You Foolish Galatians

An honest look at a confusing book (2 Peter 3:14).

Galatians might be the most misunderstood and misquoted book in all of the Renewed Covenant scriptures. Or perhaps Romans 3-8 is. But, the two deal with the same notion, and are very related, and very misrepresented among even leading theologians.

These books are very tough to understand, especially if one reads them from a Western perspective, a perspective rife with thousands of years of approaching the scriptures from the wrong vantage point. Peter says this about these very writings:

2 Peter 3:14

“Therefore, my beloved, while you look for these things [the final days], be diligent that you may be found by Him in shalom, without spot, and blameless. And consider that the longsuffering of Adoneinu is for Salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, has written to you, as also in all his letters he speaks concerning these matters, in which there are certain things so hard to be understood that those who are ignorant and unstable twist their meaning, as they do also the other scriptures, to their own destruction. You therefore, my beloved, seeing that you know these things beforehand, beware, lest you follow the error of those without Torah, and fall from your own steadfastness.”

These books require study, not casual reading. Some people simply must have help to sort out the message in them. God has indeed ordained people with the gift of teaching for that very purpose, but that gift is lacking, as are many other spiritual powers. They have been replaced with manmade ideas and processes.

I have written an explanation of Galatians once before to try to clear up the confusion. I attempt it again, trying this time to keep it narrowed to scripture and ancient Jewish culture to clarify it; but, I cannot sacrifice truth to ignorance or laziness. Most people simply do not want to put in the work to understand God’s Word as a single message.

Most theologians and students of the Bible approach the Bible under the mantle of Marcion, who first told the world that there are two irreconcilable ‘testaments’ in the Bible. That assumption taints the minds of the readers, so they do not see the truth staring them in the face.

The book of Galatians was not written in a vacuum. Most scholars agree that it was written in about 48 A.D.  Sha’ul, also called Paul, a Rabbi of Rabbis, had gotten saved, and was personally called by Yeshua to declare the Good News of His Body as our Sin Sacrifice to the gentile nations. He set out on his first mission to do so in about 46 A.D. He went into parts of Modern Turkey, the area of Galatia, and preached. [Acts 13, 14]

Shortly after he founded several congregations in that area, a doctrinal issue arose. Some false brethren came in from Judea [Israel], preaching what we would today call Rabbinic doctrine. People have a hard time today separating what the Torah teachings truly are, in contrast to what the Rabbis taught that went beyond the Torah. [See Mark 7] That is the issue we see played out in Galatia.

Gal 1:6-9

After introducing himself and greeting the Galatians, Sha’ul immediately addresses the issue: they have turned away from the true “Good News”. Men have ‘perverted’ the actual “B’sorah”, the Good News. Sha’ul told them not to believe any other ‘gospel,’ even if angels brought it to them.  He spoke damnation over each individual who brought it, saying, ‘let him be accursed.’ So far he hasn’t described or explained the bad doctrine, beyond calling it a false gospel.

Gal 1:10-24

After bringing up the perverted gospel, Sha’ul pits himself against the men who brought it into Galatia, showing why he had the authority to address the issue and stand against this new/different gospel. He describes his salvation experience and calling, showing he is a viable authority on the issue he’s about to address.

[Think about it: at this point we are barely 15 years into the Messianic Community, closer to Messiah chronologically than any other time, and Gentile believers have only been added for about a year or two, and a false gospel, or way of salvation, has already emerged.]

Gal 2:1-2

Sha’ul further solidifies his pedigree by mentioning that he met the pillars of the Jewish congregation at Jerusalem, and they welcomed him and recognized him as the one sent to the Gentiles. 

Gal 2:3-5

He then abruptly introduces the issue a little bit more in detail: Titus was not compelled to get circumcised, false brothers are ‘spying on our freedom, coming against us to enslave us’; ‘we did not submit to false brethren’. And he explains that we are free. 

The truth is, we are indeed freed from the ‘law of sin’, but, that ‘law of sin’ is not the Torah!  The ‘law of sin’ is the propensity to sin, the impetus naturally to go against His Torah. Romans makes it plain that it is that law, another law, the ‘law at work in our members,’ that is done away with, and not the Torah! We will visit this again later, but scripture is actually very plain on it. Our freedom is from sin, not from the righteous guide to life that God gave to Moses.

It is necessary to sew everything together so far, so that we see that we still do not have the whole issue described to us as readers: but remember, the early readers, because they were living out the conflict, knew exactly what Paul was saying.

We have so far that some Jewish men came to Galatia spreading a different message. It was brought by false brothers, or, people who claimed to believe but were actually teaching a lie. Their lie was related to the rite of circumcision specifically, somehow. And Paul thought of himself as the proper authority to refute their doctrine. Their doctrine was a ‘different’ gospel. That’s all we know so far.

Different from what? 

Different from what Paul preached.

This is what Paul preached:

Acts 13:5, 16-41

“they declared The Word of Our Lord” [D’var of Adoneinu] in the Synagogues of the Jews.”

O men of Yisra’el, and those of you who fear Elohim [gentiles], hear my words: the Elohim [God] of this people of Yisra’el chose our forefathers and exalted and multiplied them when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with a strong arm He brought them out of it.  And He fed them in the wilderness for forty years.  And He destroyed seven nations in the land of Kena’an, and He gave them their land for an inheritance.  And for a period of four hundred and fifty years he gave them judges until the time of Samuel the Prophet.  Then they asked for a king, and Elohim gave them Sha’ul Ben Kish, a man of the tribe of Binyamin, for a period of forty years.  And when in time Elohim took Sha’ul away, he raised up to them David to be their king, concerning whom he testified, saying, ‘I have found David Ben Yishai, a man after my own heart, to do my will’.  Of this man’s offspring Elohim has, according to His promise, raised to Yisra’el Yeshua The Savior, before whose coming, He had sent Yokhanan to declare the immersion of Teshuvah [repentance] to all the people of Yisra’el.  And as Yokhanan fulfilled his ministry, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not he. But behold there comes one after me, the straps of whose sandals I am not worthy to loosen.’  O men and brethren, descendants of the family of Avraham, and whoever among you reverences Elohim [Gentiles], to you is the The Word of Life sent.  For inasmuch as the inhabitants of Yerushalayim and their leaders did not understand Him nor the books of the Prophets which are read every Yom Shabbat, they condemned Him; but all the things which were written have been fulfilled.  And though they found no cause for His death, they asked Pilatos that they might kill him.  And when they had fulfilled all that was written of Him, they lowered him from the tree and laid him in a grave.  But Elohim raised Him from the dead; and for many days he was seen by them who had come up with him from the Galil to Yerushalayim, and they are now His witnesses to the people.  And behold, we also declare to you that that very promise which was made to our fathers, behold, Elohim has fulfilled it to us their children, for He has raised up Yeshua, just as it is written in the second Tehillah, ‘You are my son; this day I have fathered you.’  And Elohim raised him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, as He said, ‘I will give you the faithful compassions of David.’  And again He said in another place, ‘You shall not suffer your Devout One to see decay.’  For David, after he had served his own generation according to the will of Elohim, died; though he was a greater man than his fathers, yet he saw decay.  But He whom Elohim raised did not see decay.  Be it known to you, therefore, brethren, that through this very One is declared to you the forgiveness of sins: and by Him all that trust are justified from all things [sins, infractions against the Torah], from which you could not be justified by the Torah of Moshe.  Beware, therefore, lest that which is written in the Prophets may come upon you.  ‘Be careful, O you despisers, for you shall wonder and perish; for I will do a great work in your day which you will not believe even if a man tells it to you.’ 

Some important things to note from the first message of Paul: first, he addresses both Jews and Gentiles in the synagogue. Then, his message is strikingly similar to the first message of Peter in Acts Chapter 2. Paul gives a brief history of Israel concerning the prophecies of Messiah, and quotes some of the very same scriptures as Peter in supporting the idea that Yeshua is the Son of God, and stressing the fact by citing that there are eye witnesses that Yeshua was raised from the dead by God His Father.

He stresses the fact that Yeshua came and died so that we could be forgiven of our infractions against the Torah [sin is in fact when we break the Torah, 1 John 3:4]. 

Then he very plainly states that we are ‘justified’ only by our trust, and that we could NOT be justified by our keeping of the Torah. We preach this ourselves loud and clear, but people do not hear us.

Whatever the ‘false brethren’ were bringing, it was different from the above. In fact, it was a ‘new gospel’:

He calls the gospel of these men who visited Galatia a false gospel. Then, after justifying his writing the letter, he links this gospel, or “good news”, to circumcision, and calls the men spreading that gospel false brothers. 

