Galatians 5:3,4 - You are severed from Christ

5:3

Circumcision is only one aspect of the Law, one commandment of the Law, but if someone relied on circumcision for even the tiniest bit of righteousness they were obliged to obey all the Law. We either rely completely on Christ or not at all, there is no halfway house. Paul says “let himself be circumcised” because he is addressing Gentiles. A Jew would already be circumcised, and it was OK for a Jew to be circumcised for cultural reasons. But a Gentile would be getting circumcised in order to obey the Law, in order to be more acceptable to God.

5:4

Trying to be justified by the Law means alienation from Christ. See how starkly Paul portrays the divide, it is not a matter of a small difference of opinion. Notice also how "severed from Christ" relates to circumcision! This shows how vital it is that we rely purely on Christ, how terrible to be separated from Christ. Then Paul repeats the point, we will have fallen from grace. We tend to think of “fall from grace” as meaning to have committed some terrible sin, but here it is referring to people who were trying to please God! They were just going about it in the wrong way. To be in grace means to be depending completely upon Christ for our righteousness.