3:3
The Judaizers claimed to be the “true circumcision”, ie the real people of God, looking back to their long heritage. Based on this they said that if the Gentile Christians wanted to be real people of God they too needed to be circumcised. Now remember that Christianity was a new and obscure religion at the time, so this claim, with its hundreds of years of history behind it would seem to have some authenticity to it. Paul counteracts this by saying “we are the circumcision”, ie “we are the people of God”. We worship by the Spirit of God. Remember that Jesus told the woman at the well that a time was coming when people would worship in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24). Moreover, we glory in Jesus Christ, not the flesh. Ie our confidence is in what Jesus has done, not in anything we have done. The Judaizers, on the other hand, put confidence in their being circumcised.
3:4-6
Now if the rites of the Law were a source for confidence Paul could boast more than any of the Judaizers. If the Law provided salvation Paul would have had no need to go to Christ. Paul’s “jewish credentials” outshone anything the Judaizers could offer.
Paul was circumcised on the eighth day. This means that his parents were good Jews and so that everything was done properly. Moreover, he came from the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was a “favoured” tribe. So his birth and upbringing were all as Jewish as you could get.
So all his upbringing was thoroughly Jewish, but then so were his subsequent actions. As to the Law he was a Pharisee, that meant that he studied and kept the Law assiduously. The Pharisees were the strictest sect in terms of observing the Law. In fact he was so dedicated to the Law that he was a zealous persecutor of the church. Indeed, he was on his way to persecute some more Christians when he had the famous Damascus road experience.
So if living by the Law was the measure then Paul had no reason whatsoever to give up on Judaism. If keeping the Law could bring righteousness then Paul was in!
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