being circumcised (who are the adopters and instigators of circumcision, cf. above) themselves keep the law ( emphatic: the words contain a matter of fact, not known to us otherwise,-that these preachers of legal conformity extended it not to the whole law, but selected from it at their own caprice), but wish you (emphatic) to be circumcised, that in your (emphatic) flesh they may make their boast ( , i.e., , Thl. In this way they escaped the scandal of the Cross at the hands of the Jews, by making in fact their Christian converts into Jewish proselytes).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Gal 6:13. , they themselves) So far from it being their interest, that the law should be observed by you.-, in your flesh) if it be circumcised.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
Gal 6:13
Gal 6:13
For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law;-He condemns them because they did not even attempt to keep the law. He impugns their sincerity; they demanded an acknowledgment of the obligation to keep the law without themselves showing any corresponding zeal in their own ways. This obvious insincerity could result only in intensified and extended hypocrisy.
but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.-They desired them to be circumcised that they might glory in their fleshly adherence to the family of Abraham-converts to the Jewish nation. [There were two reasons for this advocacy which he so strenuously opposed. The first was they thereby avoided persecution at the hands of the bigoted Jews; the second was that they could boast of their success in proselyting the Gentiles. Thus we see that the motive which actuated them was not to further their growth in the Christian life, but that they themselves might gain some advantage out of them in the sight of men.]
[The policy of the Judaizers were dishonorable both in spirit and in aim. They were false to Christ in whom they professed to believe; and to the law which they pretended to keep. They were facing both ways, studying the safest, not the infallible way, anxious in truth to be friends at once with the world and Christ. Their conduct has found many imitators in men who make godliness a way of gain, whose religious course is dictated by considerations of worldly self-interest. A little persecution, or social pressure, is enough to turn them out of the way. They cast off their allegiance to Christ as they change their clothes to suit the fashion. Business patronage, professional advancement, a tempting family alliance, the entrance into some select and envied circle-such are the things for which loyalty to Christ are bartered, for which men put their souls and children in great peril.]
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
keep: Mat 23:3, Mat 23:15, Mat 23:23, Rom 2:17-24, Rom 3:9-19, 2Pe 2:19
that they may: 1Co 3:21, 1Co 5:6, 2Co 11:18
Reciprocal: Mat 23:4 – General Luk 5:38 – General Luk 11:46 – Woe Joh 3:26 – he that Joh 7:19 – yet Act 7:53 – and have Act 15:1 – ye Act 15:24 – Ye must Act 20:30 – to draw Rom 2:21 – therefore Rom 4:2 – he hath 1Co 1:31 – General 2Co 10:17 – General 2Co 11:12 – they glory Gal 1:7 – but Gal 4:17 – zealously Gal 5:10 – but Gal 6:4 – and not Gal 6:12 – as desire Phi 3:3 – rejoice Phi 3:19 – whose glory 1Th 2:6 – of men Jam 3:14 – glory
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Gal 6:13. -For not even do they who are getting themselves circumcised keep the law. The reading appears to be an evident correction-the reading of B, L, and the Claromontane Latin, and is adopted by Reiche, Meyer, Ewald, and Usteri. The other reading of the present participle has in its favour A, B, C, D1, F, , several versions and fathers. The present participle middle describes the party as in continuous activity. To regard it as denoting those merely who had been circumcised, changes the prevailing nominative from the false teachers to their pupils. Is it then of the persons seduced into circumcision that the apostle says that they do not keep the law, though by the act of circumcision they took on them an obligation to obey it? Neander and Windischmann so understand it-that is, of persons born heathens induced by the Judaists to submit to circumcision, and becoming the organs and agitators of the Judaizing party. But may not born Jews, so loudly insisting on circumcision, also receive the appellation? Or does he not refer rather to the whole faction, circumcised itself and forcing circumcision on others, which, professing such respect for the initiatory rite, is by no means sincere, for it neglects the law, and does not carry out its obedience to the requisite extent? The includes both aspects of these questions, but does not decide whether the clique was Jewish or heathen in origin, and it depicts the whole party as being busily engaged in carrying out their Judaizing tendencies, to whom circumcision was everything, to whom it was a distinctive watchword; they prided themselves on possession of it, and persistently pressed it on others. This is the meaning in effect contended for by Hilgenfeld, Holsten, Lightfoot, and Gwynne, who take the phrase in a substantive sense-the circumcisers for themselves, or the circumcision party. The participle thus loses its temporal reference. Winer, 45, 7. Hilgenfeld quotes the Acts of Peter and Paul- , 63, ed. Tischendorf. While this is grammatically warranted, it is not strictly necessary. The participle characterizes the Judaists by their factional distinction. Hofmann makes it characterize Jews in general, the errorists being depicted in their Jewish quality, like characterizing men in general, or rather the Levites, in Heb 7:8, and different from . But such a generalization is beyond the scope of the apostle’s argument.
