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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians by Martin Luther: turns every effort at keeping the Law into a double sin.
Mark what the Apostle is saying: Those who are circumcised do not fulfill
the Law. No self-righteous person ever does. To work, pray, or suffer apart
from Christ is to work, pray, and to suffer in vain, "for whatsoever is not of
faith is sin." It does a person no good to be circumcised, to fast, to pray,
or to do anything, if in his heart he despises Christ.
"Why do the false apostles insist that you should be circumcised? Not for
the sake of your righteousness," although they give that impression, but
"that they may glory in your flesh." Now what sort of an ambition is that?
Worst of all, they force circumcision upon you for no other reason than the
satisfaction they get out of your submission.
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