Paul used strong language in his letter to the Galatians. He said letting the Christian Pharisees require rituals like circumcision was “irrational.” His logic was straightforward. When he preached the good news to them, it was faith in Jesus and the Holy Spirit, not dutiful rites, which had
changed the Galatians’ lives. That shouldn’t have happened if the teachers who said circumcision and ritual obedience was necessary were right—but it did!

• Paul’s argument wasn’t technical or hair-splitting. Scholar N. T. Wright wrote, “It isn’t a matter of a few twists and turns in the interpretation of the gospel, or … of the Jewish law… It is a matter of who you are in the Messiah. It’s as basic as that. Paul’s head-on clash with Peter in Antioch was about Christian identity.” Do you see yourself as someone who turns to Jesus when it’s convenient or needed, or have you come to see yourself “in Christ,” your whole identity rooted in Jesus who died for you?
• Most of the Galatian Christians were going about their day-to-day lives until Paul told them about Jesus, not following painstaking religious rituals. So Paul asked, “How did your new life begin? Was it by working your heads off to please God? Or was it by responding to God’s Message to you?” (The Message) How would you answer his question? Are the good things you do an effort to impress God, or a response to God’s loving message changing your life?