3:6
The Judaisers were fond of referring back to the Law and to Moses, the Jews were also proud of being children of Abraham. This latter pride was something that was often misplaced (Matt 3:9). Paul refers back to what the Bible actually says, and Gen 15:6 says that it was Abraham’s faith that was counted as righteousness (Gen 15:6), and this occurred before circumcision came in (Gen 17). Works of the Law were never counted as righteousness, indeed their righteous acts were as filthy rags (Is 64:6).
3:7
In John 8:39 and following the Jews claimed to be children of Abraham, and Jesus proceeded to tell them that they were actually children of the devil! Jesus also said that if they were actually children of Abraham they would do what Abraham did. Paul here says that the true children of Abraham are those who put their faith in God. So while the Judaisers may even have claimed that to be true children of Abraham they needed to be circumcised, what they said was not actually true. We need to appreciate the force of the Judaisers argument, for circumcision was an important part of the Law, and Abraham himself was circumcised (Gen 17). However, it would seem that the Judaisers focused on the Law aspect of being circumcised.
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