What Matters

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.” (Galatians 5:6, ESV)

When I worked in field engineering, I would very often have to travel by plane to various destinations. When I got to the destination airport, I would rent a car. At the rental area I would go for the cheapest thing available. Inevitably they would ask which brand of car I wanted. I would respond, “It really does not matter as long as it gets me to my destination.”

There are many choices between two things in life that just do not matter. They are matters of preference with no real advantage of one versus the other. This is Paul’s point here.

The Judaizers were pushing the idea that people needed to obey the law in order to justify themselves before God. One of their key points was that of circumcision. They insisted that circumcision was essential for one to be justified. Paul indicated that “in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything.” In other words, Paul indicated that circumcision was irrelevant when it came to a saving relationship with Jesus. the one and only thing that mattered was “faith working through love.”

In the verse, the verb translated as “counts,” ischuo, means to have or exercise force (Strong, p. G2780). Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision affords power in the Christian life. The believer’s power is not based upon externals, but that which is present by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Paul wrote to the Romans that “circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter” (Romans 2:29, ESV).

Thus, the believers’ justification and power for living the Christian life is not a matter of the flesh. It is not a matter of legalistic obedience. It is a matter of what God has done in the believer by grace through faith. As the believer walks by the Spirit, as the believer walks by faith, the fruit of the Spirit is manifested in powerful ways. This is a natural outpouring of the indwelling presence of the Spirit in the believer’s life.