But, so far, we do not know exactly what the issue is. Some readers would, at this point, assume that the issue is circumcision itself. We will see. But, that is actually writing into the text what is not there! All we can say so far is that the issue is related to circumcision, and that an Aramean, Titus, was not forced to get circumcised. It is important to note that after this event, Paul circumcised Timothy [Acts 16:1-3], so circumcision itself was not the issue!

“…there was there a Torah Student [“Talmid”, a follower of a Rabbi, ‘disciple’] whose name was Timoteus, the son of a believing Jewess, but whose father was an Aramean.  And all the Talmidim of Lystra and Iconium gave good testimony concerning him.  Paul wanted to take this man with him, so he took him and circumcised him because of the Yehudim who were in that region; for they all knew that his father was an Aramean.”

Again, Paul circumcised Timothy after the Galatian issue was settled in Acts 15, so, he was not against the actual rite of circumcision, but a doctrine concerning its use.

Gal 2:6-10

Paul then names someone, “those who were considered to be important.” This is likely Peter, James, and John, as they are mentioned as finally accepting Paul just a few verses later. They knew who Sha’ul [Paul] was, and how important to the Congregation he was, chosen to be the minister to the Gentiles. The point is, they were not the ministers to the Gentiles. They were Jews, just like Paul, but after recognizing the Gift of the Ru’akh HaKodesh [Holy Spirit/Breath of God] in him, those three men gave Paul and Barnabas the ‘right hand of fellowship’ and acknowledged that he was the minister to the other nations. 

Gal 2:11-17

Later, after having met the leaders of the Congregations in Jerusalem, Peter joins Paul in Antioch, from where Paul likely wrote this very letter shortly after Peter’s visit.  This letter is most likely being written during the timeframe of Acts chapter 14, and while Paul is writing this letter to the Galatians, he is about to live out Acts chapter 15. Paul says he met the Shlikhim [Yeshua’s ‘sent ones’, apostles] in Antioch at the end of chapter 14. Then, in our letter to the Galatians, he describes his conflict with Kefa, or Peter, that happened there in Antioch.

Peter was hanging out with all the Gentile believers in Yeshua that Paul had made. Jews and Gentiles were happily worshiping God together in the Name of Yeshua, and having buffets together, living life as one people. Then, someone visited Antioch:

“For before certain men came from Ya’akov, Kefa ate with the Gentiles; but after they came, he withdrew and separated himself because he was afraid of them who belonged to the circumcision.”

History tells us that Ya’akov, or James, was the first ‘bishop’, or appointed Zakan [elder] to oversee the congregation in Jerusalem. Saying that they came from “Ya’akov” is saying that they came from Jerusalem. They are apparently Jewish, as they were from Jerusalem; but, not only that, they were ‘of the circumcision’. 

“Of the circumcision” is what gets ‘assumed’ by Marcionites. Does that mean only that they are Jews? Or does it mean something else? Is Kefa then also identifiable as ‘of the circumcision’? Or is this actually the first link to the false brethren that Sha’ul is blaming this whole book on, that he’s already mentioned in verses 3 and 5? 

Whoever he is talking about, they divide Peter from the Gentiles with whom he had been worshiping and fellowshipping. Some translations actually say here what this implies, the ‘circumcision group’. This is a group of men from Jerusalem who are a sub-group, a clique, and they group themselves together doctrinally over one major issue: circumcision.

Before the false brethren got to Antioch, Peter would eat with the Gentiles; once this group of Jews from Jerusalem got there, who place some level of importance on circumcision, Peter would no longer eat with Gentiles, because he was afraid of them! Peter? The one who dared say he would die with Yeshua, was afraid of men? Peter, who was so filled with the Spirit of God that he preached the very first gospel message ever, and saved 3,000 people in one day? Yes. Even people filled with the Ru’akh of God can make stupid mistakes, and err in doctrine and behavior.

Paul says that because of this, Peter and Bar Naba, who also joined the new group and would no longer eat with Gentiles, “were not following uprightly according to the truth of HaB’sorah [The Good News of His Body].” Peter himself was not following the gospel! And Paul, rightly, rebukes them for it. 

“If you, being Yehudim [Jews], live after the manner of Arame’ans and not as do the Y’hudim [Religious Jews], why do you compel the Goyim [Gentiles] who have joined themselves to Yehudah [Jewry] to live as do the Y’hudim [Religious Jews]?

The majority of Jews who practiced their faith in the 1st century, when all this is taking place, were from one of seven sects. The largest sect of Jews was the Pharisees. Then there were the Sadducees, of whom history gives us very little information, much of which comes from the Renewed Covenant Scriptures. Smaller sects like the Essenes and Zealots existed as well, but they leave us very little historical record either. The Pharisees, however, leave us quite some detail in “The Mishnah” and other 2nd century documents.

What many are not aware of, however, is that the one sect of the Pharisees was divided into two ‘schools’ or ‘houses’. The House of Hillel, and the House of Shammai. 

This is the cultural piece of the puzzle that most readers of Galatians are oblivious to when they read this book. 

We already know that Sha’ul was a Pharisee of the House of Hillel, because he told us that his Rabbi had been Gamaliel [Acts 22:3], the grandson of Hillel. The House of Shammai at this time was the ruling class in Israel; they considered themselves the only ‘Real Jews’, so, many times, when the scriptures say that Yeshua or one of His men opposed the “Y’hudim”, it is likely talking about this subgroup of Jews, a Religious class of Jews called Pharisees in the House of Shammai. The House of Hillel was favored by the average Jew, and they called the House of Shammai “The Synagogue of Satan”.

Shammai’s 18 edicts were very anti-Gentile, and match the Galatian issue perfectly. There is no doubt to us that this is the ‘circumcision group’ mentioned here. The reader of Galatians must remember that these ‘judaizers’ were false brethren. Pretenders.

The big issue between these Hillel and Shammai groups was what to do with the Gentiles.   This argument had been going on for nearly two centuries already since the namesakes of these two schools of thought were still alive. In Israel, Shammai ruled; outside of the land, clearly, Hillel was still favored, and it becomes obvious in our text. You can see that outside of Israel, Jews and Gentiles worshiped and ate together without issue. Sha’ul was of the house of Hillel, and led the charge in creating this community. In Acts 13 and 14, we find Gentiles in the synagogue before they get saved! And when the Gentiles got saved, they stayed in the Synagogue to worship! And in Galatians 2, we see Peter eating with believing Gentiles happily, until false brethren from Jerusalem show up. 

The House of Shammai had gained numbers in Jerusalem, and they did not want Gentiles in the synagogues, unless they were fully converted to being Jewish first, according to men’s litmus tests, with the final sign of circumcision as the last act of conversion. That is the issue of Galatia.

This is who came down from Jerusalem to ‘spy on’ Messianic freedom. Messianic people were not free from the Torah: they were free from sin, and not bound by the laws of men, which are sinful laws that go against the Torah. The idea that Jews should not allow gentiles into the synagogues to worship God is not in the Torah, and thus it is sin. Hillel thought so, too! Peter was sinning, not by ‘leaving Torah’ and eating with the Gentiles, but by leaving truth and following men and not fellowshipping with those saved by the blood of Messiah, because of fear.

That is the different ‘gospel’ that these men brought, and it is articulated perfectly in Acts 15:1, taking place right after Paul’s letter to the Galatians:

“And certain men [false brothers mentioned twice in Galatians] who had come down from Y’hudah [Judah is what Rome called the land of the Jews in the first century] taught the brethren, “Unless you are circumcised in accordance with the Torah, you cannot be saved.”  That is not in accordance with the Torah!

We have already seen that Paul’s gospel was about saving us from our sins. Sins are infractions against the Torah. If we trust in Yeshua’s shed blood, death, and resurrection as the Son of God, then we are ‘saved,’ and ‘justified’ by that trust. That is what Paul preached. These liars preached that we are saved through conversion to Judaism, with the final rite of circumcision as the last rite of that process, and a fleshly sign of conversion to Rabbinic Judaism. Paul never sanctioned that. So, yes, he vehemently comes against it in this book. And we agree wholeheartedly in what he teaches in Galatians, properly understood.

Let’s just make sure we actually understand what ‘justified’ is: it is a legal term, and it means that our record has been expunged. Yeshua shed His blood for the sins of the whole world, and anyone who hears that, recognizes their sinfulness, and turns away from sin by turning to the guideposts of righteousness [I would not have known what sin is unless the Torah had told me], their sins are wiped away, and their record is clean, and they can stand before the judge free of their crimes against the King. Justified. Righteous.

No one indeed can be thus justified by keeping Torah. Paul had to learn that first thing. He was a Torah Keeper Extraordinaire, his whole life. And when Yeshua faced him down, He asked Paul “why do you kick against the goads?” [Acts 9] As a very learned Rabbi, those words would not have been lost on Sha’ul, a Jewish Rabbi of the highest order. The goads are the commandments of God! 