The wretched inconsistency of the Judaistic party is made apparent- , not even they, keep the law. The emphatic , though without the article, does not mean law as a principle (Lightfoot, Peile), nor moral obedience (Middleton, Greek Art. p. 306), nor the obligations arising out of the law (Gwynne); but the law of Moses given to the nation of the Jews-the code to which Gentile converts became debtors by their circumcision. The noun is often anarthrous, as being so definite and distinctive in itself. Winer, 19, 1. See under Gal 2:16, pp. 163-4. is to keep or obey the law; under a different aspect the was one who guarded the law from infraction. Plato, Leg. 755, A. They do not observe the whole law, but make selections among its precepts, though the entire code is based on the one divine authority. It is true, as Theodoret remarks, that their distance from Jerusalem- -made it impossible for them to keep the feasts, offer sacrifice, and abstain from ceremonial impurities; but the apostle speaks not of geographical inability, but of moral inconsistency. Nor is there such a latent thought in the phrase as that of Jerome, that the law cannot be fully obeyed, propter infirmitatem carnis. Nor is it the ceremonial law simply that the apostle refers to, for one peculiar Jewish inconsistency was the attention paid to ceremonial in preference to moral duties. Mat 23:3-4. The apostle makes no sort of apology for them, he simply exposes the hollowness of their zeal for the law; and might he not have had in his eye such inconsistencies as he so sternly reprimands in Rom 2:17-24? Had they been actuated by honest zeal, they would strive to obey the whole law. They were actuated by another and a sinister motive-
-but they desire to have you circumcised in order that they may glory in your flesh- and being in contrast. Wieseler, Ewald, and some others take as in Gal 6:12 -man’s fleshly nature, of which suffering themselves to be circumcised was an outflow. Thus Bagge-that they may glory in your carnality, that you have yielded to their influence, and followed their example. But the supposed parallel in Gal 6:12 is not to be insisted on; for the pronoun emphatic gives to a distinctive reference, especially in so close a connection with . Therefore it is to be taken in its literal significance-either corpus mutilatum (Borger, Winer, Meyer), or praeputium ipsum abscissum (Beza, Rckert). So too Theophylact, .
This clause is not opposed to the last clause of the twelfth verse. In the twelfth verse one motive is assigned to the false teachers-they spread their Judaistic notions that they might not be persecuted; here another motive is imputed to them-that they might glory over the circumcision of their converts. This last motive expounds the process by which the former works itself out. Their power to get their followers circumcised, or the circumcision of Gentile converts manoeuvred so effectively by them, was paraded before their fanatical countrymen, who could not persecute a party that in bringing men over to Christianity made them, and insisted on making them, at the same time Jewish proselytes; inconsistent and capricious relation to the law on the part of the agitators being overlooked and forgiven, in consideration of the primary honour they were doing to Moses under a profession of serving Christ. They might say, We are doing more for the spread of Judaism than its most rigid adherents, affirming of this and that one circumcised as the condition of his joining the church, hic quoque per me factus est Judaeus (Morus). The apostle gives the clique no credit for sincerity, as if they were acting like men under prejudice or partial enlightenment; he imputes to them cowardice, hypocrisy, and self-interestedness. Theirs was not a mistaken zeal, like that which characterized himself in the earlier part of his life: they were mean and mercenary in their opposition to the apostle, and utterly craven in soul in their relation to their Jewish brethren.
Fuente: Commentary on the Greek Text of Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians and Phillipians
Gal 6:13. Neither they . . . keep the law. These Judaizers were like the Sabbatarians of our day, who make a great ado about the law and pretend that it is still in force. Yet they spend most of their energy in condemning Christians because they do not “keep the sabbath holy.” The inconsistency of these modern Judaizers is shown in that they violate the very commandment they pretend to observe. (See Exo 20:8-11.) This forbids working the beasts of service on the sab-bath, yet it is not uncommon to see these pretenders drive their horses to the “sabbath school” on Saturday. This puts such false teachers in the same class with the Judaizers of Paul’s day. They did not keep the law, but wished to induce the Christians to accept cir cumcision, so that they (the Judaizers) could boast about it.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Gal 6:13. For not even they who are circumcised keep the law (in all its details, comp. Gal 5:3), but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. The advocates of circumcision are not sincere in their zeal, but want to gratify their vanity in making proselytes. (Comp. Mat 23:15.)
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
For not even they who receive circumcision do themselves keep the law; but they desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh. [In taking the pen in his own hand it was natural that he should show his earnestness in what he had dictated about circumcision and the Judaizers, tracing with his own fingers a line or two more on that subject. This, therefore, he does, telling them that all those who desire to make a fair show in the flesh, i. e., to please men by complying with worldly demand, seek to compel them (the Galatians) to be circumcised. They did this for no zeal for circumcision, but in order to escape the persecution of their Jewish brethren for adherence to the doctrine of the cross. Moreover, these Judaizers who were thus urging circumcision did not do so from any zeal for the law, for they made no effort themselves to keep it, but they did it that they might boast to other strict and unconverted Jews how they were making Jews out of Gentile Christians. Thus their motives were not religious and holy, but base and selfish.]
Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)
Verse 13
In your flesh; in your ceremonial observances.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in your flesh.
It seems that Paul thought the Judaizers were requiring circumcision, in part, so that they could have glory in their accomplishment. This would, I assume to be the accomplishment of making converts to their line of thought.
Fuente: Mr. D’s Notes on Selected New Testament Books by Stanley Derickson
6:13 For neither they themselves who are circumcised keep the law; but desire to have you circumcised, that they may glory in {l} your flesh.
(l) That they have entangled you in Judaism, and yet he dwells on the aspect of circumcision.