I’ve been going through the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians. I’m currently meditating on chapter six, verses 12-13*.
It seems easy to find people who struggle against the truth that the cross alone saves. There is a tendency to place self-righteousness with the cross of Christ, maybe sometimes over it. With it come accusations against those who share God’s grace alone, calling it “sloppy agape.” These are those who, when you talk about God’s amazing grace, always say, “Yes, but…”
Is it possible that the issue Paul is writing about is still happening today? That means when we encounter the “Yes, but…” people it’s not so much about theology but about using behaviour as a crutch to avoid being “persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save”?
And what about the second part? What happens if we observe those who lift high the behaviour perfection banner? Do we also notice that the focus on behaviour is not all encompassing but fairly? Is it also true the driving motive for that focus is not the best interests of the person they are trying to convince, but is the puffing up of their own ego?
* Galatians 6:12 Those who are trying to force you to be circumcised want to look good to others. They don’t want to be persecuted for teaching that the cross of Christ alone can save. 13 And even those who advocate circumcision don’t keep the whole law themselves. They only want you to be circumcised so they can boast about it and claim you as their disciples.
cultural atheist 
Circumcision was not an act of earning salvation, but merely identifying with a community. Jewish Christians (or other circumcised Christians, I suppose) were saying (vs 12) new converts should get circumcised so they can claim to be Jewish. ‘Loose some skin to save your skin!’ When the Authorities accused new believers of being a Christian, they could prove ‘in the flesh’ that they were not and thus “Avoid being persecuted for the cross of Christ.”
Verse 13 suggests that the early Christians understood grace (not following the law themselves) but had a prideful desire to get their ‘pound of flesh’ from new believers so they could brag about how good their baptismal studies were. “We know our converts are solid because we require so much from them!”
That’s good. I was building on the theme in Galatians that the cross is enough and how works (trying to earn salvation) is a dead end.
With that said, I thought there was a fairly clear works connection to circumcision, starting with Abraham. I’ll have to go back to my notes.