Kohelet [Ecclesiastes] 12:11-13

“The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails well fastened are those that are composed in collections; they are given from One Shepherd. And furthermore, my son, be admonished: of the making of many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh. The end of the matter, all having been heard: fear Elohim, and keep His Mitzvot [Torah commandments]; for this makes a whole man.”

The goads are the commandments of God! Paul was kicking against the very words that are meant to drive people to Messiah Yeshua [Rom 10:4]!

Sha’ul was going around killing people in the name of God; killing the Congregation of Messiah! “Kohelet”, the name of the book from where this allusion to ‘goads’ comes [Ecclesiastes], which Sha’ul surely knew, means “Congregation Leader”, and the verse referred to this “Kohelet” as One Shepherd. Paul was kicking against the Torah! Because the Torah is meant to guide us, to Messiah Yeshua! [Rom 10:4]

“For Messiah is the goal at which the Torah aims, for righteousness [justification] to everyone who trusts.”

These false teachers, from the house of Shammai, even trapped Peter and Barnabas for a season! And Paul rebuked them openly in public for following them. 

After doing so, Paul explains the clarity of his message, that we are absolutely justified by faith alone. Then he says this:

“But if, while we seek to be justified by Messiah, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Adoneinu Yeshua the Messiah a minister of sin?  What profanity!” 

What Peter and Barnabas were doing was indeed sin. Does that make Yeshua a sinner, or one who approves of the sin? What profanity!  If Yeshua does overlook the sins of those whom He has justified by His blood, why did Sha’ul reprove Peter to his face in the presence of the false brethren who separated him from the Gentiles? 

Just because we are free from our sin, does that mean that we now tell people to follow sinners? [Remember, sin is the breaking of the Torah!]

The “Judaizers” were indeed wrong. But, not everyone who keeps the Torah God’s way is a Judaizer; in fact, Judaizers still today ‘spy on our freedom’, and falsely accuse us, because we cling to justification by trust in the blood of Messiah alone! 

Gal 2:18-21

“For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I will prove myself to be a transgressor of the Torah.”  

What did Sha’ul destroy? Rabbinic endeavors to be righteous in one’s own keeping of the Torah. Paul destroyed that. He said as much in Chapter 1:14 : 

“I was far more advanced in the religion of the Yehudim than many of my age among the people of my race; for above all, I was especially zealous for the doctrines of my forefathers.”

Sha’ul was a typical Pharisee, caught up in men’s regulations about the Torah, and not following the Torah. This is where so many people get confused. Most readers of the Renewed Covenant scriptures assume that anything the Jews did was actually Torah. Most of what they taught was not in the Torah, and that is so even today.

What most people are not aware of, including many theologians, is that the Great Assembly, which the Pharisees claim was the council of Ezra, Nehemiah, Mordachai, and others of note at the return from Babylon, created a fence around the Torah. The Rabbis did, but the “Great Assembly” doing it is a fiction, in that the fence came later than Ezra and Nehemiah, and the notion of the fence around the Torah was retrofitted to that time, and sealed by attaching it to their famous names by later generations. 

The fence was written into the Talmud this way, written hundreds of years later:

“Moses received the Torah from Sinai and committed it to Joshua, and Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly.  They [the Great Assembly] said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah.”

These lines were written very late in the game, long after Yeshua was gone, but the fence was being built by Shammai, clearly, in the 2nd century B.C, before Yeshua showed up.

Paul destroyed the fence out of his own life! Rabbis cite this Talmudic statement as their source of all authority over all doctrine. They backdate their doctrine to Ezra to make it seem legitimate. The ‘fence’ they created is all manner of manmade rules that they say will keep Israel from breaking the commandments of the Torah. But, what it in fact does, is it causes Israel to break the commandments of the Torah.

Yeshua proves this to us:

Mark 7:1-13

“Then there gathered to Him Pharisees and Scribes who had come from Yerushalayim.  And they saw some of His Talmidim [Torah students, ie, disciples]  eating bread with their hands unwashed, and they reproached them.  For all the Y’hudim and the P’rushim, unless their hands were washed carefully, would not eat, because they strictly observed the tradition of the elders.” 

This matches exactly how Sha’ul described himself, and what he destroyed when he met Messiah Yeshua.

“Even the things from the market, if they were not washed, they would not eat. And there are a great many other things which they have accepted to obey, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper utensils, and the beddings of dead men.  And the Scribes and Pharisees asked Him, “Why do your Talmidim not walk according to the traditions of the elders, but eat bread with their hands unwashed?”

So many people assume here that the Torah actually demands that every Jew wash his hands before he eats. Or to wash cups, and pots, utensils, and beddings. This is not true, yet millions today think it is, because the Jews still do it, so it must be in the Torah, which they never themselves read. They do not search the Scriptures to see if it is true. Each of these are on a long list of manmade, Rabbinic rules that the religious class of Jews made up. They are the fence! They are not Torah commandments.

“He [Yeshua] said to them, “The Prophet Isaiah well prophesied about you, O hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me.  And they worship me in vain when they teach as doctrines the commandments of men.’ 

Yeshua clarifies for us that the Rabbinic fence that he encountered in this event was in fact manmade, and not divine. He called the purveyors of it hypocrites. They were just like Paul, one of their later leaders, kicking against the goads, which are the actual commandments of God, and Yeshua says that:

“For you have ignored the mitzvah of Elohim [God’s commandment], and you observe the tradition of men, such as the washing of cups and pots and a great many other things like these.”  He said to them, “You certainly do injustice to the mitzvah of Elohim so as to sustain your own tradition.”

This is what Paul destroyed out of his life: manmade traditions, not the keeping of God’s Torah.

“For Moshe said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘he who curses father or mother, let him die the death.’  But you say a man may say to his father or his mother, ‘What is left over is Karbani [my offering];’ and yet you do not let him do anything for his father or mother.  So you dishonor the The Word of God for the sake of the tradition which you have established; and you do a great many other things like these.”

The commandments are the foundation of the inspired Word of God, which became flesh in Yeshua the Messiah. The religion of the Rabbis, established by the Pharisees and Scribes, was contrary to the Torah. Most ordinary Jews did not follow Rabbinic law, including Yeshua’s Talmidim. Yeshua said the Rabbis do injustice to the Mitzvah [Mitzvah is another way to say Torah!]. Yeshua is defending the Torah, the written Word of God!

After describing his destruction of the Rabbinic fence around the Torah in his life, Paul continues:

“For through the Torah I am dead to the Torah, that I might live to Elohim.”

This is a sticky wicket, even for some who follow the Torah rightly today. Being dead to the Torah is not the death of the Torah, but of the one who trusts it! It is the death of the believer who trusts in Messiah, and is thus alive to God. Scholars know this, but they also know the tricky nature of Sha’ul’s wording, just as Kefa did. The Torah is not dead, because the Torah spells out what sin is and what the penalty for sin is, so, anyone who has not died in Messiah is ‘alive’ to the Torah, and subject to its penalties! Being dead to the Torah means having died in Messiah, to be reborn unto life, in Messiah, who is the Torah, the Word of God in flesh! Paul’s next words prove this very clearly:

“I am executed with Messiah; henceforth it is not I who live, but Messiah who lives in me; and the life which now I live in the flesh I live by absolute trust in The Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.  I do not frustrate the compassion of Elohim; for if righteousness [being legally cleared before God] comes by means of the [keeping of] Torah, then Messiah died in vain.”

I am dead, because I was reborn into Messiah. That is what Paul is describing here. This passage is in no way an abolishment of the Torah, like too many people understand it. It is a commentary on the new life we receive, that grants us an escape from the punishment we deserve, which is told to us in the Torah. This causes us to be ever mindful of His Compassion.

If we are not 100% justified, made right before the eyes of God, by our trust in the blood of Yeshua, then the Messiah died for no reason. That is profanity of thought to God. We trample the Son of God under foot when we sin in religion, just as if we sin outside of religion. We’ve already shown that even those who have His Ru’akh/Spirit can err doctrinally [Peter did]. The question is, will they accept reproof by the Word of God and His Ru’akh? Peter did. Most will not.

And that is exactly what Paul says in the next chapter:

Gal 3:1-5

“O foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you from your absolute trust, after Yeshua the Messiah, executed on the stake, has been shown before your eyes?  This only I want to know from you: did you receive HaRu’akh through the works of the Torah, or through hearing of The Faith?  Are you so foolish, after having begun with spiritual things, to end now with things of the flesh?  Have you believed all these things in vain?  I hope that it is to no purpose.  Does he therefore who gives you HaRu’akh and works miracles among you do these things by the works of the Torah, or by hearing and obedience to The Faith/HaEmunah?

Many people here think that ‘things of the flesh’ is meant to describe keeping the commandments of God! But, look what Paul says in the other confusing book, Romans 7:14 : 

“For we know that the Torah is of the Ru’akh; but I am of the flesh, enslaved to sin.”  

When we sin, we are following our flesh. When we follow the Torah, we are following Spiritual Things! When we follow the commandments of men, we are following the flesh of men! The covenant of circumcision, while done in the flesh, is an act of spiritual obedience on the part of the Jewish man of faith in Messiah, when he circumcises his child. The idea of salvation of gentiles by circumcision of the flesh is indeed an act of the flesh.

The Galatians were bewitched into following men of flesh, false brethren, liars. To bewitch is to take power over someone by some enchantment. This is the very operation of HaSatan, who beguiled the first humans by asking “did God really say…?”  The false brethren basically told the Galatians, ‘did God really say that you only need to trust in the resurrection of Yeshua and His blood to be saved? No, what He ‘really’ said, [here comes the fence] is that you must become Jewish with the final sign of circumcision, to be saved [justified].’

They took the operation of the Spirit out of the equation, which circumcises our hearts, to put the focus back on one’s own flesh as all important; one’s own effort; one’s own righteousness. Our faith invokes His Presence. Our faith invokes His Power in our lives; our works based on men’s doctrines do not.

At this point, however, the traditional christian will understand that works are evil and that we are to have none. But, a casual reading of the Scriptures shows that to be erroneous. 

Gal 3:6-11

But, in this section of Galatians, Peter’s warning about the complexity of Paul’s writings should remain at the fore. Taking one phrase out of context will easily justify one turning away from the Torah to ‘sanctioned disobedience’ by the churches.

“Just as Avraham trusted Elohim, and it was accounted to him for righteousness, you must know therefore that those who trust, in absolute trust, are the children of Avraham.  Because Elohim knew in advance that the nations [Gentiles] would be declared righteous through absolute trust, he first declared [preached the gospel] to Avraham, as it is said in the Kadosh Scriptures, “In you shall all the nations be blessed.”

לְבַשֵּׂר לְאַבְרָהָם / levaser l’Avraham is ‘declared good news’ to Abraham

God declared the Good News to Abraham. The good news is what Peter declared to the Jews, and what Paul declared to the Gentiles: one message, that the Body of Yeshua had been offered up to atone for the sin of all mankind, and that if one ‘repents’, turning back to God after having turned away at the fall of Adam [we were all in Adam when he did that], then we are given the gift of being saved from our sin and are prepared to receive His Ru’akh [Breath, Spirit, Presence]. Paul goes on to say:

“So then, it is those who trust who are blessed through Avraham the trusting one. ¹⁰For These, indeed, who are from work[s] — they are of the Torah,  are under the curse; for as it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not practice everything which is written in the book of the Torah.” 

Other translations, one of which we have relied on,  render verse 10 in this fashion:

For they who are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one who doeth not all that is written in this law.

For they who are of the deeds of the law, are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one who shall not do every thing written in this law.

For those who rely on the works of the law are still under the curse: for as it is written, Cursed is everyone who does not practice everything which is written in the book of the law.

And King James: For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them. 

Let’s look at the Greek for 3:10:

A very literal translation of ὅσοι γὰρ ἐξ ἔργων νόμου from Koine Greek would be:

“For as many as are from works of law”

Breaking it down:

• ὅσοι – “as many as” or “all who”

• γὰρ – “for” (a postpositive conjunction, often explanatory or causal)

• ἐξ – “from” or “out of“

• ἔργων – “works” (genitive plural of ἔργον, meaning deeds or actions)

• νόμου – “of law” (genitive singular of νόμος, meaning law, often understood as the Mosaic Law in biblical context)

So more sensibly, though still quite literal:
“For all who are of works of law”

Here’s a very literal translation of the Aramaic phrase in that first clause of verse 10:

אַילֵין גֵּיר דּמִן עֲבָדֵא אִנּוֹן דּנָמוֹסָא

Literally:

“these indeed who are from work, they are of the Law (they “belong to” the Law )”

Word-by-word breakdown:

• אַילֵין (aylīn) – these

• גֵּיר (gēr) – indeed / for / because (often used to emphasize or explain)

• דּמִן (d’min) – who are from / that are of

• עֲבָדֵא (ʿavādē) – works

• אִנּוֹן (innūn) – they are

• דּנָמוֹסָא (d’namosā) – of the Law / from the Law (Nomos = Law)

So a smoother but still very literal phrasing might be:

“these, indeed, who are from work[s] — they are of the Torah. 

¹⁰For those who are indeed of works, they are of the Torah; they are under the curse; for as it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not practice everything which is written in this Torah.”

That is where the confusion stems from. People do not realize that ‘torah’ or ‘law’ here is the modifying phrase: ‘works’ is the focus. Those who are focused on their own works, they are the ones under the curse. They are not doing what the Torah says to do for salvation, which is to trust.

But, most people rely on the KJV and later translations, and eisegesis, in order to justify leaving behind the Torah!  And they call the Torah itself the curse! The Torah itself is not a curse! Sin is the curse; sin is missing the high mark of God in Messiah Yeshua, who kept the Torah perfectly. Following men is sin! Men who leaven behind the Torah to do their own religious “works”  by which to measure their righteousness are in sin! Trusting in Messiah and doing things God said to do out of love for Him is not sin!

We continue:

“But that no man is justified by the Torah before Elohim is evident; for, as it is written, “The Tzadik [righteous one] shall live by absolute trust.”  Thus the Torah is not made by absolute trust, but, whoever shall do the things which are written in it shall live by them.  Messiah has redeemed us from the curse in the Torah by becoming accursed for our sakes; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,” that the blessing of Avraham might come on the nations through Yeshua HaMashi’akh, that we might receive the promise of HaRu’akh through absolute trust.”

Most translations render verse thirteen this way: ‘redeemed us from the curse of the Torah’. And that is not utterly erroneous. However, the preconceptions in most readers’ minds cause most of them to think that the Torah itself is a curse!

Paul wrote that sentence, and he himself says that it is not a curse; yet most readers yield to the perversion of his words that Peter warned us about!

Romans 7:12

“Therefore the Torah is holy, and the mitzvah [commandment in the Torah/Torah] is holy, and just, and good.” 

Does that sound like a curse?

The curse is sin and death, and we all know it. Remember, sin is biblically defined as ‘breaking the Torah’.

Just a few verses prior Paul wrote: “What shall we say then? Is the Torah sin? What profanity!” He goes on here with:

“Has then that which is good [Torah] become death [the curse] to me? What profanity! But sin that is exposed as sin, and works death in me for that which is good [Torah], will be the more condemned by means of the Torah. For we know that the Torah is of the Ru’akh; but I am of the flesh, enslaved to sin.”

The Torah is not the captor. Sin is our captor.

“For I do not know what I do; and I do not do the thing which I want, but I do the thing which I hate. That is exactly what I do.  So then if I do that which I do not wish to do [go against Torah], I can testify concerning the Torah, that it is good.  Now then it is not I who do it [the thing I hate to do], but sin which dominates me.  Yet I know that it does not fully dominate me (that is, in my flesh); but as far as good is concerned, the choice is easy for me to make, but to do it [Torah] is difficult for me.  For it is not the good [Torah] that I wish to do that I do; but it is the evil [sin, breaking Torah] that I do not wish to do that I do.  Now if I do that which I do not wish, then it is not I who do it, but the sin which dominates me.  I find therefore that the Torah agrees with my conscience when I wish to do good, but evil  [sin] is always near, distracting me.  For I delight in the Torah of God after the inward man; but I see another ‘law’ in my members [flesh], warring against the Torah in my mind, and it makes me a captive to the impetus of sin which is in my members. O wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this mortal body?  I thank Elohim for deliverance through Adoneinu Yeshua HaMashi’akh. Now therefore with my mind I am a servant of the Torah of God; but with my flesh I am a servant of the law of sin.”

So, clearly Paul was distinguishing the Torah from the sin of man’s flesh, and saying that the Torah was used by the adversary to condemn us to sin, but that the Torah is good, because it tells us spiritually what sin is. Paul goes on in Galatians 3:

“My brethren, I speak as a man: though it be but a man’s covenant, yet if it be confirmed, no man can reject it or change anything in it.”

He is not calling the covenant God made with Abraham a man’s covenant, he is contrasting it against man’s covenant. But if God took part in the covenant, it is firm.

“Now the promises were made to Avraham and to his seed as a covenant.  He did not say, “To your seeds,” as of many, but, “To your seed,” as One, that is Messiah.  And, this I say, that the covenant which was previously confirmed of God in Messiah cannot be repudiated, nor the promise nullified by the Torah which came four hundred and thirty years later.

Do you see that Paul just called the covenant of Abraham as done in Messiah? The Covenant of Abraham is part of the gospel! Messiah ratified the covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15, and renewed it 2,000 years later with the few faithful of his children!  And then, Messiah began to bring in the nations into that same covenant:

“For if the inheritance is by the Torah, then it would not be as the fulfillment of promise; but Elohim gave it to Avraham by promise.” 

That promise is the gospel.  It applies to the spiritual children of Avraham, whether Jew or gentile!

“Then what is the use of the Torah? It was added because of transgression, until the coming of the heir to whom the promise was made…” 

The heir is Messiah Yeshua.

“and the Torah was given by messengers by the hand of a mediator.  Now a mediator does not represent one alone, but God is one.  Is the Torah then against the promises of God? What profanity!  For, if a law had been given which could have wrought life, righteousness would truly have come as the result of the [keeping of] Torah.  But the scripture has included everything under sin, that the promise by absolute trust of Yeshua The Messiah might be given to those who trust. [Remember, “Is the Torah sin? What profanity!”]

The Torah does not contradict the promise that God made to Abraham! The Torah is scripture! And it includes everything under sin. The promise to Abraham is in the Torah, predicting Messiah Yeshua, and bringing people to faith in Messiah Yeshua by provoking repentance from their sins, which are only known because of Torah!

Referring back to Romans 7:

“Is the Torah sin? What profanity! I would not have learned the significance of sin except by means of the Torah; for I would never have known the meaning of covetousness unless the Torah said “you shall not covet.” 

Did God really abolish the command that coveting is sin? If you think He abolished the Torah, that is what you’re espousing. But, lust is still sin! The Torah has not gone away.

“But before absolute trust came, we were guided by the Torah, while we were waiting for the faith which was to be revealed.  The Torah then was our tutor, to bring us to Messiah, [Rom 10:4] that we might be justified by absolute trust.  But, since absolute trust has come, we no longer are in need of many tutors.

God made the prophets and the priesthood of Israel the teachers of the Torah; Israel made the Pharisees their teachers, most of whom were not priests. None of whom are prophets.

“For you are all [Jews and Gentiles] the children of Elohim by absolute trust in Yeshua The Messiah. [not saved by circumcision]  For those who have been immersed in the name of Messiah have been clothed with Messiah.  There is neither Jew nor Aramaean, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Yeshua The Messiah.  So if you belong to Messiah, then you are descendants of Avraham [spiritually], and his heirs according to the promise [of the gospel].

Being circumcised physically in the flesh, then, is left only to the Jewish people, and Jews who trust in Messiah circumcise their children into the covenant as do the rest of Jewry, and that is not wrong, which Timothy’s circumcision proves. But, Messiah has given us a circumcision of the heart, and not of the flesh. Just like Paul says here that it is those who enter into immersion in Messiah that are considered sons of Abraham, apart from circumcision, so also does he instruct those at Colosse:

“And it is through Him [Yeshua] that you also have been made complete, for He is the head of all principalities and powers, in whom also you are circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, in putting off the sinful body [flesh] by the circumcision of Messiah; and you were buried with Him in immersion, and by Him you were raised with Him, for you trusted in the power of Elohim who raised Him from the dead.”

No one comes to be an heir of Abraham by their physical circumcision. Paul is making this very clear, because the false believers were teaching a different gospel! They were saying that Jews and Gentiles alike were saved by circumcision, and by keeping all the laws of Moses and of the Rabbis! This was the first step in gaining bewitching control over the Gentiles. It still happens today, sadly, even in the Messianic community. Some people who think they trust in Yeshua actually only believe intellectually, but do not trust completely in His blood to make them utterly righteous before God. They add their own righteousness, their own efforts of keeping commandments, to their salvation, and thus, they have fallen from grace. 

A person who trusts only in Yeshua’s blood to be counted righteous before God, and then also does the commandments, like keeping the Sabbath, the seven feasts and biblically kosher eating, is not adding to their salvation. They are simply doing what Yeshua said those who truly follow Him would do:

“anyone who observes and teaches them [the commandments of the Torah], he shall be regarded as great in The Kingdom of Heaven.” Mat 5:19

“If you love me, keep my commandments”. John 14:15

It could not be any more plain than that. Being obedient to Him is not a sin, nor is it bondage. The bondage is in being captive to the sin of men’s doctrines, thinking that one is becoming more righteous by doing the Torah in his own power.  Yeshua gives us power over sin. Sin is breaking Torah. Being obedient is love for God.

Paul gets even trickier in the next section of his explanation.

Galatians 4:1-7

“Now this I say, that the heir, as long as he is young, cannot be distinguished from the servants, though he is Adon of them all.  But he is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by his father.  Even so we, when we were young, were subject to the principles of this world…

The Torah is not full of worldly principles! We just read that it was given by a mediator [Moses] through messengers of heaven [angels]. [Gal 3:19 above] But so many automatically plug Torah into their minds right here. The Torah, however, is heavenly, and given by the Ru’akh of God [Rom 7:14 above, 2 Tim 3:16].

“but when the fullness of the time was come, Elohim sent forth His Son, who, born of a woman, became subject to the Torah, to redeem them who were under the Torah, that we might receive the adoption of sons.”

“Under the Torah” is misunderstood here. To be under any law is to be answering to it for infractions against it. Even in our litigious society people often say “you will feel the full weight of the law” when you break it. To feel the weight of it, you are under it. You have broken it.

Everyone, every single human being, is under the weight of the condemnation contained in the Torah, until they come to Messiah Yeshua. That included all of Israel, though they ‘thought’ they were keeping it. The Pharisees thought that if they could keep it perfectly, one of them might do miracles and become the Messiah. Only a few people in Israel actually understood that their salvation would be a gift from God in the Messiah, and that Messiah would be the Son of God. Yokhanan HaMatbil [John the Immerser], Nathaniel, and some others in the Renewed Covenant scriptures show us they were expecting the Son of God, just as the Prophets, Psalms and Proverbs predicted. They also understood that He would make us sons:

Paul goes on:

“And because you are sons, Elohim has sent forth The Ru’akh of His Son into your hearts crying, “Abba, Avinu.” From now on you are not servants, but sons; and if sons, then heirs of Elohim through Yeshua HaMashi’akh.”

Sons of Abraham are circumcised. All believers, Jew and Gentile, are also to be circumcised, but, not in the manner of the first form of the covenant [which was specifically to the Jewish people.] But, the circumcision of Yeshua is more important.

And Paul is going to get real tricky, just as Peter says he is in all his writings, to communicate that simple message.

He first reminds the Galatians that they were pagans.

Galatians 4:8-11

“But then, when you [Gentiles] did not know Elohim, you served those things which from their nature were not gods.  But now, after you have known Elohim [God the Creator], and, above all, are known of Elohim, you turn again to those [pagan, worldly] weak and poor principles, and you wish again to come under their bondage.  You still observe days, and months, and times, and years.  I am afraid that perhaps I have labored among you in vain.”

This is where people go askew from both the context of the document, and of history. “Weak and poor principles” were the principles of their former, pagan lives!  And even if we keep it to the principles of the false brethren who happened to be Jewish, then the “weak and poor principles” are their principles, and not the principles of God. But, he had just said ‘when you did not know God”. These were Galatians, whose gods were those of the Greeks. Those are the poor principles he is referring back to when he says ‘those’. This phrase cannot be in any way referring to God’s ways handed down in the Torah. God’s Torah is not worldly, weak, or poor. In fact, our writer calls it in his other letter: holy, and just, and good, [Rom 7:12, 16], “of the Spirit”, [14] “agrees with my conscience” [21]. And Paul says, “now therefore with my mind I am a servant of the Torah of God.” Paul would be a hypocrite if he called the Torah here a weak and beggarly book, or worldly. How could anyone in their right mind think that the books of Genesis through Deuteronomy, or the covenant that is contained in them, is worldly? That is the very definition of insane, or at the least of choosing to ignore simple truth for the sake of doctrine.

“You wish to come under bondage”. Our bondage is not the Torah, it is sin. Would the God who promised to deliver Israel from bondage to Egypt take them out into the wilderness to put them under bondage to an impossible to keep Torah? No! In fact, He said that it was absolutely possible to keep!

Deuteronomy 30:11-14

11“For this Mitzvah [commandment, Torah] which I command you this day, it is not too hard for you, neither is it far off. It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who shall go up for us to heaven, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?” Neither is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who shall go over the sea for us, and bring it unto us, and make us to hear it, that we may do it?” But The Word is very nigh unto you, in your mouth, and in your heart, that you may do it.”

The Torah is The Word. The Word became a Body of flesh. Yeshua inside of us enables us to keep His Word; that is the whole point of His coming, to deliver us from the bondage of sin, which is the propensity to break His Word, because sin dwells in us. If we do sin, we have an advocate who intercedes and secures our forgiveness. But, to say that the Torah is the bondage from which we are freed is such an egregious violation of scripture! Yeshua even said so, yet most everyone in the world ignores His own words!

Matthew 5:17-19

“Do not expect that I have come to nullify the Torah or the Prophets; I have not come to nullify it, but to confirm it.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one yod [jot, smallest Hebrew letter], nor a stroke [of the pen] shall pass away from the Torah until everything comes to pass.  Whoever therefore tries to nullify even one of these smallest mitzvot [commandments], and teaches men so, he shall be regarded as small in The Kingdom of Heaven; but anyone who observes and teaches them, he shall be regarded as great in The Kingdom of Heaven.”

How then can we turn around and say that the principles of the Torah are weak, poor, and worldly, if those who follow them are to be great in The Kingdom of Heaven? We cannot.

Next in Galatians, we read:

“You still observe days, and months, and times, and years.  I am afraid that perhaps I have labored among you in vain.”

This is another verse that people automatically assume means that we are not supposed to keep the Sabbath, His seven feasts, or any other divine observances given to us by the mouth of God; yet every christian I have ever met insists that keeping Sunday as the day of worship, Christmas as a yearly observance, or Easter, or Halloween, is not wrong to do. Is it a reach to think that the Galatians were returning to their pagan holy days? Not at all, given that the Catholics have done the same thing, and most protestants follow them in it. In fact, most insist it is sin not to keep Sunday, Christmas, and Easter, though none of them are in the Bible [except in pagan contexts]. Catch the hypocrisy of this! If we observe the day that God said to observe, the seventh-day Sabbath, and His other sacred times, like Passover, Shavu’ot, and Sukkot, then we are being ‘legalistic’ and are in bondage: but, if we observe feasts and holy days that not only are not in the Bible, but are proven to be abundant in pagan circles, we are in fact ‘free’, and ‘holy’.

Again, Paul just referred to their former pagan way of life without God the Creator. He cannot be talking to Galatians about God’s high days. They had no idea what those days were before God came into their lives. And, we find that they were keeping the Sabbath, and would go on to do so after this whole Galatian issue was settled, and that this is what was expected from the Jewish leaders of the Congregations:

Acts 15:21

“For Moshe, since early generations, has those who declare him in the Beit K’nessets in every city who read him on every Yom Shabbat.”  

We will revisit the context of this passage later, but for now, just notice that this is Ya’akov [James], Yeshua’s own brother, telling the Jewish leaders that it was not necessary to lay all of the Torah on the Gentiles when they came to faith, because Moses is read every Sabbath in the Synagogue. Moses is another name for The Torah, and the Torah was being declared and read every week in the Synagogue [and still is Today], and the Gentiles were expected to continue to hear it, on the Sabbath of God. There is no way to wiggle out of that; this is what was done at the founding of all the congregations in Galatia! Most of the believers in Galatia came to faith because they were already assembling with Jews in the Synagogues! [Acts 13:5, 14, 14:1] There is no way Paul is now repudiating them for keeping God’s high days. Again, it would make him the biggest hypocrite, because he is seen keeping all of those days for the rest of his life, teaching them to the Gentiles, and defending his observance of them in the highest courts of both Rome and Israel. 

1 Corinthians 11:1-2

“You, then, should imitate me, even as I also imitate Messiah.  Now I praise you, my brethren, that you remember me in all things, and keep the customs as I delivered them to you.”

Paul was a Jew. He went into Aramean cities, into the Synagogues, and declared Yeshua as the promised Jewish Messiah, and taught the Gentiles the Jewish customs. The greek word there for ‘customs’ is ‘paradosis’, and means only Jewish customs. In Aramaic, the word here is “khukot”, which means ‘statutes of the Torah’, the ‘reasons’ behind the Jewish customs of assembling in the Synagogues at certain times. We see this word used twice more in a letter to another Gentile community:

2 Thessalonians 2:15

“Henceforth, my brethren, stand firmly established and be strong in The Mitzvot [commandments, ‘paradosis’ in the greek texts],  which you have been taught, either in The Word or in our letters.”

Paul taught them “The Word”, “The Commandments”, synonymous terms, both in person and in writings, some of which we do not have. “The Word” in the first century was Genesis through Malachi. No other ‘scripture’ had as yet been written before congregations were formed.

2 Thessalonians 3:15

“Now we command you, my brethren, in the Name of our Master, Yeshua The Messiah, to shun every brother who leads an evil life and not in accord with The Mitzvot [paradosis in greek, rendered ‘tradition’ in English Bibles] which he received from us [Jews].”

As stated, Paul went to great lengths to prove his own observance of the Jewish rites against false accusations, long after his salvation, several times:

Acts 21:20-24

“Our brother, see how many thousands there are in Y’hudah who are believers [in Yeshua], and they are all zealous for the Torah: but they have been informed about you that you teach all the Yehudim who are among the Gentiles to forsake the Torah of Moshe, stating that they ought not to circumcise their children, neither to follow after the customs of the Torah. Now, therefore, they have heard that you have come here. Do, therefore, what we tell you. We have four men who have vowed to purify themselves; take them and go purify yourself with them [a Torah rite], and pay their expenses so that they may shave their heads [a Torah rite]; then everyone will know that what has been said against you is a lie, and that you yourself uphold the Torah and obey it.”

Paul would be the biggest hypocrite and liar if he did that Torah rite with these four men, led them in how to close out the rite, because he was a Rabbi, and it was not true that he still observed every Torah command. People today still perpetuate this lie about Paul, and most people believe it. That is the power of a lie; our world has recently demonstrated that it is easy to get the masses to believe a lie.

Acts 24:14-16

“But this I confess, that in that very teaching which they mention, I worship the Elohim of my fathers, believing all the things which are written in the Torah and in the Prophets; and I have the same hope in Elohim which they [Jews] themselves hold, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust.”

Paul is standing before a Roman ruler, either perjuring himself, or actually keeping the Torah and telling this ruler the truth. Which is it?

He maintains this defense for the rest of his life, in every trial he ever faced:

Acts 26:2-3, 22-23

“In view of all the things whereof I am accused by the Y’hudim, I consider myself blessed, O King Agrippa, to defend myself today before you.  Especially because I know you are familiar with all the customs and questions and laws of the Yehudim….”

“I stand and testify to the humble and to the great, saying nothing contrary to Moshe and the Prophets, but the very things which they said were to take place, that Messiah should suffer and that he should be the first to rise from the dead, and that he should declare light to the people and to the Gentiles.”

Paul maintained his faithfulness to the Torah, even upon threat of his own life. That is not a man who supported abrogating the Torah in any way. Anyone who thinks so has not reasoned through the scriptures and accepted the truth.

Gal 4:16-20

“Am I therefore become your enemy because I tell you the truth?  These men do not envy you for good, but they would dominate you so that you might envy them.  But it is good that you should always envy after good things, and not only when I am present with you. My little children, for whom I am in travail again until Messiah is formed within you, I wish I could be with you now and could change the tone of my voice, because I am deeply concerned about you.”  

After Paul gently reminds them of the ‘blessedness’ they started with, and of their abundant compassion demonstrated toward him, he then asserts that he is telling them the truth. The men he mentions in verse 17 are the same ‘false brethren’, unbelieving Jews of the House of Shammai, who wish to ‘dominate’ them. That is what hanging someone else’s salvation over their heads on a manmade doctrine is: domination; control. Paul expresses that he is trying ‘in travail’ to make sure Messiah is ‘formed’ in them, and that he wants to change the tone of his voice. Then, he gets into the most difficult part of the letter, but let’s make sure we are not twisting it and the rest of scripture, per Peter’s warning:

Gal 4:21-31

“Tell me, you who desire to be under law, do you not hear the Torah?  For it is written that Avraham had two sons, one by a bondmaid and one by a freewoman.  But he who was born of the bondmaid was born after the flesh; but he who was born of the free-woman was born by promise.  Now these things are a symbol of the two covenants, the one from Mount Sinai giving birth to bondage, which is Hagar.  For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and surrenders to Yerushalayim which now is, and is in bondage with her children.  But the Yerushalayim which is above is free, and is the mother of us all [Jew and Gentile].  For as it is written, “Make merry, O you barren, who bears not; rejoice and cry, O you who travail not; for the children of the one in disfavor are more numerous than the children of the one who is favored.”  Now we, my brethren, are the children of promise, as was Yitz’khak.  But as then, he who was born after the flesh persecuted him who was born after HaRu’akh, even so it is now.  Nevertheless what do the Scriptures say? “Cast out the bondmaid and her son; for the son of the maidservant shall not inherit with the son of the freewoman.”  So then, my brethren, we are not children of the maidservant, but children of the freewoman.

The difficult part is Paul saying that they desire to ‘be under the Torah.’ Again, people read this and assume that being ‘under the Torah’ means to be following it the right way. But, it does not. Being under the Torah, again, is breaking the Torah. That is what sin is. These same people today believe the Torah is the ‘law of sin’, when Paul was clearly teaching that ‘sin’ was the other law that burns in our members/flesh. Paul says that calling God’s Torah/law ‘sin’ is ‘khalilah’! profanity!  Most people reading Galatians have that mindset in them when they read this verse. Keeping the Torah the wrong way is the problem that puts one ‘under the Torah’. It is indeed a violation of the Torah to keep it so as to try to secure one’s salvation through self-righteousness, which is what was being taught by the false believers at Galatia. “I can’t be saved without keeping this Torah command the way the Rabbis teach.” “Yeshua did not do enough for me, I have to add to my righteousness by keeping Torah and becoming Jewish through circumcision.” Those are violations of the Torah, and it puts one ‘under the penalty of the Torah’. That is what being under the law means, and falling from grace. He is about to explain that it is the ‘natural,’ ‘mortal’, ‘human’ way to look at the Torah. And this is ‘natural’ because all sin is rooted in pride and self. Flesh.

Paul brings up two women, and two mountains, and contrasts flesh against spiritual promise with both ideas. One mountain represents flesh, Sinai, the other represents promise, Jerusalem above.

The two women are Hagar and Sarah. Sarah was Abraham’s wife, and Hagar was her bondwoman. Because of a lack of faith, Sarah brought sin into their marriage by telling Abraham to go to Hagar and have a son. He did. That son was Isma’el. Isma’el is representing the ‘law of sin’ here: that driven by the passions of the flesh, which is what circumcision and keeping Torah for salvation is. That is a teaching of man, an operation of the flesh, driven by human motivation. The other woman is Sarah. She was barren, and needed God’s intervention in order to have a child. Even after her lack of faith and egregious sin, God had compassion. God had promised Abraham, before Isma’el was born, and after, that his heir would come through Sarah. They continued to trust, and Isaac was born at the proper time, fulfilling God’s promise, fulfilling Abraham’s continued faithful trust in God’s WORD.

Genesis 15:1-4

“After these things the D’var  יהוה [The WORD of GOD] came unto Avram in a vision, saying, “Fear not, Avram, I am your shield, your very great reward.” And Avram said, “O Adonai יהוה , what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and he that shall be possessor of my house is Eli’ezer of Damesek?” And Avram said, “Behold, to me You have given no seed, and, lo, one born in my house is to be my heir.” And, behold, the D’var  יהוה   [The WORD of GOD] came unto him, saying, “This man shall not be your heir; but he that shall come forth out of your own bowels shall be your heir.” 

The promise was the WORD of GOD. 

That is the point that Paul is making. Hagar’s son was born as a result of someone of faith following after their flesh, their own reasoning. Sarah’s was born by continued trust in the WORD of GOD, His promise. Paul says this outright:

“For it is written that Avraham had two sons, one by a bondmaid and one by a freewoman.  But he who was born of the bondmaid was born after the flesh; but he who was born of the free-woman was born by promise.”

The point is not to deride the Torah, but to deride men’s not following Torah by following their flesh versus trusting God. 

He compares the two births through these women to two covenants:

Mount Sinai, and Heaven. Not Mount Sinai and Jerusalem. Not Jerusalem and Heaven. Mount Sinai, and Heaven.

He calls the covenant at Mount Sinai as giving birth to ‘bondage’, and the programming of the last 1700 years makes people think that the covenant itself is bondage. 

“Now these things are a symbol of the two covenants, the one from Har Sinai giving birth to bondage, which is Hagar. 

Remember, Sha’ul just said that Hagar represents flesh.

“For this Hagar is Har Sinai in Arav, and surrenders to Yerushalayim which now is, and is in bondage with her children.”

Paul explains that Hagar surrenders to the ‘current Jersualem.’ That is the Jerusalem of earth, ruled at that time by the House of Shammai. The people of Israel at that time were indeed in bondage, not because they were following the Torah, but because they were not following the Torah!

Mark 7:3, 6-13

“For all the Y’hudim and the P’rushim, unless their hands were washed carefully, would not eat, because they strictly observed the tradition of the elders.” 

“He [Yeshua] said to them, “The Prophet Isaiah well prophesied about you [The Religious Jews of Yeshua’s day!], O hypocrites, as it is written, ‘This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far away from me.  And they worship me in vain when they teach as doctrines the commandments of men.’  For you have ignored the mitzvah [Torah] of Elohim, and you observe the tradition of men, such as the washing of cups and pots and a great many other things like these.” [we can add here ‘you must be circumcised to be saved, which is also not in the Torah]. He said to them, “You certainly do injustice to the mitzvah of Elohim so as to sustain your own tradition.  For Moshe said, ‘Honor your father and your mother;’ and, ‘he who curses father or mother, let him die the death.’  But you say a man may say to his father or his mother, ‘What is left over is Karbani;’ [not in the Torah] and yet you do not let him do anything for his father or mother. [which is in the Torah].  So you dishonor the D’var HaElohim [The WORD of God] for the sake of the tradition which you have established; and you do a great many other things like these.”

So, the Jerusalem that was then, when Paul was writing, was under the Torah, because they were not following the Torah! That is why they were in bondage! 

Our Jerusalem is above, where our High Priest and only Rabbi stands beside God! We are free from the doctrines of men, and not in bondage to people who want to have religious control over us through their egregious doctrines!

Paul then returns to the analogy of the two mothers:

“But the Yerushalayim which is above is free, and is the mother of us all.  For as it is written, “Make merry, O you barren, who bears not; rejoice and cry, O you who travail not; for the children of the one in disfavor [Hagar/Rabbinic Judaism] are more numerous than the children of the one who is favored.” [Yeshua/The Congregation]

Paul then further extends the analogy from the women to the sons, calling Isaac the ‘son’ of the promise, and the other one ‘born after the flesh’. This is a contrast of following men’s flesh, or following the Anointed One who gives birth to the spiritual.

“Now we, my brethren, are the children of promise [of Salvation], as was Yitz’khak.  But as then, he who was born after the flesh persecuted him who was born after HaRu’akh, even so it is now. 

The Messianic community was being persecuted by the Jewish community. Paul himself was pursuing Jewish believers before he trusted in Yeshua, and the conflict was still raging when he wrote this letter. The people in bondage were persecuting the free people, both of whom were physically sons of Abraham, but spiritually they had two different mothers. 

 “Nevertheless what do the Scriptures say? “Cast out the bondmaid and her son; for the son of the maidservant shall not inherit with the son of the freewoman.”  So then, my brethren, we are not children of the maidservant, but children of the freewoman.

We are not children of the flesh, but children of the promise of Salvation! That is all Paul is saying. He is not repudiating, abolishing, diminishing, or dismissing the Torah, but the false doctrine of Rabbinic Jews!

Sha’ul had ministered to the Jews and Gentiles of Galatia, had brought Messiah to both communities who were assembling in harmony, until some Jewish unbelievers came and pretended to be Messianic in order to get the Gentiles to either leave the synagogue or become Jewish according to men, the final rite of which was to be circumcised, saying only then could they be saved. This is the House of Shammai at work, which still controls most of Judaism today, including some of the Messianic community.

Paul warns the Galatian believers, Jews and Gentiles, not to go back into that bondage. The Torah itself is not bondage. Otherwise Paul would not have said, “I thank Elohim for deliverance [freedom] through Adoneinu Yeshua HaMashi’akh. Now therefore with my mind I am a servant of the Torah of Elohim; but with my flesh I am a servant of the law of sin.” Rom 7:25

The contrast is still between freedom in Messiah and bondage to men’s doctrines. God’s Torah is still Genesis-Deuteronomy. The Torah is not the ‘law of sin’, as pointed out very clearly before. “Is the Torah sin? What profanity!”

Galatians 5:1-12

“Stand firm therefore in the liberty with which Mashi’akh has made us free, and be not harnessed again under the yoke of servitude [to the doctrines of men/flesh].  Behold, I, Pavlos, tell you that if you get circumcised [to be saved], then Messiah is of no benefit to you.  For I testify again to every man who gets circumcised [to be saved], that he is under obligation to fulfill the whole Torah.   You have ceased to adhere to Messiah, who seek justification by the Torah  [salvation through conversion to Judaism/circumcision] ; you are fallen from grace.”

Following men’s doctrine, whatever it is, for the purpose of being approved of men on earth, of having ‘proof of salvation’ among men as anything other than one’s confession of the blood of Messiah and His death and resurrection is indeed falling from grace. 

People who are keeping Torah for the right reason do not meet that criterion. Any religion that puts a litmus test on a person other than trust in Messiah to prove salvation is fallen from grace: speaking in tongues, baptism, no sin whatsoever, etc., whatever it is. There is only one proof of salvation we can demand: confession of who Messiah is and what He did for us as an individual.

“For we through HaRu’akh wait for the hope of tzedaka [justification/salvation] by absolute trust.  For, in Messiah Yeshua, neither is circumcision [Jew] anything nor uncircumcision [Gentile], but absolute trust, which is accomplished by love.  You were progressing well; who confused you that you should not obey the truth?  Your persuasion comes from him who called you.  A little khametz leavens the whole lump.  I have confidence in you through Adoneinu, that you will consider no other way, that he who troubles you shall bear his judgment, whoever he is.  And I, my brethren, if I still declare circumcision [for salvation], why should I be persecuted? Why? Has the stake ceased to be an offense?” 

If Paul is declaring salvation by the stake of Messiah, he is now being persecuted along with the Body of Messiah by the unbelieving Jewish community of the Jerusalem of that day. And that is what it was. He is saying that if he were in agreement with these false brethren, he would not be being persecuted as he was. And he was. Just read the Acts and his letters.

“I wish those [false brethren] who are troubling you would be expelled.” 

It takes some will to do that. It seems the Galatian synagogues now had a majority of believers, so much so that Jerusalem had to send false brethren to pretend to be Messianic to interfere in the worship, or get the Gentiles expelled. It was a divisive issue then, and it is today. Any doctrine born in flesh does the same thing.

Paul continues the issue contrasted: flesh versus spirit, manmade doctrine versus truth:

Galatians 5:13-26

“For, my brethren, you have been called to liberty; only do not use your liberty for an occasion to the things of the flesh, but by love serve one another.  For the whole Torah is confirmed in one saying, that is, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

It was not an act of love for the Messianic Jews to demand a manmade measure on the righteousness of anyone, Jew or Gentile. If the stake of Messiah is not enough, no one is saved.

The contrast is still flesh against spirit:

“But if you harm and plunder one another, take heed lest you be consumed one by another.  This I say then: walk in HaRu’akh [The Spirit], and you shall never submit to the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh craves that which is harmful to HaRu’akh, and HaRu’akh opposes the things of the flesh; and the two are contrary to one another, so that you are unable to do whatever you please.

The doctrine of salvation’s guarantee by circumcision is against the guarantee of the promise of Salvation by trust. 

“But if you are led by HaRu’akh, you are not under the Torah.” 

We’ve already made plain what being under the Torah is. Paul’s next words prove that following Torah produces better behaviors, because every behavior he says is ‘of the flesh’ is forbidden in the Torah!

“For the works of the flesh are well known, which are these: adultery, [Exodus 20] impurity [Lev 18-20] , and lasciviousness [Deuteronomy 23], idolatry, [Exodus 20] witchcraft, [Exodus 22] enmity [Leviticus 19], strife, [Numbers 16]  jealousy, [Numbers 5] anger, stubbornness,[Deuteronomy 21]  seditions, [Numbers 5] heresies [Numbers 15], envyings, murders, [Exodus 20] drunkenness [Deuteronomy 21], reveling [Exodus 32], and all such things; those who practice these things, as I have told you before and I say to you now, shall not inherit The Kingdom of God.

All of the things Paul defines as operations of the flesh are actually violations of the Torah! The Torah does indeed tell us what sin is, and sin is rooted in flesh! The Torah is a spiritual book [Rom 7:14], and is to be honored, and followed in regard to religious and moral behavior. Those who think the Torah is a curse, a burden, and bondage, are victims of a major doctrine of the flesh, just like these false brethren and their Galatian victims were.

“But the fruits of HaRu’akh are love, joy, shalom, patience of spirit, gentleness, goodness of heart, absolute trust, meekness, enduring tolerance;  there is no instruction against these.   [In other words, the Torah does not speak against these good characteristics, but promotes them] And those  who  belong  to  Messiah have executed their flesh with all its weaknesses and passions..  Let us therefore live in HaRu’akh, and surrender to HaRu’akh.  Let us not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one another.”  

The Torah is our guidepost to point us to the perfection of Messiah. The Messiah is indeed the goal at which the Torah aims [Rom 10:4], and His perfection is supposed to be what we strive for, in every area of our lives.

Philippians 3:14

“I press on toward the goal to receive the prize of victory of the highest calling of Elohim through Yeshua the Messiah.”

According to Yeshua’s own words, we are supposed to teach His students the Torah and its commandments, for them to follow it and do them. This is one of the most ignored scriptures in all of the Bible.

Matthew 5:17-19

“Do not expect that I have come to nullify the Torah, or the Prophets; I have not come to nullify it, but to confirm it.  For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not even one yod [smallest Hebrew letter], nor a stroke [of the pen] shall pass away from the Torah until everything comes to pass.  Whoever therefore tries to nullify even one of these smallest mitzvot, and teaches men so, he shall be regarded as small in The Kingdom of Heaven; but anyone who observes and teaches them, he shall be regarded as great in The Kingdom of Heaven.”

Clearly, our Rabbi Yeshua wants us to teach the commandments, and to observe them, since He told eleven Jewish men, who knew that Yeshua teaches the commandments, that if we love Him, we would keep them! And Yeshua says that if we keep His commandments, He will give us His Ru’akh, the Divine Presence of God, in order that we will actually be able to keep them, even the harder commandments that define our morality.

“If you love me, keep my mitzvot.  And I will ask of Avi, and He will give you another comforter, to be with you forever, even Ru’akh HaEmet [The True Spirit].” 

Paul goes on to say that we ourselves are to confirm the Torah that Messiah taught. We measure our faults by the Torah, as that is how we find out what sin is, according to Paul:

Romans 7:7

“What shall we say then? Is the Torah sin? What profanity! I would not have learned the significance of sin except by means of the Torah; for I would never have known the meaning of covetousness unless the Torah said “you shall not covet.” 

So, Paul’s words in Galatians are said in the context of the Torah’s usefulness, and the contrast between flesh and spirit continues in his anlysis:

Galatians 6:1-10

“My brethren, if anyone is found at fault, you who are spiritual, restore him in a spirit of meekness; and be careful lest you also be tempted.  Bear one another’s burdens, and so confirm the Torah of Messiah.  For if a man thinks himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.  But let every man examine his own work, and then may he glory within himself, alone, and not among others.  For every man shall bear his own burden.  Let him who hears The Word share his bounty with the one who teaches him.  Do not be deceived; Elohim is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that shall he also reap.  He who sows things of the flesh, from the flesh shall reap corruption; he who sows things of HaRu’akh, from HaRu’akh shall reap life eternal.  Let us not be weary in good works; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.  Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, especially to those who belong to the household of faith.”

Paul then begins his conclusion, and basically sums up all that we have analyzed:

Galatians 6:12-18

“Those who desire to boast in the things of the flesh [remember, the Torah is spiritual! Rom 7:14] are the ones who compel you to be circumcised [to be saved]; they do so, so as not to suffer persecution for the stake of Messiah!  For not even they who are circumcised obey the Torah [Rabbinic Jews]; but they want you to be circumcised so that they may boast over your flesh.  But as for me, I have nothing on which to boast except the staking of our Master Yeshua The Messiah, by whom the world is executed to me and I am executed to the world.  For, in Messiah Yeshua, neither circumcision is anything, nor uncircumcision, but it is a new creation that counts. And upon those who follow this path be shalom and mercy; and upon the Yisra’el of God be shalom and mercy.  Therefore, no man troubles me, for I bear in my body the marks of Our Master Yeshua The Messiah.  My brethren, the grace of our Master Yeshua The Messiah be with your spirit. Amein.

The notion that the book of Galatians is a repudiation of keeping the Torah altogether is clearly a twisting of the words of Paul, just like Peter said was happening even in his day, and is certainly and obviously happening now. Yeshua left us words in the end of the book as well to show us that it is both confessing faith in Yeshua and observing His commandments out of love for Him that is the mark of His followers in the last days, still suffering for following Him:

Revelation 14:12

“Here is the patience of the holy ones; here are they who keep the commandments of God and faith in Yeshua.” 

That is who we are to be. We keep His commandments in order to be holy [distinguished from the world in our religious and moral behavior in order to show the world His marvelous light], not to be more ‘righteous’; you can’t be more righteous than having the blood of Messiah spilled for you by your confession of faith in the fact that He did it. That is why His Name is Yeshua: SALVATION.